Over the weekend, Corey and I watched three documentaries about nutrition and food in today’s world. They were all really interesting and informative. My diet is definitely changing after watching these. We watched Food, Inc.; Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead; and Forks Over Knives. I highly recommend them; they’re definitely worth your time. (They’re all currently available on Netflix.)

Food, Inc.

This documentary made me so mad! It talks about the truth of where our food comes from. It may be a little sensationalized, but frankly, I don’t think it’s far from the mark, especially with the supporting evidence they included in the documentary.

It all began with fast food. Because consumer demand became outrageous, certain policies were implemented that changed the way food was prepared and packaged forever. Most animals are kept in horrible conditions and fed food and antibiotics that they’re not even meant to consume. Most chickens, for example, are kept in lightless, crowded conditions. They can barely walk and they often die before even reaching the slaughterhouse. They’ve been genetically bred to grow twice the size in half the time. And, they’re treated with disdain when transported to the slaughterhouse. Most cows aren’t allowed to roam free and are force fed corn instead of their usual diet of grass. Farmers have to cut into their rumen, part of their stomach, while they’re still alive to clean out the crap that is created from the consumption of corn.

This documentary also talked about how these conditions and the conditions in the slaughterhouses are giving rise to all the E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks in the US. The companies give these animals antibiotics to keep their meat clean, but it’s adding to the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria and as well as sick America. The chemicals used to clean the facilities and meat (e.g. using ammonia to clean contaminated meat) is also adding to the problem rather than solving it.

It made me sick and made me cry to see those animals treated as they were. I’m not against eating meat. But, I’m against ill treatment of animals. I believe that all animals, whether they are pets or food, should be treated with respect and kindness. And, I think people are too far removed from the source and aren’t thankful for the life the animal gave so they could eat its meat. I will never eat at a fast food restaurant again. In fact, I won’t eat any meat unless I know that the meat is organic and came from free range, cage-free animals.

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

This documentary follows Joe Cross and his journey to become healthier. At 41, he found himself overweight and sick with a chronic auto-immune condition. He decided to take control of his life and after speaking with several nutritional experts, including Dr. Joel Fuhrman, he was advised to go on a juice fast of nothing but whole fruits and vegetables for 60 days. (This juice was juiced by Joe using a juicer every day for every meal for 60 days.)

The juice fast would do four things:

1. It would provide a comprehensive detox of his digestive system from all the horrible foods he’d been eating all his life.
2. He’d get the phytonutrients found in all fruits and vegetables to his cells at a rapid pace because it’s in liquid form.
3. He’d be able to get more phytonutrients at a time because juicing allowed him to consume more fruits and vegetables at a time than if he were simply to eat.
4. It’d give his digestive track a break and time to heal.

It was amazing to see the change in him during those 60 days. Not only did he lose weight, but he no longer had any flare ups of his condition and he no longer needed the medication he was on. He acted like he felt so much better. He seemed to have much more energy and vigor. He said he did. And, because of this, he committed to eating micronutrient-rich (phytonutrient) food for the rest of his life.

In the documentary the doctors explained that micronutrient-rich foods are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, spices, and legumes. Everything else falls into macronutrient-rich foods. They said that there’s no problem with eating macronutrient-rich foods, but only rarely. The movie really stressed the Nutritarian Pyramid which promotes that 30-60% of your calories should be consumed in the form of vegetables, excluding white potatoes; 10-40% of your calories should be consumed by fruits, beans/legumes, seeds, nuts, and avocados; 20% or less of your calories should be consumed by whole grains and potatoes; less than 10% of your calories should be consumed by eggs, fish, and fat-free dairy; and, you should eat all other foods rarely. According to this approach, you can get all your necessary protein through vegetables, nuts, and legumes.

During Joe’s 60 days, he traveled through the United States telling people about his juice fast. He met a trucker, Phil Staples, in Arizona. Phil was in a sad state. He also had a chronic auto-immune condition and weighed almost 400 lbs. He could barely move without being in pain. At first, Phil wasn’t very receptive, at least in the sense of doing the juice fast himself. But after Joe’s 60 days, Joe received a phone call from Phil asking for help. Phil decided to do the juice fast as well.

Phil went through the same amazing transformation that Joe did. He lost weight, he had no more flare ups, he no longer had to take medication, he had more energy and vigor, and he was healthier than most “healthy” people according to all of his numbers.

Forks Over Knives

This documentary is about the research done by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. Although their research is a little biased, it has shown that by following a whole foods, plant-based diet, many degenerative diseases can be prevented and in some cases reversed. These diseases include type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and several forms of cancer.

Dr. Esselstyn has used food as a treatment for these diseases in his own clinic with positive results from those that followed the diet strictly. Many of his patients no longer have to take medication and the movie showcased a woman, Ruth Heidrich, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 40s. After following Dr. Esseltyn’s advice and diet strictly, her cancer went into remission without radiation or chemotherapy treatment and her cancer has been in remission for about 30 years now.

Dr. Campbell’s research showed that in European countries before WWII, the rate of heart disease was directly related to an animal-protein based diet. Then, once Hitler came into power and the countries could no longer get meat and were forced to adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet, the rate of heart disease went down. Then, once the countries started to eat poor diets again, the disease returned in full force.

The documentary also showcased the clinic of Dr. Matthew Lederman and Dr. Alona Pulde who also use nutrition as their main way to treat patients. They help their patients adopt a whole foods, plant-based diet. Their patients start to feel better: they have more energy, their cholesterol lowers, their risk for diabetes and heart disease decreases, they sleep better at night, etc.

Personal Conclusions

Since watching these documentaries, Corey and I have been discussing the findings at length. We’ve even researched the information. And, we’ve decided to follow Joe Cross and go on a juice fast for 60 days. (Our juicer arrives tomorrow.) Then, we’ll adopt a mostly whole foods, plant-based diet. We’ll still consume some lean meat, mostly fish, but only twice a week at the most for one meal. This may change depending on how we feel once we do it, meaning we may only eat it once a week or even rarer than that.

We feel good about our decision. Not only do we feel that this will help us become more physically healthy, but we think it’ll help us become more emotionally and spiritually healthy as well.

• Emotionally: Everyone who followed these diets were happier than they were before. They suffered no depression and they were full of energy and vigor for life. Most of them were able to stop taking their medication or at least greatly reduce their dosage.
• Spiritually: For those of you that are LDS, all three of these documentaries seemed to follow the Word of Wisdom well. I’ve never had such a peaceful feeling about it before. I realize this is our interpretation and I’d be happy to discuss it further if you’d like, but I feel that we’re on a path that’s right for us and we cannot help but be blessed by it.