Forks over Knives ? A Review and Thoughts.

Disclaimer: I am not for or against this documentary; I just found there were good take a ways from it. I am a person who loves information, and this has gotten me to think and truly ask question about what I have learned and what I will learn in the future. I will speak about the clear and the confusing statements in the film. I hope if you have watched it, this might help you think differently, and if you haven’t it might help you have background knowledge coming into it. I believe that a documentary that is well filmed can trap people into a skewed mind set. The pendulum effect is a great way to explain it.

The Pendulum effect (loosely defined): Human nature tends to swing from one extreme to another, like a pendulum.

The Clear:  

·         We have an issue with Food in America. The western diet.

·         Obesity is in fact an epidemic.

·          We need more information about where our food comes from.

·         Meat is not the only source of protein.

·         We spend too much money on health care in this country.

o   This can be significantly reduced with nutrition alone.

The Confusing:

·         Subsidized foods (who are pushing their own agenda?)

·         The diets people in the documentary were on.

o   Plant based, but what else?

·         If the bottom line is that animal protein is the bad guy, why do we not see more carnivorous animal’s obese or dying of cancer?

·         Many athletes, whom eat meat and supplement with extra animal protein and are not eating plant based diets, are some of the healthiest people alive,. (Exercise?)

·         The patients in the film, did their numbers drop in all of the bad areas because of plant based food or because they lost weight in general?

My thoughts:

After talking to a registered dietitian friend of mine about the topic in this film, we both came to a similar conclusion. The pendulum effect is in full swing ;), on one side this documentary is telling you to eat a whole foods diet, ( not meat), on the other side the very popular Paleo diets is telling you to stay away from whole grains and grains in general ( meat is encouraged) . What are we to do as a general public with extremes?

My dietitian friend said that meeting in the middle is the best, and that diet is highly specific to your body type and genetics, (she says to see a dietitian, I wonder why? Lol).  We discussed how the documentary did not specify what the diets the patents were on looked like. Was it that they only started to eat whole food and a plant based diet, or did they reduces total calories, and start an exercise program as well? Is it about portion control or nutritional selection? Well both. My friend went on to say that the best way to drop any of the bad health numbers is to lose weight. She also said that the factor is in the weight loss and now how you lose it, yet there are healthy ways to lose weight.  

 We have to understand that we have a Food issue in this country and that is a truth that we can all agree on. What might be some simple ideas on what diet to follow? Well if your family has a history of heart desires, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, it might be a smart idea to stay away from the high fatty animal proteins (not cut them out completely). If you have recently found out you have a grain allergy, it might be smart to find an alternative.  As for exercise in all of this, it is a great supplement, but that is all it will ever be is a supplement. You can never out work a poor diet. A strength coach once said, “The best exercises are plate push a ways.”  Read that again, and let it sink in.