Thanks to Roger Ebert for sharing his review of the documentary Forks Over Knives…
Here is a film that could save your life. So you’d better stop reading now, because you don’t want to go to the trouble. You are addicted to fat, salt, sugar and corn syrup. Your body has established a narcotic-like dependence on them, and you’re comfortable with that, just like smokers know why they keep on smoking. If you have to die 10 or 25 years sooner than necessary to smoke, if you need Viagra because your vascular system is compromised, or if you’re overweight, you can live with that.
Hey, I’m not going all holier-than-thou on you. Think how fat I was for years. I knew the solution, I was weak and lazy. Over 12 years I was eventually able to lose about 70 pounds with a proper diet, but my current weight and superb physical condition can be attributed to my illness. I am unable to eat or drink anything, and my (therefore) perfect diet of canned nutrition has given me an ideal weight and incredibly good blood numbers. I don’t recommend that you get sick to get well, however.
What every human being should do is eat a vegetarian diet based on whole foods. Period. That’s it. Animal protein is bad for you. Dairy is bad for you. Forget the ads: Milk and eggs are bad for you. Skim milk is no better, because it contains proportionately more animal protein. What you’re trying to avoid is dietary cholesterol. You also need to cut way down on salt and sugar, and run like hell from high fructose corn syrup.
“Forks Over Knives” is a documentary in which Lee Fulkerson enacts a mirror image of the journey taken by Morgan Spurlock in “Supersize Me.” Instead of eating only at McDonald’s for a month and nearly killing himself, he eats a plant-based whole food diet for six months, gets off all of his cholesterol and blood pressure medications, drops a lot of weight, sleeps better and has more energy.
His film follows three other sick people: one with breast cancer, one given less than a year to live because of heart problems, one with murderously high cholesterol. All are well again after the vegetarian diet. The movie opens with a warning that no one should take such steps without consulting a physician, and I quite agree; I would not have depended on nutrition to cure my cancer, but I’m convinced that I would always have been healthier if I’d eaten correctly.
Over the years I tried vegan and low-protein vegetarian diets, benefited from and enjoyed them. I found by experience that all one needed was a rice cooker, a knife, a chopping block, whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables. I got all the protein and calcium I needed. I enjoyed it. But I was tempted. I strayed into the elysian fields of pizza, steaks, hamburgers and soft drinks. I once was blind and now I see.
The film hammers us with information. It centers on the work of famed nutritionists Dr. T. Colin Campbell of Cornell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic. Campbell conducted the awesome China-Oxford-Cornell study, which followed millions of Chinese over decades and found that increases in their incidence of cancer and heart disease directly paralleled their adoption of a Western diet.
Short term studies show the same thing: When Nazis commandeered all the food animals in Norway and rationing forced Brits away from meat, disease rates plummeted. After the war, they moved up again. In the traditional Japanese diet, breast and prostate cancers are all but unknown.
These facts have long been established, not only by Campbell and Esselstyn but also by Dean Ornish, John McDougall and the researchers at Pritikin. There is a Catch-22. The federal government subsidizes such crops as corn, which is used for lethal corn syrup and to feed animals which we then eat. It puts bad foods in school lunches. The lobbyists of agribusiness control national farm policy. The government spends millions to subsidize an unhealthy diet. We are raising the first generation of children who will not live as long as their parents.
Over the years I tried vegan and low-protein vegetarian diets, benefited from and enjoyed them. I found by experience that all one needed was a rice cooker, a knife, a chopping block, whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables. I got all the protein and calcium I needed. I enjoyed it. But I was tempted. I strayed into the elysian fields of pizza, steaks, hamburgers and soft drinks. I once was blind and now I see.
“Forks Over Knives” is not subtle. It plays as if it had been made for doctors to see in medical school. Few doctors seem prepared to suggest proper nutrition as an alternative to pills, stents and bypasses. Although regular exercise, especially walking, is invaluable, the film shows only a little exercise and focuses single mindedly on nutrition.
The government spends millions to subsidize an unhealthy diet. We are raising the first generation of children who will not live as long as their parents.
The bottom line: I am convinced this message is true. A plant-based whole foods diet is healthy. Animal protein is not necessary, or should be used sparingly as Asians did, as a flavoring and not a main course. This adds the advantage of allowing us to avoid the chemicals and carcinogens pumped into livestock and poultry. Fast food is lethal. Parents who feed it to their children are helping them get hooked on fat, salt and sugar addiction. The facts are in. Didn’t I warn you to stop reading?
P. S: I have recently decided to ditch my canned nutrition and switch to a liquid diet based on fresh fruits and vegetables. Yes, I consulted my physician.
In a sleepy lagoon off the coast of Japan was once a shocking secret. A secret that a few desperate men made sure would be no longer kept hidden from the world: thousands of dolphins were, and still are, being captured and sold to the world’s theme parks. Those who don’t make the cut are horrifically tortured and slaughtered—their mercury-laden meat sold under the guise of being “acceptable” flesh for consumption to an unsuspecting Japanese public. It’s a real life horror story—one that is now well and truly public.
The men who risked their lives to tell the world about this atrocity include Louise Psihoyos, a director with a cause who has not only caught the world’s attention, but also the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences, with his film, The Cove, which is up for best documentary at the Awards this weekend (March 7).
The Cove begins in Taiji, Japan, where former dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry has come to set things right after a long search for redemption. In the 1960s, it was O’Barry who captured and trained the five dolphins who played the title character in the international television sensation “Flipper.” But his close relationship with those dolphins – the very dolphins who sparked a global fascination with trained sea mammals that continues to this day — led O’Barry to a radical change of heart. One fateful day, a heartbroken Barry came to realise that these deeply sensitive, highly intelligent and self-aware creatures so beautifully adapted to life in the open ocean must never be subjected to human captivity again.
It wasn’t until years after this realisation that Ric met Louie and the idea for The Cove was born, and more importantly, put into action.
With Jim Clark, Louie also created The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), in 2005. The non-profit organization provides an exclusive lens for the public and media to observe the beauty as well as the destruction of the oceans, while motivating change.
I recently caught up with Louie to talk about what it took to plan, shoot and promote the eco-thriller film. Stay tuned for an interview with Ric O’Barry in the coming days.
Firstly Louie, congratulations in such an incredible documentary. How long did it take to make from idea to final print?
The film took about three and a half years to make, but Laurie David, who produced An Inconvenient Truth told me a year ago that when you’re done making a documentary you’re only halfway there. The film came out a year ago this week and I’m still out promoting the movie. But fortunately most of the traveling is going to film festivals around the world that are in amazing beautiful places meeting great people who are passionate about films so I’m learning a lot at the same time, and not just talking about our film. And at the film festivals the film has been received very well, mostly standing ovations. Even at the Tokyo Film Festival the response was amazing – we had as much media coverage as Avatar.
How did the idea evolve?
I had just started a non-profit organization called The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) with the help of my dive friend, Jim Clark who is an extraordinary visionary. When president John F. Kennedy called for Americans to put a man on the moon back in 1961, it was Jim, at age 26 created and sped the computers to make that possible. Jim is now an inventor and a venture capitalists, kind of a serial entrepreneur. He founded Silicon Graphics, which was the Apple Computer of it’s day, the chip Jim built allowed objects to be constructed in 3-D which allowed movies like Jurassic Park to be made. The day he quit that business he started Netscape, the first commercial Internet browser which was the first avenue that many of us got on the so-called information super highway. The third billion-dollar company he created he joked that he started to prove that the first two were not just luck, but I used information from that medical website to save my mother’s life last year. When Jim funded OPS to make films and create still images to try to create awareness about ocean issues, I reminded him that saving the oceans wasn’t going to be a billion dollar industry and he told me, “I’m not worried about making money, just make a difference.”
There is much responsibility in being entrusted with funds from a friend and a man I regard so highly with so many personal accomplishments but making a difference is the driving motivation for OPS to do everything we do. I always told the film crew that we’re not making a movie, we’re starting a movement to save the oceans. This higher goal informs all of our decisions.
How did you come to meet Ric O’Barry?
Two months after starting OPS I was at a marine mammal conference in San Diego and Ric O’Barry was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the event of mostly PhD speakers. I was looking forward to hearing someone from popular culture speak after a week of quite a few fairly boring talks. But at the last moment, the sponsor of the event, SeaWorld, cut him from the program. I was curious why so I called Ric and he said that they wouldn’t let him talk because he was going to speak about the captive dolphin industry and the world’s largest slaughter of dolphins on the planet.
I had never heard about the captive dolphin industry nor killing of dolphins so I asked him who was doing anything about it and he said right now it was just him and he was going next week, would I like to come to Taiji with him. Driving into Taiji was like driving into a ready made horror film set. On the surface they appear to love dolphins and whales, there’s even a sign coming into town with Anime-style drawings of dolphins that says in English, “We love dolphins.” However right in the center of town lies the Cove. This is in a Japanese National Park, where even Japanese people can’t get into because of the steel gates, keep-out signs, barbed wire, dogs and guards. This is the cove where these crimes against nature and humanity occur – right in the middle of a nature preserve!
I like to think that one person can make a world of difference. When you look back through history it’s pretty evident that someone with a cause can influence immense positive change (and negative too, but let’s not go there).
Look at Gandhi and Mandela, even Oprah, as examples. From presidents to protesters, one person’s longing for change started with an inspired thought, an event or even a hardship. It’s what they did with that seed that determined how it would sprout and grow.
It’s when one person understands how to reach out further than themselves that their passion and inspiration spreads to impact great change.
This wee thought about how we can all do our bit, no matter how small, leads me to an invitation I received on Facebook this morning to join a new group: a film fest that’s about educating and spreading awareness. Called The Awareness Film Festival, its aim is to bring awareness to ecological, health, well-being, and political topics (submissions are open now. The fest will be held on May 10 in Los Angeles).
One person acted on their idea. Now, through this film festival, like-minded people will be able to share their message with many others, sparking offshoots of inspired minds all driven to make a difference. Isn’t that grand?
I wanted to do my bit to help spread the word. If you’re an up-and-coming (or working) filmmaker, this could be an opportunity to inspire others, make a difference. Maybe it’s a documentary about veganism, or how climate change is affected greatly by our food choices. Perhaps it’s just a short that gets people thinking.
To celebrate every single person making a change, and inspired by The Awareness Film Festival, I’ve put together a list of film festivals (many of them environmentally-focussed) that were created to help inspire positive change in the world (see below). If you know of others that aren’t listed here, please feel free to add them in the comments.
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I recently blogged about how important it is to cleanse between the full and new moons, so that’s what I did this month: armed with the how-to from Andreas Moritz’s The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush. Without going into too much detail, the six days of drinking a litre of organic apple juice a day, before the the seventh day of the flush, were well worth the time invested.
I consider myself to be a very healthy gal, although my carefree 20s likely contributed to some of the toxins released during this all-important health-boosting cleanse. Also being around household cleaning chemicals, hairspray, dousing myself with the latest hip fragrance and eating animal products would have definitely added to my toxicity.
A day after the flush and I feel light, positive and have a mental clarity that wasn’t quite there before.
According to many religions and spiritual cultures, particularly Native Americans, Shamanism and Wicca, the New Moon represents new beginnings and is a great time to perform rituals and cleanses.
See my original post here.
Speaking of new moons, the actress who’s replacing Rachelle Lefevre (who played Victoria in the first two Twilight installments) is Bryce Dallas Howard (below). Bryce had been a vegan before switching to vegetarianism during pregnancy. She went vegan after watching the Joaquin Phoenix-narrated documentary, Earthlings.
A lot of big business has benefited from the rise of diseases such as cancer and diabetes (think pharmaceutical companies, multi-billion dollar charities etc). I love (note sarcasm) how some brands of margarine are marketed as having the ability to lower cholesterol. Who regulates this stuff? It’s just another reason why it’s so important to never believe marketing hype on any product. Ever.
Okay, whinge over.
The purpose of my post is to highlight a documentary I highly recommend to anyone who’s suffering from any type of diabetes, or any dis-ease for that matter. Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days is a movie featuring some of my favourite people in-the-know: Woody Harrelson, Tony Robbins, David Wolfe and Dr. Gabriel Cousens.
It’s an independent doco (see trailer below) that chronicles six Americans with diabetes who switch to a diet of vegan, organic, uncooked food to reverse disease without pharmaceutical medication. The six are challenged to give up meat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, soda, junk food, fast food, processed food, packaged food, and cooked food for 30 days. The results are inspiring and undoubtedly would give hope to people who want to be disease-free.
Imagine seeing an end to the likes of “World Diabetes Day” (which was yesterday) and products emblazoned with pink ribbons. Enough of big businesses making money from illnesses and multi-gazillion dollar research that only offers a band-aid “solution”. If we all become our own doctors and refuse to put anything into our bodies that’s not as nature intended, the problem, I sincerely believe, will be a problem no more.
Here are some great quotes from the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates.
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”
“Whenever a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm.”
“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”
“It’s far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has”
“Walking is man’s best medicine”
“Everything in excess is opposed to nature.”
“As to diseases, make a habit of two things – to help, or at least, to do no harm.”
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
