Forks Over Knives- The Movie and the Book

Forks Over Knives is a movie and a book that will change your life. Here are some facts from the movie, which will probably surprise you:
•    The average American carries an extra 23 pounds of weight.
•    Heart disease and stroke claim the lives of 460,000 American women per year.
•    There are 215,000 new cases of prostate cancer per year in American men.
•    “We have a growing problem and the ones who are growing are us.” – Katie Couric.
•    40% of Americans today are obese.
•    Almost one in five American four-year-olds are now considered to be obese.
•    “This could be the first generation of children in the United States that lives less than its parents.” – Richard Carmona, former Surgeon General of the United States.
•    “We have an unprecedented amount of type II diabetes in our children, and we are starting to see hypertension in our children in grammar school.” – Richard Carmona, former Surgeon General of the United States.
•    About half of all Americans are taking some form of prescription drug.
•    We spend $2.2 trillion on health care, over five times the amount we spend on the defense budget.
•    We pay more per person for health care than any industrialized country in the world yet we are sicker than ever.
•    Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure are all diet-related health issues that cost this country more than 120 billion dollars per year.

As most of my readers know I took a six-week intensive training course in the spring of this year at Cornell University (online) called "Whole Food Plant Based Nutrition." This course was taught by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and several other prominent physicians who have been leading the charge for documenting the benefit of a whole food, plant-based diet.

After taking the course I changed my own diet from being a vegetarian for the last 39 years to being a pure vegan. It has helped my own energy and vitality. And even though I am quite slender it helped me reduce the belly fat, which had accumulated over the last several years.

In August of this year a new study was published in Lancet magazine entitled "Health and economic burden of the projected obesity trends in the USA and the UK.” Researchers point out that excessive weight gain in populations forecast an increased burden from several diseases, most especially cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancers. They use a simulation model to project the probable health and economic consequences for the next two decades from the continuing rise in obesity in the United States and the UK.

The researchers project an additional 65 million obese adults in the United States and 11 million more obese adults in the UK by the year 2030. This is expected to lead to an additional 6.0 to 8.5 million cases of diabetes, 5.7 to 7.3 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and 492,000 to 699,000 additional cases of cancer. They predict that this will lead to  a loss of an additional 26 to 55 million quality—adjusted life years for the United States and England combined.

The researchers also predict that the medical costs associated with these preventable diseases are estimated to increase by $48 to $66 billion per year in the United States by the year 2030. They recommend that effective policies to promote healthier weight be put in place as soon as possible because of the economic benefits.

It is because of all these statistics and studies that I urge you to watch Forks Over Knives. It is a simple way to learn the benefits of a whole food, plant-based diet, which has been documented to help improve ALL of the conditions mentioned in this article.

I can also recommend that you read the book associated with the movie, because it is loaded with recipes to help you get started on this diet.

The DVD for the movie is available at Amazon.com, as is the book. Also check out the Forks over Knives website HERE

Those of you with a Netflix account can watch Forks Over Knives on Netflix for free.

Let me know what you think about the movie and/or the book. Is it possible for you to implement this for even two or three months to see if it makes a change in your lives? What are your stumbling blocks? What are your roadblocks?

You can leave a comment here, e-mail me at questions@askDrSoram.com, or leave me a voicemail message at 310-499-0275. I look forward to hearing from you.

LANCET ARTICLE