Educating yourself about health and nutrition can be fun and easy. The following movies are some of my favorites, dramatically or comically highlighting how to eat healthy and steer clear of factory farmed meats and other health hazards. The films can be found on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
1. Super Size Me – On the heels of recent lawsuits against McDonald’s, director Morgan Spurlock takes a hilarious and often terrifying look at the effects of fast food on the human body, using himself as the proverbial guinea pig. For one month, Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald’s, ordering everything on the menu and “super-sizing” his order whenever asked. The result is a sobering examination of the line between personal and corporate responsibility.
2. Food, Inc. – Drawing on Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, director Robert Kenner’s provocative, Oscar-nominated documentary explores the food industry’s detrimental effects on our health and environment.
3. Genetic Roulette – All Evidence points to genetically engineered foods as a major contributor to rising disease rates, especially among children. Gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, inflammatory diseases, and infertility are many of the problems implicated in humans, pets, livestock, and lab animals that eat GMO (Genetically Modified) soybeans and corn. Monsanto’s strong arm tactics and how the USDA ignores a growing health emergency are also laid bare. This film may change your diet, help you protect your family, and accelerate the tipping point against genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Don’t miss this film!
4. Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead – Focusing on two men whose bodies have been trashed by steroids, obesity and illness, this documentary chronicles the rigorous healing path — including a two-month diet of fruits and vegetables — that both attempt in a bid to rescue their health.
5. Food Matters – With a staggering number of Americans suffering from obesity and other food-related maladies, this film takes a timely and hard-hitting look at how the food we eat is helping or hurting our health, and what we can do to live (and eat) better. Nutritionists, naturopaths, scientists, doctors, medical journalists and more weigh in on everything from using food as medicine to the value of organic food and the safety of the food we consume.
