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Recently I watched this documentary called Forks Over Knives and it completely changed my outlook on the way I view eating meat, dairy products, and processed foods. I recently indicated in an earlier post about how I had this undying craving for real food.  In the blog post I mentioned how I craved thick cut, slabbed bacon and the wild game that I grew up with. However, after watching this documentary I have started to see if I can change my physical health by following a plant-based diet as recommended by the doctors of this film.

This documentary falls exactly within my theme of my blog i.e. that so-called “conventional wisdom” is wrong.  They argue that the focus of western society eating meat and dairy, at every meal, for protein and calcium is incorrect and dangerous. Instead, they argue that we can receive all the necessary protein and calcium from eating vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes.  I have to admit that I too thought that one had to eat meat and/or dairy at every meal to promote health, even though after eating this type of food I usually felt tired and not well.  This documentary’s main theme is that we can use food as a way to treat or prevent many types of modern-day illnesses consisting of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular problems, obesity, depression, cancer, migraines, aging and respiratory related illnesses just by changing our diet and what we eat.

At first, I have to admit that the word “vegan” is very off-putting and when one thinks of the word, sometimes images of negative connotations comes to a person’s mind as in a certain type of lifestyle and/or political and social views.  I try to think of myself as an open-minded person but find that I too conjure up negative stereotypes when I hear the word “vegan.” I guess it is another classic example of when a person does not understand something they either fear it in the form of derision or cast it aside as not relevant.

The documentary recommends going from a meat based diet which is completely embraced by the entire Western world and switching to a plant-based diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans. This means cutting out all meat (if it has eyes, do not consume it), dairy related products, processes foods, and limit oil consumption due to the processing part that makes these types of oils unhealthy and not natural. Although this documentary focuses on the waste created by eating a heavy meat diet and focuses somewhat on how animals used for consumption have added antibiotics, hormones, and live in poor conditions; however, the primary focus to changing to this type of diet is primarily for health related benefits.

In the documentary, they showed people who were facing a variety of health related conditions described above and showed how by changing their diets to a plant-based diet they were able to lose weight, had more energy, looked younger, reduced their intake and reliance on prescribed medications, and in some cases they were able to reverse the effects of diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and cancer.  In these cases they were able to use food as their medicine.

I am in the second week of following this plant-based diet. I am giving myself six weeks to see if I notice any major results in my overall health.  I have to admit that it has been a challenge to go from a primarily meat based diet to a plant-based one.  However, it has been fun to learn how to cook with many vegetables (eggplant, butternut squash, and leeks to name a few) that I have never heard of or eaten before.

In the companion book to the documentary, the books notes that it takes about two weeks for your body to detox itself from all the remnants of the meat based diet and that the first two weeks are the most difficult to kick the habit of cutting out all processed food and sugar.  I agree, the first two weeks have been difficult (there have been periods where I have experienced extreme fatigue and all I dream about are the foods that I cannot eat), but I have noticed small changes such as morning breath is minimal (who knew!!), my digestive system is regular, I have experienced bursts of energy, my skin is clearer, and the lethargy that usually accompanies my mornings is minimal.

I plan to use this blog as an update of my progress on improving my overall health and to see if significant changes consisting of being able to get off prescription medications, having more energy, and losing weight do occur on this plant-based diet.