Where does your food come from? What's in it?
It'll take more than a glance at the label to see what's actually in your food. And that's the problem. As we've made certain foods cheaper and more readily available, we've distanced ourselves from its production, letting the fast food and sugar industries make decisions for us. It's a serious problem, perhaps best illustrated by our pernicious obesity and heart disease epidemic.
What can help? Knowledge. These documentaries will not only reveal where your food comes from, they may even change your idea about what "food" is.
"Fed Up" makes two points very clear: sugar is poison and Americans don't have a clue.
The 1 hour, 32 minute documentary makes the first point clear through perky, bright infographics and interviews with nutritionists and scientists about sugar's effect on the body. Soft drinks are highlighted as especially problematic, as Americans are now drinking their calories at a faster rate than ever.
But "Fed Up" doubly emphasizes how dangerous sugar is by pointing out how ignorant we are of its effects. There are heartbreaking interviews with overweight children and their parents, clueless why diet and exercise aren't helping the kids lose weight. One such child is a 14-year-old considering gastric bypass, a highly invasive surgery. One parent, when asked how she's helping change her son's diet replies that she's feeding him healthier meals: serving him lean Hot Pockets instead of regular. It's a sad illustration of how little we know about what we eat.
Watch the trailer. | Stream the film.
"Place at the Table" focuses primarily on the federal school lunch program.
What role does the federal government have in the current obesity problem? "Place at the Table" investigates the Obama administration and its role both in child hunger and child obesity, focusing primarily on the federal school lunch program. Although $2.68 is allotted to school cafeterias per child for food, "Place at the Table" asserts that, accounting for labor and administrative costs, schools report between 90 cents and a dollar per child.
Even more disheartening is that for many students, the meal provided from the school is all they'll eat that day. As cafeterias feel pressured to cut costs by using additives and skirting nutritional requirements, students face the paradox of being both underserved and overfed with cheap, dangerous foods.
Watch the trailer. | Stream the film.
"Forks Over Knives" follows two doctors advocating an entirely plant based diet, arguing that diabetes and heart disease are a result of the Western diet of meat and dairy.
Dr. Campbell and Dr. Esselstyn speak with people who have completely reversed their health after adapting their diets, recovering from breast cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Perhaps the strongest evidence, and best part of the documentary, comes from an extended look into East Asia: China, the Philippines, Korea, and Japan. Heart disease, diabetes, and many types of cancers were absent for most of their long histories, appearing only after the introduction of Western fast food in the modern age.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider