Organic, local and sustainable — simply the right thing to do

Posted on 05/24/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

After spending the last five days in Florida and visiting one of the Frank Oakes’ establishments on three of those five days — I have finally become inspired to get serious about organic, local and sustainable agriculture. Over the past fifty or sixty years, we have all been programmed to buy our groceries based on appearance, price and shelf life.

Organic, local, picked fresh daily by people who care -- This is the kind of food that I want to eat -- every chance I get.

While the packaged goods are always touting the health benefits on the front of the box or can, the real “nutritional” story is told in the little “Nutrition Facts” box on the back of the package. And, with the exception of whole grain rice, dry legumes and whole oats; there are precious few products “with a label” on them that are worth eating.

The clever food marketers have come up with powerful formulas that create just the right combination of ingredients to make us crave those highly-refined products. The primary ingredients are white flour, sugar, salt and oil. In our 4-Leaf system, ALL of those “non whole plant” items must be eaten as a part of only 20% of your daily calories in order to achieve a 4-Leaf score.

Frank Oakes -- an organic pioneer in Naples, Florida -- is making a difference. In fact, he has made a difference in my life.

Sadly, the produce departments with all of the fresh fruits and vegetables has been the victim of clever marketing with the same three goals: appearance, cost and shelf-life. The missing ingredient here is nutritional excellence.

We have all been programmed to seek the lowest possible price, especially if an item looks better in the store. I have been a victim myself. But, thanks to Frank Oakes of Naples, Florida, I have turned over a new leaf and, beginning today, here is what I am going to start doing.

  • Visiting more farmers markets every chance I get. We have a few year-round markets in southeastern Connecticut believe it or not.
  • Shop more at the local grocers who specialize in more local, fresher, organically grown produce.
  • Looking for the organic label when buying groceries at the major chains.
  • Resisting the temptation to buy the cheaper bananas even if they actually look better than the organic ones.

Shopping at the Oakes Farm Market on Davis Blvd in Naples

Now that I have been reminded of the tricks that our food marketers play on us, I simply must start doing the right thing. Eventually, the rising price of oil is going to force us back in the direction of local, organic, sustainable methods of farming and distribution. We, as a nation, will not enjoy the transition — but we will gradually regain our health because of it. 

J. Morris Hicks, now shopping for local, organic and sustainable produce.

So why wait for the expensive oil to force us to do what we know we should be doing now? It may appear to be costing us a little bit more money, but our bodies and our environment will know the difference. As I said at the beginning of this blog — it’s simply the right thing to do. You may enjoy this earlier related blog:

What is the future of food? — Take a look at the past.

If we want to see sustainable organic agriculture become a reality, then we follow advice Gandhi;  “We must live the change that we wish to see in the world.”

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 Organic, local produce, Sustainability | 1 Comment

Breakfast, lunch, dinner and Frank Oakes — organic pioneer

Posted on 05/23/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Establishing a healthy “4Leaf” routine in your life

Yesterday we began a discussion about the three primary drivers of disease and the cost of health care in the United States — breakfast, lunch and dinner. And we focused on the all-important first meal of the day. Today, we want to begin delving into how we might establish a healthy routine for our typical lunch and dinner.

Frank Oakes — an organic pioneer in Naples, Florida

Having been in Naples for the past five days, I can tell you about two wonderful places to buy fresh, organic vegetables and enjoy a plethora of choices of healthy 4Leaf menu items. They were both founded by the same man — Frank Oakes, an organic pioneer in Florida. From his website:

In 1988 we began to try organic growing methods alongside our conventional farm in Ft.Myers. By 1991 it was apparent to us that all food should and could be grown without chemicals and in a totally sustainable manner. We started a new 100% organic farm that year in Naples and have become more passionate about our vocation each and every year since.

Shopping at the Oakes Farm Market on Davis Blvd in Naples

Frank and his family started the retail portion of their business in Naples at Oakes Farm Market on Davis Blvd. But his latest creation is Food and Thought, a wonderful combination of a 100% organic retail grocery store — connected to a restaurant and juice-bar, featuring lots of healthy options all day long.

On Friday, we stopped by following a canoe trip searching for manatees and alligators (we found neither). I ordered the “Bunny Wrappit” — a healthy wrap consisting of a huge collard green leaf filled with hummus, avocado, tomato, sprouts and cucumber. I simply told them to “hold the cheese” and load up on everything else. A 4-Leaf meal for sure, I could eat that same thing every day for the rest of my life.

Apparently Food and Thought has been an instant hit on Highway 41 on the north side of Naples. From a recent review, they talk about dining outside under the shade of some fabulous trees:

Dining under the trees at “Food and Thought” — Frank stopped by our table and thanked me for the blog today.

You won’t be disappointed by pre-prepared ‘chain’ meals that you could get anywhere… This is all local flavor selected by owner, Frank Oakes. Some of my favorite dishes are the stuffed eggplant and the spinach pie. In addition to the hot entrees, you can select from variety of sandwiches, salads, smoothies and a fresh juice bar as well.

Perhaps the best reason for stopping in Food & Thought is that the pace slows down and the temperature drops about 10 degrees as you approach the courtyard entrance to the café. Even in the middle of August, when it is 98 degrees and 100% humidity… it is always comfortable to sit in the courtyard and enjoy lunch. I walk away refreshed and recharged.

Oakes Farms. Organic, local, picked fresh daily by people who care — This is the kind of food that I want to eat — every chance I get.

A man after my own heart, Frank Oakes features one of my favorite Gandhi quotes on his Food and Thought website: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” And Frank is doing just that. As he says, “Our food is 100% organic, 100% of the time—in the market and the cafe. We pick from our own organic farm every morning and source as much local organic produce as possible. No one matches our quality, no one matches our prices and no one matches our service.”

On my way to the airport to fly home to CT, just had to stop at “Food and Thought” for one more meal.

Although I met Frank briefly on Friday, I didn’t have time to talk to him about his own dietary regimen. For all I know, he may be another 4-Leaf eater like me. But he does offer organic meat, dairy, fish and fowl in his store. And whether he eats those products himself or not, he knows that he wouldn’t have a complete food offering for most of his customers without them.

So, if you’re going to eat animal products; this is probably one of the best places in the world to buy them.

Here’s Frank’s goal from his website; it simply doesn’t get any better than this:

Look for more posts on establishing your 4Leaf routine for all of your lunches and dinners in the future. Finding a great place like Oakes to buy your food is a critical part of the process.

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 4Leaf 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 4Leaf for Life, Healthy Eating 101 | 1 Comment

Can you name the 3 primary drivers of our health care costs?

Posted on 05/22/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

BREAKFAST , LUNCH  & DINNER!!  Did you get them right?

Barack Obama and many presidents before him have often talked about our health care costs as being the single biggest problem facing our nation. Yet, the exquisitely simple solution is right under our noses — it’s the two hundred bites of food that we put in our mouths every day.

U.S. government numbers projecting that our cost of health care as a percent of GDP will exceed 20% in 2015 -- up from 5.2% in 1960

We know this from mountains of scientific and clinical evidence; Dr. Campbell states in the “Forks over Knives” movie that if everyone in this country shifted to a whole foods, plant-based diet; that 70 to 80% of our health care dollars would disappear. And that whole process begins with breakfast — our first meal of the day.

Our 4-Leaf Program was designed to help everyone consume the greatest possible portion of their calories from the healthiest foods available — whole plant-based foods in nature’s package. So let’s start with breakfast. In our health coaching business, we have found that some clients have difficulty implementing this new way of eating 100% from the start. So, in those cases, we make it a three-step process — logically beginning with breakfast:

Sailors Daily Oatmeal - complete with lighthouse and book of knots

  • It’s the first meal of the day
  • It seems to be the same thing every day for most people
  • It’s easier to control than other meals
  • There are many very tasty 4-Leaf options.

So, we recommend that our clients take a few weeks and begin by just developing a 4-Leaf morning routine that they can live with. I recently invited a new client, Erica, to my home to see what I have chosen for my morning routine; and she really seemed to like the following two dishes that have become a permanent, and very enjoyable, part of my day:

 Eating healthy in the morning…first course is fresh fruit only

Eating healthy in the A.M. — “Sailors Oatmeal” at mid-morning

After our meal, my instructions to Erica were to spend the next two weeks working on a morning routine that will work for her — FOREVER. Then, with that new healthy habit firmly in place, we will tackle lunch. The good news is that with her new breakfast habit, replacing bagels and cream cheese with fresh fruits and whole grains — she will already be tripling the number of daily calories that she will be getting from “whole plants in nature’s package,” the natural diet for our species.

J. Morris Hicks, the "big picture" guy when it comes to how we feed ourselves

By the time she nails down her lunch routine in the next four or five weeks, she will be covering two-thirds of her daily calories and will be gaining a real good “feel” for what what a 4-Leaf meal looks like. By the time she gets to her dinner routine in about six weeks, she will be well on the road to vibrant health, her ideal weight and a joy of living and eating that she may have never felt before.

Just in case you’re wondering about the mountain of evidence mentioned earlier, then you may want to start here:

Common ground among medical experts…the foundation of our “4-Leaf” program

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 4Leaf for Life, Healthy Eating 101, Recipes & meals | 1 Comment