Forks over Knives: re diet

Slobina · February 2012

Hi ladies. I know I'm late to the game here, but DH and I watched Forks over Knives this weekend. Over the last few months, I have been focusing on having our family eat more healthy meals. These have been small efforts - i.e., eat one vegetarian meal per week, include vegetables in all meals, etc.

After watching that movie, I feel like I am completely questioning everything about the way our family eats. Did anyone else watch this movie and feel this way? I'm curious what others think and what you may have done as a result. I am thinking of making more small changes to remove some dairy products from our diet. Also, anyone else have a husband that is a die-hard meat eater have any thoughts on how to get them to eat less meat?

TIA,

Amy

MrsAJL · February 2012

I didn't think anything this film presented was revolutionary. Many proponents of a plant based diet have been saying this same thing for years.

Eat more veggies, fruits, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Eat less meat (of all varieties). Eat less dairy. Stop eating processed food. As Michael Pollan likes to say, "Eat food."

I think you're making good choices. Don't try to change all at once. Slow, steady changes that you'll keep for a lifetime is the best way to go. Don't over think this.

ec3under4 · February 2012

I haven't seen the movie so take this for what it's worth. We are pretty healthy and although we have our days, I try to have us eat whole foods. I try to think of how man ate many years ago when chronic disease wasn't really prevalent and people didnt have all of the health issues that most do today. For me, that means sticking to foods that come from the source and without added pesticides, hormones, etc. We buy organic produce, eat free range- grass fed meats and all the dairy that I buy is either organic, raw, from local dairy farmers or low heat pasteurized. Dairy has gotten a bad rap in the past years but in reality, the fat from dairy isnt bad. Nowadays the dairy that you get at your typical grocery store is so processed that all the good nutrients are removed and you are left with who knows what. Around here, we drink full fat milk, cook with ghee or regular old butter and we even eat bacon. Of course, we aren't perfect and like today, I didn't have time to go to Georgetown and pick up my milk so I just got some plain organic at the store. But, we typically live by 85% whole foods and 15% of the other. I say to make little steps. Take it a week at a time. One week, cut out processed foods and another week, cut out grains and before you know it, your diet will be changed/

Slobina · February 2012

Thanks y'all. I haven't really gotten on the bandwagon of reading a lot of the food-related research, but I've just followed the general trends of eat more veggies, less meat, less processed food. Still, seeing something like that with the data the way it is presented kind of freaked me out.

carlinlp · February 2012

I pretty much yelled at the tv for the first 1/2 and then I turned it off. I don't agree with their take on fats at all. Yes, more plants and healthy choices are good but our bodies need QUALITY fats to function. So yeah, not my fave movie in the least.

Temp13436125005166 · February 2012

carlinlp:
I pretty much yelled at the tv for the first 1/2 and then I turned it off. I don't agree with their take on fats at all. Yes, more plants and healthy choices are good but our bodies need QUALITY fats to function. So yeah, not my fave movie in the least.

I haven't watched it but I read what it was about and avoided it for the same reason!

I've been a vegetarian since I was 13 but thankfully I eat dairy/eggs. Being pregnant with two close in age and nursing for the last 4 years has taken a toll on my body/health. Honestly I think I would be in better health if I had eaten more pastured poultry and grass fed meat! That's just me though, I can't speak for others. But after being a vegetarian for almost 20 years I'm trying to sneak meat into my diet via bone broth in soups/rice/quinoa!

MrsAJL · February 2012

carlinlp:
I pretty much yelled at the tv for the first 1/2 and then I turned it off. I don't agree with their take on fats at all. Yes, more plants and healthy choices are good but our bodies need QUALITY fats to function. So yeah, not my fave movie in the least.

I thought it was just an elimination of animal fats (from meat, eggs, and dairy), not all fats.

There are a lot of great fats from oils like coconut as well as fat from avocados, nuts, flax seed, etc. I think you can have an exclusively plant based diet and still get a lot of good fats in your diet while not having to eat meat based fats.

Temp13436125005166 · February 2012

MrsAJL:

carlinlp:
I pretty much yelled at the tv for the first 1/2 and then I turned it off. I don't agree with their take on fats at all. Yes, more plants and healthy choices are good but our bodies need QUALITY fats to function. So yeah, not my fave movie in the least.

I thought it was just an elimination of animal fats (from meat, eggs, and dairy), not all fats.

There are a lot of great fats from oils like coconut as well as fat from avocados, nuts, flax seed, etc. I think you can have an exclusively plant based diet and still get a lot of good fats in your diet while not having to eat meat based fats.

carlinlp will have a better response to this but my understanding is that animal fats also have a lot of vitamins and minerals in them, especially the fat soluable kind like A, D and K2. Plant oils also have vitamins (I think) but often times your body has to convert them to the form it needs whereas animal fat already are in the right form and are highly absorbable / usable immediately. Animals fats also usually have a better Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio assuming the animal is pastured/grass fed. The standard american diet (SAD) is usually too high in Omega 6 as is and I've read mixed studies on how effective Omega 3 absorbtion is from flax (I believe it requires a converstion to the form our body needs).

carlinlp · February 2012

Michelle&Russ:
MrsAJL:

carlinlp:
I pretty much yelled at the tv for the first 1/2 and then I turned it off. I don't agree with their take on fats at all. Yes, more plants and healthy choices are good but our bodies need QUALITY fats to function. So yeah, not my fave movie in the least.

I thought it was just an elimination of animal fats (from meat, eggs, and dairy), not all fats.

There are a lot of great fats from oils like coconut as well as fat from avocados, nuts, flax seed, etc. I think you can have an exclusively plant based diet and still get a lot of good fats in your diet while not having to eat meat based fats.

carlinlp will have a better response to this but my understanding is that animal fats also have a lot of vitamins and minerals in them, especially the fat soluable kind like A, D and K2. Plant oils also have vitamins (I think) but often times your body has to convert them to the form it needs whereas animal fat already are in the right form and are highly absorbable / usable immediately. Animals fats also usually have a better Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio assuming the animal is pastured/grass fed. The standard american diet (SAD) is usually too high in Omega 6 as is and I've read mixed studies on how effective Omega 3 absorbtion is from flax (I believe it requires a converstion to the form our body needs).

Yes Yup.

Omega 3's from fats are not enough, you have the get the right balance of 3, 6 and 9. It's hard and it took our family awhile to really get there. 3 and 9 need to be higher than 6 generally. FCLO (fermented cod liver oil) is a staple in our home for all 5 of us. We use large amount of healing bone broths and pastured organic eggs and grass fed animals. Quality is the key. There is a HUGE misconception about fats and health. The low fat fads have had a detrimental negative effect on the health of millions. Eating healthy, quality fats promotes health and weightloss. I wish we could do raw dairy and butter, but we haven't healed our guts enough from years of abuse and the SAD. Someday, hopefully.

Good info on fats: https://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats

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