Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Food Documentary Reviews

A day or two ago, I watched Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead and Hungry for Change

Tonight, I watched Food, Inc. and Super Size Me

I still have Fed Up, Forks Over Knives, Sugar Coated, and Cowspiracy to view. I have a feeling I'll drop that last one without watching it, but I may get to the other final 3, because I feel like I'm learning a lot without becoming too PETA-fied.

I could, if push came to shove, give up beef, poultry, and possibly even pork forever. Well, maybe not pork. I know for a fact that no matter what push ever reached my shove, I would not give up fish or dairy. I ain't ever gettin' that PETA-fied. Sorry if that offends your reasons for veganism. I am an omnivore, as are you. My mouth is built for eating all the things.

However, I do understand that my food supply may be killing me, or at least depressing the hell outta me...

*****

Okay, so those day counts are off. I started watching food docs more than a week ago, and I just never published any reviews. So here they are:

Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead: This is a road-trip, life-lessons, personal growth documentary about the reasons to fast, or cleanse by juicing, and the experiences of the filmmaker in his particular journey, as well as a couple other journeys of folks he encounters in his travels. It is EXCELLENT. Highly Recommended, particularly if you've thought about the whole "juicing" trend, and wondered why anyone does it, or HOW anyone does it, or what anyone gets from it. This documentary is the primary reason I am on a juice fast right now, and also why Stephen will be starting one when he has 3 days off to get started (the first 3 days are touted as being the worst part).

Hungry For Change: talks primarily about the food industry from a consumer's point of view. It's not life-shattering, but it's pretty good as a follow-up to F,S, &ND. Plus-or-minus Zero (watch it or don't).

Food, Inc. and Super Size Me are both pretty high on the "gross" factor. Food, Inc., as you may suspect, talks about the horrors of the food industry, particularly on the "where our meat comes from" and the disgusting ways the industry treats both the animals and the workers. Super-Size Me is another road-trip, life-lessons, personal growth doc but from the opposite direction from F,S, &ND. This dude is actually trying to support a legal argument about a specific case where a teen's family is suing McDonald's for her health issues. He does in 30 days what the kid spent her lifetime achieving. It's not pretty. Watch either of these if you feel a need to ignite your "activist" persona.

Fed Up and Sugar Coated both attack the sugar realms of the food industry. I already had all of the information both of these films threw at me, so if anything, they "solidified" my desire to cleanse. I've already completely cut high fructose corn syrup out of my diet, and I really don't consume "that much" other refined sugars. But the cleanse will help my system reboot from any stored sugars, I'm hoping. If you don't know why you're getting "fat", watch these. If you care to ignite your "sugar-activist" persona, these should do the trick. If you're not that interested, these probably won't spark your interest.

Stephen and I (re-)watched Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead to reach an agreement on juicing. Then we watched Forks Over Knives, which was honestly the best companion to F, S, &ND. While I'm already into my cleanse, he's reducing his own intake of animal fats, so he'll be ready for the cleanse when he starts. He's also tasted some of the juices, so he can get an idea of what he's in for. Forks Over Knives promotes a vegan lifestyle without getting too #PETAActivismish. The two primary doctors it documents grew up on farms with dairy cows, and came to their conclusions separately. I've never really wanted to "go vegan" because of all the teeth I have, and because of my love of bacon and cheese and carnitas and ice cream... so we'll see how well the cleanse works for me, and we'll see if I can continue to consume micronutrients (whole, plant-based foods) once I'm done, and if I manage to get weaned from macronutrients (everything the food industry pushes) for good! Highly Recommended

We have, in fact, taken Cowspiracy out of the queue, unwatched. I just really don't want to watch another gross, horrific, painful, #PETAActivismish food doc. I'll probably re-watch F, S, &ND and F/K another coupla times before my fast completes.

And here's a short video from this morning!

... and now I'm hungry, only two hours later. Time for another juice! (Had it - it was great; waited to publish for that video ^ to load).

So. You know where this puts ME. Where does it put you? Will you be watching any/all of these films?

2 comments:

  1. Of these, I've only seen Super Size Me and I didn't have much sympathy for people that ate at McDonalds every day and then wanted to blame them for their condition. When my son was younger he had a job at Taco Bell. I forbid him from telling me how anything was made! Don't get me wrong. I am all for a healthier lifestyle. I just want people to take responsibility for their own actions. Over the last year I've drastically changed my portion control and began to eat healthier because I wanted to feel better.

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    Replies
    1. Watch a few of the others, and you'll discover that for some households in 'Murica, fast food appears to be the only economical option. That's the other side of the coin. We, as a society, are not educated on healthy eating, until we get educated. And McDonald's targets their advertising to the young.

      So I'm getting educated, and I'm cleansing. We'll see what we see.

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