I had already watched some of it and found it pretty intriguing so I asked Jeremy to watch it with me. Generally speaking my husband is not into my crazy schemes...like doing Whole30. Or becoming vegan. However, before the movie was even over he was on his laptop doing more research. Something struck a chord with him and he was genuinely interested in exploring a whole food, plant-based diet.
Whole food, plant-based diet. That's what they call it in Forks Over Knives but essentially it means veganism. Vegan is easier to say but usually evokes thoughts of snarky hippie-types who get all over your case about have a string cheese. [This is obviously a complete stereotype]
So Jeremy gets on Pinterest and starts a SECRET board with vegan recipes. Except at this point he won't actually SAY the word "vegan." Apparently it's his perception that being vegan is demasculinizing. Let's put that to rest right now. This guy is a vegan:
Moving on.
So we watched this documentary and we're both interested in trying this plant-based business. Why? Well I'm going to speak only for myself here. Number one - health. Forks Over Knives present some pretty compelling information about how things that are abundant in the typical American diet - casein (milk protein) and meat - may be contributing to cancer and heart disease among other things. This is the statistic that got me: Out of a group of people who had a previous heart attack and then switched to a vegan diet, the people who stuck with the whole food, plant-based diet had a 0.6% chance of having a second heart attack. The people who switched back to the typical American diet had a 62% chance of having a second heart attack.*
Now let's pause for a second. I'm not going to get into causation versus correlation, sample size, or any other of a myriad of things to be considered when looking at research. I'm currently reading The China Study which dives into the science more. I also plan to take a closer look at some criticism of Forks Over Knives. All this is to say, do your own research. But I would highly recommend starting with the documentary. Because in my opinion, spending an hour and a half of your time to watch it is certainly worth the potential benefits such as decreased risk of heart disease and cancer.
Is anyone wondering why I'm telling you all this? Well first I kind of just want to share the information. I think there's great potential to make people I know healthier. I'm also considering doing some regular posts about recipes we try and what we eat. While I've found several vegan bloggers and YouTube channels, I'm finding mostly young people without kids. That's not our family. We both work full time, have two 5-year olds, and juggle activities. So I need easy and quick meals and I need my kids to actually eat them.
I'd love you all to join me on this soiree into a plant-based diet. If you're vegan - tell me about it! Tried it and didn't like it - tell me about it! Thought about trying it - tell me about it!
Peace, Love, and Plant-Based Protein!
[sorry, that's so corny but I couldn't help it]
*It's been a hot minute since I watched FOK so these numbers might not be exact but they're close. When I get a sec to pull up the movie and verify I'll update this if needed.
