Forks over Knives
Forks over Knives is a 2011 American documentary film, examining the idea that a plant-based diet can drastically improve your health, as well as help prevent contracting deadly diseases. The documentary suggests that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting the Wests menu of animal-based product and processed foods. Through examination of the careers of American physician Caldwell Esselstyn and professor of nutritional biochemistry T. Colin Campbell, this film presents astounding statistics and numbers that back up the advocacy for a whole-food diet in unforgettable ways.
As of 2011, over 40% of Americans are obese and 1 in 5 American children are obese. The total amount of money in attempts to fix obesity every year is over $120 billion dollars; enough to feed 600,000,000,000,000 starving people every day. In 1978, chances of getting breast cancer was 82% higher in Americans than Japan, and in that same year, only 18 cases of prostate cancer was reported in Japan while America had 14,000.
Forks over knives takes statistics like those above and focuses on how the West can reverse the drastic changes in our health, in safe and alternative ways. A major point that the film makes is that by completely cutting animal by-products out of our diet; and choosing vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds, we can get plenty of essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and healthy oils while limiting calories, salt, sugar, and harmful fats.
Though Forks over Knives sends an amazing message about making healthy choices, as well as helping inform the public about the benefits of veganism, I personally found it to be a very bias documentary. Some of the statistics that were mentioned had to do with WWII, and how many cases of breast and prostate cancer were reported. Granted, the numbers had went down drastically, but the makers of the film had failed to indicate every other situation that was happening at the same time (starvation, murders, etc.). It was little things that marked discrimination as well as "not the full truth" were things that made me not fully grasp what they were arguing. Even though I didn't completely agree with the concept of this film, there was still very many valuable pieces of information that I can work into my everyday life and that will benefit my health daily!
