Page 60 - Fall2011
P. 60

Tim’s DVD Reviews






                   Apparently       Forks over Knives                          many scientists and non-scientists have noted,
                the revelation      Executive Producer Brian Wendel            there are many similarities between rats and hu-
                                                                               mans, and therefore rats are used in experimen-
                                    Monica Beach Media
                that real food                                                 tation as models for humans. I would agree that
                is better than          "Forks over Knives" kicks off by looking at  high protein, lowfat diets are bad for humans too.
                junk is a great     the statistical indicators of health, or lack thereof,  A whole-food, plant-based diet probably is better
                                    in America today. Diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart  than non-whole-food (or non-food), processed,
                  epiphany to  disease and allergies are so common that it is  pasteurized, homogenized, chemicalized, plas-
                 the scientific     getting hard to find anyone who doesn't suffer  ticized, animal-based diet. All this leads to one
                  community.        from one or more of those conditions. We spend  very important question: So what?
                                    over two trillion dollars on health care per year.
                                                                                  Real food is better than junk. Apparently
                                    As the movie points out, it is easy to find a profit  this revelation is a great epiphany to the scien-
                                    motive for the health care industry to maintain  tific community. There are, however, important
                                    this status quo. There is no money in healthy  details the movie carefully avoids. Animal foods
                                    people and no money in dead people. The money  are lumped in with junk food, sugar, and sug-
                                    is in people who are alive, sort of.       ary chemicals. The film makers don't compare
                                        Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. T. Colin  whole-food  plant-based  diets  to  whole-food
                                    Campbell both grew up on traditional American  animal-based diets. Campbell, as the author
                                    farms where dairy or beef were the main food  of The China Study, likes to cite China as an
                                    products and key elements of their diets. Sev-  example of a healthy plant-based diet culture.
                                    eral minutes of footage are spent showing how  Kenya is mentioned in relation to having much
                                    healthy these men are. That kind of diet seemed  lower cancer rates than the U.S., but there is no
                                    to serve them well, especially Esselstyn, who was  mention of the Masai and their animal-based
                                    an Olympic athlete. Their message now, however,  traditional diet. There is no mention of Eskimo
                                    is that their dietary upbringing was a mistake.  dietary traditions or other counter examples.
                                        We are treated to a discussion of the lipid     The producers include an explanation in
                                    theory that claims heart disease is caused by fat  some detail of why removing fat from milk con-
                                    and cholesterol jamming up our arteries. This is  centrates the protein, making it much less healthy
                                    backed by a detailed movie animation showing  to consume, but there is no analysis of whole raw
                                    cholesterol plugging an artery. Many movie-  milk. The net result is a distorted picture com-
                                    goers may be convinced by such animation but I  plete with the usual politically correct agendas.
                                    hope I can be forgiven for being a little skeptical  You can see this movie if you want, but there
                                    if an artist’s rendition is all the proof they have.  are better ways to waste a couple hours of your
                                        Campbell elaborates on rat studies in which  life that you can never have back. The thumb is
                                    rats fed diets of 20 percent casein deteriorated  DOWN.
                                    rapidly while rats fed 5 percent casein stayed
                                    healthy or recovered if they were not healthy.  Farmageddon, the Unseen War on
                                    This outcome is meant to somehow prove that  American Family Farms
                                    animal protein in general is at the root of all  Kristin Canty Productions
                                    cancer.
                                        What I see in this film is a whole-food, plant-     In this thumb’s UP film we see a country
                                    based diet being compared to a non-whole-food,  where officials masquerade as inspectors to gain
                                    animal-based diet. It is generally accepted that  entry to a farm and then steal their products,
                                    a high protein, lowfat cuisine is bad for rats. As  where government agents steal customers’ milk
               60                                         Wise Traditions                                    FALL 2011                   FALL 2011                                  Wise Traditions





         82725_WAPF_Txt.indd   60                                                                                    9/15/11   2:01 PM
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