Forks Over Knives

The average American now

carries 23 extra pounds.

Heart disease and stroke

will claim the lives

of 460,000 American women.

You could actually save

and half the calories

if you simply ate an

entire stick of butter.

We're talking about diabetes

and hypertension and bone

diseases, osteoporosis.

Prostate cancer is now

the most common cancer

in American men.

Doctors say we really need to eat

less red and processed meat.

And arterial

sclerosis and cancer

and autoimmune disease.

We have unprecedented amount of

type 2 diabetes in our children,

and we're starting

to see hypertension

in our children in

grammar school.

In case you're wondering,

Clearly the Western

diet is taking a toll.

This should serve

as a wake-up call.

We have a growing problem,

and the ones who are

growing are us.

Food! It's central to our

lives and traditions.

Every special occasion seems

to involve food and feasting.

But could some of

these same foods,

including several that we think

are good for our health,

also be causing many of our

most serious health problems?

Indeed, we're facing a

massive health crisis.

No less than 40% of

Americans today are obese,

and about half of us are taking

some form of prescription drug.

The best known statin

drug, Lipitor,

is the most prescribed

drug ever in the world.

Almost one in five

American four-year-olds

are now considered to be obese.

Though Mexican-Americans and

African-American children

are still more likely

to be overweight.

This could be the first

generation of children

in the United States that

lives less than its parents.

We spend 2.2 trillion dollars

a year on health care,

over five times more

than the defense budget.

In fact, we pay more per

person for health care

than any industrialized

country in the world,

yet we're sicker than ever.

You see, there's no money

in healthy people,

and there's no money

in dead people.

The money is in the middle:

People who are alive, sort of,

but with one or more

chronic conditions.

Obesity, diabetes,

heart disease,

high blood pressure

are all diet-related

health issues

that cost this country more

than $120 billion each year.

Every minute, a person in the U.S.

is killed by heart disease.

die from cancer.

Combined, these

two diseases kill

over 1 million

Americans every year.

Cases of diabetes

are skyrocketing,

particularly among our

younger population.

- Diabetes.

- Diabetes.

Life-threatening diabetes.

One out of three people

born in the U.S. today

will develop this crippling

condition during their lifetime.

Millions of others suffer

from a host of

degenerative diseases.

Millions more of us are

so stimulated by sugar,

coffee, and energy drinks

that we've masked our

chronic fatigue.

But could there be

a single solution

to all of these problems?

A solution so comprehensive,

yet so straightforward,

that it's mind-boggling

that more of us

haven't taken it seriously?

Someone has to stand up

and say that the answer

isn't another pill.

The answer is spinach.

A growing number of

researchers claim

that if we eliminate,

or greatly reduce,

refined, processed, and

animal-based foods,

we can prevent and, in

certain cases, even reverse

several of our worst diseases.

They say all we need to do

is adopt a whole foods,

plant-based diet.

It sounds almost too

simple to be true.

You might not expect

someone like me

to explore the connection

between diet and disease.

On my way over, I drank

these two Red Bulls.

I also had a 12-ounce Coke

and another half of

a 12-ounce Coke.

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