Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health

Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. takes the credit for pioneering the movement to embrace a vegan diet of whole, plant-based foods in the mid-2000s. I rather think that the real credit should go to the Moosewood collective (especially Mollie Katzen) and its delicious Moosewood Restaurant cookbook series, the first of which, The Moosewood Cookbook: Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant, Ithaca, New York, first appeared in 1977. (In fairness, Katzen and crew did allow dairy products and eggs.)

That said, let’s cut to the real point: How good is Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health? Well, for those late to the game, the book provides scientific evidence that a vegan lifestyle makes you slimmer and much healthier. It also provides some show more recipes that even meat-and-potatoes kind of men would appreciate. (Just don’t announce that it’s vegan, and they’ll just think it’s delicious stuff! And, whatever you do, don’t advertise recipe names like Joey’s Lifesaving Sweet Potato Chips, Nutrient-Rich Smoky Black Bean Soup or Hearty Dal Soup. That will just scare them off before they give the dish a chance.)

While not as good as the Moosewood Restaurant recipes or my new favorite, Good and Cheap, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health is definitely worth a gander. I’m glad that Amazon Kindle Daily Deal brought it to my attention. show less

This book makes the case for a healthy, whole-foods, plant-based way of eating. The authors argue that eating a plant-based diet produces powerful health benefits including a reduction of health care costs. It is also better, they aver, for the environment, showing how dependence on farm animals contributes to global warming, deforestation, waste, water pollution, fisheries depletion, endangered species, and soil erosion.

In spite of the benefits, however, convincing people to switch to plant-based diet has huge obstacles to overcome. They name the food industry and its profit demands as the primary culprit, writing, “With billions of advertising and marketing dollars, it [the food industry] annually cajoles and entices us with its show more dairy, meat, fish, poultry, and eggs, as well as products laden with sugar, salt, and fat. This ceaseless assault achieves its goal of convincing a vulnerable and unprotected public to ingest food that will make them fat and sick…”

Certainly anyone who watches television can attest to the onslaught of ads for less than healthy snacks an “treats.” But the real treat, the authors maintain, will be how much better you feel when you eat differently.

A few recipes are included but those trying out this lifestyle will want to check out the companion book, Forks Over Knives: The Cookbook.. Those who try these recipes will be surprised at how good the food tastes. It is not the tastiness of the food that is the barrier, really, it is the psychology…. show less

This book tells you why a "plant based diet" is the way to go. It also has some recipes and helps to help with the transition. I've tried several of the recipes and they are good. Not much to look at as far as pictures but the food is edible.

This is the book that is the companion to the documentary Forks over Knives (available at Netflix). The book did not get 5 stars because it isn't pretty and at points it seems to draw criticism unlike the movie which everyone notes is far better than the book. Still, I liked it and found it interesting. This gives you the research behind why meat has been reported to cause cancer. I didn't believe this when it first came out in the news but after reading the research, I have changed my mind. More show more concerning is dairy but nothing is being said about dairy. I read this book along with [book:The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat|6114536] and have recently finished [book:Lab Girl|25733983]. I am convinced that eating plant based diet, whether you go Vegan, Vegetarian or just VB6 ([book:VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good|15798321]) I think you will find a lot of benefit in health and the environment will benefit as well. What really was impressive to me is that both books delved into the agricultural industry and reported how livestock for food purposes generates more climate-heating gases than do all carbon-dioxide emitting vehicles combined. Cows are worse than cars. The American diet derives 47 % of its calories from animal products. This amounts to a carbon footprint of 2.52 tons of CO2 emissions per person per year. The book also provides 125 recipes in case the reader wants to make the transition to a plant-based diet. show less

Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health edited by Gene Stone is the companion book to the documentary, Forks Over Knives. After watching the movie on Netflix, I bought the book mainly because it contains 125 recipes. The movie makes several convincing arguments for embracing a plant-based diet including the impact on one's health and the environment. In many ways, the contents of the book simply rehash the documentary without as much detail, but it makes a nice easy reference to keep on one's shelves. The recipes provided come from a variety of sources. I've tried a few of the recipes and am anxious to try several of the others. There's also a Forks Over Knives website with information and a nice selection of recipes including show more one for chocolate cupcakes that is among the best I've ever tried. I enjoyed the movie and found the book to make a nice companion if for no other reason than it provides a great starting point for starting to eat a tasty, plant-based diet if one so chooses to do so after the movie and the book. show less

A recipe-filled companion to the Forks Over Knives documentary.

My daughter's been a strict vegetarian for about seven years now. When I made that lifestyle change with her, it was primarily because I could no longer support factory farming, and eating animals had always made me feel bad. After all, I could never eat one of my cats, and a cow or pig is no different than a cat or dog, in my opinion.

So I stopped buying meat but I never stopped eating or buying seafood. And I would occasionally "cheat" when dining out: chicken, turkey, and hamburgers, though never beef steak or pork of any kind. (Don't attempt to decipher that logic. LOL) Yep, I was a part-time vegetarian until I watched the Forks Over Knives documentary on 9/15/2014. The show more FOK documentary presented overwhelming evidence which supported a whole-foods, plant-based lifestyle, not from a moral standpoint, but purely from a medical / health perspective.

For anyone interested in this lifestyle and who has not yet watched the documentary, I recommend Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health. It offered the same information as the documentary plus it included over 100 recipes. Yellow Split Pea and Leek Soup - yummy! No color photos of the recipes, though, which is why only 3 stars from me.

If you've already watched the documentary and now you're seeking guidance about how to make the switch to this lifestyle, I recommend The Forks Over Knives Plan: How to Transition to the Life-Saving, Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet.

Or, if you're like me and you watched the documentary and now want ideas and inspiration for new meals, then I highly recommend Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook which is filled with 300 recipes sure to inspire cooks of all lifestyles. Again, my only complaint with that one was the small number of color photos. I like to see what I'm going to eat before I put in the time to prepare it. show less

I can see the value in this cookbook as it uses some less *popular* ways to season foods, which I really like...however, it is missing pictures. I crave pictures. They motivate me. Especially now, with my warped brain unable to picture anything on its own, I need to see what it will look like.

I re-read this one 7 years later. I am a much more experienced cook now who prefers to do things the way that tastes the best rather than the easiest. A cookbook without pictures no longer bothers me as long as I learn something from it. I did not learn anything new from this.

This is a companion to the documentary, so it can be a little lean on the plant-based lifestyle (I highly recommend the movie). It does give a good, if limited, introduction to the vegan/whole plant foods diet. There are also over 100 recipes in the book, and the ones I have tried so far (MexiCali Burritos, the quesadillas, and the fast pasta) have been quite good (especially the MexiCali Burritos, soooo goooooood).