Hungry Movie Review: Forks Over Knives

I certainly had to see the free movie offered this evening, which had a blatant health connection since it's all about how diet can impact health.

Forks Over Knives is a documentary that makes an enthusiastic argument in favor of "a whole-foods plant-based diet"--basically vegan, although that specific word is only used a couple of times.

With the use of numerous entertainingly goofy animations, charts and graphs (my favorite may have been the one we whisperingly subtitled "Suddenly: Nazis!" although there was also a very nice one dramatizing the action of epithelial cells in the arteries), it suggests that consumption of animal products is responsible for pretty much all the most common physical ills of life in the developed world.

Strokes, heart attacks, and certain cancers, specifically, as well as diabetes.

It felt a bit heavy-handed in places, and the implication that going vegan will cure basically everything that ails you is probably going a bit far, but it cited a lot of studies, addressed a lot of aspects of diet, and presented several people who talked convincingly of their improved blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, and other health indicators after adopting a whole-foods plant-based diet.

It didn't really lay out any recipes or explain in detail what eating plans the diet they were on involved, but it sounded like the basic whole grains, lots of fruits and vegetables, limited processed foods advice we all know, with the additional stipulation that it almost or entirely avoids animal products (both meat and dairy).

Thinking back, my main complaint is that at no point did it say "ask a librarian if you need to find more information on this topic."

'Cause really, how hard would that have been? This movie was crying out for a library tie-in!

Anyway, go eat your vegetables.

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