Forks Over Knives

neverstray · July 2012

I watched this movie yesterday, and I can't stop thinking about it. I think I'm going to try it. But, I don't know how or where to start. I think the movie was outstanding, but it could have been a little better by giving the viewer something to walk away with. Like, show a meal or two and how hey are prepared. Anyway, in case anyone is not aware, they said if it swims, crawls, jumps, runs, has eyes or has a mom and dad, you don't eat it. You also stay away from processed things such as sugar, flour, and all oils. And no dairy. So, I don't know what you call that. Sounds vegan to me. You can find the movie on Netflix.

I have a bunch of chicken in my freezer and have to eat, and some yogurt and milk. But, once it's gone, that's it. While I make the transition, I'll need some help. Does anyone have suggested resources? I have no idea what to eat, how to buy food, and all that. I'm excited but need some support and recipes to get started.

Thanks.

drewols · July 2012

I wouldn't just jump into a vegan diet just because you saw it in a movie. Now, if you are truly interested in veganism, I would do a lot of research and planning to make sure that is what you really want.

laus_8882 · July 2012

I LOVED the film and I really, really enjoyed the McDougall Diet. If you're a big eater and like to see a plate groaning with food, then it's a diet that could really work for you. The diet's definitely vegan, but the recipes are pretty flavourful. The only thing I really missed while on it was plain yoghurt.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/free.html Here's the free McDougall program. I never bothered with the books because I hate following recipes but apparently they're quite good. There's also a forum on the website with plenty of recipes and people willing to answer questions.

engine2diet.com/ Here's the Engine 2 diet. The sort of hot (If i was a decade older!) firefighter is behind this. I like his recipe for black beans, yummy.

neverstray · July 2012

I wouldn't just jump into a vegan diet just because you saw it in a movie. Now, if you are truly interested in veganism, I would do a lot of research and planning to make sure that is what you really want.

It's difficult to respond to this unless you've seen it. If you have seen it, you would not have made that response. You might have said something else, but not that.

neverstray · July 2012

I LOVED the film and I really, really enjoyed the McDougall Diet. If you're a big eater and like to see a plate groaning with food, then it's a diet that could really work for you. The diet's definitely vegan, but the recipes are pretty flavourful. The only thing I really missed while on it was plain yoghurt.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/free.html Here's the free McDougall program. I never bothered with the books because I hate following recipes but apparently they're quite good. There's also a forum on the website with plenty of recipes and people willing to answer questions.

engine2diet.com/ Here's the Engine 2 diet. The sort of hot (If i was a decade older!) firefighter is behind this. I like his recipe for black beans, yummy.

Thanks. That's great. I don't know if I can go all out, but I'm going to try. I don't think I can live without fish in my diet, but we'll see where it goes. This is really new to me, so it seems massively overwhelming. I think the inconvenience of available food is going to piss me off a lot. But, I'll try to work with it.

laus_8882 · July 2012

I LOVED the film and I really, really enjoyed the McDougall Diet. If you're a big eater and like to see a plate groaning with food, then it's a diet that could really work for you. The diet's definitely vegan, but the recipes are pretty flavourful. The only thing I really missed while on it was plain yoghurt.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/free.html Here's the free McDougall program. I never bothered with the books because I hate following recipes but apparently they're quite good. There's also a forum on the website with plenty of recipes and people willing to answer questions.

engine2diet.com/ Here's the Engine 2 diet. The sort of hot (If i was a decade older!) firefighter is behind this. I like his recipe for black beans, yummy.

Thanks. That's great. I don't know if I can go all out, but I'm going to try. I don't think I can live without fish in my diet, but we'll see where it goes. This is really new to me, so it seems massively overwhelming. I think the inconvenience of available food is going to piss me off a lot. But, I'll try to work with it.

I found the diet impossible to maintain because it's so very, very obvious. Eating out is possible but you make so many adjustments to your order and have such a limited choice to begin with that you quickly become the centre of attention and waiters look at you as if to say "why, why did you have to make my already stressful job 10x more stressful???". You feel like you've kicked a puppy.

But if you can find a way to make the diet work long term you'll feel fantastic and the weight will stay off. The way I lost it... wow, getting teary eyed thinking about it now. The diet basically relies on eating a lot of stuff... but that stuff is ridiculously high in fibre and fills you up so that overeating is quite difficult. Obviously it's possible if you just eat rice and wheat berries, but a little more difficult when you're eating plates of vegetables and beans, you know? I still apply a few McDougall principles to my diet and I think I'm healthier for it so I can't see any harm in eating fish some of the time or following an 80/20 rule or whatever works really. Good luck (:

LordBezoar · July 2012

Between that film and "Food, Inc.", that is what started us moving in the direction we are. A couple of other really good documentaries we have seen are: "Vegucated", "Fresh", HBO's "Weight of the Nation" series, and "Food Matters".

You can also definitely check out these guys for some meal ideas and other helpful information:

http://www.cafejanae.com/ - Really good cookbooks, does a lot of live stuff around the Salt Lake area. You can look her up on YouTube for a ton of videos as well. She has a new site launching in the next couple of weeks, so that will be much better.

http://therawchef.com/home/index.php - Excellent video courses on raw foods. I especially love that he talks a lot about why you are doing something rather than just "do this, do that". Downside: the videos are somewhat spendy.

http://www.theppk.com/ - This is one of my new favorite sites. DW and I have made a few recipes from her and they have been wonderful.

You can also check out the Happy Herbivores group here on MFP. We have a ton of other links in the discussion group there.

swisspea · July 2012

I loved the film and took away a lot of lessons! I gave up red meat and chicken 5 years ago and never looked back. I admire you if you want to jump into a vegan diet straight after watching it, I don't posxess that level of commitment at the moment, and I think you're awesome for trying it! Keep us updated

BobbyDaniel · July 2012

I started eating a plant based diet before seeing this movie, and while I thought it was informative and made a lot of sense, I do agree with the above comment that you should carefully consider what you are doing before you go head first into a vegan diet. I'm eating primarily vegetarian, allowing myself the occasional egg and dairy products in moderation. I'm the only one in my house eating this way and I'm not forcing it onto my family, if they choose to join me, they are more than welcome too.
After eating this way for 22 of the last 23 days (July 4th was a grill out at a friends house), I feel great and I don't think I'm missing much with a plant based diet.
If you think you can do it, I suggest trying vegetarian at first and then if you really think you can handle it, switch to full vegan.

Lainnee · July 2012

Bump

veggiesaurus15 · July 2012

I have been eating a whole foods, plant-based, vegan diet since January 1st. I have lost 58 pounds effortlessly. I eat as much as I want without restriction because when you eat nature's food, you don't have to count calories.

I would recommend reading anything by Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, check out the Engine 2 Diet, Happy Herbivore... there are so many resources. I can understand that it is a transition, but including more whole, fresh produce into your diet is the best thing you can do for you body.

The Engine 2 Program teaches you how to slowly wean off meat, dairy and oil. The 21-day Vegan Kickstart is another great program. Try it, you have nothing to lose!

cordianet · July 2012

I wouldn't just jump into a vegan diet just because you saw it in a movie. Now, if you are truly interested in veganism, I would do a lot of research and planning to make sure that is what you really want.

Agreed. Humans are omnivores and biologically are not designed to eat this way. Doing so may be healthy for some, but it takes work and planning. Now if you feel that for some reason, you want to make this lifestyle choice, that's fine, we all should eat the way that works for us. I'd just recommend you do it with a clear head and after sufficient research to be sure you know both the pluses and minuses of such a drastic change.

skullshank · July 2012

watched food inc and forks over knives back to back a couple weeks ago...since then i have been making a decent effort to make better choices about where my food comes from. i aint gonna lie...i'll never be veg, and im ok with that...but i do want to eat cleaner things.

if youre looking to go veg just watch "meet your meat" (might be on the PETA site)....that film had me veg for a solid 6months... lol

kaliso · July 2012

There's a book called "30 day began challenge." I forget who it's by but it's a.good guideline of where to start and provides recipes as well.

sanjoparolas · July 2012

missleah26 · July 2012

Watching FOK was a major turning point for my husband and me. We'd always eaten pretty healthily, but that particular movie really opened our eyes as to how what we were eating was slowly wreaking havoc on our bodies. Both of our families have really high instances of cancer, so we wanted to do everything we could to reduce our combined risk.

We transitioned gradually and didn't throw anything away because it wasn't part of the prescribed diet, but we just didn't replace it. When we're out for dinner (not very often for both health and financial reasons) or are being fed by family or friends, we'll eat meat, dairy, etc. We still get to indulge cravings from time to time, but we're not seeking attention or special treatment. We've spoken with our families about our decision to go plant-strong and encouraged them to watch the film, but haven't really made much of an impact, unfortunately.

I do nearly all the cooking, so rethinking meal planning was definitely a challenge. Like others have mentioned Engine 2 (Rip is a firefighter and former pro triathlete-- my hubby believes in the diet, as he's a firefighter and a marathoner) is really helpful, along with Happy Herbivore, Post-Punk Kitchen, No Meat Athlete (TVP tacos are soooo good!), and many others. We also watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" and have started juicing a couple times a week, which is really fun and tasty.

Most of all, don't beat yourself up or hold yourself to an impossible standard! We identify more with "plant-strong" than "vegan" because some people are very sensitive about the labels used. Since we still eat meat on occasion, plant-strong is more meaningful, though we're vegan 80+% of the time. Enjoy it!

neverstray · July 2012

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I think what I'll do is just slowly transition. Not overnight. I still have a freezer full of chicken to eat. And, since I don't really know exactly what to do, I'll probably incorporate meat on some days and skip it on others. Probably vegetarian or maybe pescatarian at first, get used to it, then if it sticks, get further into it by stopping eating fish and moving forward.

Maybe I gave the impression that I'm doing it now. That's not the case. Think of me like a large cruise ship. Turning me around will take a long time. That's just how I roll, or float. Lol. Baby steps toward a goal.

deb3129 · July 2012

I watched FOK in March, and changed my diet to what they recommended. Since March 28th, I have lost 64 pounds. I have recently started walking, but most of the weight literally just dropped off once I made the dietary changes. I am eating a ton of food, and I love it!

MtnKat · July 2012

I thought you were talking about the book (yes, there is a book). I didn't realize it was a show...

Has anyone read that?

Forks Over Knives
The Plant-Based Way to Health
by Gene Stone
Dr. Colin T. Campbell
Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn

PS...I can get a kindle addition from free as a digital download from the local library. You might check it out if you have access to something like that.

veganbaum · July 2012

Looks like people have given you some good places to start. PCRM has a 21-day vegan kickstart program that lays out a menu for you. It starts periodically so they might not have it going on right now, but I'm pretty sure you can still go there (pcrm.org) and get recipes. I think happyherbivore.com might also have an option that helps you plan a menu, but not sure on that one. I'll try to get back to this later with more resources.

Also, I didn't read each reply so maybe someone already said this, but if you're looking for a descriptive label for this way of eating, it's typically called a "plant-based diet." Obviously meaning that the focus of one's diet is plants and usually means they do it for health or environmental reasons. This does not preclude the inclusion of other foods on occasion. Vegan has ethical connotations centered on the exploitation of animals that don't apply to someone following a plant-based diet for reasons other than animal well-being (though obviously a vegan could be vegan for ethical, health, and environmental concerns, but the term usually has a focus on the ethics of exploiting animals).

veganbaum · July 2012

watched food inc and forks over knives back to back a couple weeks ago...since then i have been making a decent effort to make better choices about where my food comes from. i aint gonna lie...i'll never be veg, and im ok with that...but i do want to eat cleaner things.

if youre looking to go veg just watch "meet your meat" (might be on the PETA site)....that film had me veg for a solid 6months... lol

Perhaps try Earthlings . . .

Forks Over Knives

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