Documentaries + Talks for Better Health

There’s a lot going on in the food industry and many inconvenient truths that impact us on a daily basis, whether we know it or not. Perfectly polished conventional produce may look good enough to eat, but a lot of the time it’s not as innocent as it appears. Whether you’ve postponed your education, or want to learn yourself more, watching or reading up on a wide variety of content, is vital to making better and more informed choices for our health. Here’s 10 talks and documentaries to get you started:

What the Health

While there’s been controversy surrounding some of the claims in this Netflix documentary, nevertheless, What the Health harbors the right intentions to inform us about the food we eat, so we can make better choices. Produced by Kip Anderson, he probes leading health organizations to uncover some inconvenient truths about daily meat consumption and its link to chronic disease.

Teach Every Child About Food TED Talk by Jamie Oliver

In his 2010 TED Talk, Jamie shares his mission to create change, at both an individual and government level, about the food that children are exposed to at school. Educating kids about food, inspiring families to spend time cooking again and advocating for policy changes, like sugar reduction in packaged foods and clearer labelling, this inspiring talk is a must watch for families.

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret

Another popular Kip Anderson production, Cowspiracy takes a more environmental look at the wider consequences of animal agriculture on our planet, including deforestation, water consumption, and pollution. While animal agriculture continues to go on unchallenged despite this, Kip and his videographer Keegan Kuhn continually come up against a continual refusal from environmental leaders to discuss the industry, in what is a humorous and eye-opening documentary.

That Sugar Film

While it might be a tough pill to swallow for those with a sweet tooth, at least That Sugar Film is as amusing as it is informative, revealing the skeletons in the closet of the sugar and packaged food industry and the impact it’s having on our health. With a little bit of good old fashioned entertainment, the documentary follows Damon Gameau who, after eating entirely sugar free for 3 years, eats a high sugar diet for 60 days to find out the impacts of sugars hidden in unlikely places. These include commonly perceived ‘health’ foods, like Charlie’s Honest Presssed Apple Juice, 99.9% fat free Sanitarium Soy Milk, and dairy farmers yoghurt.

What’s Wrong with Our Food System TED Talk by Birke Baehr

11-year-old Birke Baehr began studying sustainable and organic farming in his earlier life while being ‘roadschooled’ by his family. It was at this time that he developed a passion for disvoering exactly where our food comes from. Baehr now educates others about the unsustainable nature of the industrialized food system and the alternatives that we can take to make a positive difference on our health and the world. You can find his powerful Ted Talk here.

Forks Over Knives

While on a plight to produce high quality animal protein to the poor and malnourished third world, nutritional scientist Dr. Campbell made an unexpected discovery that the wealthy population in the Philippines who eat meat consistently, had an increased risk of liver cancer. Meanwhile these diseases were unknown in areas where animal based foods were rarely consumed. This led Dr. Campbell to team up with surgeon Dr. Esselstyn who made similar discoveries, to undertake further studies about the link between meat consumption and disease. Forks Over Knives is a documentary about their parallel journeys, both beginning on a farm to produce ‘nature’s perfect food,’ to unexpectedly discovering that this was not the case at all.

Hungry for Change

Produced by two nutritionists turned filmmakers, Hungry For Change delves into the reasons behind our low energy levels, bad skin, and poor health. Diving deep into the secrets that the food industry don’t want us to know about, they expose the deceptive strategies designed to influence our day-to-day dietary choices that are a having negative impact on our health and wellbeing.

Fed Up

The message we’ve been fed that “it’s your fault you’re fat,” is debunked in the documentary Fed Up, which exposes how the 600,000 food items in America have added sugar. This strategy of added sugar increases revenue for major food companies, because it lights up the same center of the brain that’s activated with cocaine. Showing us that addiction to sugar can be just as gripping, Fed Up shows how America is the first generation of children with a lower life expectancy than their parents and the steps we need to take to reverse it.

Food Inc

Exposing the environmental and health impacts of the agricultural industry, Food Inc shows us that each time we run a food item over the supermarket scanner, we’re empowered to vote for organic over non-organic, plant-based over meat products, and local or imported food products. They say knowledge is power and the intention behind this documentary is exactly that, to empower the individual with information, so we can make better choices about what we put in our bodies.

Shift: The Organic Panic Documentary

Available for free on Youtube, Shift: The Organic Panic is a 15-minute documentary clarifies the difference between organic and conventional produce, making a strong case for why it’s worth spending a little extra money to avoid synthetic-pesticides. Hosts Steve Adams and Sean Horlor discover more about the industry through one of the dirtiest fruits in North America: the apple. They speak to toxicologists, organic and conventional apple farmers and a UN sustainability consultant the very real effects that pesticides pose on our health every day.

 Article was written by Ella Liascos