Forks over Knives

On Tuesday night our entire class went to a lecture that was part of the CCSU "Living Room Lecture Program" presented by the author of Engine 2 Diet, Rip Esselstyn  and his father Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. They joined us to discuss their research about the benefits of a plant based diet. Dr. Esselstyn studied the effect of eating a plant based diet in his patients with heart/cardiac problems, and found that when they changed their diet from a Western diet that includes dairy, meat and processed foods to a plant based diet they had astounding medical recoveries. He then studied this in patients with other medical issues such as diabetes or even leg pain and had similar results.

His astounding results changed they way he viewed western medicine. He instead focused on changing the lifestyles of the individuals instead of medicating them. He discusses the benefit of this in his movie Forks over Knives - a clip of the movie is below.

I love dairy, especially cheese, and any diet that completely restricts dairy would never work for me. When Rip Esselstyn was speaking he mentioned something that stood out to me - he said that no other mammal drinks another mammals milk other than humans. He said there was no reason we needed dairy after we stopped breast feeding as a child. He then said that the reason we like cheese so much is that it makes us feel good because it is an opiate. This statement shocked me - for sure if I were digesting opiates I would know right? So I decided to google this idea and see what I found. On a website called Dr. Bill DeanI found the following information:

Cheese is produced by acidifying milk and making a curd leaving the whey(watery protein) behind

The predominant protein in milk and therefore cheese is casein which if not completely digested will release in the gut as an opiate called casomorphin(BCM7)  Opiates can produce a profound sense of pleasure

80% of cow's milk is casein  Concentrated milk products(cheese, ice cream, milk chocolate) can have increased amounts of the addictive opiates or BCM7 proteins that link up to opiate receptors in the body, particularly the brain

Some interesting factoids

            It takes 10 pounds of milk to make a pound of hard cheese(sour cheese)

            It takes 3-4 pounds of milk to make one pound of milk chocolate  A "chocoholic" is born

I think the best part of the entire presentation was learning about the powerful effects a plan based diet. I think when the Dr. was speaking about the results of his studies it really was powerful. How can you argue with the fact that his diet saved lives? I think it was a great awareness, and it makes me want to modify my diet to include more plants. Although I don't think I will ever be able to become a devout plant based vegan.

I feel bad writing this, but I truly think the worst part was at the very end when the very sweet and very enthusiastic Mrs. Esselstyn came on the stage to talk about how to incorporate more leafy greens into your diet. I think, for me personally, it was late in the evening and I really needed to get home. Her husband and her son had spoken so long that they took away from her time to speak, and she actually scared me with her suggestions. My friends know that I am a rather picky eater and some of her suggestions sounded more like rabbit food than normal human consumption. I feel like I was onboard with the diet before she started talking about how to prepare the food and her suggestions of eating dry oats. Although I am sure that if I went and had dinner at her house it would be delicious.

The other downfall I see with this diet, other than the obvious problem that I can't cook to save my life, is the expense all these "plants" will be. Unfortunately processed foods are much more inexpensive than if i were to purchase only healthy fruits and veggies - especially at with health food store prices. I wonder if this says something about our culture? The foods that are healthier for you are always triple the price of the unhealthy items.

Overall, I feel that this was an eye opening presentation and I will definitely be more conscious about what I put on my fork in the future.