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.

I haven't always lived

the healthiest lifestyle.

And I've eaten more than

my share of fast food.

But as part of my effort to

learn more about the link

between food and health,

I visited two physicians

in Los Angeles,

Dr. Matt Lederman and

Dr. Alona Pulde.

- Hi.

- How you doin'?

- Lee Fulkerson.

- Lee, nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

This is Dr. Pulde.

Hi, Dr. Pulde.

Pleasure to meet you too.

Both are M.Ds.

Dr. Lederman was trained

in internal medicine

and Dr. Pulde in family practice.

They incorporate a whole

plant foods nutrition plan

into the treatment

of their patients.

So let's get started on that,

and then we'll do some talking.

I found out a lot

more than I expected.

Like a lot of Americans,

I thought my health

was pretty good.

I had no major diseases

that I knew of.

But I hadn't had a thorough

check-up in a while,

so I decided to get one.

When Dr. Lederman gave

me the results,

it was a real wake-up call.

I gotta say I'm kinda shocked.

I'm really worried about

my blood work numbers.

is way higher than

it's ever been.

I got this six number.

That, to me, is the most

worrying number I got.

The six number was the result

of something called a CRP test,

which measures the inflammation

in my heart and blood vessels.

This put me in the high-risk

category for a heart attack.

So I committed to a

under Dr. Lederman's supervision.

The plan was to treat

my health problems

by eating a whole foods,

plant-based diet.

The idea of using nutrition

to promote good health

is nothing new.

Indeed, Hippocrates,

the ancient Greek father

of Western medicine,

said, "let food be thy medicine,"

over 2,000 years ago.

Yet it wasn't until

more recently

that the science behind

this observation

was systematically

probed and applied.

Two researchers who've made

groundbreaking contributions

to this effort are Dr. Colin Campbell

and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

Born just a few months

apart in 1933 and '34,

they each grew up on farms.

Campbell's childhood farm

is in rural Virginia,

where his family raised dairy

cattle and milked cows.

My dad and mother

moved here in 1943

when I was nine years old.

And during that time,

we had a dairy of about

somewheres between

which in those days was a

modest, medium-sized dairy.

At the time, milk

was believed to be

nature's perfect food.

So perfect, in fact, that this

U.S. government film

from the early 20th century

recommended that infants

who have just been weaned

from their mother's milk

should be switched

immediately to cow's milk.

That was the excitement

of doing something,

producing nature's perfect

food, if you will.

Established in 1675,

the Esselstyn's farm is

in upstate New York.

On these rolling hillsides,

they grazed both beef

and dairy cattle.

This was sort of like

the nerve center

of the operation in a way?

More or less, absolutely.

This is sort of the epicenter,

around these barns.

This is the way farming

was done in that era.

And so this is sort

of where you learned

the craft... the trade.

The trade of farming.

How old were you

when you moved here?

Seven.

I didn't start

driving the tractor

till I was eight years old.

A late bloomer, right?

Yeah, exactly.

But I enjoyed it,

and I really got a great kick

out of doing the farm work.

Although they didn't

know each other yet,

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