It all started with a Netflix documentary, as all the greatest life decisions do.

In the effort to get sleepy one night, I turned on Netflix and flipped on the first documentary I came across, “What The Health" by filmmaker Kip Andersen. Oh how I had no idea this late night movie would foster one of the biggest lifestyle changes of my adult life.

Now, about myself. I've always had horrible eating habits since I was a kid (thanks Mom, for all the waffles with frosting for breakfast and spicy Doritos for dinner), and struggled with teetering the line between “overweight" and “just curvy" my entire life.

With turning twenty-years-old this year, I wanted to make the conscious decision to change my eating habits for the better, to keep from fighting with my weight for the rest of my life. I wanted to make a serious change to better educate myself on what's good for me so that I can later raise my own children in the same way—because golly it's hard to change the habits we develop as kids!

Caitlin Via

That's why I picked up the book “You Are What You Eat" from Barnes and Nobel last month. The self-help book, written by Dr. Gilian McKeith, is all about the vast nutrients we can get from whole foods (plants, vegetables, fruits, and grains), and the impressive difference fueling your body with natural ingredients can make. She discusses the harmful effects of preservatives, saturated fats, and sugar in our diets and invites her readers to switch their lifestyles to eating mostly plant-based, with the exception of poultry, fish, and some red meats. All of her participants reported feeling happier, more energized, physically healthier, and of course, they lost weight!

So in November, I set out on my healthy eating journey and went to Whole Foods for the first time! (Which was a rite of passage into adulthood, for sure.) I bought a whole basket full of fruits, veggies, and lots of grains that inevitably ended up going bad or getting swallowed up by the back of my pantry as I continued to eat the same junk I always have.

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Thankfully, that fateful night curled up in my bed with that damn documentary was just around the corner.

Two weeks later, I found myself wide awake at three o' clock in the morning engulfed by the contents of the “What The Health" documentary. The award-winning film details the investigation into the country's leading health organizations including the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association—specifically regarding their recommended diets to either prevent or maintain their respective diseases. However, Kip Andersen knows his stuff, and he finds studies upon studies and research that proves that the food these organizations are recommending is the complete opposite of what they should be eating: meat and animal products being the culprit.

For example, the World Health Organization has classified bacon, sausage, and other processed meats (lunch meats, hot dogs, pepperoni, etc.) as a carcinogenic to humans—which is a fancy way of saying that it causes cancer. Not only that, but it's classified as a Group One carcinogen, which puts it in the same category as cigarettes, asbestos, and plutonium. Yet the American Cancer Society still lists meat like this in it's online recommended meal plans, and even refuses to acknowledge the scientific evidence supporting its link to cancer.

Another surprising fact I learned was that sugar does NOT cause diabetes. It's actually caused by a diet that causes a build up of fat in the blood... like an animal-based diet. For example, two studies confirm that consuming "one serving of processed meat per day increased the risk of the patient developing diabetics by 51%," as mentioned in the film. Yet the American Diabetes Association has multiple meal plan recipes incorporating processed meats included on their website.

The trend continues with the American Heart Association encouraging patients to eat meat and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Society encouraging patients to eat dairy (with their Yoplait Pink-Ribbon campaign). And it all comes down to the same conclusion: all of these American organizations are sponsored by various animal farming and dairy farming associations. These organizations are taking thousands and thousands of dollars from the very industries that are causing those diseases. Because they don't care about preventing or even curing their diseases (as plant-based, vegan diets have been proven to do), they care about the profit they get from the people who need treatment. It's all a horrible, horrible industry that I've chosen not to support. Especially if it means giving up the very meat that is killing us all.

So even though I shouldn't have to justify why I chose to give up meat, (which let me take the opportunity here to say that by giving up meat, eating healthier has become easier because there are fewer options to fill your body with junk!) I'm happy to share with those who are interested just how disgustingly horrible the American meat industry is. And if anyone else has an hour and a half they want to kill, I highly highly highly recommend you watch “What The Health." But once you do, I promise you'll be leaving meat behind in 2018 too.

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