Chocolate is a whole-food, right?

Last night hubby and I decided to take a night off from shop-talk after putting the kids to bed and actually watch some TV. Except, we don't really have TV since I scaled down the cable to virtually nothing, so we thank goodness for Netflix! I like to watch romantic comedies, he likes to watch shark programs. We both agree on Monty Python and the occasional food and/or wine documentary. We agreed on Forks Over Knives, a documentary on the whole-food movement and the research behind it.

As a self-proclaimed carnivore, this movie has me reeling. The studies done by the two featured doctors, separately, world-wide and over the course of decades clearly shows that people with diets high in animal products and processed foods have a much higher occurrence of cancer and heart-disease. They also show that the rates drastically reduce when those same people switch to a whole food, plant based diet. That is, fruits and vegetables as nature intended and whole grains like rice.

Is an animal based diet killing us?

 Like any good farm girl, I have always believed in an animal-based, protein dense diet for myself and my family. We try to be healthy and stick to unprocessed food as much as possible, while still enjoying a sweet treat now and again. I make my pancakes from scratch, my pasta often too. We eat plenty of fruits, we need more veggies, especially the kids. But lots of meat and dairy. Lots as in 5 times a week for meat and 7 for dairy, including cheese and yogurt.

Suddenly, I feel an urgent need to reassess and potentially overhaul our diet. Will my husband and children go along? Do I have time for such a thing? Of course they will. My kids are smart cookies (no pun intended) who care about what they put into their bodies. Of course, I have the time to put the health of my family first. I doubt we'll ever become vegan, but we can certainly slim down on animal and increase the vegetable.

Have you seen this movie? What are your thoughts on the science behind it? What do you feed your family? What's the healthiest thing your kids love to eat?