Forks Over Knives

Nick and I went to DC to see Forks Over Knives yesterday.  The move road a fine line of shock value and showing both sides.  I think I am spoiled by Food Inc and everything else by Pollan, but I felt that FOK was a little scattered and did not give an easy way to better your health except become a vegan tomorrow. 

Basically they believe if you eat ANY animal product you are harming your body.  It honestly made me feel bad because I have changed the way I eat over the past two years not only to try and improve my own health but the health of the planet.  To FOK this did not seem like enough.  I basically need to cut out the little meat I eat, the eggs and cheese that I love, milk and any form of oil.  I have mixed feelings over this.  I personally do not believe cutting out any food group is the smartest thing, I mean we were able to grow such big brains vs. our bodies because we ate meat.  I do think we need to reduce our meat consumption hands down but I do not like being limited in my real food selections.  The movie showed a group of people basically knocking of deaths door and how eating a plant based diet changed their lives.  The problem with this is that most Americans are not willing to change until they are at this point.  Eating less meat and more plants might make them healthier, but at least from my personal experience you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.  Americans are addicted to fats and sugars and unless they are close to death or see the light it is going to be very hard to change people’s minds.  It is also hard when we are faced with ads promising fiber in our Lucky Charms and yogurt with only 80 calories (and tons of artificial ingredients).  We are just going to get fatter and sicker and fast food chains and processed snack food companies pump out their next big thing.  I want to find a way for people to see the light.  Make people actually care about their personal heath and stop them from treating their insides as trashcans, but how do you convince someone who grew up on biscuits and gravy that vegetables can actually taste good without cheese sauce or a sugary marinade?

Probably the think that bothers me the most about the entire idea about how we are killing ourselves is that such a large portion of the billions of dollars we spend on healthcare every year is for preventable diseases like type two diabetes and heart disease.  We spend more on healthcare than national defense.  It is just sad and disheartening about where we are heading.

So what to do?  These are a couple of things that could be baby step, which I wish the movie had given to connect with a wider audience.

• Try out Meatless Mondays
• Reduce meat consumption to only one meal a day and then maybe less
• Keep track of the way you feel when you reduce meat consumption
• make sure you learn your vegetarian proteins
• Watch out for vegetarian junk food
• Learn that meat is still a luxury if you eat the kind of meat worth eating ie. organic, grass fed, local
• Realize that food is fuel and you get out what you put in
• If it has a label read it
• Avoid foods with labels
• My personal one – try a day of vegan then maybe a week and just see how it makes me feel – shall miss my cheese and there is no good sub for milk in my coffee

What do you think?  With all of the new food data out there have you changed the way you eat?  Would you have to have a quad bypass to care?