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Ambassador Tsunis posing for a photo with several conference participants

The final day of the 3rd Cretan Lifestyle Conference began with an impromptu address by Mr. George J. Tsunis, U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic (Greece), who suggested that the traditional version of the Mediterranean diet that Greek grandmothers have prepared for generations using real, unprocessed food from the earth can help improve our health.

Revealing an impressive familiarity with the conference theme--the Mediterranean Tradition and its Modern Applications--Ambassador Tsunis described his own journey to better health. The ambassador remarked that he lost so much weight by exercising and eating healthy traditional Greek foods that world leaders stopped asking him about world events and started asking how he had shed 39 kilograms.

Now, he reported, his cholesterol and blood pressure are at healthy levels, since the foods we eat impact our metabolism—“and this is absolutely fixable.” As the ambassador emphasized, “what is elemental in proper health is our diets, and we can either do this in terms of convenience,” with ultra-processed fast food full of sugar and preservatives, or we can eat in a healthier way, like Greeks did up to the middle of the last century. “Nutrition is not about convenience; we need to learn how to read a label, we need to educate people.”

The ambassador stressed the broader significance of good nutrition: “this is not only about our health; this is about our children’s ability to focus in the classroom” and workers’ ability to handle what they need to do. As Ambassador Tsunis commented, “you can be successful if you are unhealthy, but you will never be the best version of yourself. If you’re not healthy, you’re not going to be efficient at work,” you will take more sick days, and you are at greater risk of serious chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

With that in mind, the ambassador suggested that we need to have “the heart of a social worker and the brain of a banker,” combining empirical data with decency. In this way, we can consider both what is the right thing to do for human beings, and “an economic argument: we are spending way too much money fighting serious diseases after years of abusing our health; it is bankrupting our health system” in the United States of America and elsewhere. Eating the wrong foods “is killing us…destroying economies.” This creates a strong economic incentive to eat well and encourage others to do so.

Ambassador Tsunis speaking, with conference organizers nearby

Ambassador Tsunis’s concern about this problem led him to emphasize the importance of the Cretan Lifestyle Conference and the work its participants do as “dedicated advocates for good nutrition.” He challenged conference attendees to keep asking how “citizens of the world” can help others become healthier. “This is the work we need to do,” since “we are all God’s children, not just the ones that look like us or come from the same country or the same country club.”  

Before moving to Greece, the ambassador took steps to improve the nutritional situation in both his own children’s school and other communities in New York. As a school trustee, he encouraged the removal of soda machines from his local school, the installation of water fountains, and the distribution of refillable bottles. He helped enable the removal of candy and cash registers (which differentiated children by socioeconomic status) and the introduction of fruit and salad bars. He helped put sweet potatoes, fish tacos, and other healthy food on the menu for all the children.

This Greek-American son of immigrants who taught him the Hellenic ideals of goodness, love, and honor was the chairman of the Nassau University Medical Center, a large public safety net hospital with a focus on providing care to vulnerable communities. He also became a board member of a community bank in the Bronx and Harlem where there had been no banks to cash checks and no supermarkets to provide nutritious, fresh, affordable food. There, he helped eliminate food deserts and high fees for cashing paychecks.

At the Cretan Lifestyle Conference and its gala dinner, Ambassador Tsunis was impressed by the international experts he interacted with. “I’ve met people in the last five minutes from Australia and China and Israel,” he mentioned. “I met someone who was talking to me about sleep, only to be sure I’m getting enough. This is truly remarkable,” he said, referring to concern about the wellness of a stranger.

As conference organizer Professor Stefanos Kales of Harvard University and the Hellenic Center for Excellence in Health & Wellness commented, the ambassador told “an incredible story, showing that everything is possible. You are absolutely right that we spend way too much money in the last few months of somebody’s life and way too little on the front end.” Taking place at Grecotel resorts, the annual Cretan Lifestyle Conference aims to update students and professionals of all ages on the latest research about the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle, so they can spread the word around the globe.

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