Organic farm

NATURAL BALANCE: John Robbins at the Food Revolution Summit

Last updated: November 8th, 2018

We make people happy,” was the slogan of ice cream giant Baskin Robbins’ ad campaign decades ago. It proved successful, enthusing co-founder Irv Robbins. His teenage son John, however, couldn’t digest the gimmicky slogan as easily. He protested that Baskin Robbins didn’t really make people happy, that happiness couldn’t be so simply bought in a cone of ice cream. The frustrated father charged John with being a philosopher when all they were trying to do was sell ice cream.

It became clear to John that the multibillion dollar company that his father was priming him to inherit wasn’t his thing. Sometime after the ad campaign disagreement, Irv’s brother-in-law and business partner Burt Baskin died of a heart attack at the age of 54. To John, the possible relation of this to Burt’s unhealthy lifestyle was unavoidable and the incident played a significant role in his decision to refuse the readily available fortune of the Baskin Robbins empire. He didn’t want to contribute to a business that thrived on promoting unhealthy choices.

Instead, he pursued and worked to advocate a simpler and wholistic way of life with his wife Deo and son Ocean. He went on to author several books, including his first, the 1987 international bestseller Diet for a New America, which helped bring the natural foods industry into the mainstream. While John grew up with a workaholic father eating the typical American fast food diet, Ocean amusingly recalls being brought up by parents that grew their own food, did yoga, meditated and called their son Ocean!

This May, John joined Ocean to embark on a revolution—a food revolution. They interviewed 23 experts—scientists, doctors and nutritionists—to bring the knowledge and rousing inspiration needed to fuel this revolution that demands a human existence that’s more in tune with nature. The Food Revolution Summit broadcast these interviews online over a period of nine days for an audience of more than 30,000 people from over a hundred countries.

The 24th interview was with John Robbins himself, interviewed by his son. He talked about events that moved him to choose the path that he did and highlighted the recurring concerns throughout the summit, what future actions require and where the hope lies.

Two opposing forces are at war in our world, he says. On one side, biotech mammoths like Monsanto, agrochemical companies, McDonalds and industrial agricultural actors are profiting from a vicious food system that’s harmful to the health of humans, animals and the environment. Opposing them are people who want fresh, nutritious, organic, locally grown, non-toxic, non-GMO and environmentally sustainable food. And this force is growing. The former group’s interests are in safeguarding the present food system, while the latter want fundamental change. If there’s going to be change, this group needs to be bigger and louder to respond to the opposing forces. And for that, awareness is key. An educated and strong collective of people is what gives the revolution meaning and momentum.

Listening to Robbins, there’s a sense of pure joy in the way he speaks about and lives his life. He loves food, but his diet is simple and devoid of much processed foods. He gets more pleasure out of eating simple, nutritious foods than eating foods saturated with chemicals and empty ingredients because he feels more present and centred in his body and connected to his senses. “When you’re healthy and when you’re living a life that’s true to your essential spirit, when you’re honouring the life force as it expresses uniquely in yourself, then the pleasures of life are fulfilling and rich,” he says. He also talks about shopping at his local farmer’s market every week as an experience second best to growing one’s own food. By buying directly from the grower, he says, we’re able to engage with and form a connection to the farmer and the land as opposed to being distant from the sources when we shop at supermarkets. His attitude is contagious and his way of life has a semblance of peace and contentment.

Robbins advocates changing our ways and reducing our footprint, a way of life that many would see as being at odds with “the good life.” “We’re doing something that’s out of balance with our own greatness, our own beauty, our own love, our own capacity to be human in a way on this Earth that is respectful to ourselves, each other and the whole planetary biosystem,” he says. By changing our ways of life, we’re not compromising our standards, but reinstating the natural balance. We’re bringing our values back into alignment with the natural order.

Eating and living healthy needn’t be a statement of activism. It comes naturally to us. It’s not about counting calories and toiling to abstain from foods we love. Our bodies like foods that provide it with energy and nutrition so we can function and think well. And we like what our bodies like. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be stressful. It’s about eating as naturally as possible and in moderation. As Robbins exemplifies, food should be enjoyed. And we can get the most pleasure and satisfaction when it’s natural and untainted by chemicals because that’s what’s most compatible with the body and most enriching to the mind and soul. Robbins points out a long list of benefits of a wholistic diet and lifestyle: “Greater health; greater vitality; less disease; stronger immune system; stronger respiratory system; stronger cardiovascular system; longer life; more joy; more sensuality; more pleasure; and a greater capacity to respond creatively to life’s challenges with resilience, with resourcefulness, rather than with resignation and passivity.” What we put into our bodies does impact how we think, feel and behave and eating that which nature provides for us is what really brings us into our true element.

You can still participate in and listen to the twenty-four interviews conducted for the Food Revolution Summit by visit the official website: http://www.foodrevolution.org/

image: vintage organic farm via Shutterstock