Product Details

• Actors: T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., Neal Barnard, Junshi Chen, Connie B. Diekman
• Directors: Lee Fulkerson
• Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Spanish, English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Virgil Films & Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: August 30, 2011
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,176 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0053ZHZI2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #1 in Movies & TV > DVD > Special Interests
  • #1 in Movies & TV > DVD > Documentary
• Learn more about "Forks Over Knives" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A Film That Can Save Your Life." --Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"Convincing, Radical and Politically Volatile." --John Anderson, Variety

"Great Movie." --Mark Bittman, New York Times Columnist

"Convincing, Radical and Politically Volatile." --John Anderson, Variety

"Great Movie." --Mark Bittman, New York Times Columnist

Product Description

What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure.

Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country's three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to "battle" these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases.

Could it be there's a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive but so utterly straightforward, that it's mind-boggling that more of us haven't taken it seriously?

FORKS OVER KNIVES

examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the so-called "diseases of affluence" that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering yet under-appreciated researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

Dr. Campbell, a nutritional scientist at Cornell University, was concerned in the late 1960's with producing "high quality" animal protein to bring to the poor and malnourished areas of the third world. While in the Philippines, he made a life-changing discovery: the country's wealthier children, who were consuming relatively high amounts of animal-based foods, were much more likely to get liver cancer. Dr. Esselstyn, a top surgeon and head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, found that many of the diseases he routinely treated were virtually unknown in parts of the world where animal-based foods were rarely consumed.

These discoveries inspired Campbell and Esselstyn, who didn't know each other yet, to conduct several groundbreaking studies. One of them took place in China and is still among the most comprehensive health-related investigations ever undertaken. Their research led them to a startling conclusion: degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented - and in many cases reversed - by adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet. Despite the profound implications of their findings, their work has remained relatively unknown to the public. The filmmakers travel with Drs. Campbell and Esselstyn on their separate but similar paths, from their childhood farms where they both produced "nature's perfect food"; to China and Cleveland, where they explored ideas that challenged the established thinking and shook their own core beliefs.

The idea of food as medicine is put to the test. Throughout the film, cameras follow "reality patients" who have chronic conditions from heart disease to diabetes. Doctors teach these patients how to adopt a whole foods plant-based diet as the primary approach to treat their ailments - while the challenges and triumphs of their journeys are revealed.

FORKS OVER KNIVES utilizes state of the art 3-D graphics and rare archival footage. The film features leading experts on health, examines the question "why we don't know", and tackles the issue of diet and disease in a way that will have people talking for years.

FORKS OVER KNIVES was filmed all over the U.S., in Canada and China.

DVD INCLUDES CLOSED CAPTIONING, AND ENGLISH AND SPANISH SUBTITLES

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

178 of 187 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I almost died - will you? August 29, 2011

By Nutrition Scientist

Format:DVD

This movie contains information that could save your life. In October 2009, at age 52, while running a mile around my neighborhood as I did every morning, I staggered a couple of steps and hit the ground unconscious in full cardiac arrest. Heart disease is the leading killer in this country (needlessly as this movie shows) and the most common type of heart attack is the one like mine that comes with no warning. Survival for cardiac arrest outside the hospital is about 3%. I was extremely lucky - you might not be.

After my heart attack, my doctors said nothing to me about diet. In fact, later after learning about the work of Campbell and Esselstyn (featured in this movie), I asked my doctor how much time they spent in medical school learning the relationship between nutrition and health. His answer - none! If you see this movie, you will know more about the affect of nutrition on health than my doctor, and perhaps more than your doctor too. See this movie.

I applaud everyone involved in making this movie. It is based on scientific research, yet made understandable to all of us, with personal stories included that make it easy to relate. I saw this movie in the theater. I can't wait for the DVD to come out so I can give copies to all my family, friends, and all the others in my life that I don't want to suddenly die needlessly.

By the way, after a year and a half of adhering to the advice of Esslestyn, Campbell, McDougall, and others, I've eliminated my heart medications including the damaging statins, while still reducing my total cholesterol level to 160. I've lost weight, my blood sugar is down, my blood pressure is good, and I'm able to run two miles every day.... My only remaining health issue is the stents that the doctors put in my cardiac arteries under the belief that they would lengthen my life. Unfortunately, stents, which cannot be removed, have a significant ongoing death rate associated with them that cannot be fixed through nutrition. So I urge you to see this movie, and clean up your eating habits BEFORE a major blow puts you on a pathway to death that you cannot alter. Read more ›

201 of 223 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It will change the way you think about what we call "food" June 17, 2011

By Squeaks

Format:DVD

This movie came out right as I finished reading The China Study. Took the family to see this in the theater and we all agreed right then and there that we were all done eating the standard American diet. It opened up our eyes to the realities of a Westernized diet and how to avoid those illnesses that are killing our family, friends and neighbors. A must-see for everyone.

591 of 668 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Word needs to be spread worldwide!!! July 8, 2011

By Lynda Pickhardt

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

My health and my life and the lives of many family and friends have been transformed due to the knowledge imparted thru the books these doctors and doctors like them, like Dr. John McDougall have written. No negative comments can be justified unless the writer has tried this way of eating, correctly, and for at least a week. After one week (or less) feeling the positive changes taking place in your body will give way to being a fan for life. Why? because this is a life giving lifestyle change.

I had what I thought were intractible allergies...they have been gone for around ten years now. This is after years of allergy injections and decades of medications and one sinus surgery.

I no longer have asthma. It was nice to dispense with the inhalers.

My blood pressure was high and I was resistant to take antihypertensives...my B/P has been on the low side both systolically and diastolically for years.

My total cholesterol at the last reading was 133 and it had been around 212 before eating this way.

I had hot flashes...that is definitely an animal product induced problem...eating low fat vegan equals absolutely no hot flashes. And, Ladies, all cellulite has disappeared.

I have the energy of a ten year old....and the joy. This is no exaggeration.

Symptoms of arthritis left and never returned.

I sleep like a baby...and don't require all of the sleep I needed before. I awake happy and ready to meet the day.

I had fibrocystic disease of the breasts...that is gone.

I became heavy when I stopped nursing my last child...I had never been overweight before and at age 42 I didn't stop eating for two and my weight rose to 168 and my normal weight was always between 115 and 118 lbs.... I now weigh 112 lbs. at age 60!

My vision improved, my skin is softer.

My endurance for physical work and exercise is phenomenal.

I no longer experience heart burn and I am without gastrointestinal complaints... period.

Also, I never experience bad breath. My mouth in the morning is actually pleasant tasting....and, body odor is a thing of the past, as well.

I had a heart procedure before adopting this lifestyle and this lifestyle change cured a heart disorder.

I haven't visited a doctors office in years. I don't need to. I am living my life as nature intended.

Look at the science...we are mammals. Do a light study of other mammals..look at horses or gorillas...they are vegan...and they are magnificent..no fat, gorgeously muscled...

True, I occasionally miss the ice cream of the lethal Standard American Diet....but, when I think of the alternative....oh, yes, I do have a remaining allergy: to doctors and hospitals..the very idea makes me break out in a cold sweat.

Some people just don't want to change their eating habits and then they criticize this lifestyle and the learned people providing it's information and research results. If you are one of these people...just be honest and say you just don't want to change the way you eat. That is your perogative...but it's foolish and very insulting to lambast truly learned men who also happen to be doctors of the ilk of being true to their profession and to their oaths. Doctors who sign on to this information for true healing don't make a lot of money....because the patients generally don't get sick any more. And, this is the reason why mainstream medicine isn't adapting to this....follow the money...medicine is big business...it's no longer a charitable institution...and to be fair there are doctors who are like sheep....whatever they were taught in medical school is gospel to them and they don't challenge it....but, every doctor worth his salt should develop his gift of discernment...weigh things out...challenge the status quo in his own mind and, try this lifestyle out and see....in other words, they should become real doctors...real healers. Thank you.

I had to add to my review. Today is July 21st and I read the reviews of both Zardoz and T.J. Estop.

I do not understand how anyone can post a negative review when they have not thoroughly researched the research and have not lived this lifestyle in a dedicated and complete fashion for at least one week. For if they had they would post a glowing and grateful review for this treasure trove of precious information. T. Colin Campbell, Phd. and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn aren't the only doctors who have conducted long-term studies and gleaned the same results. One of the many is Dr. Dean Ornish, how about Dr. Neal Barnard? Or Joel Fuhrman? or Dr. Max Gerson? Read the books of John Robbins. And, this advice is just to start you out on your journey of real research.

Or, look to the studies of indigenous people all over the globe whose lifestyles are the same as that of their ancestors and live this low fat vegan lifestyle because it has been passed down to them. Hands down these people are among the healthiest, and longest lived people on the planet. These folks don't experience diabetes, cancer, heart disease, the arthritises, M.S.....I'll stop here, you get the picture.

I am making a plea to all who read these reviews to not be dissuaded by these two negative reviews. The information provided in the dvd Forks Over Knives can be life saving and definitely life enhancing to a degree I can't even describe.

These two reviewers may be acquainted with a vegan who eats a lot of fatty foods like oils and nuts and/or an over-weight vegan or a sickly vegan...vegans who do not follow the low-fat diet and lifestyle described by this documentary and so many other documentaries, lectures, websites, books and other media... And, this may have turned them off on veganism. Whatever it is...they do not know what they are writing about.

This brand of veganism is precise and the way to the healthiest and happiest of lives.

Reader take heed from those of us who have followed the research from the past to the present...take heed from those of us who have turned our health around in a variety of ways. I have nothing to gain by anyone else taking on this diet, but, I am a retired R.N. and have first-hand experience with the corruption of the medical business and was witness to enough medical malpractice and fraud to fill a couple of volumes. And, do think about this: do you really want to take harmful chemicals into your body when you have an illness or a disease? That is the medicine of the allopathic physician. There are myriad side effects possible and these drugs will break down your body systems.

Wouldn't you much rather take food as your medicine and not harm your body and know that your chances of achieving wellness are largely greater?

If you want to see proof of a low fat vegan athlete...Google Dr. Ruth Heidrich who is in her mid-seventies...she has been competing and winning Iron Man events for over a decade... she had cancer with mets and went to Dr. John McDougall for a second opinion and he put her on the low fat vegan diet and it saved her life...that was over 25 years ago!!!

That is one person of tens of thousands of who have chased away disease with this diet.

One other benefit I have recently discovered in this period of intense summer heat is this: I can be outside in this heat for hours, working hard in my garden or out walking and my breathing is normal. I am not affected negatively in any way by the heat.

My husband has a light case of emphysema and had quit smoking 8 years ago. He has been outside performing yard work and he marvelled at how he hasn't been short of breath, at all. And, the man is performing heavy work. He has been eating a low fat vegan diet for as long as I have.

Before I ate this way, this weather frightened me because I would become lightheaded, and short of breath on very little exertion in the extreme heat.

So, to the negative reviewers I say, "Put that in your pipe and smoke it!" Read more ›

266 of 300 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Save your life..Save yourself July 1, 2011

By Peter Jackson

Format:DVD

This is the simple solution America does not want. It is time for people to show some initiative in taking charge of their own health. The healthcare system as we know it won't be there as it is in 20-30 years. Take care of yourself now and you will be healthy then. I became an 'accidental vegan' after I saw Rip Esselstyn on the Today show and then read his book 'Engine 2 Diet.' I have been a vegan for over two years. I am now 52 years old. I have read 'The China Study' by Dr. Campbell and 'How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease' by Dr. Esselstyn and I have Dr. McDougall's cookbooks. I will never go back to eating animal products because I feel too good.

The film was very informative, educational, however, I am already a believer in plant based nutrition. America has such a fascination with animal foods, and unfortunately most people won't listen until they are too sick. I definately recommend the movie and the books of these researchers and clinicians. You will save your live and yourself.

57 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars MOVIE OF THE YEAR!!! June 24, 2011

By K. Terry

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Grade: A+
This movie was EPIC!!! If you are a human being living on planet Earth, I recommend you see it. I can't put it any plainer than that. I saw it twice. It's a wealth of knowledge applicable to modern civilization and lifestyle, packaged into 90 minutes. I wanted to pull out my cell phone to take notes! The information is outstanding, the visual aids were amusing, and the narrative was good. It was impactful to see that this isn't just some new trend but information that the doctors have been compiling for over 20 years. There are so many people that I want to get the DVD for to give as a gift to watch and learn. I left the theater feeling inspired to do a better job with my health starting that night. Movies like this one make me want to watch them again and again for inspiration and self-motivation!