Wellness Wednesday: Forks Over Knives (or, The Story behind My Meatlessness)

Since downgrading our Netflix account from 2 DVDs out a time + Instant Streaming to only streaming, we've had to be flexible with our entertainment options. This is probably because Netflix doesn't offer an infinite amount of movies or TV we've actually heard of, or shows we haven't already exhausted (you can watch only so many episodes of Felicity, Battlestar Galactica, How I Met Your Mother, etc.). So, we've gone hipster and have been spending a lot of time watching documentaries about social issues. Netflix streaming does offer some gems in this department, including The Business of Being Born (I will NOT be delivering my baby at a hospital), Freakanomics, and an especially adorable one about dogs. This genre introduced us to one of our favorite recent views: Forks Over Knives.

FOK encourages viewers to remove all animal-based products and switch to a whole plant-based diet. This means going Vegan and getting rid of all meat, dairy, and eggs. Yes, even fish. In a nutshell, the film claims that "most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods." The stories of several individuals who were diagnosed with serious illness (including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and many types of cancer) are presented, and they all decide to make this dietary change in lieu of other treatment. In what seems like the doing of one Harry Houdini, presto! After giving up animal products, these folks are all now suddenly disease free. It's hard to not be compelled by that kind of evidence.

I've always been skeptical about leaving meat and dairy out of my diet because, ignoring the fact that I've suffered from an uncomfortable dairy allergy since I was a baby, chicken and cheese and chocolate are delicious! I have also glommed onto the idea that humans are meant to be carnivorous--we have those Inciser teeth for a reason, after all. And, people have been eating meat since before Bible times, so it must be the right thing to do. Although, if you want to get technical, it can be argued that before the fall, in God's perfect will, man was intended to be Vegan--to eat plants (see Gen 1:29).

All of this aside, the message of this film is pretty astounding. The facts are based on results accumulated from various studies, including the well-known China Study and the shift in communities when Nazi soldiers confiscated the people's livestock for themselves. The statistics here show that the fatal diseases present in meat-eating persons are, across the board, nearly nonexistent in plant-eating ones. Other facts are offered to show the shift in the frequency of diseases when a community is without meat vs. when it is plentiful.

Even if you're not sold on the idea, I'd really recommend that everyone watch this film. It provides a lot of  thought-provoking, scientifically based information about health and American eating habits. Once you decide to go for it, though, the problem becomes less about being convinced and more about being disciplined. That's where we're at right now--we've fallen off the wagon a few times over the past couple weeks (blasted cheesesteaks!), but we still get back on. Our tummies feel much better when plants and grains are at the forefront.