i
Welcome
By Ocean Robbins
Thank you for participating in one
of the most important conversa-
tions about our food that has ever
taken place.
Our food system is in crisis. We have a health industry that
consistently acts like food hardly matters. We have a food
industry that consistently acts like health doesn’t matter.
And we have a political system in which junk food is not
only normalized – it’s subsidized.
Big agribusiness has made profits more important than your
health. More important than the environment. And more im-
portant than your right to know how your food is produced.
Large-scale industrialized food production is wreaking havoc
on our forests, topsoil, air, water, and climate. Farm animals
are being treated with unthinkable cruelty. Farm and restau-
rant workers are often exploited. Genetically engineered
“Frankenfoods” are being released, without adequate test-
ing, into the American food supply on a vast scale.
Meanwhile, people are eating more and more artificial food -
and getting fatter and sicker. In fact, more people are chron-
ically ill today than at any time in the history of the world.
You probably already know that large-scale industrial agri-
business is controlling an expanding share of the world’s
food supply. They have huge advertising budgets to market
highly processed, genetically engineered, chemical-lad-
en, pesticide-contaminated pseudo-foods. With all their
lobbyists and political donations, they pretty well run the
show in most of our government regulatory and agricultural
agencies. This is pretty dangerous for our health!
These corporations want to keep your mind closed and your
voice silent. They’d like you, and all the rest of us, to keep
eating foods that are unhealthy, because by eating these
foods, we provide big profits for companies like McDon-
ald’s, Monsanto, and Pepsi. They’d like to keep you sub-
ordinate to their agenda and so distracted that you won’t
raise a peep of protest.
Fortunately, you don’t have to do that.
Now is the time to find out how you and your family can
get informed and take action.
“Food is not just a commodity. It is also a commu-
nity. It’s a web of relationships that connects you
to all of life. What you eat literally becomes you.
When you bring your food choices into integrity
with your values – with what you truly want for
your life and your world – something extraordi-
nary happens. Your life takes on a deeper sense
of meaning. Your thoughts become clearer. Your
world becomes more congruent.”
~ Ocean Robbins
Have you ever been chronically ill? Worried about the
health or survival of a loved one? Would you like to know
how to lose weight, clean up your arteries, or defend your-
self against cancer?
Do you sometimes wish you had more energy, got sick
less often, and felt more confident about what to eat for
optimal health?
For most of us, a good diet is the best gift we can give
to our loved ones and ourselves... because it’s the gift of
lasting health. And it’s not rocket science. Using simple
and easy-to-remember steps, you can dramatically increase
your chances of living a long and vibrant life.
This action guide, and the Food Revolution Summit, are
here to help you bring your food choices into greater align-
ment with the health and the life that you want.
Thanks for joining us in this critically important journey.
Bon appétit.
1
Top Ten Reasons We Need A Food Revolution
1 Our food system is killing us.
In the U.S., more than 2/3 of the population is now
overweight or obese, and heart disease and stroke are killing
more than 700,000 people every year. The National Institutes of
Health reports that in the 1960s less than 2% of America’s kids
had a chronic health condition. Today it’s over 25%. And one in
three American children is expected to get diabetes. All of these
illnesses are directly linked to food and lifestyle choices.
2 It’s bankrupting us.
Three quarters of medical spending in the U.S. today
goes towards managing lifestyle-related chronic illness. Medical
expenses are already the leading cause of bankruptcy for
families, and they’re quickly driving the entire nation towards
fiscal disaster. In fact, the costs of Medicare in the United States
are expected to double in the next generation. Meanwhile, the
federal government in the United States provides tens of billions
of dollars in subsidies for “commodity crops”, like corn, wheat,
and soy, that are in turn processed into high fructose corn syrup,
white flour, and animal feed for factory farms. The very things
that science tells us we should be eating less of are
actually being subsidized by the taxpayer.
3 It’s devastating our planet.
Modern food production practices are depleting our
soil and groundwater, polluting our water and our bodies with
neurotoxic pesticides, endangering pollinators like bees and
butterflies, depleting ecosystems of other important wildlife like
frogs, fish and salamanders, and they’re a driving force behind
climate change.
4 It’s hitting kids and poor people the hardest.
Many low income and inner city communities are
described as “food deserts”, because there is so little access to
fresh vegetables and other healthy foods. People of low income
and people of color have the lowest life expectancy and the
highest rates of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer, and
other lifestyle related chronic illnesses.
5 It’s inhumane.
Farm workers are being exposed to large amounts of
toxic pesticides on the job, and they’re driven to work brutally long
hours for very little compensation. The average life expectancy for
a migrant farm worker in the U.S. is 49 years. In Mexico, conditions
are even worse. And then, there are the animals. Chickens never
see the sunlight and are kept in cages so small they cannot lift a
single wing, mother pigs are forced to spend most of their lives in
gestation crates so small they cannot even turn around, and many
cows never see a blade of grass.
6 It’s destroying our antibiotics.
To keep animals alive under these deplorable condi-
tions, they are fed antibiotics with every dose of feed. In fact,
80% of antibiotics used in the U.S. are fed to livestock, not to
people. If you wanted to breed antibiotic resistant bacteria
you’d be hard pressed to find a more efficient way to do it. We
are already seeing increasing incidences where anti-biotic resist-
ant bacteria in humans can be deadly, and this is why.
7 We can do better.
Less than 10% of Americans eat a healthy diet consist-
ent with federal recommendations. And an estimated 90-95%
of cancer cases and 80% of heart attacks have their roots in
diet and lifestyle. We know how to radically improve the health
outcome for millions of people – and to save trillions of dollars,
and possibly the future of our planet, in the process.
8 The times are changing and young
people are leading the way.
Sales of organic foods have increased over 26-fold in the last
generation, to now exceed 4% of market share. We’ve seen
a three-fold increase in farmer’s markets in the last decade.
Nine U.S. states have now joined the entire European Union in
banning gestational crates for pigs, and Australia’s two largest
supermarket chains now sell only cage-free eggs in their house
brands. Sales of certified non-GMO products have gone from
nothing to $7 billion in sales in the last 4 years. Sales of natural
foods have now grown to be a $100 billion industry. Thankfully,
younger consumers are leading the way, and are far more likely
to stand up for healthier food.
9 Everyone can benefit.
Whether you’re young or old, sick or healthy, wealthy
or poor, you have a stake in your health. And it turns out there’s
serious money to be made in the food revolution. Farmers,
producers, retailers and consumers all have the opportunity
to take part in a massive shift in how we grow, process, eat
and think about food. And to reap the benefits.
10 You can be an everyday food revolutionary.
You don’t have to wait for government or industry to
change. You can lead the way by reclaiming your relationship
with food and making it an expression of your values. If you
want health, and a healthy planet, the invitation is clear. Join
the Food Revolution!
2
Welcome to Food 3.0
Food 1.0 = Survival. If you can get enough calories to survive
another day, that’s success.
Food 2.0 = Commerce. Food 2.0 has brought us an amazing
array of tastes, textures, cuisines and opportunities. But it’s also
brought us a food system in which health suffers. In the United
States, the average citizen now eats more than 150 pounds of
added sugar each year, while less than 5% of the population is
consuming the recommended amount of fiber. The stats are clear.
Toxic food is killing us.
Food 3.0 = Health. In Food 3.0, we make health for people
and for our planet into the central organizing principle of our
food system. There are healthy profits to be made in Food 3.0,
and they’re made from healthy food. Food 3.0 means vastly
lower rates of chronic illness – which saves trillions of dollars
in medical care, and which fuels a healthier and more capable
population.
Food 3.0 means more real, organic, plant-strong, non-GMO,
humane, locally grown, and fair trade food. Here’s why...
Real Food
Decades of food science have resulted in the cheapest, most
abundant, most addictive, and possibly the most nutritionally
inferior food in the world. Modern diets are based around food-
like products that are laced with chemicals, pesticides, hormones,
antibiotics, genetically modified organisms, and stunning amounts
of added sugar. In this context, eating real food is an act of
liberation. When you eat food that comes from plants, instead
of food that is manufactured in plants, your body will thank you
for the rest of your life.
Organic Food
The number of chemicals that are used in the growing and
production of industrial food is alarming. These highly toxic
agrochemicals are increasingly contaminating our bodies and
the environment. The pesticides used in U.S. food production
have been linked to cancer, birth defects, auto-immune diseases,
asthma, autism, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and many other
diseases. Organic food means food grown without poisons. It
helps to protect the environment, save family farms, enhance
biodiversity, protect rural communities, empower workers,
replenish topsoil... and most people also think organically grown
food tastes better.
Plant-Strong Food
Large-scale animal agriculture is causing disastrous health,
humanitarian, and environmental impacts. Eating a whole-foods
plant-strong diet greatly enhances the health of your cardio-
vascular system, strengthens your immune system, and reduces
your risk of cancer and many other illnesses. It also lowers your
environmental footprint and saves a tremendous amount of
greenhouse gas emissions.
Non-GMO Food
The vast majority of corn, soybeans, canola, cotton, and
sugar beets grown in the U.S. are genetically modified (GMOs).
Monsanto and its allies claim that GM crops reduce pesticide use,
increase yields, reduce water consumption, and offer foods that
are more tasty and more nutritious. But in the 20 years since GM
crops first came on the market, studies have found that they have
led to higher pesticide use, and no meaningful improvement in
flavor, nutrition, yield or water consumption. Instead, what
they’ve created are plants that are engineered to withstand
massive dosing of toxic herbicides, and plants that function as
living pesticide factories. Monsanto’s Bt. corn, for example, is
actually registered with the EPA as a pesticide. Many credible
scientists have significant concerns about the safety of these
crops for human and animal consumption. And the environmental
impacts are documented, and alarming.
Humane Food
More animals are being subjected to more torturous conditions
in the production of meat, dairy products and eggs in the world
today than has ever occurred for any reason anywhere in world
history. You don’t have to be a vegetarian or an animal rights
activist to find these conditions appalling, and to want animals
that are raised for food to be treated with respect.
Locally Grown Food
Local fruits and vegetables are fresher, have better flavor,
and more nutrients. Studies have shown that vitamins,
phytochemicals, antioxidants and many other important
nutrients decrease as fresh food ages. Local food supports
your local economy. It has a lower carbon footprint. And it
connects you to your community.
Fair Trade Food
Coffee is the world’s second most valuable traded commodity–
after oil. Chocolate is pretty popular, too. Unfortunately, both
coffee beans and cocoa beans are often picked by people who
are not paid nearly enough to have a decent life, and in some
cases by child slaves. When you buy fair trade certified
products, you help to insure that the people who grew your
food were treated with dignity. And you’re investing in a
healthier global economy.
Food is more than just a commodity. It’s also a community. What
you eat literally becomes you. So why not make your food into an
expression of the life you want, and of the world you want?
Shall we get started?
3
A Food Revolution
with Love:
Ocean Robbins
Interviews his dad
and colleague,
John Robbins
Ocean Robbins: In the Food Revolution Summit, you’ll
get to hear my dad and colleague, John Robbins, inter-
viewing some of the world’s top food experts. That’s a
pretty special experience, considering the fact that my dad
is, himself, one of the world’s leading food revolutionaries.
In fact, he’s the one who literally wrote the book on
The Food Revolution.
You may know a little
of our family story: My
grandfather started
Baskin-Robbins, and
groomed my dad, John
Robbins, to one day
succeed him. My dad
walked away from what
became the world’s
largest ice cream company – and the money it represented
– to follow his own “rocky road”, and devote his life to
advocating for health and sustainability.
Starting with the million-copy Diet for a New America,
my dad’s books became international bestsellers and
helped awaken our society to the possibility of far
more compassionate, healthy, and earth-friendly food. He’s
the recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humani-
tarianism, the Rachel Carson Award, The Peace Abbey’s
Courage of Conscience Award, Green America’s Lifetime
Achievement Award, and numerous other accolades. For
twenty-five years, John Robbins has been challenging
some of the most powerful industries on the planet, and
inspiring millions of people to look at their food and life
choices as an opportunity to get empowered and
make a difference.
So now, I’m going to interview my dad.
Of course, my dad’s been known to turn the tables and
ask me a question or two as well. So here is our lively
conversation. There probably aren’t a lot of fathers and
sons having conversations like this, and I feel lucky to be
one of them. I also feel excited to share the conversation
with you.
John Robbins: Thank you, Ocean. My heart is smiling.
It’s a great privilege to work with you and with so many
other inspiring people all over this planet in standing up for
a food revolution. I love having in depth conversations with
some of the most remarkable leaders our food movement
has produced. And I love working with you, as peers, to
bring critical insights into the world.
Ocean Robbins: Something that always stands out to me
in our Summits is your ability to meet and converse with
such a wide variety of speakers, with very different areas
of expertise. You’ve interviewed a world famous musician
(Paul McCartney), an inner-city farmer (Will Allen), activists
and motivational speakers (like Tony Robbins) and research
scientists and physicians, and you’ve been able to converse
with each of them fluently, and to make it accessible to all
of us who’ve been listening.
Some of our speakers have been remarkably
effective in their work. And I’ve been thinking about
how many of them have endured significant attacks
because of it.
I know that you feel a lot of empathy for what they’re expe-
riencing. In the five years after you published your runaway
best-seller, Diet For A New America, beef consumption
in the US dropped 25%. The factory farming industry was
2
furious. You received death threats and a variety of other
malicious attacks and threats against your work, your
safety, and the safety of our family.
John Robbins: Yes. Some of what happened was funny. I
remember once, I began receiving packets of cow manure
in the mail, with nasty notes from anonymous parties. I
just dumped the manure into our compost pile, where it
became fertilizer for our vegetable garden. But then I
learned that the
magazine Beef To-
day had published
our address along
with an article
attacking me, and
telling its sub-
scribers to send
me manure. The manure was not a problem. But I honestly
didn’t like the idea of our home address being known to
the entire meat industry. I was aware that it just takes one
psychopath with a gun to do tremendous damage.
“But I tried not to allow the threats and attacks to
weaken my resolve. I wanted instead to use them
to reinforce my commitment to exposing the cruel-
ty to animals, and inspiring people to take positive
action for their health.”
I’ve noticed that it’s often when someone can’t mount an
argument against what you’re saying that they will re-
sort to attacking you personally. I try to learn from those
who disagree with me, but when they resort to personal
attacks, they lose my respect. But I won’t hate them. As
Booker T Washington said, “I will permit no man to narrow
and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”
I have no desire to be a martyr. I want to stick around and
be an effective advocate for health and compassion for a
long time. And I will never let them silence me.
Ocean Robbins: When I was growing up, I think you did
a lot to protect me from these threats, because you didn’t
want me to grow up living in fear. And I appreciate that. As
I take it in now though, and as I have my own memories of
what took place, I’m glad we made it through safely.
And I’m glad you’ve never exactly been the kind of person
who’s prone to silence when issues of moral significance are
present. But it’s true that people who are seriously effective
in disturbing the status quo do sometimes incur the ire of
established interests. Most of our listeners are probably
aware of the recent attacks against Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Dr. Oz is of course a popular
television personality. His daily
TV show has been viewed by
hundreds of millions of people
since it was launched in 2009.
But he’s also a prestigious phy-
sician, surgeon, and researcher.
Dr. Oz is a professor at the
Department of Surgery at
Columbia University, and has
been since 2001. He also
directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary
Medicine Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Recently, he’s received a great deal of criticism for promot-
ing products that haven’t been proven to work. And then
in spring of 2015, a group of 10 physicians from across the
United States sent a letter to Columbia University calling
for the University to terminate Dr. Oz’s faculty position.
The letter accused Oz of “an egregious lack of integrity by
promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of
personal financial gain.”
What do you think of these criticisms?
John Robbins: I think Dr. Oz has promoted some dubious
or questionable treatments. But he has never sought or
received personal financial gain from any of them. And I
3
don’t actually believe that this was the actual motivation
behind the spring of 2015 attacks against him.
I think that this attack was in fact inspired by Dr. Oz’s
stance on GMOs. He strongly supports GMO labeling.
Henry I. Miller, the lead author of the letter calling for his
termination, has long been a fierce opponent of GMO la-
beling, and has written articles attacking other proponents
of labeling, including many who have been speakers at our
Food Revolution Summits.
In response to Henry I Miller’s letter, former NBC Chief
Medical Correspondent Dr. Bob Arnot went on CNN. I
found his comments quite telling about the truth behind the
attacks against Doctor Oz.
Ocean Robbins: Here’s
what Dr. Bob Arnot had to
say, on CNN, on April 20,
2015, about the letter from
10 physicians denouncing
Dr. Oz and demanding that
he be fired from his teach-
ing position at Columbia
University: Bob Arnot
Bob Arnot: “The most interesting part of this is this letter.
First of all, it’s not from the Columbia faculty. It’s from ten
physicians, all of whom have industry ties. And if you look
carefully at the letter, what it’s really about is that the in-
dustry is furious that he has taken on genetically modified
crops. So you basically have industry henchmen who are
after Dr. Oz here. One of them in fact, head of the American
Council on Science and Health, spent some time in federal
prison for Medicaid fraud, so I’d be very careful about who
has written this letter.”
CNN host: “So perhaps you’re saying the initial media
coverage of this story – it really came up on Friday, became
bigger here over the weekend – is being misleading, be-
cause it’s not addressing exactly who these physicians are.”
Bob Arnot: “They do this kind of thing all the time; they’re
called “astroturf groups.” That is, they appear to be grass-
roots groups representing real consumers, but in fact, they
are the henchmen of industry here, and that’s what you’re
looking at with this letter. The media often gets swept up by
this, they say, “this is a great story,” they get swept up by it,
they report it, but they don’t look at who wrote that letter.”
John Robbins: Attacks from what Bob Arnot called “the
henchman of industry” are very real to a number of our
speakers in this Summit. Vandana Shiva has been ma-
ligned because she’s become a world leader in the fight
against GMOs. The same Henry I. Miller who wrote the
letter attacking Dr. Oz, has written a series of articles
attacking Vandana.
Now who is this man, Henry I Miller? And how much
credibility does he have? Bob Arnot called him “an indus-
try henchman.” Others have called him a corporate shill.
That’s very strong language, but here’s why I don’t think
that’s an exaggeration.
Henry I. Miller was a founding member of the Philip Morris
backed front group that tried to discredit the links between
tobacco products and cancer.
He argued, after the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, that
exposure to radiation from the disaster could actually
provide health benefits.
He’s written articles in major magazines asserting that drug
companies, not the FDA, should be responsible for testing
new drugs.
He’s a board member of the George C. Marshall Institute
which is funded by oil and gas companies, and is notorious
for denying that climate change exists.
He’s been the face of Monsanto’s campaigns to fight GMO
labeling initiatives.
And he had reserved most of his venom for those who call
for the labeling of GMOs.
4
Ocean Robbins: Henry I Miller sounds like a pretty mental cigarette smoke really
dubious character. But weren’t there 9 other physicians is hazardous to your health.
who signed his letter trying to get Dr. Oz fired from When he wrote a recent
Columbia University? article about what he called
John Robbins: Yes, there were. And they describe them- the “biggest unfounded health
selves in the letter as “distinguished physicians.” I find this scares,” he named soda,
to be an interesting use of the word “distinguished.” high-fructose corn syrup, and
genetically engineered crops
One of the others is Gilbert Ross. This is a man who spent
as things no one should worry about.
an entire year in federal prison, after being sentenced to
46 months in prison for his participation in a scheme that I really want to make it clear what kind of people these
operated four sham medical clinics in New York City. are. And why I agree with Bob Arnot that they are hench-
men for industry who are out to destroy the reputations of
When a polluting industry needs a scientist for hire, Gilbert
anyone who effectively opposes GMOs in our food supply.
Ross has often been their man. He defended the Wood
Preservative Science Council, saying that, contrary to Ocean Robbins: So do you think that’s why they’re also
reams of scientific evidence, the arsenic in pressure-treat- attacking Vandana Shiva?

John Robbins: Yes, it most definitely is. That and the fact
that she’s a woman. They seem to find it particularly galling
whenever a woman effectively opposes their agenda.

One of the most malicious recent attacks against Vandana

Shiva for her opposition to GMOs appeared, ironically,
in the New Yorker magazine, the same magazine that 50
years ago published excerpts of Rachel Carson’s book

ed wood poses “no risk to human health.” And he wrote on

behalf of the farmed-salmon industry that the PCBs in fish
“are not a cause of any health risk, including cancer.”

Gilbert Ross is today the Executive Director of the Ameri- Silent Spring. Rachel Carson is so venerated today – her
can Council on Science and Health, an organization famous book changed the world and she’s considered the mother
for asserting that the jury’s still out on whether environ-

5
of the entire environmental movement – that it’s easy
to forget that her writings utterly outraged the chemical
industry. These companies, including Monsanto, manufac-
tured the pesticides she was warning us about, and they
launched a blistering attack aimed at discrediting the book
and destroying its author.
This was at a time when the women’s movement was in
its early days. Rachel Carson was told that, as a woman,
she should keep her mouth shut. She was called a whore
and a slut. Time magazine fell for the anti-Rachel Carson
campaign, and called her book “hysterical.” The pesticide in-
dustry repeatedly asked: “Isn’t it just like a woman to panic
at the sight of the chemicals we need to grow our food?”
As with Rachel Carson, and Vandana Shiva, many of the
attacks on Vani Hari, the Food Babe, have targeted her as
a woman. The misogyny of these attacks has been intense.
I hesitate to repeat some of the things she’s been called,
but I feel a need to do so, so that our listeners can under-
stand a bit of what this woman is enduring for the crime of
calling for GMOs to be labeled, and for exposing chemicals
that are in our food supply despite being banned in just
about every other country.
One attacker called her a “a holier than thou twat.” She’s
also been called “a whore,” “an ignorant slut,” and even
worse things that I find too repugnant to repeat.
I don’t think the people levying these misogynist attacks
like to see a woman in her full power. The attacks on Vani
Hari have arisen because she’s been incredibly successful,
so successful that the pesticide and processed food indus-
tries have become terrified of her and what she calls “the
foodbabe army.”
Most recently, she’s gotten Kraft to remove synthetic colors
and preservatives from the company’s iconic macaroni and
cheese. The company recently announced that it will be
replacing synthetic colors by the end of 2016 with those
derived from natural sources, such as turmeric and paprika.
That means millions of families in the US and Canada will
finally get the same safer versions that Kraft has sold in
Europe for years. A million boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese
are sold every day. That’s a lot of artificial food dye being
eliminated from the North American food supply.
Ocean Robbins: But some of these attacks have been
having an effect. We’ve even had some of our summit
participants write to express their disappointment that we
had invited Vani to be a speaker in our Summit at all. They
told us she’d been thoroughly discredited.
John Robbins: That is why I think it’s so important to
talk about this. It’s exactly the intent of these attacks to
give the impression that people like Vani Hari have been
6
thoroughly discredited. They portray Vani as a wild-eyed
activist with no scientific credentials, who makes unsub-
stantiated claims about chemicals in our food supply.
These attacks get traction because many people assume
that the US Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, is
responsible for ensuring the safety of any chemicals that
appear in the US food supply. They also assume that if
chemicals or additives are found to be dangerous to human
health, they will be removed from the food supply.
But the reality is that in thousands of cases, the FDA
doesn’t even know of the existence of new additives. Even
Michael Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for food,
and the former Monsanto executive most identified with
permitting GMOs in the food supply without adequate
testing, says: “We (meaning the FDA) simply do not have
the information to vouch for the safety of many of these
chemicals.”
The FDA has received tens of thousands of consumer
complaints about additives in recent years, saying certain
substances have triggered asthmatic attacks, serious bouts
of vomiting, intestinal-tract disorders and other serious
health problems. And yet, at an ever accelerating pace,
companies are adding secret ingredients – including new
flavors, preservatives, and colors – to everything from
energy drinks to breakfast cereals to granola bars –
including those that are marketed as “all natural.”
It’s kind of mind boggling that these new chemicals are
added as ingredients to food products without the FDA
being notified at all.
But even the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the
trade lobby for the processed food industry, says this is a
problem. The GMA’s chief science officer recently said that
there is currently no way for the FDA to be aware of the
new chemicals that are being added to foods.
“If you think the FDA is protecting you and watch-
ing over what chemicals are allowed to appear
in the US food supply, it can come as a quite a
shock to learn that companies are legally allowed
to self-certify new chemicals, to designate them
as “generally recognized as safe,” and to not give
any information, even the name of the chemicals
involved, to the FDA.”
Critics of the Food Babe’s work like to give the impression
that her efforts are misguided because the FDA is providing
oversight.
But the reality is that the FDA, whose job it is to
ensure the safety of our food supply, is outsourcing
decisions on the safety of thousands of chemical in
our food to an industry that is focused almost entirely
on its own profits.
Ocean Robbins: Vani’s critics sometimes quote articles
she’s written, or statements she’s made, that seem, at
least in the context in which they present them, to make
her look foolish.
John Robbins: When Vani was first starting out, she was
writing a casual blog intended for just a few friends and
family members. What she wrote then was never intended
for the wider public. But in our digital world, some things
become almost immortal. Some of what she wrote then
was not well thought out, and makes her look bad when it’s
7
taken out of context. And Vani is the first to admit that. But
what’s important is that since she’s become a public figure,
and since she’s become a force to be reckoned with, she’s
become vastly more conscientious and reliable. Her critics
like to resurrect some of her earliest writings and use them
to mock her. But in reality, on the major points she makes,
she has a considerable body of science supporting her. And
she has a whole lot of organizations – including Center for
Science in the Public Interest, The Natural Resources
Defense Council, the Environmental Working Group,
Consumer’s Union, and the Center for Public Integrity –
standing with her.
Any time we have a particularly popular Food Revolution
Network facebook post about GMOs, or about food safety
issues, these trolls show up. And it’s not just our sites, of
course. They comment on thousands of blog posts every
day, always posing as ordinary people.
Here’s an example. Vani’s book is titled The Food Babe
Way: Break Free from the Hidden Toxins in Your Food. In
2015, it was one of the best-selling books on amazon.com,
receiving more than 2,000 5 star reviews. People who read
it seem to love it. There are only a tiny handful of 2, 3, or 4
star reviews.

The efforts to discredit Vani Hari have been massive;

they’ve been misogynist, and they’ve been systematic.
But it looks to me like she’s garnered these attacks for the
simple reason that she’s been effective. I applaud her and
I stand with her because I think that her effectiveness is
contributing to a safer food supply for us all.

I see these attacks as the desperate efforts of a threatened

industry, an industry that is trying to hold onto power, and
will do almost anything to silence its critics, regardless of
the cost to public health.

I think we’re seeing an industry that’s reeling, that’s scared

stiff of the food movement. And I think that despite these
attacks, we’re going to hear a lot more from Vani Hari. I
think the foodbabe is finding her power in response to the
personal attacks on her.
And there’s also something else at work here that I think
is important for us to understand. There’s something else
happening that I want to expose. Because it’s important for
the food movement to know what it’s up against.
There’s an army of hired trolls out there, by the thou-
sands, whose job it is to scour social media sites,
and popular blogs, and to post messages that repre-
sent the corporate agenda – while being disguised
as grassroots voices.
However, and this is telling, there are almost 400 1-star
reviews, and what’s truly remarkable about these 1-star
reviews is that almost all of them appeared on amazon.
com, magically, on precisely the same day, on April 7, 2015.
They’re mean spirited, they repeat the same accusations
over and over again, and they show no sign whatsoever of
actually having read her book.
We haven’t been able to trace who exactly is paying for
this. Some say it could be the Koch brothers; others say
Monsanto. Others say it’s shadowy interest groups that are
specifically set up to avoid detection.
But whoever they are, we need to recognize that the public
discourse is being polluted by hired trolls. Most of them
pretend to be ordinary people. A few of them are scien-

8
tists for hire, like Henry I Miller or Gilbert Ross. They write
articles for magazines like the New Yorker and Forbes,
attacking people like Vandana Shiva and Vani Hari, just as
they once attacked Rachel Carson. But these people are
corporate shills, or as Bob Arnot rightly called them, the
henchmen of industry.
This is why I think it’s so important that we stick up for Vani
and Vandana, and for the other leaders in our movement.
Ocean Robbins: I agree. And now I’d like to shift gears, if
I may, and ask you something. I want to ask you about your
vision for the future, about your vision for our food world.
Will you tell us what you would like to see in the years to
come?
John Robbins: Well, for one thing, I’d like to see an end
to all marketing of junk food to children.
I’d like to see us truly invest in bringing healthy food into
public schools and teaching children about nutrition. We
could change the food culture of our times by changing
how we feed and educate our children.
We could have vegetable gardens in every school, with
children learning to harvest and prepare what they’ve
grown. The produce they grow could be used to supple-
ment cafeteria lunches, keeping costs down and providing
healthier lunches for all the kids.
Wouldn’t it be something if we had a Congress and a
White House that refused to sacrifice the health of our
children for the profits of
food companies?
Ocean Robbins: Are there
changes you’d like to see
in the health care industry?
John Robbins: A Harvard
doctor once said to me,
“If food was medicine, I
would have learned about
it in medical school.” I’d like to see no doctor ever again
graduate from medical school without learning about the
capacity of nutrition to prevent and to reverse disease.
We could create a health care system that takes care of
everybody, rich or poor, and that cares more about prevent-
ing illness than about medicating it.
“What if we were to compensate doctors, clinics
and hospitals for keeping people healthy instead
of rewarding them for each procedure and inter-
vention performed?”
Ocean Robbins: Are there other changes you’d like to see?
John Robbins: I’d like to see us make healthy foods more
widely available by bringing community gardens and farm-
er’s markets into low-income neighborhoods.
And I’d like to see an end to government policies that
make factory farm meat, sweetened beverages, and highly
processed foods the cheapest to purchase.
We could tax junk food, and use the revenue to lower the
price consumers pay for fresh vegetables and fruits. And
we could tax pesticides, and use the money to lower the
price people pay for organic food.
What would happen if
we passed environmental
laws that made factory
farms clean up their own
waste, and animal wel-
fare laws that put an end
to unnecessary cruelty?
Critics say this would
raise the price of meat.
But that might be a good
thing. The US consumes the most meat per capita of any
nation in the world. The average American consumes about
9
12 ounces of meat a day. I’d like to see that be 12 ounces a
week. Or less.
I’d like to see us have a national food policy, and I’d like
to see it declare that having healthy food to eat is a basic
human right.
“And I’d like to see us pass labeling laws that tell
consumers what’s in their food. We shouldn’t even
be having a fight over GMO labeling. That should
be a given. People have a right to know what
they’re eating.”
Ocean Robbins: I want to thank you for what you’ve just
shared. It’s a beautiful vision. And I want to thank you for
all the ways that you work to bring that vision a little closer
to reality.
I also want to say, to everyone who is reading this - how
lucky I feel to have this guy for a dad. I’ve always felt his
respect and love. And he’s been a powerful role model for
me. He decided, very early in his life, to follow his own
star. He challenged the norms that were handed to him.
He forged a new path, even if it was at times a rocky road,
and he sought to align his heart, his mind, and his actions
with his values. I am so infinitely grateful for my dad’s
integrity, for his example, and for his unconditional love.
As you listen to him throughout the Food Revolution
summit, I want you to know, from someone who knows him
well: He’s the real deal.
John Robbins: Wow, thank you, Ocean for all you’ve just
said to me. And for being who you are in my heart and in
my life and in our world.
You’re an extraordinary human being, an extraordinary
leader in this movement, and one of my dearest friends,
most trusted confidants, and honestly, you’re one of my
heroes, too. You’ve been my son since the day you were
born into my
waiting hands in a
one room log cabin
that I had built.
And now you’ve
fully become my
colleague, and also
my teacher. I hope
to keep learning
from you for the
rest of my life.
Ocean Robbins:
Well, thank you. It
certainly is a joy
that we get to John and Ocean Robbins, 1973
work together. I’m one of the literally millions of people
who’ve been touched not just by your message and your
mission, but by the profound humanity that underlies it. I
think people can sense in you, and probably have sensed in
the interviews you conducted during the Summit, that there
is a depth of spirit that imbues your work and your mission.
Now I want to ask for your wisdom about something.
When we take an honest look at our food world today, we
come face to face with some pretty painful realities.
We see the way that Monsanto and the biotech industry
are trying to take over the world’s seed supply. We see
how animals and farm workers are being treated in today’s
industrialized agriculture. We come face to face with the
immensity of the suffering that so many millions of peo-
ple are dealing with as a result of a food system that has
become, in so many ways, toxic. Tens of millions of people
are hurting, and even dying, from diseases that in most
cases, we actually know how to prevent.
I’ve always known you to be someone who doesn’t shy
away from facing anything that seems to be part of the
human experience.
10
How do you live with this pain?
John Robbins: With difficulty, Ocean, with difficulty. Like
just about every other man in the Western world, I’ve been
taught to deny my pain. But when I do that, I fight against
the truth of myself.
“I think that one of the great unacknowledged
sources of sickness today is the repression of our
feelings, and the resulting decline in our capacity
for vitality.”
It’s exhausting to continually hold in our emotions. I’ve
seen that when I avoid my pain, I tend to become dull and
less capable of feeling my joy or my creativity, or experi-
encing my true strength.
I think we become passive and resigned, not because we
don’t care, but because we don’t grieve. We shut down
because we’ve allowed our hearts to become so filled with
loss that we have no room left to feel. There are things
that help – things like healthy food, plenty of rest, good
exercise, authentic communication, loving relationships,
and the releasing of unrealistic expectations, are all very
helpful. Taking good care of ourselves is tremendously
important.
But I think there is a level on which we begin to heal only
when we become intimate with our suffering, when we
learn how to grieve.
This is not easy to do, but if we try always to avoid the
pain of facing what’s happening, we’re left distant from
the love and the emotional connection with others that we
need in order to be healthy and in order to be whole.
There are a thousand voices in modern society and in each
of our minds trying to distract us from the sadness in our
lives. Our culture has made distraction into an art-form,
and into an enormously profitable industry. We learn early
to view our suffering as something to escape, or to treat
our suffering as an enemy to be defeated. We want to
reject what is unpleasant, what is difficult, and what is
disappointing.
But this cheats us. Wisdom, I might say, is suffering that’s
been healed.
I’d like to see us fully express and share our joys with one
another, and perhaps as important, our fears and our grief.
I’d like to see us recognize that we all have times when
we feel overwhelmed and defeated, when we feel terribly
alone, when we’re tempted to hide in a corner and feel
sorry for ourselves. We all have dark nights of the soul, and
at such times it’s necessary to have others to go to, others
with whom we can be emotionally vulnerable and honest.
In this way, even in the midst of our despair, we can be
reminded that we’re part of a community, that there are
others who care about us, and that we’re still part of the
stream of life.
I’ve been taught, as most of us have, that vulnera-
bility is a weakness. But I’m coming to see that my
vulnerability can be a strength.
I look out into the world, and I see a deep night of unthink-
able cruelty and blindness. But who am I to be daunted,
when I can also look within the human heart and find
something of love there, something that cares and shines
11
out into the dark universe like a bright beacon?
In the shining of that light within, I feel the dreams and
prayers of all beings. In the shining of that beacon, I feel all
of our hopes for a better future.
The next time anyone tells you that who you are doesn’t
matter, or that your actions and love are insignificant,
here’s what they need to know: Every one of us who takes
a stand with our lives on behalf of what we cherish are
part of something vast. The longing for a world guided by
love is as old as the human heart.
My hope is that this Food Revolution Summit can help you
to know that they’re not alone in your pain, and you’re not
alone in seeking a better way.
Sometimes our grief is proof of our sanity. I don’t think it’s
any measure of sanity to be well-adjusted to an insane
society.
Our grief is evidence that we still care, and that our hearts
are still alive. Our sorrow can be a source of connection to
our courage, and to our deepest commitment to do what
we are here on this earth to do.
Embedded in every problem, is also the potential for a solu-
tion. And on the other side of the food insanity that many
people now take to be normal, is the possibility of a food
future that is worthy of each of us, of the dreams we carry,
of the highest possibilities for health and contribution in
our lives, and of the future of humanity.
This is my prayer.
May all be fed. May all
be healed. May all be
loved.
 
9 Step Food Revolutionary
Action Plan
Step 1 – The Great Fridge Swap-Out
Look through your refrigerator and choose one thing
you are going to stop buying, and one healthier
alternative that you are going to replace it with. And
then, the next time you go grocery shopping, put your
vision into action.
Step 2 – Make A Food Diary
Expand your food consciousness by tracking what
you eat or drink, including both items and quantities.
You can do this for a day, a week, or even longer.
This works best if you bring a spirit of self-love and
curiosity. After a few days take a look at the data and
see what you notice. What you discover may surprise
you! For a useful template to help you get started,
check out:
personal-nutrition-guide.com/food-diary-template.html
Step 3 – Track Your Mood
Make a chart to track how you are feeling. Do this
at a consistent time each day, and give your energy
level and happiness level a score in a range of 1 to 10.
If you combine your Mood Chart with your food diary,
you may get some especially interesting information.
If you want to get even more into it, track your exer-
cise level, too.
Step 4 – Get the Non-GMO Shopping Guide
The Non-GMO Shopping Guide features hundreds of
brands currently enrolled in the Non-GMO Project.
This purse/pocket-sized guide will help you identify
and avoid foods that contain genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) foods while you shop. Available in
English and Spanish at nongmoshoppingguide.com
12
Step 5 – Find A Great Recipe – and Use It
Find a new healthy recipe that you love, and start
preparing it every week or two. Most of us don’t have
that many things that we prepare on a regular basis,
so by adding something good to your “starting rota-
tion”, you can lean into a healthier life. After you get
comfortable, bring in another one.
Step 6 – Buy Direct from Farmers
Find out where your closest farmer’s market is, and
if possible, check it out. Supporting farmer’s markets
and is a great way to get access to fresh, healthy,
local food, and to support local living food economies.
It can be fun, too. When you join a CSA (Community
Supported Agriculture), you enter into a direct
win-win partnership with local farmers. In the U.S.,
the number of farmer’s markets has more than
doubled in the last decade. For more info on farmers’
market and CSA opportunities near you, visit
www.localharvest.org.
Step 7 – Write A Food Mission Statement
Write a sentence that describes what you want for
your relationship with food, and post it somewhere
prominent where you will see it every day.
Step 8 – Sign or Start Petitions
Check out and sign existing petitions sponsored by
organizations like care2.com, change.org, or signon.
org. All three of these organizations also make it
easy for you to launch your own petition. The
petition organizations generally deliver messages to
targets via email. If you get a lot of signatures, you
can deliver them in person, and contact the media to
bring attention to your issue. Or join petition
campaigns from organizations like Center for Food
Safety, Friends of the Earth, Environmental Working
Group, and Food Revolution Network. Together, we
can make a difference!
Step 9 – Spread The Word
Spread the word amongst friends and colleagues.
Give them resources, books, videos and tools. Host
movie nights and healthy eating potlucks. Share
your excitement and your learning journey with
people you love.
Step 10 – Participate in the
Food Revolution Summit
Broadcasting Live Globally
April 30-May 8, 2016
In the Food Revolution Summit, you’ll get to spend an
inspiring and life-changing week with revolutionary
thinkers and visionaries that will put the POWER IN
YOUR HANDS when it comes to the food you eat!
Dare to discover the most cutting-edge information,
startling facts, and inspirational wisdom that will heal
you and have you CELEBRATING LIFE!
(For FREE and without having to leave home.)
John and Ocean Robbins will personally interview 24
of the top food experts and activists on the planet.
These visionaries have inspired hundreds of millions
of people and changed the way we think about food.
You’ll have direct access to 3 highly focused inter-
views every day for a week - personally conducted
by John Robbins.. You can listen via phone (confer-
ence call), or over the Internet. The interviews will
be broadcast at 8, 9, and 10 am Pacific time each
day of the summit – April 30-May 8. Join in the live
broadcast for bonus Q and A with Ocean Robbins,
plus a chance to win lots of awesome free prizes and
goodies. Or catch the interviews on a 24-hour replay.
13
Here’s what’s in it for you. You’ll get...
• Information and practical tips from modern day heroes
of health and sustainability.
• Huge inspiration to eat well and enjoyed increased
vitality and vigor
• Extremely current answers to your burning questions.
• Tools for talking with your family and peers.
• Inspiration, useful insights, ideas, motivation. and new
understanding.
• A deepened relationship with the food you love!
2016 Food Revolution Summit Speakers
Voices are rising up everywhere to preserve access to
healthy food. It’s never been more important to roll up your
sleeves, get involved, listen, and be heard.
Please join us and invite your friends and family along!
Catch each day’s broadcasts at
http://summit.foodrevolution.org/broadcasts.
Want to catch up on all you missed? Get the entire
transcripts and MP3s from past summits, plus a
huge collection of bonuses, instantly here:
www.foodrevolution.org/empowerment
14
w w w. f o o d r e v o l u t i o n . o r g

15