One of the most powerful steps you can take to improve your health, boost energy levels, and prevent chronic diseases is to move to a plant-based diet. Limiting red meat and saturated fat.  Eating the recommended amounts of protein versus what the restaurant portion is on the plate.  Eating a variety of foods and colors, eating close to the source and God’s packaging verses prepared meals from a variety of boxes as I discussed in an earlier blog post Eat Outside The Box. July 19th, 2021.

I recently listened to an amazing webinar from the National Wellness Institute given by Dr. Michelle Thompson who is spearheading the push for a more plant based diet to reduce illness, disease and restore health.  She is the Medical Director of the UPMC Lifestyle Medicine Institute and has been instrumental in the field of Culinary Medicine, Mind Body Medicine and believe that we all can benefit from making one or two healthy changes to move us in the direction of optimal health through healthy eating and lifestyle management.

A documentary in 2011, Called Forks Over Knives advocated for a whole-food, low fat, basically vegan (no animal products) diet to avoid or reverse some chronic diseases.  The films premise according to Wikipedia is, “if one is selective about the food they place on their fork, they can avoid going under a surgeon's knife.”  The film recommends avoiding overly refined and processed foods, including refined sugars, bleached flours, and oils, and instead eating whole grains, legumes, tubers, vegetables, and fruits. (References) "The Forks Over Knives Diet Explained - Frequently Asked Questions". forksoverknives.com. Hickman, Angela (16 May 2011). "The food revolution of Forks Over Knives will not be processed". National Post.  Knight, Chris (19 May 2011). "Film Review: Forks Over Knives (3 stars)". National Post – these are the references.

 

The film received mixed views, many saying it is interesting and informative and depressing and boring. Corey Hall of the Metro Times gave the film a "C" and stated that "while it's impossible to dispute the basic premise that eating more vegetables is good for you, Forks adopts a staunch anti-meat and -dairy stance that leaves the door open for criticism." Hall, Corey. "Forks Over Knives Metro Times Review". Metrotimes.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2015-09-09.  Dr. Thompson believes that prominent dietary unhealthy dietary patterns and the impact nutrition has on us can be solved with this same idea.  She is on a mission to help us all make nutrition our number one sustainable way to treat preventable illness and restore health.

I do believe in the central message of this movie and her mission, eating a more plant-based diet and eating close to the source is good for all of us. 

Portions like the guide on MyPlate or a newer version the American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s Whole Food Plant-Based Plate (WFPB) who us how we should design our meals. 

God has given us plants and animals to eat.  I’m not going to debate the Bible and what it says about eating plants and animals, you can look that up for yourself.   I do believe as good stewards of our bodies, we need to care about what we eat, the portions of what we eat; and that we eat close the source and avoid chemicals to take care of the 1 body God gave us to live in on this earth.  We need to care about the plants and what chemicals are used on them, and about what we feed our animals.  We are to be good stewards and have good husbandry over the animals God created and gave us to have dominion over.  Genetic engineering of plants is also not part of God’s design, so avoiding GMO seeds is also advised. 

There is a 2013 documentary, GMO OMG that you can watch on that subject as well.  It’s premise is to alert people about the corporate manipulation of the food supply. It also discusses the Global Seed Vault, with over 700,000 samples of seeds from every country to prevent the extinction of certain plants.  According to Wikipedia, “two types of GMOs used in farming, pesticide producers and herbicide resisters. Pesticide producers are plants that can kill insects with an introduced toxin while herbicide resisters are immune to weed killer which allows farmers to use herbicides on crops leaving the plant unharmed. Seifert claims that commercial farmers utilize GMOs to produce crops faster for more profit while private owned farms continue to use traditional farming methods because of their dedication to maintaining the most natural process of growing food” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: Citation needed

 

THE FIVE FOOD GROUPS OF A PLANT BASED DIET with a few examples:

• Fruits: Any type of fruit including apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries, citrus fruits, etc.

• Vegetables: Plenty of veggies including peppers, corn, lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, collards, etc.

• Tubers: Root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, beets. etc.

• Whole grains: Grains, cereals, and other starches in their whole form, such as quinoa, brown rice, millet, whole wheat, oats, barley, etc. Even popcorn is a whole grain.

• Legumes: Beans of any kind, plus lentils, pulses, etc.

 

Have you ever read this poem?  It’s a little something to think about…I tried to find the author to give them credit, but it is not to be found.  There are other versions of this as well like God, The Devil & Fat.  

In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. And the Earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep., and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

And Satan said, "It doesn't get any better than this."

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit," and God saw that it was good.

And Satan said, "There goes the neighborhood." And God said, "Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle, and over all the Earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth."

And so God created Man in his own image; male and female created he them. And God looked upon Man and Woman and saw that they were lean and fit.

And Satan said, "I know how I can get back in this game."

And God populated the earth with broccoli and cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

And Satan created McDonald's. And McDonald's brought forth the 99-cent double cheeseburger. And Satan said to Man, "You want fries with that?"

And Man said, "Supersize them." And Man gained 5 pounds.

And God created the healthful yogurt, that woman might keep her figure that man found so fair.

And Satan brought forth chocolate. And Woman gained 5 pounds.

And God said, "Try my crispy fresh salad."

And Satan brought forth Ben and Jerry's. And Woman gained 10 pounds.

And God said, "I have sent thee heart-healthy vegetables and olive oil with which to cook them."

And Satan brought forth chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained 10 pounds and his bad cholesterol went through the roof.

And God brought forth running shoes and Man resolved to lose those extra pounds.

And Satan brought forth cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil to change channels between ESPN and ESPN2.

And Man gained another 20 pounds.

And God said, "You're running up the score, Devil." And God brought forth the potato, a vegetable naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition.

And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fat fried them. And he created sour cream dip also.

And Man clutched his remote control and ate the potato chips swaddled in cholesterol.

And Satan saw and said, "It is good." And Man went into cardiac arrest.

And God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery.

And Satan created HMO's.

Food for thought…I’d love to hear what you think on this topic!