Forks Over Knives

I just got done watching Forks Over Knives, a documentary film about meat and dairy being more harmful than Americans think. I'll be forcing my family members to watch it shortly. I think it's a real eye-opener for those of us who believe we can only get protein from meat, that milk is necessary for strong bones, that neither meat or dairy can cause us any harm. The food industry has been corrupted and is paying tons of money to mislead us into thinking such things, for fear that we would stop spending so much on these foods. In fact, most nutrition and disease studies are not done independently, they are paid for. This film goes along with what I've been saying, that becoming vegetarian (although I eat cage-free eggs) many illnesses can be prevented and even reversed. It's worth a try, right? But it goes without saying that some exercise is necessary.

Anyway, one of the things I enjoyed most about this film was the part where they address "the starving children of third world countries." I put that in quotations because since I was a child, I've always heard people say things like "don't waste your food because there's a million starving children in Africa." Now I just find it ridiculous that people pretend to be concerned (a fact, proven by how much food is wasted every day in households and restaurants) but no one cares that rainforests have been cut down to provide land for cattle and that the amount of grains fed to cows alone could end the food crisis in third world countries. There are more cattle than there are people. Not that the government would ever let that happen, they make too much money off of livestock.

The truth is, once we stop breast feeding, we no longer need milk. Meat truly does contribute to diseases. Countries that do not eat meat or do not eat more than the size of a deck of playing cards per day live longer and have much lower rates of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, if any. It is a fact that Mediterranean and Asian countries - Italy, Monaco, Japan, China, live up to a decade longer than Americans in part because of their diet. (Other factors include wealth, more exercise, better healthcare and relaxing, less polluted environments.)

Veggies truly are king. The food pyramid needs to be revised.