"The answer is so simple, it's criminal." --Rip Esselstyn
If you could live a vibrant, healthy life with unlimited energy would you do it? If you could stop or even reverse heart disease and diabetes for yourself or a loved one would you do it? If you could dramatically decrease the chance of developing one of the many horrible forms of cancer so prevalent in our country would you take the steps to do it? And how?
The answer to "how" is waiting for you, right there, in your face, in the movie Forks Over Knives. I saw this film last night and although it simply reiterates what I believe about diet and health, I was amazed once again about how important a whole foods, plant-based diet is for living a health-filled life.
The movie mainly follows the work of Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, a former cardiac surgeon and current clinician and researcher at the Cleveland Clinic, and Dr. T. Colin Campbell, nutritional researcher at Cornell and author of The China Study (read it!). There are also many other doctors and researchers interviewed, studies cited, and nutritional facts presented, but perhaps the most compelling evidence of the power of a plant-based diet comes from the individual patients featured in the film. These are individuals who were suffering from heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, soaring triglyceride counts, and type-2 diabetes. Bottom line? They reversed their conditions and were able to come off their medications because they changed what they ate. This is the "it's-so-simple-it's-criminal" part! We look for answers in the endless drugs we take as a nation when what we really should be doing is looking in our grocery stores and refrigerators.
We are so brainwashed as a nation to believe that we need protein, protein, protein from animal sources and calcium found in dairy products for good health but when you look at the research that is out there now (out there, but not yet in the advertising that most Americans see) we are consuming these nutrients in excessive amounts and they are making us sicker than ever. When you suggest to people that they change the way they eat, they may say, "Oh, a plant-based diet, a vegan diet... that seems so extreme." You know what else is extreme? Open-heart surgery. But over 500,000 Americans receive bypass surgery every year and each one costs about $100,000. Last time I went to the grocery store to buy whole foods and plant-based products for my family of three for a week, I spent about $150. I don't know about you, but I prefer option B.
Please go see Forks Over Knives. As many of you know, I could go on and on about this nutrition stuff but the movie makes a more powerful argument than I ever could. Visit the website, watch the trailer, and look for showtimes near you!
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