cheese | Dr. Ivan Misner®

Anyone who has known me for long, knows that I loved the TV series, West Wing. It was television at its best. One of the episodes introduced the “Big Block of Cheese Day” concept to many people, myself included.

The idea stems from a situation in 1835 where U.S. President, Andrew Jackson, was given a 1,400-pound block of cheese from a grateful dairyman. The gift was delivered to the White House which was a decidedly mixed blessing. It was a wonderful gift, but it was also 1,400 pounds!!! Jackson didn’t know what to do with all of this cheese so, he opened the doors of the White House for the public to come in and take some of the tasty (and according to some accounts, smelly) cheese for themselves. Apparently, thousands of visitors came to the White House and dispatched the massive block in just a few hours.

The TV series had a couple episodes where they took this concept further and required that all the top staff meet with public citizens to listen to topics that they wouldn’t normally embrace.

BNI Founder’s Day

That tradition has motivated me to do a “networking variation” of the idea. On the third Thursday of June every year, I’m going to have a “Founder’s Day” (starting in 2023, it will be the last Thursday in June). On this day each year, I will book at least 16 individual 1-2-1’s with BNI members from around the world. The purpose is for BNI members to ask any business or networking related questions they would like to run by me during their 25 – 30 minute 1-2-1 with me. If you are a BNI member, I invite you to complete the form included in this blog. We will select the best responses from many places all around the world.

Business owners and professionals, have you invited your team or your customers to have a conversation with you or ask some questions? It can be a great way to build and strengthen your business relationships. Even without the cheese.

~~CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR 1-2-1 REQUEST WITH DR. IVAN MISNER~~

BNI Founder’s Day = Thursday, June 24, 2021 from 9:00am – 6:00pm CDT

THIS COMPLETED REQUEST FORM MUST BE RECEIVED BY MAY 21, 2021.

I’m sorry, you have missed the deadline. The opportunity for BNI members to submit their request for a 30-minute one-to-one with me has passed. Please try again next year.

Chernobyl Cheese – defined as cheese that can survive a nuclear disaster.

I’ve been wanting to write about my “Chernobyl Cheese” experience for a while now. Since my wife and I are currently working on the final draft of our Misner Plan recipe book, I thought this might be a good time.

Back in 2013, we transitioned from our home in Southern California to a home in Austin, Texas. In late 2014, we moved all of our remaining furnishings out of the Southern California home. I checked the contents of the refrigerator to make sure it was empty. Much to my surprise, I discovered a small, opened (but resealed shut) bag of sliced cheese which had been sitting in the back of a drawer in the refrigerator for a year! An entire year!!! The “sell by” date was September 7, 2013!

I thought to myself, “don’t look at it – it’s going to be a petri dish in a bag.” I need to go out and get an HAZMAT suit before I handle this infectious item. But, I couldn’t help myself, and I peeked. I was expecting to spontaneously utter some line out of Apocalypse Now like… “The horror, the horror.” But, instead, to my surprise – the cheese looked great! Not a single fungal-like substance to be seen. Actually, it looked as fresh as the day we bought it.

How could that possibly be? Real cheese doesn’t hold-up in a refrigerator for a year – even if it is in a zip-sealed bag. The answer – processed food is not real food. It may have some food-like ingredients but it certainly doesn’t behave like real food does. Real food typically doesn’t last in a fridge for more than a year. One of the fundamental elements of the Misner Plan is: “Eat real food.”

For those of you following my journey into health, be on the lookout for our upcoming book: Healing Begins in the Kitchen, which should be released in a few months.

We seriously considered naming the book “Cure Yourself Before You Kill Yourself,” but the lawyers didn’t approve of that title!

I’d love to hear your food- or health-related stories. Comment below.