Going Vegan (Kind of)

A few weeks ago, I watched an awesome documentary on netflix. It's called Forks Over Knives. It discussed American's high animal protein diet and a ton of health problems associated with our diets; high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. The doc had two doctors who had spent their whole careers studying and researching nutrition and its impact on our health. They found that an all plant-whole grain diet is the way to a healthy life.

Key points I picked up:

20% of american diets consist of animal protein (ap) (dairy, eggs, meat)

A study found that mice with a 20% ap diet had significantly more liver tumor cells turned on compared to mice with a 5% ap diet.

China published this paper in 1981:

Atlas of cancer mortality in the People's Republic of China. An aid for cancer control and research.

Its a huge book where each page has a specific cancer listed. The country of china is then shaded in colors representing the density of deaths from that cancer. It is an AWESOME study! It found, that developed areas (associated with a diet more like Americans, because of more money) had higher density's of cancer compared to less developed areas.

Our bodies absorb plant based calcium much better than animal based protein. Which means: calcium from broccoli is better than calcium from milk. This occurs because when a person consumes meat or animal protein, their blood pH becomes acidic. In order for the body to make the blood neutral, calcium is extracted from the bones. This leads to osteoporosis.

The craziest fact I picked up!

I can't remember the specific year, sometime in the 70s-80s, China had a reported 18 deaths due to prostate cancer. In the same year, the United States had 14,000!

I know that diet isn't the only thing playing a role in these facts. Amount of exercise, environment, genetics, and surroundings all contribute to our health, but this doc really opened my eyes how nutrition affects our lives.

The narrator of the doc began the doc with high cholesterol, poor sleep, and other health problems. He went to a doctor who helped show him the right foods to eat. At the end, I think a few months, he had around 20 lbs and had significantly lowered his cholesterol without using medication.

The all plant, whole grain diet that vegans eat have also been shown to reverse diabetes and help patients survive cancer.

I am so excited about nutrition! I can't wait to learn more about nutrition and in the future help my patients. I am very interested in going into pediatric obesity right now. Not sure if it will happen, but we'll see!

So Spencer and I decided to cut our eating of animal protein way down and all plants way up! It's a hard adjustment, and the grocery store doesn't make it super easy! We bought tempeh and seitan, both meat substitutes to try them out. The tempeh was pretty good and would work great as a beef substitute. I made it in an asian stir-fry. We're hoping to eat meat no more than twice a week. Eggs to a minimum and cutting dairy way down. The dairy is the hardest! I love cheese!!! We have defn noticed the difference in how we feel after eating! I feel a lot more satisfied and not nearly as sluggish as I used too. I love the challenge of cooking with vegetables I have never used and incorporating fruit into meals. Wish us luck!! Hopefully you don't think we're crazy ;) If you have a chance, I highly recommend watching it!