Get ready for a long one, because I'm discussing nutrition and theology - two of my passions in life. I should also throw out a disclaimer that the religious nature of my blogs is simply a product of learning and growing in my faith. I do not mean to offend anyone or shove my beliefs down the throats of others. This is me simply writing about my life as I see it.
So last night, Matt and I watched the documentary Forks over Knives. I thought it had a lot of really good insights on cancer, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and every other degenerating disease Americans seem to suffer from. It really helped me to contextualize the rate at which these diseases occur compared to other countries in the world. This all leads me to believe what my own mother has been saying all along - our diet of processed foods, trans fats and high fructose corn syrup is the # 1 thing to blame for the aforementioned afflictions our country faces. That, coupled with our insatiable need to eat meat and dairy at every meal, is the source for our debilitating health status.
The doctors and biologists featured in this documentary gave absolutely amazing stats. They have study after study showing that a proper diet of whole foods and plant based meals will prevent cancer cell growth AND eliminate cancer as well. There are statistics that show 18% of our population actually have pre-cancerous cells due to genetics. Which means something else is contributing to the rise of cancer patients we've had since the 1950's. Here's another little fact - The 1950's was the start of "convenience" and fast foods and the push for more milk and meat in our diets. This is also the time in which heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and all that other jazz started to increase. Coincidence? I highly doubt it.
Featured in the documentary were also patients who had undergone heart surgeries and battled cancer - many of them were told to prepare for death. Their medications weren't doing the job and they could expect to die within a year. Not ready to throw the towel in just yet, they searched for a more holistic approach to their problem and found eating a whole foods, plant based diet might just cure every issue they have. And it did. Most of these people took between 2-6 medications a day for their health problems. In months, they cut their medications in half, improved their energy level, and even reversed the diseases they had in the first place.
I'm sorry, but the evidence is so obvious. My own grandfather told me about eight months ago that he was going on this diet. I was surprised - Granddaddy is a meat loving, salt adding, cheese on everything kind of guy. But he had some health issues as men in their 70's often do, and he wanted to cut back on his medications. Today, I think he's lost something like 20 pounds and he is taking less than half of the medications he was taking just a few months ago. He's healthy, he feels great and I'm pretty sure he's added years to his life.
Now for the theological portion. A few months ago, Matt and I decided to cut way back on meat. We're not strictly vegetarian but we realized that we felt better, our skin improved, and we didn't feel as sluggish after meals when we restricted the amount of meat we ate. After praying about it and investigating just what the Bible says about food, we came to the conclusion that we would start a pseudo-vegetarian diet. We reserve meat for when we're eating with our friends and family, but in our house, we don't have any meat (Except the celebratory steaks I bought for Matt). We both felt this diet was closer to what God intended originally.
Before the fall, Adam and Eve were vegans. They lived in harmony with every living creature and all living creatures lived in harmony with each other.
Genesis 1:29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
Even the other animals were vegetarians.
Genesis 1:30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
After the fall, the world order was shifted and the food chain was created. God tells Noah he is free to eat whatever he can.
Genesis 9: 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
It's my belief that God knew as the flood waters receded and Noah's progeny multiplied, the expansion of cultures would bring people to live in extreme conditions (the arctic, the desert etc) and they would not have access to as many plants or grains. Instead, they would need the higher fat and protein from fatty meats for energy to make it through the harsh climates. It is for this reason; I believe we are permitted to eat meat. However, as Americans - most of us don't spend all day outside cultivating the land for food. We don't spend hours of our lives trying to survive. We sit in air conditioned/heated rooms for 8 hours a day (some of us are running around watching children - usually inside as well). Our lives are not difficult (all things considered) and therefore, our diets don't need to be filled with the higher protein and fat dairy and meat provide.
This is all to say, I believe the closer we get to the way things were intended in all things - food, relationships, morals etc - the healthier we are in mind, body and spirit.
Now Matt and I have another step to getting our diet on track - keeping the dairy products to a minimum. This is going to be hard because we love cheese and we use milk daily in cereal, coffee, and cooking recipes. However, I think we can start substituting with almond milk - I hate soy milk so that won't work. I don't think meat and dairy are foods we need to avoid like the plague. There are vitamins and nutrients we can get from both of them, however, the amount and the rate at which we consume these products is too much. I wasn't sold on the dairy thing until I watched this documentary. I still have some questions about it though. I know that goat milk is better for us than cow milk and the majority of the world actually consumes goat milk instead. So I'm curious if goat milk is something our bodies handle better. Over all I definitely see the benefits of increasing fruits, veggies, and whole grains and decreasing dairy, meat, and animal based oils.
I'm actually excited. Understanding why it's so important to eat this way helps to solidify my reserve to keep cooking this way. By the time we try to start having kids, I want it to be a habit. Right now, we're experimenting with recipes trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. We both have cravings and still eat out more than we should, but I think we have a clearer understanding about food.
If you have Netflix, go watch Knives over Forks. It's streaming for free right now. If you don't have Netflix, find a friend who does and make them watch it with you.
You can also visit http://www.forksoverknives.com/ for more information and recipes!
