Congratulations Mr. President. Now you have time to fix ObamaCare!

Posted on 11/10/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

And the solution is right under your nose—it’s the FOOD!

Think about the future family of your beautiful daughters when you establish your priorities for your second term as our president.

Dear President Obama,

Congratulations on winning your second term. I concluded long ago that it would take a second-term president to make any serious headway in replacing our toxic western diet with one that actually promotes health.

If you’d tried to do that in your first term, you would’ve never been elected for a second term. But if you don’t do it now, our only chance for any kind of serious leadership from 1600 Pennsylvania avenue is about eight years away—from the next president who may win a second term.

Why is that? It’s because there is simply too much money and special interests riding on maintaining the status quo. But, you’re an honest man who doesn’t have to worry anymore about those special interests who wish to keep our healthcare, food and pharmaceutical industries just the way they are.

It is inevitable that all of those industries will change dramatically in the next fifty or sixty years, but with strong leadership from the White House, significant progress could be made in less than ten years. Not only can we save $2 trillion on heath care, but we can show the world how to curb global warming, end world hunger, reduce our carbon footprint and end the needless suffering of billions of food animals per week.

Michelle Obama seems to have the ear of the former president in this picture; just think what they could accomplish if they teamed up to tell the world the truth about nutrition.

Everyone applauds the work that Michelle has been doing with her vegetable garden, Walmart and the school lunch programs. But she is coming up way short when it comes to telling everyone EXACTLY what they should be eating to accomplish the goals outlined in the previous paragraph.

Your good friend, former President Clinton, knows all about what we should be eating, but apparently he’s not yet connected the dots when it comes to all of the other global issues that are driven by our food choices.

A little background. Last year, I published several blogs on this topic, but didn’t address any of them to you. That’s because I knew that you—just like every other first term president in history—would be spending much of his time trying to get re-elected. Unfortunately, that’s the way our system works, and that’s why you need to seize the moment NOW. Eight years from now may be too late. Too late for our nation’s bank account, too late for the planet, and too late for preserving the longterm sustainability of the human race.

I know that you care deeply about Sasha and Malia and all of their future children and grandchildren? And because of them, I urge you to make it your business to learn the “big picture” about food and how critical it is for the future of life on this planet as we know it. After you get a grasp of that big picture, you will know what you need to do. And I have confidence that as a man of great principle, you will deliver.

The Bottom Line. As you know, there is no more powerful office in the world than the one you occupy. You have the ability to influence more change in the world than any other person. As you begin to promote that urgent change, other world leaders will follow suit. I know that you have a lot on your plate right now, but just like in a business, it’s all about priorities. And what could be more important than the longterm sustainability of the human race?

One final point—if you focus on promoting health, the concerns about ObamaCare will shrink to insignificance.

The “Fabulous Five”: Al Davis, Bob Nash, Dwight Holiday,
John Penebacker and Jerome Freeman. While serving as a USCG officer at Base Honolulu, I attended almost all of their home games. I bet you did too.

From your fellow University of Hawaii basketball fan during their great 1970-71 season—Aloha and best wishes for your second term in office.

If you’d like help with that “big picture,” you can begin by reviewing a few of my previous 643 consecutive daily blogs. Then, give me a call, and I will be happy to ride Amtrak down to Washington from my seaside home in southeastern Connecticut.

Best wishes, J. Morris Hicks (917-399-9700 or jmorrishicks@me.com)

PS: Here are a few of those blogs you might wish to start with:

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 Activism & Leadership, Celebrities | 11 Comments

Atkins, Dukan, Paleo. Appealing to our nation’s bad eating habits.

Posted on 11/09/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

McDougall pleas for unity against the common enemy in the “Diet Wars”

At his September 2012 Advanced Study Weekend in Santa Rosa, CA—Dr. John McDougall wrapped up with a lecture entitled “The Diet Wars.” For your convenience, that one-hour lecture can be viewed at the end of this blog. But first, I would like to tell you about it.

Dr. Robert Atkins, showing off his vast array of “high protein” meat & dairy along with a few fruits and vegetables.

Beginning with pictures of Dr. Robert Atkins and Nathan Pritikin, Dr. McDougall described the origin of “the diet wars.” Atkins, of course, is the name most associated with the high protein–low carb diet and Pritikin was one of our nation’s earliest proponents of a mostly plant-based diet.

He then talked a great deal about the latest “low carb” sensation, the Paleo Diet. And for the next 40 minutes, Dr. McDougall did what he has been doing well for about forty years—he proved without a doubt that humans were designed to eat plant-based foods.

Plea for unity. But the primary point of the entire lecture was an appeal to all of the many proponents of plant-based eating to stop bickering among themselves over insignificant differences—and to join forces against the common enemy—the many popular low carb, meat-based diets that never seem to go away. First it was Atkins, then South Beach, then Dukan, and after a plethora of others, we now have the Paleo Diet.

Nathan Pritikin

As for the many proponents of plant-based eating, he mentioned 15 or 20 people, most of whom had participated in one or more of his weekend retreats in California. Among them were Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Pam Popper, Dr. Joel Furhman, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, and Rip Esselstyn…to name just a few. Toward the end of his lecture, he was imploring all of them to set aside their minor differences and focus instead on the more important things on which they all agree.

The common ground of nutritional wisdom. After researching the “optimal diet for humans” since 2002, I reached the exact same conclusion as Dr. McDougall several years ago. And it was that common ground story that we highlighted in Chapter One of our book. The title of that chapter is, “What should we be eating?” In order to answer that question, I focused on one statement by Dr. T. Colin Campbell—a simple statement that tells it all:

“The closer we get to eating a diet of whole, plant-based foods, the better off we will be.”

What could be simpler? The first time I heard that statement over Colin’s breakfast table a few years ago, I knew that it was the simple definition of the optimal diet that I had been seeking. Not a strict “all or nothing” kind of definition, it implies a little “wiggle room” but clearly identifies the ultimate goal.

“Common Ground.” All of the plant-based experts agree with our 4Leaf premise: Get most of your calories from whole, plant-based foods.

With the simplicity and flexibility afforded by this definition, I was confident that I had discovered the “common ground” on which all the plant-based docs would agree.

Dr. McDougall reinforced my conclusion in his “Diet Wars” lecture, saying that we all share much more common ground than disagreements. He added that we should unite, embrace that common ground and work together to share the truth about nutrition with the rest of the world.

He also commented on the sustainability issue when it comes to the many meat-based diets out there. Even if they were best for our health (which they clearly aren’t), the world is simply not big enough for everyone to eat such a horribly wasteful diet.

This revealing 2-minute video features experts from both armies.

Consecutive daily blogs

The Bottom Line. Dr. Campbell’s definition is simple, clear, and powerful. He simply described the ultimate target. It’s then up to all individuals to decide how close they can come to that target on a consistent basis.

In the final analysis, the best diet for each of us is the most superior diet style that we can maintain. We tried to make that easy in the definition of our 4Leaf for Life concept. www.4leafprogram.com

Complete one-hour video of “The Diet Wars” lecture by Dr. McDougall

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, Video Included | Tagged | 3 Comments

Lopsided football score. Healthcare wallops Military 28 to 7

Posted on 11/08/2012 by J. Morris Hicks

Putting our gargantuan cost of healthcare in perspective

A military man himself, Ike warned us about the military-industrial complex when he left the presidency in 1961.

When Dwight Eisenhower left office in 1961, he warned against the growing power of the military-industrial complex. Too bad he didn’t warn against the Pharma-Food-Medicine complex—because the budget for that monster makes the military one seem like child’s play.

In a 11-4-12 Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, it was reported that the United States accounts for about half of ALL military spending in the world—spending over $700 billion. So how does that compare to the feeding bill for our very own “health care monster?”

Our military spending of $700 Billion is a paltry 25% of the $2.8 trillion we’re now spending on healthcare. Consider that when Ike left office in 1960, our cost of healthcare was just 5.2% of the GDP of the United States. It is now a whopping 18% and climbing steadily to a projected 31% by 2035. If only Ike had known about that lurking monster that was far more expensive than the devil he knew. From the article (See link below):

IN 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower left office warning of the growing power of the military-industrial complex in American life. Most people know the term the president popularized, but few remember his argument.

In his farewell address, Eisenhower called for a better equilibrium between military and domestic affairs in our economy, politics and culture. He worried that the defense industry’s search for profits would warp foreign policy and, conversely, that too much state control of the private sector would cause economic stagnation.

The article went on to point out that, unlike healthcare, the cost of the military-industrial monster has actually declined in recent years as a percent of GDP. Further, some of that spending yielded some beneficial non-military benefits: “Defense-related research….has yielded a host of beneficial technologies, from the Internet to civilian nuclear power to GPS navigation.” But here’s the quote got me:

Congress’s favorite argument against reducing defense spending is the job loss such cuts would entail.

Healthcare beats Military by a score of 28-7.

And that’s the same concern that most would have regarding the elimination of the healthcare industry as we know it. I am talking about the elimination of the 70 to 80% that is devoted to “disease care.”

Although no politician would ever admit that he/she wanted us all to remain sick to protect jobs; that’s exactly what they’re thinking.

The Bottom Line. Taming the healthcare monster is at least ten times more difficult than its pesky little brother—military spending. That’s because it involves changing the daily eating habits of over 300 million Americans. And that’s simply not going to happen anytime soon—there is just no way that our politicians can get it done. McGovern couldn’t get it done 35 years ago—and that monster is whole lot meaner and tougher today. (See McGovern link below)

Consecutive Daily Blogs

But what can happen is for the CEOs of the nation’s largest businesses to start aggressively helping ALL of their millions of employees become healthy. We’re talking about bottom line savings of several million dollars a day for some of the larger corporations.

And, as we say down South—“that ain’t chicken feed.” See the third link below for information on EXACTLY how those enlightened CEOs can enjoy those savings—while saving our nation and our way of life on planet Earth.

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 Uncategorized | 3 Comments