Movies are one of the most useful “tools” to help people understand how important their diet is, both to themselves and to the planet. We’ve seen more than a few people change their habits after watching movies like Food Inc or Forks Over Knives. However, many people just aren’t sure how to change, saying they want to follow a Forks Over Knives diet but don’t even really know how to start.
To be clear, just like we talk about all the time, a healthy lifestyle is not created by temporary adherence to a diet. So when we say “Forks Over Knives Diet,” we are talking about a way of living for the rest of your life. There doesn’t need to be and shouldn’t be an attempt to achieve 100% compliance 100% of the time. We’re shooting for healthy habits on a regular basis, but allowing yourself the opportunity to have fun and not feel guilty about an occasional departure from the routine.
So what is the FOK Diet? As shown in the movie, it is a focus on eating plants based foods: vegetables, legumes, fruits, and grains, in that order. Because of their own research, Drs. Esseltyn and Campbell concluded that animal food sources are not only necessary for proper nutrition, they’re actually detrimental. A strict adherence to the Forks Over Knives diet would mean never eating meat, eggs, dairy, cheese, or any other animal-based food.
No one will or can dispute that vegetables are the healthiest food source on the planet. So vegetables should always be the primary focus of a healthy diet. But neither Kelli or I have felt a desire to declare ourselves “vegan” and drawing a line in the sand with a statement that we’ll never eat meat again. For us, it just doesn’t seem necessary or a sustainable effort. (How many people have you met that say, “Yeah, I used to be vegan”?)
Again, the focus is on a healthy lifestyle that you can maintain. For us, meat isn’t necessary every day, but we do enjoy a salmon filet once or twice a week. And for traveling, the convenience of boiled eggs is hard to beat. And on a rare occasion we may purchase a bit of ground bison from Whole Foods. Bison is a healthier red meat than beef, and federal law prohibits ever treating bison with hormones or antibiotics, so it’s cleaner than beef as well.
The goal with the Forks Over Knives diet, and in line with Fooduciary’s clean eating stance, is to eat well the vast majority of the time. Focus on plants, focus on eliminating chemicals and preservatives, fill up your plate with veggies every time you eat, and you’ll find yourself healthy, invigorated, happy, and avoiding the diseases that are currently plaguing our society.
