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Health & Fitness

Food Documentaries Gave Me Lots to Chew on

Two films Food Matters and Forks Over Knives have compelled me to make some big changes in my diet. I learned why to eat more raw food, less meat and dairy, drink more water, and take my vitamins.

Over the last week I helped myself to two big servings of information about food and nutrition that have compelled me to make some major changes in my diet, and I am pretty excited about it.

I saw the documentary Food Matters at free , and I streamed Forks Over Knives at home. These powerful films present scientifically-verified information about how to be healthy that is not available in the mainstream. The films feature interviews with respected and accomplished scientists and health professionals, and personal stories of individuals who overcame chronic diseases through nutritional approaches, not drugs.

After watching Food Matters, which presents a strong case for raw foods and vitamins, I got the juicer out of the garage. My plan is to start whipping up a tangy beverage once a day with beets, apple, ginger and honey beginning this weekend. The film recommends that at least 51 percent of our daily food intake is raw because it has the greatest nutritional value. Cooked foods not only have diminished nutritional value, the film presents evidence that cooked foods cause an immune reaction within the body. I had never heard that before.

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The film also presents a strong case for the value of vitamins in protecting and healing our bodies of disease, so I started taking the vitamins that had been pushed to the back of the kitchen cabinet. I was also reminded about the importance of drinking lots of water to hydrate and flush out toxins. We’ve all heard we should be drinking eight glasses of water a day. I’ve got this one figured out; I drink two big glasses of water before breakfast and I am half way there.

Forks Over Knives reinforced my resolve to eat more fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and to also cut back on meat and dairy. The film emphatically recomends a 100 percent plant-based diet because sugar, fat, caffeine, meat and dairy products encourage chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer. It points out that all of these diseases can be avoided and also treated through diet.

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In the film we are introduced to several people suffering from one or more chronic diseases who become disease-free following a 100 percent plant-based diet. The film debunks a misconception that we need to eat meat to get protein, and that the best source of calcium is milk. Vegetables, we hear, can provide all of the protein and calcium we need. Another good reason to think about our meat consumption: the resources used to feed these animals are staggeringly higher than what is required to grow fruits and vegetables, and the meat industry produces more green-house gas in this county than is created by transportation.

Despite all the good reasons that Forks Over Knives presents to go vegetarian or vegan, I am not ready to take that step at this point. I am, however, committed to sticking with my new plan and to keep learning, and then re-evaluating.

I heartily recommend Food Matters (www.foodmatters.tv/) and Forks Over Knives (available from Netflix).

Another good local resource is a class being offered at New Leaf Community Markets by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: “Chronic Disease including Diabetes Prevention and Survival.” It’s an eight-week course that started on March 12 and runs through April 30. If you contact the instructor Sandi Rechenmacher you can still join at a discounted price. You can reach Sandi at 831-325-3811, or simplynutritious@gmail.com. Sandi offers these classes four times a year.

Now if you will excuse me, it's getting on dinner time and my daughter is taking the vegetarian pesto pizza she made out of the oven. Got to go!

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