Campbell and Esselstyn — starring in “Forks Over Knives” movie

Posted on 06/12/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Last month, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn co-wrote an article for the Huffington Post — (see link below my signature). It is entitled “Forks over Knives, How a Plant-based diet can save America.” This is not the first time they have written an article together — they wrote an Op-Ed for the San Francisco Chronicle in March of 2009 entitled “It all starts with diet.” From that article:

Today’s health care debate has very little to do with what makes us sick. It is centered almost entirely on who gets covered and who pays. Extending coverage to more people is a good thing. But Americans who already are covered are suffering rising rates of chronic disease. Lack of coverage is not causing their disease, and expanding coverage won’t cure these diseases in others. We have to do more than increase coverage.

This powerful movie opened in theaters all across the USA on 5-13-2011.

Since then, a powerful new movie has been produced by a top Hollywood producer and it is now being shown in most major cities around the country. The movie, Forks Over Knives, presents all of the compelling information in The China Study in a very convincing manner and has already changed thousands of lives. We had a local pre-screening here in Mystic, CT (Nov. 2010) with a packed house. I personally know of dozens of people who have made major changes in their lives because of the message in that movie — the simple message that you will find on every page of this blog site.

We can all take charge of our health by simply returning to the natural diet for our species — whole plants. If we all do that, we could lower health care costs in the USA by up to 80%.

J. Morris Hicks reviewing his book manuscript with Dr. T. Colin Campbell at Cornell University

Giants in their fields with unquestioned credentials, credibility and integrity. Back in 2002, when I first started studying this topic, it was important to me to find people like Dr. Campbell at Cornell and Dr. Esselstyn at The Cleveland Clinic. It was important to me that I find credible sources of this critical information — because all of it is in such stark contrast to the conventional medical and academic body of knowledge that drives our current system of health care in the U.S. and other western countries.

Since discovering Dr. Campbell online in early 2003, he has been my hero, and it was through his great book (January 2005) that I was first introduced to Dr. Esselstyn. Since then, I have become personal friends with both. Dr. Campbell and son Nelson have written the foreword for our book and Dr. Esselstyn is writing an endorsement. In the Huffington Post article they write:

J. Morris Hicks with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, who along with Dr. Campbell and Dr. Ornish, influenced Bill Clinton to start eating at the "4-Leaf" level.

The fact is our nation’s economic stability, already crumbling due to the repeated bursting of bubbles such as technology and housing, has been hard hit by spiraling health costs that seem to have no end in sight. Despite this, as a nation, we are sicker and fatter than we have ever been. The epidemic of obesity and diabetes, especially in the young, forecasts an economically unsustainable public health challenge with the gloomy prophecy that today’s children may not outlive their parents.

Who will protect the public? Not our government: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutrition pyramid is laden with food that will guarantee millions will suffer ill health. Not the American Dietetic Association, which is controlled by food corporations. Not the insurance industry, which profits by selling plans to the sick. Not the pharmaceutical industry, which pockets billions from chronic illnesses. And not the medical profession, in which doctors and nurses receive virtually no training in nutrition or behavioral modification, and are handsomely rewarded for administrating drugs and employing technical expertise.

Think again for a moment about the respective backgrounds of the two men who wrote that last paragraph. What they’re saying is running counter to everything you have ever heard about diet, health and disease. But what they are saying is the truth and it may take several decades for the collective “system” described about to catch up. But you don’t have to wait for the “system” — Bill Clinton didn’t have to wait either. He read books by Campbell and Esselstyn and followed the message that has probably saved his life.

My primary message here is this. Find a way to go see this powerful movie ASAP. Then find a way to get everyone you care about to do the same. After you become convinced that their message is true, you may need some help as you begin to chart your own course. Hopefully, our 4-Leaf Program will make your journey to vibrant health easier and more enjoyable. Eventually, you will find that eating this way is not about deprivation, but rather, it is all about CELEBRATION. (Both of the articles mentioned above appear beneath my signature.)

If you like what you see here, you may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our BookStore now.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

PS: Occasionally an unauthorized ad may appear beneath a blog post. It is controlled by WordPress (a totally free hosting service). I do not approve or personally benefit whatsoever from any ad that might ever appear on this site. I apologize and urge you to please disregard. 

Forks Over Knives: How a Plant-Based Diet Can Save America (Huffington, May 13, 2011)

It all starts with diet (San Francisco Chronicle, March 17, 2009)

Posted in Cost of Health Care, Medical Experts, Scientific Integrity | 1 Comment

Eskimos, obesity, diabetes and unsustainability — NPR

Posted on 06/11/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Earlier this week, I saw a 3-25-2011 article on the NPR website that I hadn’t seen before. It was based on an interview with Canadian physician and author, Kevin Patterson — How western diets are making the world sick. At the link below my signature, you can read the entire article and also listen to the 13-minute NPR interview.

Canadian physician and author, Kevin Patterson

In addition to treating patients in British Columbia, he also has extensive experience around the globe in places like the Arctic, Afghanistan, and Saipan in the Pacific. Throughout the article, his primary emphasis is on the highly processed western foods and how they have driven obesity and type 2 diabetes.

“Type 2 diabetes historically didn’t exist, only 70 or 80 years ago,” says Patterson. “And what’s driven it, of course, is this rise in obesity, especially the accumulation of abdominal fat. That fat induces changes in our receptors that cells have for insulin. Basically, it makes them numb to the effect of insulin.”

In the Arctic region, he talks about how the native diet of caribou and whale meat (killed and processed by hand) has been replaced by the likes of Kentucky Fried Chicken; a phenomenon that has produced widespread obesity and type 2 diabetes. A similar phenomenon has taken place in Pacific island of Saipan.

“I worked in Saipan, which is in the Marianas Island in the Pacific, and there, the dialysis population was increasing at about 18 percent a year, all as a consequence of diabetes and acculturation — exactly the same process as what’s going on with the Inuit.

“When you look at the curves, it’s clear how unsustainable it is. In 20 or 30 years, everybody on that island will either be a dialysis patient or a dialysis nurse unless something fundamental is done about the rise in diabetes. That’s no less true in Canada and in Samoa and Hawaii, and even in Omaha and Toronto. We all have exactly the same problem when we plot out those curves.”

Like myself and others, Dr. Patterson has concluded that without a doubt, the continued spread of the toxic western diet is simply unsustainable. Eventually, we will be forced to make some changes as we simply cannot become a world full of “dialysis patients and nurses.” But, unlike Dr. T. Colin Campbell and the five enlightened MD’s featured on this blog and in our book, Dr. Patterson never mentions the natural diet for our species as being whole plants. He explained the “traditional diet” in the Arctic as being almost totally animal based, but that the human body can handle almost any food if we’re active enough.

Apparently this traditional Inuit lifestyle has been replaced by a sedentary lifestyle fueled by the likes of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Here’s the way I see it. The natural diet for our species is whole plants in nature’s package — just like the natural diet for animals in the wild whose DNA is closest to ours. But, unlike humans, those animals lacked the cognitive niche and didn’t have the ability to migrate away from their natural diet. To me, the human Inuits in the Arctic simply could not live there if they depended on whole plants — because there are none.

As for unsustainability, we know that the numbers just don’t work for seven billion people on this planet to subsist primarily on meat and animal products. Those kinds of foods require 20 times more energy, land and water PER CALORIE than whole, plant-based foods. I know this reasoning doesn’t help the Inuit in the Arctic, where the cheapest and tastiest calories available are those highly processed foods (with lots of oil, salt and corn fructose) that have been flown there from somewhere else.

Bottom Line. As I have said many times, my prediction is that we’re all going to eventually be forced back to the natural diet for our species — and I think that it will all be driven by the soaring cost of petroleum in the future. As the finite fossil fuels are replaced by renewable sources of energy; the cost of meat, dairy and highly-processed (and transported) foods will simply not be economically feasible to feed the vast majority of the world’s population. Ultimately, this is a very good thing for the human race.

I agree with Dr. Patterson that it would be better if we could take a more “considered” approach back to a healthy diet-style; although my conviction is that most humans will not make that change until they are forced. But that doesn’t mean that you have to wait. We are blessed with being able to select almost any plant food we want — throughout the western world — 365 days a year.

J. Morris Hicks, trying my best to help you and your family take charge of your health NOW -- not waiting until we are forced.

If enough thoughtful humans began to select more whole plants, perhaps we can get ahead of the curve of “forced” change. We can take charge of our own health now, ensure the future health of our children and their children — simply by changing what we are eating. Our 4-Leaf Program was designed to help make this process as simple and as easy as it can possibly be.

As for the folks in the Arctic, the rising cost of energy may eventually force them to move closer to where the food is produced — and ultimately, that will be much better for them and their families. (See Dr. Patterson’s NPR interview below)

If you like what you see here, you may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our BookStore now.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

PS: Occasionally an unauthorized ad may appear beneath a blog post. It is controlled by WordPress (a totally free hosting service). I do not approve or personally benefit whatsoever from any ad that might ever appear on this site. I apologize and urge you to please disregard. 

How Western Diets Are Making The World Sick

Posted in Diabetes, Obesity, Sustainability | Leave a comment

Cancer, cell phones, cow’s milk, and Cornell

Posted on 06/10/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

How does a farm boy turned scientist cope with the startling discovery that the casein in cow’s milk is a powerful carcinogen?

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study — grew up on a dairy farm but stopped serving ANY milk whatsoever to his own family over twenty years ago. He also counseled Dr. Spock prior to his final book — he too finally learned the truth about milk a few years before he died.

After growing up on a dairy farm in Virginia, Dr. T. Colin Campbell began his career in nutritional science believing that the healthiest diet in the world was the good old standard American diet — rich in meat and dairy three meals a day. But, as a man of the highest integrity, he took notice as he began discovering some dirty little secrets about the animal “protein” products that we had been led to believe were so healthy.

As early as the 1960’s as he began uncovering scientific evidence that negatively implicated the vast amount of animal protein in our diets, he was advised by his peers and colleagues that, in the interest of his career, he better keep quiet about those findings. Fortunately, keeping quiet about something that was killing people all over the world simply wasn’t in the Colin Campbell DNA.

Being a scientist, he wanted to find more proof before he went public — he simply wanted to be sure. He knew that once he went public with negative information about animal-based foods, that he would have difficulty getting much funding — and, without funding, it’s difficult to do much scientific research.

Fortunately, in 1980, he got the chance to direct the largest epidemiological study in the history of the world. It was called The China-Cornell-Oxford Project and, over the next thirty years, produced startling evidence about the relationship between diet, disease and health. As the overall director of this huge international project — this vital experience became the capstone of his 50-year career.

My Cornell Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition — Nov. 2009; a certificate that is good for continuing education credits for MD’s and RD’s but (thanks to the dairy industry) is no longer good for credits toward graduation from Cornell University.

After becoming absolutely sure that the natural and best diet for our species was whole, plant-based foods; he followed the encouragement of his wife Karen — and told his complete career story in his world-changing book, The China Study (BenBella 2005).

She had been saying that he simply must tell his story — for the children of the world. But long before telling his story to the world, he created a plant-based nutrition course at Cornell University in the 90’s and taught it himself for seven years.

Wildly popular among the students, he got a call one day from someone who was trying to sign up for his course, but was told that the course had been canceled. Why was it canceled and why was Dr. Campbell not told about that cancellation in advance? The short answer is MONEY — in the form of the university’s huge financial support from the dairy industry. The controlling powers of the university had decided that a course that was counter to the prevailing meat & dairy diet-style didn’t make good business sense. So much for academic freedom.

J. Morris Hicks

The good news is that Dr. Campbell’s Plant-Based Nutrition course has been resurrected and is now delivered online by eCornell – a division of Cornell University.

Managed by the T. Colin Campbell Foundation, graduates of this great 6-week course can earn continuing education credits for MD’s and RD’s but, thanks to the dairy industry, cannot earn credits toward graduation from Cornell University. You can sign up for that course today by visiting this link: Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition – Online Certificate Program | eCornell. My certificate from 2009 is shown above.

To Dr. Campbell’s knowledge, there is no such course offered toward graduation in ANY school of nutrition in the United States. Apparently, our entire network of nutritional academia has sold out to the meat and dairy industry. What a shame. And how sad for the young people who compete to get into the best schools — in search of the truth. Further, the vast majority (if not all) of the PhD faculty in the School of Nutritional Science at Cornell have never even read The China Study.

Maybe some of that is driven by a threat to their job security; after all, how many PhD’s do you need to tell you the only two words that you need to know about consuming a health-promoting, disease-reversing diet? WHOLE PLANTS!

J. Morris Hicks reviewing his book manuscript with Dr. T. Colin Campbell at Cornell University — Dec. 15, 2010

In my opinion, this whole mess is unacceptable. And, it’s only going to get better if many more people learn what’s going on behind the closed doors of academia. I was there (Nov. 2009) at Cornell — in Savage Hall — when Dr. Campbell essentially summarized the provocative findings from The China Study before about 100 people in a 50-minute lecture to a group of half faculty, half students.

The students had great interest; the faculty — not so much. And the comments they made revealed how little they knew — or wanted to know about the topic of plant-based nutrition. This kind of information needs to be seen by millions of people; maybe you can share it with a few that might be interested.

One final note: We are truly honored that this great man and his son have written the foreword to our upcoming book — you can see an excerpt of that foreword by clicking here.

If you like what you see here, you may wish to join our periodic mailing list. Also, for help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4-Leaf page. From the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

If you’d like to order our book on Amazon,  visit our BookStore now.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

PS: Occasionally an unauthorized ad may appear beneath a blog post. It is controlled by WordPress (a totally free hosting service). I do not approve or personally benefit whatsoever from any ad that might ever appear on this site. I apologize and urge you to please disregard. 

Posted in Beverages (all), Dairy, cow's milk, Food Policy, Scientific Integrity | 1 Comment