Forks Over Knives

Forks over Knives: Disease, Eating and Health
English Department
By Robert Guzman, UPR Aguadilla
More than forty years ago two American doctors independently started off on scientific journeys and ended up in the same place with the same conclusions. Along the way they were aided by Indian and Chinese doctors and researchers who were also intrigued by the same questions and provided thestarting points and data-base for the experimental and longitudinal study support that they needed to test their ideas.
The doctors are Caldwell B. Esselstyn and T. Colin Campbell. Dr. Esselstyn studied at Yale University and Dr. Campbell is from Penn State. Their central claim is very simple. Eating a plant based diet cannot only prevent many forms of very serious health conditions it can actuallycure them. That is without question an extraordinary claim. Now, do the two doctors have the extraordinary evidence to support their claim? We shall see.
First you must watch the DVD documentary Forks over Knives which is in the Reserve Desk of the university library. Use the following study guide to analyze the content of the documentary. Answer the study guide in complete sentences, in English andin detail. Keep detailed notes in your notebooks. Keep in mind that these may be collected and graded by your professor. Come to class prepared to answer and ask questions on the material discussed in the DVD.
After you have finished answering all the material in the documentary and the study guide you will analyze the dietary information discussed as it relates to our food here in Puerto Rico.According to the evidence provided, is popular Puerto Rican food good for us? How does it compare to other western foods such as fast foods, convenience foods and processed foods? Which of our Boricua foods are, in your opinion, healthy and which are harmful? Explain and give examples.


Forks over Knives Study Guide
The Problems, (Define each one of these health conditions in no more thanthree sentences):
obesity, heart disease, stroke, prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis, Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
Health care costs more than $2.2 trillion dollars a year. One bypass operation costs over $100 thousand dollars. There are over 500 thousand of these operations every year in the US alone.
Damage to the environment. Wasted resources,pollution and economic hardship.
The Patients (Describe in no more than three sentences each of these people. Explain their health issues and how the plant based diet affected them.):
Lee Fulkerson, Joey Aucoin, San' Dera Nation, Evelyn Oswick, Anthony Yen, Mac Danzig, Ruth Heidrich and Dr. Joseph Crowe
The Doctors (Describe each one of them in no more than four sentences and explain what theydid with the plant based diet.):
Dr. Colin Campbell, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. Marr Lederman, Dr. Alona Polde, Dr. John Mc Dougall, Dr. Doug Lislee, Dr. Terry Mason, Dr. Chen Junshi, Dr. Pam Popper and Dr. David Klurfeld.
The Institutions
The Cleveland Clinic, Yale School of Medicine, USDA, Cornell Medical Center
The Discussion Questions
How much over weight is the average American?
Howimportant is food in our daily lives?
What percentage of Americans is obese?
What are the annual health costs in the USA?
Who is Lee Fulkerson and what did a general check up reveal about his health? What did Fulkerson do?
How much sugar did the average American consume in 1913 and 1999?
How much dairy products did the average American consume in 1909 and 2006?
When and where wereconvenience foods developed? Why?
Why do most people think meat is an important part of a healthy diet?
What is cholesterol and how does it relate to heart disease?
What is dietary cholesterol, where does it come from and why is it bad for us?
What is coronary by-pass surgery and when and where was it first developed?
How much do by-pass operations cost the US every year?
What did Dr. Campbell...