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For What It's Worth - Some of This May Help

I am not a medical doctor, a biochemist, a scientist or a dietician. But I have learned the Truth About Nutrition, have made lots of improvement in my diet and have learned some things along the way that might make things easier for you. Many friends and members of my family have benefited from my experience; maybe you will too.

1. Motivation for Change. It has been proven thousands of times that diets to lose weight simply DO NOT WORK. They are typically based on portion control, carbohydrate restriction, or counting calories and are not sustainable over the long haul. When someone says that they are interested in eating better so they can lose weight, my advice is to not make any dietary changes until they learn the truth about nutrition. I would rather see one person make aggressive dietary changes after learning the "truth about nutrition" than see twenty people skip the education process and quickly start trying to adopt "my diet" without understanding the big picture. I feel strongly that the motivation for change must be based on a solid understanding of nutrition and the effect it has on health, prevention of disease, and a host of other things that contribute to a quality lifestyle. I recommend that you take a few hours to read everything on this site and then order (from Amazon) at least one of the books listed in the BOOKS section.

2. Baby Steps? Not a good idea in my opinion. The natural food for humans is whole, unrefined, plant-based foods. On average, this type of food accounts for only about five percent of the total calories in the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.). As you learn the truth about nutrition, you will understand why going from 5% good food to 15 or 20% is just not going to get the job done. So, I do not recommend baby steps because I think the idea of making gradual changes leads to complacency and ultimate failure. My advice is to keep reading and studying until you are feeling motivated to make some drastic changes in your diet for at least one month. Although you may experience some discomfort during that first month as your body adjusts to this new way of eating, you will undoubtedly notice some very positive changes in your body and hopefully will be motivated to keep going with gusto after that first month.  For more on this topic, read my Gradual or Fast Change article, listed third in the left column.

3. Maximizing Nutrients Per Calorie. Dr. Fuhrman emphasizes the importance of maximizing the nutritional density of everything you eat. He says it's all about what you DO EAT instead of just concentrating on what you DON'T EAT as many vegetarians do. Hence, I no longer refer to myself as a vegetarian or as a vegan for three reasons:

I don't like labels and the connotations that go with them
It doesn't really describe my diet
I occasionally have cheese, meat or seafood in small quantities

I describe my diet as consisting predominantly of whole, unrefined plant-based foods; with an emphasis on maximizing the nutrients per calorie. If I eat 20 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables in a week, I don't get stressed out if I have a cookie or a piece of cheese on a cracker occasionally. Here is an abbreviated summary of Dr. Fuhrman's nutrient density scoring system. On a scale of 100, with whole, un-refined, plant-based foods listed in green:

100 Green leafy vegetables like spinach, Swiss chard, parsley, kale, collard greens
97   Other green vegetables like asparagus, broccoli, cucumber, zucchini, & okra
50   Non-green starchy vegetables like mushrooms, onions, beets...
48   Beans and legumes
45   Fresh fruits of all kinds
35   Starchy Vegetables like potatoes, butternut squash, carrots...
22   Whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, oats...
20   Raw nuts & seeds
15   Fish
13   Fat Free dairy
11   Wild meats and foul
11   Eggs
8    Red meat
4    Full fat dairy
3    Cheese
2    Refined grains like white flour
1    Refined oils
0    Refined sweets

In summary he says "It's all about eating an abundance of greens, beans, fresh fruits, nuts, and seeds". He stresses variety and trying to get most of your calories from the green categories above. In the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.), 95% of the calories come from the red categories; hence our obesity epidemic along with out of control health care costs. My average score on the above is probably about 50 compared to the average American's score of less than 5. Further, some 95% of my calories come from the green foods above.

4. Feeling Hungry. When I replaced my bacon and eggs with fresh fruit in the morning, I quickly found that I was hungry within an hour or so after eating a fairly big bowl of fruit. It was the same story after a lunch consisting of a salad and lots of steamed vegetables. You see, these types of high water content fruits and vegetables are processed very quickly in the stomach and move on down to the intestine within a very short time after eating them...leaving us with an empty stomach. What to do? If you're near a kitchen for most of your day, you can simply graze on healthy mini-meals throughout the day. But, for most of us, this simply doesn't work within our hectic schedules. After a few years of experimenting, I have found that the following routine works for me: big bowl of fruit at 7 AM, hot oatmeal with lots of fruit on top at 10 AM, lunch of salad, veggies, & brown rice/beans at 1:30 PM, and a dinner similar to lunch at 7PM. I find that the oatmeal, the brown rice and the beans provide me with the fiber, calories and bulk to keep me going throughout the day. Occasionally I snack on fresh vegetable juice, raw nuts and raisins. I hardly ever feel hungry and I have never enjoyed eating more than I do now.

5. Fasting for Health. Dr. Joel Fuhrman's very first book, Fasting and Eating for Health, explains clearly how the human body is equipped to heal itself of most diseases. He tells his own very moving personal story in the book's introduction about how he was able to overcome severe leg injury through fasting and then went on to earn a third place in the World Professional Figure Skating Championships. This, after having been told by his orthopedic surgeon that he would never walk again if he rejected his proposed experimental surgery. While undergoing a 46-day supervised fast in Texas, he observed many patients being healed through the power of fasting. He saw asthmatics cured so they no longer needed medication. He met colitis patients with bleeding bowels who recovered without drugs or surgery. He observed people with chest pain who had been told they needed bypass surgery. They were riding bicycles and jogging for the first time in years. The young man saw for himself how the body could heal itself if the causes of disease were removed.

So far, I have done one three-day fast...but only after eating a superior diet for almost three years. I believe that fasting is a very powerful tool but that it works best in conjunction with a superior diet. Now that I have experienced what fasting is all about, I have total confidence that I could survive very nicely for two weeks on nothing but pure water. While the first two days of my fast were tough, the third day was a breeze and left me feeling cleaner than ever before in my life. My plan is to do a short to medium (3 to 7 days) fast at least once a year. My advice is to work on first establishing an optimal diet with a high nutrient per calorie density, then, if you are interested in fasting, I recommend that you start out by reading Dr. Fuhrman's book.

6. Colon Health. When I first started to learn about natural hygiene a few years ago, I strongly considered signing up for a series of colonic irrigations to remove the residues of over 50 years of an inadequate diet. But then I noticed that my body started taking care of that chore on its own...once I shifted to a health-promoting diet. Lots of heavy black "stuff" came out during that first year but hardly any since. I simply let my body take care of the colon cleansing the old fashioned way and spared myself the inconvenience and expense of colonic irrigations. My guess is that most colonic irrigations are performed on people who consume an unhealthy diet and rely on the irrigations to keep their colons clean. Whenever possible, I like to give the body what it needs and let Mother Nature take care of the rest.

Much has been written about how our intestines are supposed to operate, but they only operate as designed if given the proper fuel. For Americans in particular, this is a big problem because our typical diet has very little nutrients and a woefully inadequate amount of fiber. The so-called experts recommend that we get some 21 grams of fiber per day, the S.A.D. provides about 5 grams. My current diet consisting of some 80% of the total calories from whole, unrefined, plant-based foods provides my body with between 60 and 100 grams of fiber per day. Now that I have learned how to promote colon health the easy way, I feel no need for colonic irrigations nor do I ever expect to subject my body to a single colonoscopy. You see, our whole system of medicine is built on testing followed by drugs, surgery and chemo. By shifting to a health promoting diet, one that protects against cancer & heart disease, we can remove ourselves from "the medical business" and concentrate on taking care of our own bodies.

7. Coffee & Alcohol. Back when I was first learning the truth about nutrition, I was talking to a friend about my desire to reduce my intake of coffee and alcohol. At the time, I was consuming four or five cups of coffee every day and always looked forward to a few scotches every night. My friend told me that he had found that if one consumes less caffeine in the morning, that the desire for alcohol in the evening is lessened. I decided to give it a try and started substituting herbal tea for coffee five days a week. Although I suffered some expected withdrawal symptoms from the coffee at first, I quickly noticed that I had much less craving for alcohol in the evening...and was able to eliminate alcohol totally several days a week. I still drink coffee on weekends but find that by making coffee a rare treat, I can now enjoy that single cup much more. Bottom line: I reduced my coffee intake by 80%, enjoy drinking coffee more than before and was able to reduce my alcohol consumption.

8.  Flu Shots. Here's what Dr. Fuhrman says about them.  "I do not recommend flu shots for normal healthy infants and I do not recommend flu shots for normal healthy people either." Dr. Fuhrman's entire program is about promoting health through nutritional excellence. This process serves to strengthen the immune system such that flu shots are not recommended.

9.  Using This Site.  If for some reason, you started with this FREE ADVICE page, I now offer the following suggestions for using this site:

Simply work your way through the entire site following the above links from left to right.
Begin with LEARNING THE TRUTH which is about a twenty-minute read of the highlights of my journey to learn the truth about nutrition.
Then read more of my simplified "big picture" articles in the left column of the LEARNING THE TRUTH section.
Next, I recommend that you read all of the articles posted on the HEALTH page.
Now it's time to discover that, in addition to superior health, there are lots of other reasons for a whole, unrefined plant-based diet.  On the ECOLOGY page, you will find some very compelling information about what our way of eating is doing to our delicate environment.
After a couple of hours of reading all of the above, I hope you will be interested enough to visit the BOOKS page and order a few of them from Amazon.  For you to be able to truly learn and believe the truth about nutrition, you will need to read about it from more than one source.  This education is essential for developing a conviction about this crucially important topic.  I believe that without conviction, you will not likely make very much progress; as there are just too damn many roadblocks out there.
The next to last link contains success stories about people who have benefited from drastic positive changes in their diets.

10.  Answering the Inevitable Questions.  If, after reading everything on this site, you have decided to join the Eat to Live Army; you will soon have friends and family asking you two questions:

Why are you eating this way?
Where do you get your protein?

So you may want to be prepared for them and come up with answers that will be diplomatic in any situation.  Whenever I am in a particularly friendly group, here is the way I answer the first question about why I am eating this way:  I just say "People move to a whole, plant-based diet for many reasons; for me I chose to eat this way so that I could optimize my sexual performance."  Typically they are so shocked by my answer that they completely forget to ask their second question...which is fine with me.

11. Thirty Minutes to Live...If you've made it this far, you are probably ready to read my summary of what I would tell my loved ones if I had just 30 minutes to live.  Here's where I tell it all and I don't pull any punches.  From curing heart disease to saving the world, this is what I would call MY BIG PICTURE in 30 minutes or less. Click Here to view the article, which may very well turn into one of my speeches before too long.

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Jim Hicks is a graduate on Auburn University in Industrial Engineering and holds an MBA from the University of Hawaii.  He is a former officer in the U.S. Coast Guard and has held senior executive positions in prominent companies like Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation and Nautica Enterprises.  He founded the Ansley Consulting Group, an executive search firm in 1999 and is still active in that business today.  With a strong business background in managing change and process improvement, he is seeking a way to leverage that knowledge with his newfound knowledge about the power of nutrition. (Complete Bio)

Eating for Health and Ecology on Planet Earth