The film had a good balance of scientific research and anecdotal evidence.  I will mention a bit of the most impressive research.

• Dr. Esselstyn, a heart surgeon, was struck early in his career about this study, and I have to say it floored me too–in the 1920′s and 1930′s in Norway, heart disease was on the rise.  During WWII, Germany invaded and confiscated all the livestock to feed themselves, leaving Norweigans to eat plant-based foods.  The number of deaths from heart disease plummeted, only to rise again when the occupation ended.  Very interesting!
• Dr. Campbell duplicates Indian research showing that when rats are expossed to the carcinogen Aflotoxin, the growth of their tumors can be controlled by the minipulation of their diet.  Rats fed 20% casein (dairy protein) had rapid tumor growth, while rats fed 5% had none.  Rats on the 20% diet switched to the 5% diet saw their tumors shrink.  Notable is that the group with no tumor growth did not have no casein at all, but 5%.  Perhaps a strict avoidance of dairy is not necessary and considerable reduction is sufficient?
• Dr.  Esselstyn takes a group of heart disease patients who have had multiple heart attacks and are basically knocking on death’s door.  He puts them on a plant based diet.  A few drop out over the years, but after two decades, 18 are still in the group and all are alive.  Eleven of them have stopped their heart disease progression and four have reversed it.
• Dr. McDougall notes that in Hawaii, the immigrants from Asia are trim and healthy.  Their children, born on the island, tend to eat more fast food and animal products, and are “fat and sick.”

I especially like Turtle Mountain’s coconut milk products, like their ice cream sandwiches, ice cream bars, and yogurt.  While the cultured coconut milk is nothing like yogurt made from cow’s milk (the lack of protein means a very different consistency), it is tasty and my children enjoy it.  I also think their soy-based Purely Decadent “ice creams” are delicious.  The Mocha Almond Fudge is one of my favorites.  It’s not really ice cream season, but just know that if you’re avoiding dairy, there are many good alternatives out there.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat tortillas (I usually use 10)
• onions
• bell peppers
• zucchinis
• sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• fresh corn
• garlic
• cumin
• paprika (smokey is delicious, but sweet works)
• mexican seasoning
• Eden Foods canned beans (pinto or black)
• jar of salsa
• Robertos enchilada sauce (or more salsa/tomato puree for the non-spicy kid version)
• monterrey jack or cheddar cheese
• avocado, or guacamole

For about two years now, my family has eaten mostly vegetarian.  I suppose the true term for what we’re doing is flexitarian, as we still eat seafood and bison, although that only happens a couple times per month.  The rest of the time, we eat vegetarian.  And when we do this, we really eat a lot of produce.  For example, last night we had enchiladas.  Rather than being filled with meat and cheese, ours contained black beans, pinto beans, onions, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, zucchinis, summer squash, garlic, green onions, tomato, and cilantro.  Rather than serve them with sour cream and extra cheese, ours were served with guacamole.  I didn’t even bother with a side veggie or salad as the main course was almost entirely vegetables and legumes.  This morning for breakfast, we had our usual banana nut whole wheat pancakes.  Rather than serve them with sausage or bacon, ours came with a generous side of fruit salad.  

It is for this very reason that vitamins are an afterthought in my family.  We don’t take them daily.  We don’t lean on them to fill our nutritional needs.  We take them occasionally, just in case their are holes in our diet, but I feel confident that my family is getting superior nutrition through whole, fresh, organic foods.  A perfect example of this is my family’s iron levels.  Everyone knows that meat-based (or heme) iron is ideal–it’s better absorbed and used by your body than plant-based iron.  However, we eat a ton of legumes and dark, leafy greens in our house.  And every time my children have had an iron check at the doctor’s office, their iron levels are very high.

So if you’d like to eat more fruits and vegetables, replace the meat in your diet with them.  You may find them rather satisfying, especially if you incorporate them into the main course instead of making them an after thought side dish.  This is personally much more appealing than eating a lot of tofu or soy-based meat/dairy substitutes.  Also, consider joining a CSA.  There’s no better way to eat more veggies than to have them brought to your neighborhood weekly from a local farm.

Other posts worth reading:

• The Food Revolution:  http://healthtakenseriously.com/2009/12/06/the-food-revolution/
• The China Study:  http://healthtakenseriously.com/2009/06/26/the-china-study-why-we-should-eat-less-animal-protein/
• The Blue Zones:  http://healthtakenseriously.com/2009/08/27/the-longest-living-people-in-the-world/
• Disease Proof Your Child:  http://healthtakenseriously.com/2009/07/22/disease-proof-your-child/

Along these lines, see this video clip about Chipotle and what kind of pork founder Steve Ells likes to use.

Also, I’d like to recommend a nice way to discuss the treatment of factory farmed animals with your kids–reading the children’s book That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals.

Salad ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups fresh corn (2 ears)
• 1 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 cup finely chopped red cabbage (we gave ours a quick saute, as I’m not a fan of it raw)
• 1 cup diced cucumber
• 1 diced avocado

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 Tbs maple syrup
• 1 Tbs dijon mustard
• 1 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Bring quinoa, salt, and 1.5 cups water to boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 min.  Set aside, covered, for 10 min.
2. Bring 2 cups water to boil in saucepan.  Add corn, cook 1 min.  Drain, rinse under cold water.  Cut.
3. Stir corn, tomatoes, cabbage, cucumber, and quinoa in bowl.
4. To make dressing, mix all ingredients in a jar.  Shake vigorously.  Stir into salad.  Top with diced avocado.  If you’re serving salad later, add the dressing right before serving.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (whole-wheat pastry if you have it)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs. canola oil

Filling:

• 1 Tbs. black or yellow mustard seeds
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
• 5 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered (1 1/4 lb.)
• 1 1/2 tsp. canola oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tsp. agave nectar or sugar
• 2 Tbs. soymilk

Instructions:

1. To make crust, whisk flours and salt in bowl.  Stir in oil until clumps form.  Add 6-10 Tbs cold water, one at a time, until the dough holds together.  Shape into ball, cover with damp towel, set aside.
2. To make filling, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Stir together spices and set aside.
3. Cook potatoes in boiling salted water for 15 min, or until tender.  Drain, return to pot, and mash, leaving small chunks.
4. Heat oil in skillet and add onion, carrot, garlic.  Saute until carrot is tender, about 5 min.  Move onion mixture to side of pan and add spices to center.  Toast for 30 seconds.  Stir in broth and peas.  Fold onion mixture into potatoes, and add agave/sugar.  Season with salt and pepper, if desired.  Spread filling in a 9-inch pie pan.
5. Roll out crust dough to 11-inch circle on floured surface.  Cover filling with dough, pressing down to make sure no air pockets remain.  Trim excess dough and crimp edges with fingers.
6. Cut X in center to vent steam and brush with soymilk just before baking.  Place pie on baking sheet and bake for 40-50 min until crust is golden.  Let stand for 5 min before serving.
7. If frozen, bake casserole for 75-90 minutes at 375 degrees.

Topping Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dry polenta or corn grits
• 1/4 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
• pinch of salt

Filling Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tbs chili powder (or less if your kids don’t like things spicy)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 15-oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained (Eden Foods brand is BPA free)
• 1 14-oz can tomato puree (Bionaturae sells jarred tomato puree)
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 tsp brown rice flour (wheat flour worked fine for me)

Instructions:

1. To make topping, bring 2 cups water to boil in saucepan.  Stir in polenta, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring often.  Stir in cheese and salt and set aside.
2. To make filling, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Heat oil in skillet and add onion.  After 5 minutes, add zucchini, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin and oregano.  Cook 5 minutes more.
3. Stir in beans, tomato puree, and corn.  Mix in rice flour to thicken, if needed.  Season with salt and pepper.
4. Spread filling into 8-inch square baking pan.  Spread topping on top.
5. Place dish on baking sheet and bake for 40 min, or until filling bubble and top is golden.
6. Frozen cooking instructions:  Cover casserole with foil and bake on baking sheet at 375 for 90 min.  Remove foil for last 15 minutes of baking.

The book is written by John Robbins, the son of the founder of Baskin Robbins ice cream.  While he grew up eating ice cream daily, he now believes that better health can be achieved by avoiding animal products.  The Food Revolution (2001) is his updated argument for a vegan diet, following his popular book A Diet for a New America (1987).

The book is broken down into four parts:

1. Food and Healing – the role of animal products in human health.
2. Our Food, Our Fellow Creatures – an examination of the treatment of the animals we eat.
3. Our Food, Our World – how our diet affects the planet.
4. Genetic Engineering – an alarming account of genetic engineering, written before it became as pervasive as it is now.

Here are some interesting facts and excerpts from the Food and Healing section:

• Average cholesterol in the U.S.:  210.  Average cholesterol of U.S. vegetarians: 161.  Average cholesterol of U.S. vegans:  133.
• Incidence of high blood pressure in meat eaters compared to vegetarians:  nearly triple.
• Patients with high blood pressure who are able to completely discontinue use of medications after adopting a low-sodium, low-fat, high-fiber vegetarian diet:  58%.
• According to the National Cattlemen’s Association “The basic reason why heart disease and cancer have become the number one and number two causes of death in the U.S. and other affluent counties is that people are living longer.  What has allowed us to live long enough to run these risks?  Meat, among other things.”
• William Castelli, M.D. (the director of the Framingham Heart Study at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute), says that “some people scoff at vegetarians, but they have only 40% of our cancer rate.  They outlive us.  On average, they outlive other men by about six years now.”
• U.S. children who eat the recommended levels of fruits, vegetables, and grains:  1%.  U.S. vegan children who eat the recommended levels of fruits, vegetables, and grains: 50%.
• Protein in human breast milk: 5% of total calories.  Minimum human protein requirement according to the World Health Organization: 5% of total calories.  U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance for adult protein intake: 10% of total calories.
• The meat industry claims that children must eat meat in order to have proper brain development.  According to research published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, the average IQ of U.S. children is 99, while the average IQ of vegetarian U.S. children is 116.
• The more animal protein people consume (which makes the blood more acidic), the more calcium is lost by our bones (which the bones leach to try to balance the pH of the more acidic blood).  The National Dairy Council funded a study in which post-menopausal women drank three additional 8-oz glasses of skim milk compared to a control group (providing 1500 mg of calcium daily).  The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that the women who drank more milk actually lost more calcium from their bones than the control group.
• A study of diet and hip fractures in 33 countries found “an absolutely phenomenal correlation” between the consumption of animal products and weaker bones/hip fractures.  The more fruits and vegetables eaten and the less animal foods consumed, the stronger the bones and the fewer the fractures.
• The countries with the highest consumption of dairy products are also the countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis: Finland, Sweden, United States, and England.
• Amount of calcium lost in the urine of a woman after eating a hamburger: 28 mg.
• Daily calcium intake for African Americans is more than 1000 mg.  Daily calcium intake for black South Africans is only 196 mg, yet African Americans experience a hip fracture rate 9 times greater than black South Africans.
• 80 different antibiotics are allowed in U.S. cow’s milk.
• 65% of adults worldwide do not drink milk.
• Cow’s milk provides 9 times more saturated fat than soy beverages.  Soy beverages provide 10 times more essential fatty acids than cow’s milk.
• The amount of antibiotics used in U.S. hospitals in 2001 was 100 times greater than 35 years previously.  Despite this, the Union of Concerned Scientists declares that antibiotic use in factory farms account for the overwhelming majority of antibiotic use in the country.
• In 1998, the journal Science called the meat industry “the driving force behind the development of antibiotic resistance in certain species of bacteria that cause human disease.”
• 3 million pounds of antibiotics are administered to people in the U.S. annually, while 24.6 million pounds are administered to livestock.
• The European Union has prohibited treating any farm animal with sex hormones to promote growth (since many of these hormones are known to cause human cancers and reproductive dysfunction) since 1995.  After the EU banned the sale of hormone-treated meat within the EU, the U.S. complained to the World Trade Organization about the lost profit.  The EU had to pay the U.S. $150 million per year as compensation, but they are willing to do this to prevent U.S. beef from being sold in their countries.
• In 1999, the EU tested meat samples from the U.S. Hormone Free Cattle program and found that 12% had in fact been treated with sex hormones.

Facts from the Our Food, Our Fellow Creatures section:

• Traditionally, it took a broiler chicken 21 weeks to reach 4-pound market weight.  But today, with the birds having been systematically bred for obesity, it takes only 7 weeks.  1/3 the time!  If a 7 pound human baby grew at the same rate that today’s turkeys and broiler chickens grow, when the baby reached 18 weeks of age, it would weight 1500 pounds.
• Broiler chickens now grow so rapidly that the heart and lungs are not developed well enough to support the remainder of the body, resulting in congestive heart failure and tremendous death losses.  As the birds become rapidly obese, severe vitamin and mineral deficiencies are common, leading to blindness, kidney damage, bone and muscle weakness, brain damage, internal bleeding, anemia, deformed beaks and joints, etc.
• 90% of broiler chickens are so obese by 6 weeks of age that they can no longer walk.
• Turkeys today grow so fast that it is impossible for them to mate naturally.  They simply can’t get close enough to physically manage.  All 300 million turkeys born annually in the U.S. are the result of artificial insemination.
• The natural lifespan for a dairy cow is 20 – 25 years.  Under modern conditions, they are lucky to live 4 years.
• In a natural situation, cows produce enough milk to feed one or two calves.   In today’s dairy factories, they actually produce 20 times that amount.  As a result, half of dairy cows in the U.S. have a painful udder infection called mastitis.
• According to Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation (2001), “Current FDA regulations allow dead pigs and horses to be rendered into cattle feed, along with dead poultry.  The regulations not only allow cattle to be fed dead poultry, they allow poultry to be fed dead cattle.”
• Recycled chicken manure is routinely incorporated into the diets of U.S. chickens.
• 90% of U.S. chickens are now infected with leukosis–chicken cancer–at the time of slaughter.

This book was the final nail in coffin for my decision that my family would eat a mostly vegetarian diet from this point forward.  My journey began with the book The China Study and seeing the film Food, Inc. It continued with a trial summer of eating as vegan as possible and getting most of our food from a local, organic CSA.  In the past 6 months, the only meat we have consumed has been grass-fed, organic, free range, and often local (and we eat it less than once a month).  We have cut back significantly on dairy and eggs and eat more vegetables and fruit than ever before.  We haven’t eliminated meat entirely (we had turkey for Thanksgiving), but it is consumed rarely and mainly for special occasions (as recommended in the book The Blue Zones).  Most importantly, we only consume meat/poultry when the animal’s life and death is satisfactory to us.  I actually find this way of eating very enjoyable and not nearly as limiting as I was worried it’d be.  We subscribe to Vegetarian Times and love cooking recipes from the cookbook Vegan Planet.

But what about my children and their health?  Even my own mother, who understands much of the reasoning behind our decisions, still believes it’s good for her grandsons to eat meat  (and will often feed it to them when they visit her).  Why is it so hard for Americans to believe that good health can be achieved without meat and dairy?  The true testament to our family’s new diet is in the health and weight of my 2-year old.  Starting in June, he drank only water (no cow’s milk, soy milk, or juice) daily.  All his calories came from food.  I started giving him nuts (except peanuts) for fat, along with lots of avocados.  Unlike most American children that get their fat from dairy products (which means mostly saturated fats), my son was eating only unsaturated fats.  My children ate mostly beans, grains, vegetables, fruit, and olive oil.  They each had probably 2-3 eggs per week.  We ate very little soy (mostly in the form of soy milk splashed on our oatmeal).  We hardly ever ate processed foods and even made our own bread.  Five months after this began, my 2-year old has his annual check-up with his pediatrician.  And he had actually gone up from 20th percentile to 30th percentile on the weight chart.  This from a child that drinks only water and eats veggies, fruits, nuts, and beans!  His blood iron levels were also well within the healthy range.  I am confident that eating fewer animal products means my family is getting better nutrition than we were before.  Even the pediatrician was impressed!

You don’t have to go completely vegetarian or vegan.  In fact, I think it’s best to make major lifestyle changes slowly.  Try finding a few vegetarian recipes you like and replacing meat dinners with them a couple nights a week.  Try using less cheese in your dishes.  Try eating more nuts, seeds, and nut butters.  You might be pleasantly surprised, as I was, at how satisfying meat-less food can be.

For more, visit John Robbins’ website foodrevolution.org.