New Forms of WFPB Procrastination: Documentaries, Vegfests

[roundcoconut]

Well, I seem to be quite the crusty curmudgeon when it comes to being a plant-based eater. I’m sitting here remembering the good old days, when we read the one Dr. McDougall book we could get our hands on, and then got to work!

But it seems as though the plant-based movement is becoming all about watching movies and going to Vegfests rather than getting down and dirty with DOING this! I mean, seriously, how many documentaries do y’gotta watch before you get the main principles? Eat starch, eat veg, keep your paws off the oil, and allow yourself a few pieces of fruit too.

I honestly have not watched Cowspiracy, or gone to the VegFest in Marshall, TX, or had my pictures taken with Rip Esselstyn, because I am hopelessly old school. The new diabetes conference is just repackaging the same old information. I guess it’s great that there are people who are willing to put on these events, but I am wondering if we are minting any new long-term adherents to this way of eating these days???

The voices I look to on these boards, to speak from over a year of experience, are the same six or seven people — no one new has been added since forever.

Is the plant-based movement becoming fluffy info-tainment, or are people actually DOING this? (Please chime in if you are for reals! My faith in humanity lies in the balance)

[MINNIE]

I found Dr. McDougall's Starch Solution about 5 years ago, while randomly browsing in a bookstore.

I bought it.
I read it.
I got it.
I did it.

That's pretty much all, folks .

I do read other PB books now and then and have watched a few films just for fun. I like Jeff Novick's fast food videos, and pretty much cook that way all the time.

Other than that, the McDougall diet is working perfectly for me as is.
So I don't see what else I really need to know about something so easy and intuitive.

But I''m a minimalist by nature (and by name ha ha) so maybe other people need more.
Or, they perhaps just have a longer learning curve. Whatever.

Happy starchy Thanksgiving, non-Thanksgiving, or personal holiday of your choice, to all

[colonyofcells]

My impression is only 1% of the population are willing to do unrefined plant based diets and even fewer will be 100% vegan.

[JeffN]

My impression is only 1% of the population is willing to do unrefined plant based diets and even fewer will be 100% vegan.

You have it backwards, surveys over the last few decades show that only about 1% (1-1.5) admit to being vegan.

Even fewer are willing to follow a minimally processed WFPB healthy diet that is also low in SOS

In Health
Jeff

PS BTW, To the OP, great post. I think you hit the nail on the head

[Kaye]

I love watching the films and documentaries and podcasts on youtube as well as any information available on forums. As far as I'm concerned the more information I have the more motivated I remain and the more I'm able to share with other people who are thinking about giving it a go. I'm still trundling along doing it myself and trying to set a good example. I started a plant based thread on a forum which is nothing to do with food or health and have been heartened how we have a core of about 6 or 7 people participating and quite a few others asking questions and trying things out. We post recipes/photos of meals we have tried out, share videos/talks and just offer each other support or share ideas. A couple have made the move from being vegetarian to vegan and a few now have a good understanding of WFPB and are becoming more compliant with that. Far more success than I've had in person with family who actually need it more.

[Willijan]

quote: by roundcoconut » Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:36 pm
Well, I seem to be quite the crusty curmudgeon when it comes to being a plant-based eater. I’m sitting here remembering the good old days, when we read the one Dr. McDougall book we could get our hands on, and then got to work!

quote: by MINNIE » Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:56 pm
I found Dr. McDougall's Starch Solution about 5 years ago, while randomly browsing in a bookstore.

I bought it.
I read it.
I got it.
I did it.

Love these comments! I feel the same way. I wonder why we have all the discussion about documentaries that are getting it wrong. (The ones that are getting it right might make a few converts though.)

However, I have no problem with people who are interested in that stuff. The thing that bothers me is people that come on here asking about the basics of how this works. If you want to understand it, you have to read, preferably the books because that's where it is all summed up in one place. Why expect "civilians" like most of us on the discussion board are, to explain the basics to you, when the experts have already done it well?

[colonyofcells]

I learn something new with each new video. The recent video by nutritionist Brenda Davis revealed more information about how she managed to get low blood sugar in some participants in the marshall islands during the earliest days of the experiment and she actually resorted to using more beans and greens, and even used portion control on the barley even though portion control on staple foods is not used by Dr Neal Barnard and Dr McDougall. If weight loss has not started yet, I would guess that it could be hard for some diabetics to get good looking blood sugar numbers when just starting on the unrefined plant based diet.

[Willijan]

I love watching the films and documentaries and podcasts on youtube as well as any information available on forums. As far as I'm concerned the more information I have the more motivated I remain and the more I'm able to share with other people who are thinking about giving it a go. I'm still trundling along doing it myself and trying to set a good example. I started a plant based thread on a forum which is nothing to do with food or health and have been heartened how we have a core of about 6 or 7 people participating and quite a few others asking questions and trying things out. We post recipes/photos of meals we have tried out, share videos/talks and just offer each other support or share ideas. A couple have made the move from being vegetarian to vegan and a few now have a good understanding of WFPB and are becoming more compliant with that. Far more success than I've had in person with family who actually need it more.

Neat idea, Kaye! And I agree Dr. McDougall's, and other, videos can be good for keeping up one's motivation and compliance.

[Skip]

Isn't this like learning any skill? Once you've learned it and do it. you've got it and then continuously improve (or not) depending on many factors. I find the majority of posts, movies, documentaries, veg-fests etc. repeating the same information over and over in different ways.

[f1jim]

How many times can we repackage Romeo & Juliet? The answer is an infinite number of times. If I never attend another McDougall event, a vegan or vegetarian show, or never watch another pro WFPB video or documentary it won't affect my dietary regimen for the future.
If that's true then why spend the money to attend? Why bother preaching to the choir? Because when it's a lifestyle choice you tend to participate since it is part of living the lifestyle. I look for the newest books, movies, videos, anything that is related to my chosen way of eating. It's almost like breathing. I'm already get the shakes from the gap in McDougall events!!!!
f1jim

[spinner]

I read and watch the WFPB media, pretty much for one reason: I want confirmation that my fellow WFPB peeps are still out there. It can be lonely living in a culture that snickers at you for eating this way.

[Kaye]

Sometimes its not even new scientific information that I pick up but just some comment made that gives me one of those light bulb moments. Something I was watching the other day, I think it was Dr Loomis from PCRM in one of their short podcasts. He was explaining how once we have learnt to walk we do it all subconsciously, we don't need to think to pick up our feet and bend our knee etc, we just do it, similar with driving a car once you have learnt how to your brain takes over. He compared this to developing eating habits like when you go out to eat and the waiter brings the bread basket, you tend to just eat it because its on the table in front of you while you wait for the main event without really being aware.

Here it is, only a couple of minutes long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNtE9szdTr8

So although that isn't teaching me anything about nutrition or health I didn't already know it did make me stop and think about other things I might do on automatic pilot.

[JeffN]

I posted this on FB when it came out 5 years ago as I saw this infiltrating the WFPB/Vegan movement. I think it’s now part of it

Food festivals ("Feastivals") are the new rock festivals

Food is the new sex, drugs and religion. Cookery dominates the bestseller lists and TV schedules. Celebrity chefs have become lifestyle gurus and cooking is referred to as a high art.

"Western industrial civilization is eating itself stupid. We are living in the Age of Food. Cooking programs bloat the TV schedules, cookbooks strain the bookshop tables, celebrity chefs hawk their own brands of weird mince pies (Heston Blumenthal) or bronze-moulded pasta (Jamie Oliver) in the supermarkets, & cooks in super-expensive restaurants from Chicago to Copenhagen are the subject of hagiographic profiles in serious magazines & newspapers. Food festivals ("Feastivals") are the new rock festivals..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/se ... e-backlash

If we just replace the SAD foods with vegan versions of the same items (vegan fried buffalo wings served with vegan blue cheese dressing & vegan beer), we have not done anything for our health.

Likewise, some of the unhealthy aspects of the SAD were more then the animal products, the fat/oil, the added sugar, salt, the highly refined & processed CRAP, it was the role food played in our society, our culture and our lives, the glorification and worship of it & it’s role as entertainment, reward and hyper-pleasure.

I don’t think doing the same with our way of eating will be beneficial or healthy. As a mentor once said early on, we don’t do this for this to become our life, we do this to get our lives back so we can go out & live the life we’ve always dreamed of & deserve.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In Health
Jeff

[bbq]

"Western industrial civilization is eating itself stupid.

I really like that part because even agricultural products are totally industrialized to the point where we don't really know where our foods (or more like junk for SAD eaters) were coming from. The most important aspects used to be farming and cooking but now both of them are no longer appreciated simply because they're already taken over by the corporations.

We went through both Agricultural Age and Industrial Age before reaching the latest Information Age. Now what?

Almost nobody is growing our foods anymore. Most industries should be all about profit over people for obviously reasons. Finally we're either uninformed or even falling prey to misinformation, if not disinformation.

We've got so many insecurities and vulnerabilities that are already baked right into the system, whether we like it or not. Not wonder we're dropping like flies because of looking like this:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170103122342.htm

[gracezw]

Jim, that is a great point! Yes, it is a lifestyle choice!

How many times can we repackage Romeo & Juliet? The answer is an infinite number of times. If I never attend another McDougall event, a vegan or vegetarian show, or never watch another pro WFPB video or documentary it won't affect my dietary regimen for the future.
If that's true then why spend the money to attend? Why bother preaching to the choir? Because when it's a lifestyle choice you tend to participate since it is part of living the lifestyle. I look for the newest books, movies, videos, anything that is related to my chosen way of eating. It's almost like breathing. I'm already get the shakes from the gap in McDougall events!!!!
f1jim