Forks Over Knives (2011)

Touches You

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A different way of telling a story

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Spoiler alert: Two medical doctors on opposite ends of the country come to the same conclusion about how we eat. But seriously, if you don't already know this information, you're probably a goner. Outstanding information about eating to live. And told in a very practical and easy to understand way. Really important documentary. I hope every kid in the country watches it. It would make a BIG difference in the health of our nation. I love it and I'll watch it again, and I'll make my husband watch it and when my kids are old enough, I'll cram it down their throats once a year until they move out.

After about 40 minutes I desperately wanted to turn this off. The whole thing starts to feel a little creepy like your being brainwashed or like a video trying to recruit you into a cult. I think in the whole video there is just one lady that gives opposing views. I have no doubt that a lot of what they said could have positive effects on you health however there is absolutely no evidence shown of any possible negative side effects to only eating plant based foods. After watching I decided to do some extra research and do feel this is made by two scientists who are overly excited about their research and needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, or a good steak ;)

This is a controversial film but its message although superficially persuasive is neither new nor entirely convincing. Although viewed primarily from a US perspective, it is aimed at what might be called the Western diet in its entirety.Is eating red meat and/or processed food and/or sugar really killing us? Or too much of the stuff? Too much of anything will kill you, including too much water in a short period.Back in the 1980s we were being warned about the perils of too much saturated fat, and told we should engage in what is now called "healthy eating". Like most of us plebs I found this thesis persuasive, then I read "Eat Your Heart Out" by James Le Fanu. I went on not only to meet the author but to visit him at his South London home, charming guy, and extremely knowledgeable. In this book he points out that the ideas peddled by the healthy eating brigade are overly simplistic. You eat "too much" saturated fat, and it clogs up your arteries. Well no, the human body doesn't work quite like that.Although it is more than simply a rehash of this dogma, "Forks Over Knives" says more or less the same thing as those Dr Le Fanu shot down in his classic medical monograph. True, it does use a massive body of evidence, including from China, but is it really that simple? As Jacque Fresco pointed out, rabbits get cancer too.We hear one prominent dissenting voice, the high powered nutritionist Connie Diekman, who speaks in favour of animal protein. The most controversial claim made here is that dairy products cause rather than insure against osteoporosis. That and that the FDA is really a farmers' advocacy group. True, there is vested interest here, but as another contributor points out, vested interest comes in many forms.There is no mention of the decades long and ongoing Framingham study, probably because from the dogmatist's point of view its results have been disappointing. Towards the end we see an agenda, this film is as much a political document as a nutrition guide. We are warned of environmental desolation if we continue to eat meat. One contributor speaks of holding a deep respect for animals. Seriously? I have absolutely no "respect" for a bacon slice on my plate, and likewise absolutely no compunction about eating it. The US is slaughtering 10 billion "innocent" animals every year. Wow! And how many of those "innocent" animals would have been bred if we were all eating nothing but vegan burgers?There is though a very good point made about endothelial cells, and could the bottom line be that most people are simply eating too much? Eat a pound of steak and you may still have room for dessert. Eat a pound of lettuce, and you won't. The choice is yours – I've already made mine.Seriously though, the message of this film is worth digesting, but don't expect to live forever or even substantially longer by altering your diet, although it may seem like it. On a slightly metaphysical note, some of us will live for as long as we were intended to, and as long as we have work to do. If that were not the case, I would have been dead decades ago, fried chicken dinner or not.

There is no doubt that this documentary, like so many others is bias, in this case bias towards a vegan diet, and they do seem to leave out facts for that very same reason. However watching documentaries you should know that this is often the case, and you should do your own research and form your own opinion based on other sources than just the film. That said, a documentary is supposed to make you think, and this certainly did that for me. It moved my perception of and curiosity about diet more than any other film or article has. Perhaps it was the astounding facts it presented me with, perhaps it is because I am already looking more at what I eat than I used to. At any rate I highly recommend watching this and forming your own opinion. It does not lecture you about morals of eating meat or tries to make you a vegan to protect the environment. While it does briefly touch on the subject of energy footprint in food production, its most important and dominant message is your health, plane and simple. Do you think meat is vital for you health and survival? The answer this film gives might surprise you.