The Documentary Marathon: Forks Over Knives

I would never have thought I would seriously be considering a Vegan diet. But after watching Forks Over Knives, I'm a whole heck of a lot closer to considering it. So is my Dear Husband, which is saying something for a man who loves his meat and potatoes.

Forks Over Knives basically proposes that people would benefit from a "whole food, plant-based diet." The documentary shows evidence that animal products in general are contributing to the high rates of not only cancer in our country, but heart disease, diabetes, etc. etc. If you don't read this whole post, read just the next few sentences.

If you think a Vegan diet is just crazy and drastic, and that it would be easier to take a pill, consider that heart-bypass surgery is also drastic and a little crazy. The other thing to consider is that a pill isn't reversing any process you've got going on, it's just masking the symptoms.

A woman in some other documentary I've recently watched (they're all starting to run together...maybe Food, Inc.?) basically said they could either pull the money together for her husband's medications (diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol...) or they could spend money on better foods.

The problem with this trade-off is that the medication is not actually healing her husband in any way. His bad diet and poor lifestyle choices will continue to drive his body towards deterioration and eventually he'll need surgery or more medication or both. On the other hand, eating better (like A LOT better, like not eating fast food or processed foods and chowing down on the plants) will actually help his body and probably let him take less medication. And this will cost them less money in the long-run.

Here is my slapdash list of high points from this movie:


*Calcium: This was hard for me to swallow. (I never noticed how many of our idioms are food-based until now...) The documentary basically points out that America, with it's big push for eating milk and other dairy products, still has some of the highest rates of osteoporosis in the world. If it were true that calcium protected us from bone-calcium loss, wouldn't we have the lowest rates?

I don't understand all of the science, but there is evidence to show that the brand of calcium that comes from cows isn't easily accessible to our body. In fact, our body has to take calcium from our bones to utilize the calcium coming from the milk. Duh, this obviously isn't good for us.

Several sites mentioned this phenomenon, but here is a good one because it also tells you what you should eat to get more calcium; it's from the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, Calcium and Strong Bones. This article (aimed at doctors, no less) says that a Harvard study of 12,000 women showed that women who drank less milk had fewer fractures than those who drank more milk. WTH? That's not what we've been brainwashed to believe.

I'm at a place where it makes much more sense to eat spinach and broccoli and whatever other veggies have calcium because there is no downside to eating a crap-load of vegetables. There's never a study that says "Oops, we messed up, eating lots of servings of vitamin-rich veggies every day is actually a bad thing." It doesn't happen. So, while all these different pills and diets have their trends and popular-streaks...I see no inherent trendiness in just plain ol' eating more vegetables and fruit.

*Protein: I'm going to summarize this. As you have probably heard, eating a lot of meat gives you lots of protein, but it is also hard on your body. Your body needs a lot of energy and metabolizing magic to process meat. Meat can also contribute to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.

But if you eat a grain and a legume/cruciferous veggie (like broccoli or cauliflower), you also have a perfect protein chain that your body can easily utilize, but without any negative side effects. So, rice & beans, rice & lentils, quinoa & broccoli....all of those combos would give your body all the protein it needs.

The documentary points out, then, two big lies from our society: that you NEED to eat meat to get protein and that you NEED to eat dairy to get calcium (and more protein). What is really frustrating to hear is that, once again, big agricultural corporations and lobbyists are pulling some strings here. The Food Pyramid changes based on who is giving the FDA and the USDA more money and that is a little discouraging.

*Rip: This guy is the creator (well, it was really his dad's idea) of the Engine 2 Diet. This dude is impressive because he challenges the notion that a 'real man' has to eat meat. He is a ripped, bad ass fireman who can pull himself up the pole. :) He put his whole firehouse on a Vegan diet and they're still ripped. (Pun not intended!) Rip is coming out with a whole line of Vegan foodstuffs in the near future.


*The Vegan UFC Guy: This dude is also amazing because, um, he is a UFC fighter and he is a Vegan. He's a walking contradiction. But again, he makes the real-life point that you can be healthy, buff, and amazing without eating animal products. Look at those washboard abs! Built on no meat, no milk, no cheese....

 
*Ruth: The 70-year-old cancer-survivor/marathon runner.

This woman rocks my socks off. She was told when she was 40ish that she had a nasty case of cancer and that she would die. Instead, she became a Vegan and still runs marathons, bikes, and is just as much of a bad ass as the UFC guy today. She doesn't have cancer anymore and she runs circles around all her peers who are medication and cane dependent. Doesn't everyone want that for themselves in their old-age?

*Letting Your Body Heal Itself: The coolest thing for me is to see that eating well can give your body the tools and building blocks to do some serious healing. It makes too much sense that giving your body processed, GMO, crap-food would NOT aid your body in its processes, from healing, to sugar metabolism, to cleaning itself out. Several patients who had already had bypass surgery (some more than one surgery!) switched to this diet and were able to reverse heart disease. Why is this not recognized as a cure?! Drug companies can't make enough money off of people eating vegetables all day long, that's why.

What has really got me interested in all this is that my body is being sick NOW. Most of bus don't suffer the ill-effects of our diets and lifestyle choices until later. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) I am suffering now and trying to change my health now.

After we watched this documentary, we really recommended it to my parents (because I would love nothing more than to see my dad OFF all these medications). My dad sent me a text that basically said "I'm going to drastically change my diet!" which is amazing. I feel like I am living in the Twilight Zone. None of us are going to become strict Vegans overnight, but I think we'll all try to eat less animal products and eat more plant products. Why the hell not? Fruits, veggies, grains, seeds, and nuts are all awesome for us.