10 Must-See Food Documentaries That Might Change Your Life

Netflix isn’t just for chilling. Sitting in front of these food documentaries might actually make you healthier. What we put into our bodies matters, and we have a right to understand what we eat and how our food is made. So, who’s up for spending a few evenings exploring the food industry and our modern eating habits?

The food documentary experience is definitely a journey. When I first began reading food industry books and watching these movies, I started off a little bit skeptical (is this perspective too extreme?), then I was surprised (ooh, that’s greedy…and gross), and then I was fascinated (wow, procedures and pills are profitable), and with a few more books and titles under my belt, I was ticked off and empowered with knowledge (this is the point where you actually change what you eat.) In addition to learning all about the ways companies make money at the expense of our health, I learned this as well. People’s willpower and desire to live healthy lives has not changed over time. The environment has changed. Unhealthy foods are everywhere! In checkout lines, at the gas station, and available for quick pickup on the way home from anywhere with drive-thrus.

Today, we pay extra to eat the food that our grandparents ate, and unhealthy foods are just too convenient. They are profitable, too, and the incentive structure of the food companies is all about maximizing profits. Not maximizing public health.

So give a few of these a try, or at least watch the trailers. You will be enlightened about what goes into your mouth each day. And you will certainly have plenty to talk about at your next dinner party. I love running into other people who have seen these films. The conversation sparks, and then the passion ignites.

I had no idea that chickens were raised that way!
Who knew that so much sugar is in our everyday food? Yogurt, condiments, beverages, and breakfast cereal?
If 70-80% of the center of the grocery store contains corn and soy, and 90-95% of corn and soy are GMOs, then what are our children eating every day?
Do you think its true that most chronic diseases can be managed by cutting animal-based and processed food?
What if I ate differently?

Here we go! Are you ready for the journey?

Food Inc.

In Food, Inc. (2008), filmmaker Robert Kenner shows us the not-so-pretty underbelly of our nation’s food industry. The American food system is about mega-corporations producing huge amounts of uniform foods at the cheapest price for consumers. In Food Inc. Kenner shows us the real costs of putting profits ahead of everything else, including our health, the livelihood of American farmers, food industry workers, and the environment.

Forks Over Knives

Forks Over Knives (2011) makes the bold claim that many of the diseases that affect us, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, can be controlled, or even reversed, by saying no to animal-based and processed foods. Yes, here we are back at the plant-based diet. In Forks Over Knives, nutritional scientist T. Colin Campbell and surgeon Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. combine decades of research into the harmful effects of too much meat and dairy in the Western diet. With that, the team sets out to debunk many myths about meat and the manliness of meat, convincing real men to eat their veggies, not only for reversing heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses, but also to “raise the flag” more effectively. Another solid argument in the Forks Over Knives debate!

Super Size Me

Super Size Me is a 2004 documentary that should be seen by all fast food junkies. Directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, Super Size Me follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which Spurlock ate only McDonald’s food. Ugh. The film documents the drastic changes that were brought on by this lifestyle choice, which included changes in his physical and psychological well being, and it also explores the corporate influence that fast food has over the American psyche.

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

At the beginning of the film, Joe Cross is 100 pounds overweight (with a gut as big as a beach ball), loaded up on steroids, and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease. Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead is an inspirational film that chronicles the 60-day journey of Mr. Cross across the United States as he follows a juice fast to regain his health (under the care of Dr. Joel Fuhrman.) This film is also famous for making sales of the Breville juicer soar after its release on Netflix in 2011, as Cross has become a modern day advocate for juice bars and juicing.

OMG GMO

Filmmaker Jeremy Seifert travels to Haiti, Paris, Norway, and even to agri-giant Monsanto to ask questions about genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In OMG GMO, Seifert also explores the systematic takeover of seeds. Who owns the future of our crops? And how does this affect public health? Is our food system being hijacked? Or is there a movement to take back the purity and biodiversity of our food? This movie has its critics, and all documentaries like to go to the extreme to influence; however, I have my opinions about genetically engineered (GE) food. OMG, more on that to come.

Vegucated

Vegucated is an amusing documentary that follows 3 meat-and-cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for 6 weeks. Writer-director Marisa Miller Wolfson sums the movie up with this,“To me, Vegucated is about the shift that happens when you sit at one side of the dinner table, looking at the vegan on the other side with amusement, envy, or perhaps, slight horror. Then you receive some information or inspiration and suddenly find yourself on the vegan’s side of the table, seeing the dinner in a whole new light.”

I agree with this statement. I am not so compelled by folks dressing up like animals begging me to feel compassion for the animal’s souls during slaughter (animals are not humans), but I have read enough about our over consumption of animal-based products to know that I need to get vegucated, too.

What the Health

What the Health was written, produced, and directed in 2017 by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, and is deemed as “The Health Film That Health Organizations Don’t Want You To See.” It doesn’t take a PhD to understand that big dollars are behind prescriptions, procedures, and animal-based foods, and these industries fund the very health organizations trying to combat chronic diseases. Another key takeaway from What the Health— if you think excess sugar is the primary cause of diabetes, you might be surprised, as several leading physicians link insulin resistance to fat (consuming lots of meat and dairy).

Hungry for Change

I like this 2012 film because it helps you better understand “the Diet Trap” and how we are surrounded by marketing myths about diet and nutrition (hint: diet cola won’t help you lose weight and neither will a chocolate energy bar). The labels “sugar free” and “fat free” bombard us from all directions, yet these foods are filled with unhealthy ingredients to make us crave more “diet food.” Who’s hungry for change?

Fed Up

There are over 600,000 food products offered in the United States, and over 80% of those products have added sugar. Fed Up explores how the government has overlooked the impact that sugar and processed foods has had on the increasing risks of obesity and diabetes, particularly in children. As the relationship between a high-sugar diet and poor health continues, industries that profit pour endless lobbying dollars into preventing parents, schools, and lawmakers from offering healthier options. But as long as we’re calling pizza a vegetable, then we’re all eating healthy, right?

TED Talks – Chew On This

These 15-20 minute short clips are on You Tube and Netflix, featuring 8 speakers who have given TED Talks on various food-related topics. Episode 1 will grab your attention as chef Jamie Oliver dumps a wheelbarrow of sugar representing the 5-year elementary school intake of sugar for one American child—and that’s just from milk. The winner of the 2010 TED Prize, Oliver is on a mission to teach families about eating better and living healthier lives.