The J. Morris Hicks Health & Weight-loss Coaching Program Leveraging the Power of Plant-Based Nutrition to Help You Take Charge of Your Health Handout # 1 -- The Basics Harmony Earth: My own health promotion website at www.harmonyearth.net. This site contains many of my own articles, success stories, recommended books and helpful links. I would suggest starting with the Learning the Truth link for a summary of my own journey. In addition to the main article, there is a list of other articles under my picture. You may find some of these helpful as you begin your own journey. Three Leg Stool of Health. While my program is primarily about food, I am a big believer that true, vibrant health can only be achieved by addressing three key areas. Those are food, exercise and mental. As for exercise, I will always encourage everyone to get into the habit of lots of physical exercise. As for the mental piece, I am basically talking about the motivation, the spiritual, the desire, the entire psychological element of what motivates us to do things. That motivation and commitment is a huge part of what we’re talking about here. Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Author of The China Study. My friend and colleague is Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and is the creator of the Certificate Course in Plant-Based Nutrition that is offered online through eCornell and the T. Colin Campbell Foundation. I encourage you to visit that foundation website at www.tcolincampbell.org. You will find a wide variety of helpful information, videos, etc. I completed his course in 2009 and also attended one of Dr. Campbell’s lectures on the Cornell campus at Ithaca, New York this past November. The Optimal Diet. We will be talking a lot about this topic in the months ahead. As Dr. Campbell says, “The closer we get to eating a whole foods, plant-based diet, the better off we’ll be.” He’s suggesting that optimal would be 100% whole plants just like our gorilla cousins in the wild. You will find differing points of view from the material you will study during this program and you will ultimately draw your own conclusions…just as I have. For me, I have decided that at least 80% of my calories from whole plant foods is where I try to be. Considering that the average American gets only 5% of their calories from these nutritious foods, we’re talking about a very serious commitment to get to 80%. Not Vegan or Vegetarian. I don’t particularly care for these two words. Why?  Because they have many negative connotations for lots of folks and they only convey information about what you don’t eat. I prefer to focus on what I DO eat. It is my strong belief that the vast majority of the so-called vegetarians out there eat a very unhealthy diet. After all, one could eat nothing but potato chips and Diet Coke and call themselves a vegan. Please contact me anytime; I am very interested in helping you anyway that I can. Warm regards, Jim Hicks J. Morris (Jim) Hicks - Founder & CEO - Harmony Earth PO Box 823, Stonington, CT 06378 james@harmonyearth.net www.harmonyearth.net Office 860-535-2212 - Cell 917-399-9700