You and I can probably agree that processed foods are not healthy for you. Popular processed foods like chips, cookies, and “fruit” bars are commonly referred to as junk food, with good reason. But what about meat and dairy foods? Like you, I have always believed these foods to not only be healthy, but a necessary component of my diet. A documentary that I watched on Netflix suddenly has me questioning everything I ever believed about food. Aside from being fascinating and compelling, this documentary is the only movie ever to keep me awake at night, because I felt betrayed, fooled, and suddenly… very unhealthy.
I have not stopped thinking about what I saw in Forks Over Knives – the documentary that chronicles the research of two food scientists and exposes the propaganda that goes on in this country regarding how our food policies are developed. Like practically every other policy, those policies are constructed for the financial well-being of particular industries: in this case, meat and dairy. I’ll go more into detail about how that is the case a little later, but for now, let me introduce you to the two food scientists whose revolutionary research has cured diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, and even cancer in hundreds of patients.
The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease. -Thomas Edison
Dr. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have spent decades studying how diet directly affects the body and many of the illnesses we have today. Their startling revelations were made when they studied populations in different countries, and began questioning why certain populations had very low incidences of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. For example, in the United States, a woman had more than an 80 times higher chance of getting breast cancer than a woman in Kenya did. And while over 14,000 people were dying in the U.S. every year from prostate cancer, only 18 people in Japan died in one year.
With these strikingly different comparisons came the questions. Why are so many more people dying in our country from these diseases – a country that is so advanced, and with so many resources – than people in other countries? Many of these individuals will never have access to the medical treatment we have, yet we are the ones dying in record numbers. WHY? Their research led to the discovery that diet can prevent, cure, and even reverse cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and just about every other ailment we have.
The diet itself is based on foods that grow naturally on earth. Here, in the words of the writer and director of this profound documentary, Lee Fulkerson:
This diet is a whole-foods, plant-based diet. It consists of foods from whole, minimally refined plants like fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. It also means avoiding animal-based foods such as meat, dairy, and eggs, as well as processed foods like bleached flour, refined sugars, and oil.
Naturally, these statements appear to contradict what he have been taught about nutritionally balanced diets. When you look at who is responsible for coming up with these guidelines, however, things start to be exposed for what they really are. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) formulates dietary guidelines for Americans every five years. When the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine investigated the board that formulates these guidelines, they found that six out of eleven of them had financial relationships – obvious conflicts of interest – with big companies in the food industry like Kraft, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Mead Johnson, Slim Fast, Nestle, and even pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Consider how dairy foods are marketed. We are told to eat dairy because it provides an excellent source of calcium to prevent osteoporosis. Why is it then that nations with high levels of calcium intake (such as ours) have high levels of hip fractures, a common result of osteoporosis? The logical conclusion -which has been supported by research – is that dairy is not necessary for good health and it is a causal agent for disease. The following graph (from an article by the Culinary Institute of America ) shows how hip fractures increase as calcium intake goes up.
Meat is considered to be a primary source of protein, a nutrient that is classified as vital to our health. But just like with dairy, this is what we believe about meat because that is how it is marketed. The research done on animal protein by Dr. Colin Campbell was perhaps the most fascinating part of this documentary. A diet consisting of 20% animal protein was found to cause cancer in rats. Due to copyright laws, I cannot reproduce a particular chart that shows the correlation between per capita meat consumption and incidence of colon cancer in women. As you would expect, the USA has a very high daily meat consumption AND is also the nation with the second highest incidence of colon cancer. To view the chart, go here.
Interestingly, Dr. Campbell’s studies further showed that when a diet consisted of 20% plant protein, no cancer was found. Why aren’t plants marketed as a healthier source of protein? Decisions that are made regarding how food is marketed continue to be made more so for financial reasons – mainly, the profit of certain powerful industries – than they are for the health of the people. It has been said that if everyone were to get on a whole-foods, plant-based diet, we would see a health epidemic. We would also see the stock market crash. The meat and dairy industries would plummet, and the pharmaceutical industry would undoubtedly suffer losses of astronomical proportions. As long as you keep feeding your body toxins, as long as you are sick, you keep the meat, dairy, and pharmaceutical industries enormously profitable.
You may disagree with me, but the research regarding this is overwhelmingly compelling. I have yet to hear a person say that they cured their cancer, diabetes, or heart disease by eating a diet of meat and dairy. But there are hundreds of people who are alive and well today who can emphatically say that they are disease and pill-free, and have their weight under control, all because of a whole-foods, plant-based diet.
If you want to lose weight, but are dealing with medical issues, you already know that it is an uphill battle. What amazes me is how quickly you start to reap the benefits from this diet. The sooner you can get healthy, the sooner you can focus on getting your dream body. Take a look at this incredible video of a diabetic woman who has suffered for years because of her diabetes. In just three days on a whole-foods, plant-based diet (an immersion program by Rip Esselstyn), her body thanked her by lowering her blood sugar and blood pressure to normal levels. In just three days!
Once you watch the Forks Over Knives movie, head on over to their cast and crew page to see the names of the professionals who practice this diet (not everyone listed on the cast and crew page supports this diet, but after watching the movie, you will know exactly who does). Because many of the doctors and experts in this documentary practice this diet themselves and prescribe it as their treatment of choice, it would behoove you to know where they are – in case you happen to be close by. These physicians truly work with their patients to get them healthy and off of their medication(s), including teaching them how to shop for the right foods and how to cook them.
I have already reserved a handful of books from the library about this topic. This documentary really convicted my husband and I, and we are going to start learning how to eat a whole-foods, plant-based diet. Here are some books you can look at to begin your journey to health. All of them (except for The China Study) have recipes in them:
- Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health by Gene Stone.
- The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health
by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II
- Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure
by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr.
- Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs
by Neal Barnard
- The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter’s 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds
by Rip Esselstyn
- The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook: Over 300 Delicious Low-Fat Recipes You Can Prepare in Fifteen Minutes or Less
by John and Mary McDougall
- Keep It Simple, Keep It Whole: Your Guide To Optimum Health
by Alona Pulde and Matthew Leaderman
- 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Boost Metabolism, Lower Cholesterol, and Dramatically Improve Your Health
by Neal Barnard
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get healthy and lose weight? How wonderful would it be to save money from the medicines you take every month (and spare your body of the unavoidable side effects from those medications), and drop clothes sizes at the same time? How freeing would it be to rid your body of the illness that plagues you and the excess weight that keeps you from living life to the fullest?
The beauty of a whole-foods, plant-based diet is that it not only is the healthiest way to eat on the planet, it also will speed up the process of getting in shape. The more research I do into this topic, the more surprised I am at the number of athletes, body builders, and martial arts champions on this diet. Since this way of eating is so foreign to us, we are taking baby steps to embrace this diet. Honestly, we are excited, curious, and scared all at the same time. But the more informed we become, the easier it will be to make this change a normal part of our life.
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Thank you for the great article. It is kinda scary to cut out dairy and meat, but it’s even more scary to have all the health problems from the things we enjoy eating. Can’t wait to follow how the diet goes for you.
You are welcome! Yeah, tell me about it… why do you think I haven’t been able to sleep? ;0) But, I am feeling more confident now that I have been learning more how to do this diet. The first book I am reading is in the list above – it’s The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn, and I am really impressed by what I am reading. We tried soy and almond milk for the first time, and we are hooked! No more dairy milk around here! It was cool because when I went to Dillons (Kroger), I expected the different milks to be expensive, but Dillons had the almond milk on a great sale, so I stocked up. They also had vegan sausage links 50% off, so I got those too!
Vanessa,
You’re right about everything but the “silent.” animal products are just plain killers, and responsible for most of the chronic diseases of the western world.
It is startling to think that my diet – which I firmly believed to be healthy – is the direct cause of so many diseases and ailments. On one hand, millions of Americans eat meat and dairy everyday, never knowing that what they are eating is eventually going to cause their own bodies to turn against them. And how can they know, when they get messages shoved down their throat that are intended only to expand the market share of the meat and dairy industries? Had it not been for Forks Over Knives, I may have never known. This movie has opened up a whole new world for me, with new books to read, new blogs to visit, and new recipes to try.
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