It’s all about the WATER…huge problem – simple solution

Posted on 04/06/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Finite, essential and precious…yet unnecessarily squandered and polluted

Water -- our most precious resource -- is finite and we're currently using twenty times more than we should to feed humankind.

Water — our most precious resource — is finite and we’re currently using twenty times more than we should to feed humankind.

But that move is not even being considered by any of our world leaders. That’s because, like 95% of the people in the western world, they sincerely believe that we humans “need” to eat animal protein in order to be healthy.

Although there is now overwhelming scientific and medical evidence to the contrary, that information is not widely known — yet. As such, there are prominent, well-meaning organizations out there whose mission is to save the world’s water resources, yet they don’t even know where to start.

One of those fine organizations is right here in southeastern Connecticut: Mystic Aquarium (founded in 1973), it is now a part of Sea Research Foundation, Inc, a non-profit charitable organization whose primary mission is essentially saving the oceans of the world. From their website:

Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration are divisions of Sea Research Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit institution. The Foundation’s mission is to inspire people to care for and protect our ocean planet through education, research and exploration.

Recently I met with a representative of their board of directors to discuss ways in which they could raise more funds to support their mission. Of course, being a “big picture” guy, I wanted to talk about the “education” portion of their mission and how much of that education included identifying the single largest source of damage, waste and pollution to our water supply — and the remarkably simple, albeit difficult, solution.

I then told him about the movie 2009 HOME — a powerful movie that illustrates the staggering damage that the human race has inflicted on the fragile harmony of planet Earth in just the last fifty years. And much of that disruption has involved our water supply — which has been finite for billions of years.

I recommended that he and his board schedule a special meeting to view that movie together — and I offered to lead a discussion following the movie. That 93-minute movie can be viewed online for free on the video page of this site. Just click here and scroll to the bottom of that Video page. There is also a 2-minute “trailer” intro of that movie about midway down the page.

While watching that movie for the first time in February, I heard something that I’d never heard before; that is, the volume of water on our planet has been constant for billions of years. All generations of humans and creatures have drunk the same water. The volume never changes, but how it is used changes all the time. The key to life on Earth is a fragile harmony that nature constantly seeks to maintain…and we humans aren’t doing our share.

Planet Earth from Space – Life in our world really is “all about the water.”

It’s all about the water…looking at our planet from outer space, water takes up most of the view prompting some of us to think that we’d never run out of such an abundant resource. But in the last century, humankind has seriously disrupted the fragile harmony of nature, and now we’re experiencing water shortages and pollution all around the world. Consider these alarming facts:

1. More people using more water per person. There were less than one billion humans on the planet just 300 years ago; now there are seven billion.

2. It takes 100 liters of water to produce one kilo of potatoes…it takes 13,000 liters of water to produce one kilo of beef.

3. More meat consumption.  The world is now raising 60 billion animals per year for our dinner tables.  That number is going up rapidly as the developing world mimics the unhealthy, destructive, water-guzzling and unsustainable western diet.

4. Mountains of MANURE. In just the U.S., the solid waste produced by animals we eat each year is 1.37 billion tons — a staggering amount, much of which pollutes our rivers, streams and oceans.

5. Even with no population growth, we would need to raise 300 billion animals per year if the entire world shifted to our incredibly wasteful diet-style.

6. More and more fertilizer and pesticides used in the meat production process add to the ever worsening water pollution problem.

7. The world population is still growing rapidly…adding another 197,000 people every single day — equal to the population of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

8. The amount of water required to produce ten pounds of beef is enough fresh water to provide for ALL of the household needs of a family of four for a full year.

J. Morris Hicks, always trying to focus on the big picture.

J. Morris Hicks, always trying to focus on the big picture.

At what point do the intelligent and responsible citizens of the planet recognize the “blinding flash of the obvious” here and realize that the bizarre picture described above simply cannot continue much longer?  When do we stop to consider what we are leaving for our own great-grandchildren and all future generations? And all we have to do to take a gigantic step toward fixing this mess is to simply change what we are eating. As Dr. Campbell says, “When we eat the way that promotes the best health for ourselves, we also promote the best health for the planet.”

Born in mid-century, most of the mess in which we find ourselves was generated on my watch.  As the movie HOME reported, humankind in just the last 50 years has disrupted the fragile of harmony more on this planet than all of the previous generations of humans since our species emerged some 200,000 years ago.

That is sobering, sad, and scary — and it makes me almost embarrassed to be a part of the only species in all of history that has run roughshod over our beautiful planet for my entire life. And I have been a part of that problem. Now, I have dedicated the rest of my life to being part of the solution.  How about you?

Handy 5-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

Why should we be eating mostly plants? The “big picture” in 4 minutes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

International. We’re now reaching people in over 100 countries. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or get daily blog notices by “following” us in the top of the right-hand column. For occasional updates, join our periodic mailing list.

J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

To order more of my favorite books—visit our online BookStore now

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, visit our 4Leaf page and also enjoy some great recipes from Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.

SHARE and rate this post below.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation

Posted in Environment, Sustainability, Water Pollution & Usage | 1 Comment

“The China Study” — in his own words…by Dr. T. Colin Campbell

Posted on 04/05/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

New video series that you can watch online at no charge

If you know me at all, you know of my great admiration and respect for this legendary Cornell professor of nutritional biochemistry, Dr. T. Colin Campbell. Since 2002, when I first began my quest to learn all about the optimal diet for humans, I have been following the career of this great man.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell -- author of The China Study and the world's leading authority on health promoting, plant-based nutrition.

During the early stages of my study, I found myself searching for legitimacy and authenticity that would resonate with the mainstream — and I found it big-time with Dr. Campbell. After a splendid career spanning more than 40 years, he went public with all of the startling things he had discovered about what we humans should be eating. Early on, his colleagues warned him about sharing those “dirty little secrets” that he had discovered about our toxic, meat-laden, typical western diet. (See earlier post re academic freedom.)

Finally, in 2005, at the insistence of his wife Karen, he realized that it was finally time to tell his complete story — as she said, “for the children of the world.” So, that’s exactly what he did when he and his son published The China Study in January of 2005. Since that time, with virtually no up-front marketing of any kind, that fine book has been read by over one million people worldwide and is consistently still selling in the top 100 books in all of Amazon.

Later that same year, I first met Karen and Colin Campbell at the Zen Palate Restaurant in New York City, where he was speaking to a handful of vegetarian zealots. I remember thinking at the time, “This great man will probably win a Nobel Prize someday for his work, but for now, less than twenty people turn out to hear him speak in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.” But that was before he appeared on Larry King & Extra, before Bill Clinton told the world about him and before the movie Forks Over Knives, which opens in public theaters in May 2011…I saw a preview of this powerful movie that features the careers of Dr. Campbell and Dr. Esselstyn (Cleveland Clinic). Don’t miss it.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell and J. Morris Hicks review the manuscript of "Healthy Eating - Healthy World" after eating a "4-Leaf" meal next to the Cornell campus in December of 2010

During the past five years since first meeting Dr. Campbell, I have had the good fortune of becoming his friend and getting to know his family. Just recently, he and his son Nelson wrote the foreword to our book, which you can read on the Book Preview page of this site. Just this weekend, I watched a new 7-part video series featuring Dr. Campbell in a setting that’s almost like sitting with him for a relaxed chat.

Each video is about ten minutes, with Dr. Campbell (about half of each video) talking without notes about how his nutritional discoveries unfolded. In the first video, he talks about the death of his mother-in-law from colon cancer at a young age — an event that led to a career of trying to find out why.

Introduced in the first video by his son and my friend, Nelson; the videos also include a professional moderator who sets the stage for each topic in the series. Following in the sequence of his book, Dr. Campbell talks about how animal-based foods are the primary drivers of so many of our “diseases of affluence” like cancer and heart disease. He is particularly critical of dairy which has “no redeeming qualities” in terms of being a nutritious food. This is significant, as he was raised on a dairy farm.

As of August 15, 2011, these videos are no longer available. They will reside here should they become available in the future.

My advice is that you carve out an hour or so, sit down and watch this very powerful series of seven videos in chronological order. By the time you finish, you will feel like you know this great man…and you may even be motivated to make some changes that will change your life, and leave a much better world for generations that follow.

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 Health in General, Scientific Integrity | 2 Comments

Celebration! not deprivation…the complete joy of eating

Posted on 04/04/2011 by J. Morris Hicks

Moving to “4-Leaf ” level eating will eventually lead to celebration.

J. Morris Hicks, eating 4-Leaf for health, hope and harmony on planet Earth

When people think of making a big change in their diet for one reason or another, they most often think about what they’re going to have to give up. Little do they realize in the beginning that one day they’ll look back and realize that moving to a health-promoting diet was one of the best things that they ever did.

But for now, most people regard the prospect of becoming vegetarian just a bit extreme. With that in mind, we developed our 4-Leaf Program — a simple system that can assist you in maximizing your consumption of whole plant foods; not necessarily becoming vegetarian.

Now, we know that most Americans are in what we call the “No-Leaf” range of eating, in that they are deriving less than 20% of their calories from whole plants. We know that the average American actually derives far less than 10% of their calories from these most nutritious plant foods.  But we have a hunch that most people probably realize that they could benefit from more plants and less meat in their diet. Two reasons:

A permanent, health-promoting diet-style with lots of flexibility. All of the emphasis is on what you ARE eating -- not what your are avoiding.

  • Their mother probably told them a million times that they should try to eat more fruits and vegetables.
  • It has become pretty much common knowledge that we need more whole plants in our diet, it just hasn’t yet become commonplace.

As you begin delving into our 4-Leaf Program, we’ll be giving you lots of information that will help you easily move up our 4-Leaf scale…one leaf at at time — eventually developing a lifelong habit of eating consistently at the 4-Leaf level. That means deriving over 80% of your calories from whole plant foods — in nature’s package.

As for deprivation, my advice is to forget the fake meats, fake cheeses, soy dogs and the other products that are designed to look and taste just like some of the favorite staples of your old diet-style. Instead, we encourage to enthusiastically  embrace the whole plants — moving away from reminders of your unhealthy past.

Taking charge of our own health while restoring the harmony of the planet at the same time...a big WIN for all concerned -- and a cause for celebration.

So what about the Celebration? When does that happen? During your move up the 4-Leaf scale, we encourage you to read everything on this site; noting that there is new content every day. The best way to get into the habit of reading something new every day is to subscribe (top of right column) and you will receive a notice of each new post — every single day. Why is that important?

Because, we’ll constantly be giving you health information, and other reasons, about why you may want to eat more whole plants and far less (if any) animal products — there’s a lot more at stake here besides your health. After a daily diet of this well-documented but not-so-well-known information for about a year, we predict that you will be feeling better and better about the new diet-style that you have chosen — and will maybe even feel like celebrating…

For by then, you may have discovered the complete joy of eating — eating all you want of great food that tastes great while promoting your own health, nurturing the environment, conserving fossil fuels, helping to feed the world’s hungry — and all with the warm feeling that no animal had to suffer and/or give her life for your meal. You will then be experiencing the complete joy of living in harmony with Nature — at least when it comes to what you are eating.

You will ultimately realize that you’re a key part of the process of helping humankind return to the natural — and essential practice — of living in harmony with our planet.

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, Big Picture, Healthy Eating 101 | Leave a comment