Nutritional picture has no ‘solo performers’,
as Whole Foods’ Walter Robb reminds us

August 6


These days, I am constantly reminded of how important the concept of sustainability has become in all our efforts to keep the Earth hospitable to our existence, from providing our bodies with proper nourishment to eliminating toxins in our air, soil and water to recycling and reusing valuable resources.

Recently, for instance, I attended the Nutritional Business Journal Summit – a CEO-level conference primarily for the Nutritional Supplement Business. I enjoyed the time I had to visit with old and new friends and get perspectives on many parts of the industry. A major plus for me was watching the attendees embrace Vitamin Angels, a non-profit group whose mission is to distribute vital micronutrients and vitamins to children around the world who do not get serviced by organizations such as UNICEF or Save the Children. In almost every event, the charismatic leader of Vitamin Angels was honored. It was great to see and feel, which brings me to the point of this blog.

The final keynote speaker, Walter Robb, co-president of Whole Foods, gave a powerful presentation on his perspective of the last 30 years of the nutritional supplement business including his take on where he felt the industry was headed in the future. It was great to walk away from the conference having Walter’s message in my head. It struck me that the world leaders and business leaders, people I am blessed to be around, are saying the same thing. These people who go out and make a difference in our world each day - Walter, or Bill McDonough, or the Prince of Wales – keep telling us that we must look at world issues “holistically”. Walter reinforced that by telling us all that we can’t just look at supplementation as one nutrient, that we have to look at it as all of the components. For example, St. John’s wort has over 400 active compounds. 400!

HRH the Prince of Wales would be right with Walter in saying food has to be eaten for its holistic benefit of thousands of micronutrients that only work if the billions of bacteria in the soil are in "harmony". Bill McDonough might question, ‘Why do we use and allow toxic chemicals to be put in products which then end up in the ground?’ Civilizations, thousands of years from now, will question the same thing. Those toxins impact the balance of bacteria, which impacts our ability to be nourished, which impacts…well, everything. In other words, everything we do impacts all of us as a whole, whether it’s your neighbor polluting your children’s drinking water by using Drano or plastic burned in China creating toxins that we all eventually breathe. Because, as Walter reminded us, we are all connected -- and maintaining our respect for Mother Nature and each other is the only way we can be in harmony and change the world for the better.

One fleeting thought as I finish this up. Maybe, just maybe, 30 years ago we were closer to having it right than we are now. As I look back at Walter's presentation, I recall popular magazines from 30 years ago whose mantra was peace and love. And you know what? It still is. I fall back on peace and love when I have nightmares of the landfills, the factory farms, and the pesticide-laden fields that I have visited over the last year. And I remain optimistic as I reflect on the fact that Walter, HRH, Bill, Howard and many others are out there urging people to think about the "whole" of everything we do and the harmony we can create now.