Renee and I have been tooting the horn for the Esselstyn Foundation for over 10 years now.
Not long ago I was telling my friend Cuyler about the power of food. How it makes you feel, the connections it creates to the rest of the world. This email today from the Esselstyn Foundation says it all.
Food is life. For you, for the world.
###
The Esselstyn Foundation has been working tirelessly for almost a decade trying to get the good word out about WFPB (whole food plant based) nutrition to anyone who will listen. As most of you know, EF provides all of its programming to partnering non-profits and community organizations for free, something that all of you have helped to make possible. For that, we are so, so grateful.
Our mission has been and continues to be to prevent and reverse lifestyle-related diseases through the promotion of whole food, plant-based nutrition. As Dr. E reminds us, “I want everyone to become empowered as the locus of control for their own health.”
But, we also have a bit of a hidden agenda that we need to come clean about with you all.
To us, transitioning to WFPB nutrition is about more than each of you living longer, healthier lives. Of course, we want as many people as possible to extend their time on this earth and live vibrant, engaged, and active lives.
However…
If you think going WFPB is solely about you living longer, we have failed. Our hidden agenda is much broader.
We want you to transform your worldview and the way you move through this world.
To us, when someone starts to change what is on their plate and the way they nourish themselves day to day, it is our hope that a lot more changes. That is, we pray that people who adopt a plant-based diet not only transform their health, but they also:
Begin to consider the impact of their daily choices on their local communities, the world, all living things, and the planet
Start to move through the world with a bit more of a sense of how each of us can broadly reduce suffering and disease
Open their minds up to the idea of interdependence and shared values of health and longevity vs division, competition, and polarization
Transition more towards a mindset of “paying it forward” vs “me first”
Embrace sensible self-denial as a better way to live
Treat others as they would like to be treated
Invest more time in sharing a healthy meal with friends, neighbors, and family
Adopt an abundance mindset instead of one focused on scarcity and the hoarding of resources
It is this simple: change what’s on your plate, transform your life, and change the world.
We have come to staunchly believe that when each of us approaches every meal as an intentional act of goodness and a celebration of health and life, it begins to change the way we think. Perhaps each meal becomes chance to re-engage with our core values. Or, maybe once we start to treat ourselves and our bodies with empathy and love (by focusing only on what nourishes us instead of what injures), we begins to want to spread that positiveness elsewhere.
To put this in perspective, consider these comparisons. Going WFPB for only yourself so you can maximize your first-world life is sort of like when tech-bros in Silicon Valley use psychedelic mushrooms to become more productive creating the next online gambling app. Or, it’s similar to someone getting really into yoga so that they can have the beach body they want to be able to show off to the world. And, going WFPB to just live longer could be compared to televangelists using religion as a way to become super wealthy.
In other words, these folks are missing the whole point by turning self-improvement and spiritual growth opportunities into a narcissistic, self-serving, and spiritually- empty endeavors.
It’s not just about you.
Remember: When Dr. E and Ann discovered plant-based back in the 1980s, they could have easily kept it to themselves and focused only on their own health and that of their loved ones. Instead, they took what they learned and helped to turn WFPB nutrition into a worldwide revolution. Even now at the age of 91 Dr. E takes phone calls from desperately sick people in need of guidance every day of the week…and charges them nothing.
Change what’s on your plate…change your life and the world.
Be well. Stay in touch. Keep spreading your light and love.
###
tty next time,
