NEW on this site: “Plant-Based Savvy” Medical Doctors

Posted on 12/22/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

Need the advice of a medical doctor who “gets it” about food?

Medical advice from an MD who understands the power of plant-based nutrition

Medical advice from MDs who understand the power of plant-based nutrition

Well this is my holiday gift to you. Many people who are striving to take charge of their health with a whole foods, plant-based diet will occasionally need the counsel of a medical doctor. They may need guidance when it comes to adjusting/eliminating their medications or they may need help with things like food allergies, digestive issues, cancer screening, autoimmune disorders and a host of other medical issues.

New MD Help Page. The contents of this blog are now on a permanent page on this website. Just look for the “MD Help” tab just below the middle of the banner.

Unfortunately, the medical doctors of today didn’t learn much, if anything, about nutrition in medical school and are not aware that up to 80% of our costs of health care are driven by our food choices. Since the majority of doctors still believe that you “need” to eat some animal protein to be healthy, they will not be able to properly counsel you as you make the shift to a whole foods, plant-based diet.

Good News! Plant-based “savvy” medical doctors now offering telephone consultations.

I have spoken with these three medical doctors and am satisfied that they will provide excellent advice when it comes to your diet and any medical issues that you may have. To schedule an appointment, simply call the phone number listed and schedule an initial 15 minute or half hour appointment.

The following three doctors are located in California, New York and Massachusetts respectively—and will gladly schedule telephone consultations, regardless of where you may reside in the world. When you speak with the receptionist, you can verify the fee and will need to provide a credit card for payment—around $100 for up to one half hour. And please be sure to tell them that J. Morris Hicks sent you.

Michael Klaper, M.D.

Michael Klaper, MD

Michael Klaper, MD

Dr. Michael Klaper graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. He served his medical internship at Vancouver General Hospital in British Columbia, Canada and undertook additional training in surgery, anesthesiology, orthopedics and obstetrics at the University of California Hospitals in San Francisco.

As Dr. Klaper’s medical career progressed, he began to realize that many of the diseases his patients brought to his office were made worse, or actually caused, by the high-fat, overly processed Standard American Diet (SAD). As such, he believes strongly that proper nutrition and a balanced lifestyle are essential for health and, in many cases, make the difference between healing an illness and merely treating the symptoms.

In addition to his work at True North and his own private practice, Dr. Klaper is also on the staff of the McDougall Health Center; also in Santa Rosa.

My blog about Dr. Klaper. A no-nonsense medical doctor—that simply heals people

Marne O’Shae, M.D.

  • Phone for appointment: 607-273-5551
  • Physical Address: 402 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
  • Email address:
  • Website at MarneOshae.com
Marne O'Shae, MD

Marne O’Shae, MD

Dr. O’Shae seeks to integrate evidence based medicine from both the allopathic fields and the many diverse alternative therapies now available, to provide comprehensive care to patients from birth to end of life.

She grew up in a suburb of Buffalo. Attended SUNY Buffalo undergraduate. Graduated from Upstate Medical University. Residency in Burlington Vermont in Family Medicine. Moved to Ithaca in 2003 to open a private practice.

I have spoken at length with Dr. O’Shae and feel very comfortable in referring her to my readers. She knows Dr. T. Colin Campbell and his family personally and is also recommended on the Campbell foundation’s website.

Mona Sigal, M.D.

As a Board certified emergency physician and former Chief of Emergency Services at North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Massachusetts, she “has seen it all.” Founded Nourish Health with Food For Life, after deciding to switch careers 5 years ago. As she says, primarily what she has seen is that almost ALL diseases can be attributed to nutrition and lifestyle.

Dr. Sigal holds certificates in plant based nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Foundation at Cornell University and from the Wellness Forum Institute. Currently, she is studying towards a Masters in Public Health in Nutrition at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In her own words:

Unfortunately, nothing in my medical education has ever prepared me for this – or any of my colleagues for that matter. Everything I learned, I had to discover for myself. And the more I learned, the more astonished I became: the information is all out there. The scientific data is all out there, and growing every day. And yet: both the public at large as well as the health care providers remain uneducated and uninformed. I am deeply committed to change that.

I have met with Dr. Sigal and spoken with her many times. In addition to her own private practice, she is an instructor for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Mona Sigal logo

686Permanent Page. Once again, the contents of this blog now comprise a permanent page on this website. Just look for the “MD Help” tab just below the middle of the banner.

As more doctors are added, this page will be updated. If you have any questions, please contact J. Morris Hicks at 917-399-9700 or email me at jmorrishicks@me.com. —This is my 686th consecutive daily blog—

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic 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.

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

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

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at 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.

Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

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

Posted in M.D.s---Health-Promoting | Tagged | 3 Comments

Pesticides are “Obesogenic”— New word from Mark Bittman

Posted on 12/21/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

NY Times Logo

Did you know that exposure to pesticides in pregnant women may increase the tendency that their children will be obese? That’s what Mark Bittman had to say about their obesogenic qualities. From his 12-11-12 article (See link below):

This reminded me of recently disclosed evidence showing that pesticide exposure in pregnant women may be obesogenic — that is, it may cause their children to tend to become obese. The mechanism for this is beginning to be understood, and it’s not entirely shocking, because many pesticides have been shown to be endocrine disruptors, changing gene expression patterns and causing unforeseen harm to health.

If our adults don't care about themselves, maybe they will care about what is happening to their children.

So pesticides in a pregnant woman’s diet may be “obesogenic,” causing her children to be obese.

In his article, Mr. Bittman provides a great deal of information about pesticides and their ever-increasing use in agriculture around the world. He talks about genetically modified seeds that produce corn and other grains that are resistant to spraying; hence opening the door for more spraying than ever.

He also talks about the “dirty dozen” list of fruits or vegetables containing the highest pesticide residue and the “clean fifteen” with the least. But not once does he mention the simple fact that—our greatest source of pesticide in our diets is in the meat & dairy that we eat.

Holiday SALE! Our book in Kindle Format is only $1.99 on Amazon (regular $9.99) Healthy Eating, Healthy World

Mark Bittman is clear about what he enjoys eating. But he is consistently confusing when it comes to helping his readers learn about healthy eating.

Very knowledgeable but consistently confusing

The article probably leaves most readers thinking about avoiding those “dirty dozen” plant foods but thinking nothing about reducing the #1 driver of pesticides in our diet. Like so many of Mark’s articles, he presents more food-related data than any other journalist but always seems to come up short in providing clarity regarding what the reader should do with that information.

How about this factoid for clarity on the topic of pesticides in our food? In Chapter 9 of our book, Healthy Eating, Healthy World, we presented well-documented facts regarding the origin of toxic chemical residues in the American diet:

Almost all, 95% to 99%, comes from meat, fish, dairy products and eggs.”

Published by BenBella -- October 2011

Looking for CLARITY? This book is for you.

So why didn’t Mark tell us this part? Is it because of his newspaper’s ties to the industries that produce all of that meat, fish, dairy products and eggs? It’s got to be something like that because I know that this great journalist knows more about the damaging consequences of our food choices than almost any other human.

Just so you know, I am a big fan of Mark Bittman—I read all of his stuff, I quoted him frequently in our book and his work has inspired dozens (See several below) of my 685 consecutive daily blogs.

I just wish that he would fully utilize his New York Times global platform to provide clear and consistent information regarding the link between our food choices—and our health, our environment, and the long-term sustainability of the human race.

Consecutive daily blogs.

Consecutive daily blogs.

Happy Holidays! Everyday is a shopping day on Amazon. Want to give the gift of health this year? This may be the answer to your shopping dilemma:

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic 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.

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

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

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at 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.

Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

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

Posted in Food Contamination, Genetically Modified (GMO) | Leave a comment

Chris Christie featured on Letterman’s Top Ten List

Posted on 12/20/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

Holiday SALE! Our book in Kindle Format is only $1.99 on Amazon (regular $9.99) Healthy Eating, Healthy World

Since W retired, Sarah Palin drifted out of the spotlight and Mitt Romney quit campaigning—David Letterman has relied on the rotund governor of New Jersey for more jokes than ever. And the best I have ever seen was the “Top ten signs you’re too heavy to be president.”

The newly released national health rankings showed that the state of New Jersey jumped higher in the overall rankings than any other state. They jumped from the 17th healthiest state to the 8th healthiest—leapfrogging over nine states.

But guess what? NJ’s rates of diabetes and obesity both went up.

In other words, they didn’t improve at all; they just got worse more slowly than those other nine states. Obesity jumped in one year from 23.9% to 24.8% of the adult population. This is up from just under 10% in 1990.

That computes to a 250% increase in just 22 years.

Meanwhile, Governor Chris Christie is doing his part to keep those obesity levels rising in the Garden State. So much so, that he was featured last week on Letterman’s Top Ten List—with all the humor driven by his ample girth. So for your comic relief moment of the day, take it away Governor Christie….

Top Ten Signs You’re Too Heavy To Be President

Christie Face

10. Added two more engines to Air Force One – son of a bitch still won’t take off

9. At fundraising dinners, can’t stop eating long enough to give speech

8. Even Dick Cheney is worried about your health

7. Your lapel pin is a full-sized American flag

6. 1600 would be your street address as well as your weight

5. At Thanksgiving, you would never agree to pardon a turkey

4. Willing to “reach across the aisle,” but can’t fit down the aisle

3. When someone mentions Abraham Lincoln, all you hear is “ham”

2. While you campaign in Iowa, your ass is campaigning in Wisconsin

1. Barbara Walters has to ask, “Are you too fat to be president?”

The Bottom Line. We’re never going to solve our nation’s health and obesity crises until we have top leaders leading the change—beginning with their own personal examples. Take a look at my two earlier blogs on this subject—you’ll see that Governor Christie is not our only morbidly obese prominent leader.

Consecutive daily blogs

Consecutive daily blogs

Particularly check out #3 below; it features arguably the three most prominent health care leaders in America. And you guessed it—they’re all obese. #2 blog is all about those new state-by-state health rankings. #4, 5 and 6 are a few of my other blogs that contain a little comic relief.

This just in, Monday night on Letterman, they had one more reason why someone like Governor Christie might think he’s gotten way too fat. People have started trying to put tokens in his nose because they think he’s a bus.

  1. My earlier blog on the health rankings. National Health Rankings: More bad news
  2. Related blog HBO Obesity Special: How important is the messenger?
  3. Meet more rotund leaders. Meet the “Big Three” Generals—in the War on Obesity
  4. Jon Stewart on the Queen, “Sixty years on the throne?”
  5. Diabetes; made in America — or iPhone 5; made in China?
  6. It’s time for a little levity on a Sunday morning

The man that could very well be our next Republican President

Christie Flag

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic 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.

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

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

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at 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.

Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

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

Posted in Celebrities, Humor, Obesity | 6 Comments