Over the past year, I've slowly been making my way through a prolific crop of food documentaries that reveal the dark underbelly of the industrialization of food. Corporations have genetically modified so much of our food that as consumers, we really don't know what we're eating. And the fact of the matter is that the standard American food supply is killing us. This last sentence is not an overstatement or the words of a conspiracy theorist sending out an alarmist message. Our food is killing us. Sometimes its fast and sometimes its slow, but either way you slice it, we must change the system that provides our food.
After watching all of these documentaries, some of which can be difficult at times to watch, I've come to a simple and easy solution. Its something you can do starting right now. Make different choices about the food you buy. That's it. Once you are an informed consumer, you can vote with your dollars. I know that this can sometimes be a hardship, but so is dying young from heart disease and diabetes. I know that this can sometimes cost more than the packaged "convenience" foods, but so are the hidden costs that show up later in the form of expensive medication to control your poor health, mounting medical bills, not to mention the environmental, cultural and social dammage of corporate "farming".
These documentaries have helped me open my eyes. They have led me to ask more questions, read more about the food I buy and consume and to make different choices. It was easier than I thought. The most enlightening part of this process has been the discovery that the food epidemic can change on an individual level when we spend our dollars (votes) on better quality food. Does it mean we have to buy less? Yes. Will it cost more? In the beginning, yes. Once we demand safe, organic, whole food at the cash register, corporations will have to change the way they do business.
Food Matters (2008)
Food, Inc. (2008)
King Corn (2007)
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (2010)
The Gerson Miracle (2004)
Forks Over Knives (2011)
Killer At Large (2008)
Food Fight (2008)
2 comments:
Thanks Sarah for this informative post.These documentaries have helped me open my eyes..I appreciate it
The biggest one for me was Fat Head! Because it explained how some people with insulin resistance (like we believe I have) need more protein and fat in our diets. It also touches on how the government cloassifies overweight people to make it seem like we have more over weight people then we do and other thing. It's not saying in the end to eat unhealthy (though he does prove that one can eat differently then what doctors say to do) but to prove maybe we still don't have all the right answers. I have seen all the documentaries you have listed, fat, sick and nearly dead I liked the rest didn't do much of a sway either way for me. I am not a fan of documentaries for the most part because I feel they don't always give the full amount of information. So we have do our best with what we believe, for me its more so eat things that was put on earth for you to eat, natural non processed foods and limit the rest (processed, sweets and such). Mother nature provided us with everything our bodies need. But at the same time each body is different so we also need to eat accordingly to how your body processes those foods. I am so proud of you sarah though it seems you have found what is right for your body :)
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