Dinner and a Movie (Food Matters)

Food Matters touches mostly on vitamins and the smear campaign against our consumption of vitamins. The film links our malnourishment to the lack of crop rotation, our fatty, empty calorie diets and our dependency on prescription medications to fix our ailments.

One reviewer on IMDB.com says “this move is full of lies and cherry picking cases” (actripxl). While the movie does call out doctors on their lack of using vitamins in large doses to cure certain diseases, the main message portrayed is eat healthy, take care of yourself, and you won’t need to see doctors for the dangerous prescriptions they’re giving out. There’s some great information in the film and anything that makes us think about what we eat can’t be all bad. Food Matters pleads for you to take another look at what you’re eating and what your doctors are giving you.

Notably, the film touches on Gerson Therapy, an alternative cancer treatment. “The Gerson Therapy is a state of the art, contemporary, alternative and natural treatment which utilizes the body's own healing mechanism in the treatment and cure of chronic debilitating illness” (gerson.org). Even Charlotte Gerson (Dr. Max Gerson’s daughter and the founder of The Gerson Institute) makes an appearance discussing health with a bit of sarcasm interspersed with real conviction. The great message Gerson gives is to eat healthy and the body will heal itself, this seems to make sense. Unfortunately, the medical community has never taken Dr. Gerson seriously:

In the U.S., Gerson applied his dietary therapy to several cancer patients, claiming good results, but colleagues found his methodology and claims unconvincing. Proponents of the Gerson Therapy assert that a far-ranging conspiracy headed by the medical establishment prevented Gerson from publishing proof that his therapy worked. In 1958, Gerson published a book in which he claimed to have cured 50 terminal cancer patients: A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases. Gerson's medical license in New York was suspended in 1958. (Wikipedia)

If you’re looking to get a start on the recent trend in food documentaries, this film is a good launching pad. Food Matters touches on many issues that need to be addressed, however, the film tends to flow sporadically. Having a raw food specialist chime in between Charlotte Gerson’s commentary tends to make some moments a bit random. Those moments are few however, and generally the film stays on course and presents some really great datasets.

Obviously, with the amount of heart disease and cancer we have in this country we’re doing something wrong. If you get hit by a car, there’s a resounding YES, we need modern western medicine. But if you want to live a long and healthy life without dependence on pharmaceuticals, you don’t need doctors; just don’t treat your body like a dumpster or a drug depository, simple as that.

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On a lighter note, dinner was fantastic!
Lori dug out the Favorite Brand NameTM Vegetarian Cookbook and made Bulgur Pilaf with Tomato and Zucchini. It was a great meal, and it’s definitely something we’ll be having again!

Dinner and a Movie (Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead)

I put Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on my Netflix instant queue several weeks ago and had skipped over it several times because I really didn’t know what to expect. It was a Saturday night, Lori was making dinner (we’ll get to that later) and I had the chore of choosing our entertainment during dinner. This film has been popping up on forums and blogs more frequently as of late, often mentioned alongside Forks Over Knives, so I took a leap.

An Australian based production, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead follows Joe Cross, a financial guru, from New York to Arizona as he “reboots” on a 60-day all fruit and veggie juice diet. Joe is overweight, suffering from a chronic auto-immune based illness and swallowing prescription steroids when he finally decides to take the plunge. Joe goes to the extreme (with medical supervision) as he drives across the U.S. with a Breville juicer in the back of his SUV. The standard “reboot” program is a bit different, as the Reboot Holdings website states:

This is our classic program which has worked wonders for people around the world. This program consists of 5 days of eating, blending and juicing only whole fruits and vegetables; followed by 5 days of just juicing; followed by 5 days of eating, blending and juicing whole fruits and vegetables. Think 5-5-5. (jointhereboot.com)

As Joe spreads the word to various cities and people on his tour, he runs into a truck driver named Phil. Phil is overweight and suffers from the same illness Joe has. They share a batch of juice and Joe sends Phil on his way (first exchanging contact information).

Finally, Joe ends his tour and flies back to Australia only to receive a call from Phil, asking for help. Phil has hit rock bottom and wants to change his life and diet for himself and his family. The film takes an interesting turn at this point and follows Phil around as he wrestles his food demons and “reboots” on juice.

While the film doesn’t feel like a Breville juicer commercial, when I visited fatsickandnearlydead.com it felt a bit like an infomercial. The juicer is never shown up close, nor is the brand ever mentioned in the film. The main message is “we are what we eat” and changing your diet to fruits and vegetables exclusively can do amazing wonders for your health. What’s really amazing is Joe and Phil stop experiencing complications with their illness and are eventually taken completely off prescription medications. If you’re looking for a change and are sick and tired of all the latest diet trends, definitely check this film out.

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Now, the lovely little dinner we had was of Lori’s design. A wonderful broth and noodle based veggie and tofu soup of sorts. She marinated tofu, boiled some Asian pasta in vegetable broth and sautéed some broccoli, green peppers, onions and carrots to form a delightful dish.

Forks Over Knives - Peoria Theater

While Peoria is not known for its receptiveness to plant-based diets, there were several people at the theater ready to “fork over” seven bucks to reinforce their veggie-friendly mindsets (me included). The showing of Forks Over Knives is one of many trendy films and events informing the public about the industrialization of our food sources, diets, Western medicine, and the overall embarrassing health statistics in our society. Some other recent mentionable films are Food, Inc, Go Further and Farm to Fridge. While the Peoria Theater does not have the most high tech equipment or the biggest screen in town, their mission is to communicate the message of the film they’re showing, not to wow audiences with giant 3-D stadium seating, IMAX spectacular, or THX approved subwoofers. Forks Over Knives, I believe, has a different demographic from most of the hip vegetarian documentaries currently available.

Forks Over Knives has a different message than most of the recent documentaries pertaining to meat consumption, mistreatment of livestock, the definition of “Grade A” meat, and CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations). Forks Over Knives addresses the overall health of Americans, their diets, and the pharmaceutical companies directly. Most of the experts and patients involved are middle-aged or older. Instead of using abused animals to tug on your heart strings, they make it more humanistic by discussing obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes as examples of the downfalls of animal-based diets. Most documentaries have a bevy of graphics, interviews, and testimonials; this film was no different.

The graphics used in the film were satisfactory, but not revolutionary. The promotional advertising used to spread the word about the film was miles above anything used within the film. The 3D graphics used to portray statistics were clear, consistent, and easily understood. The lower-third graphics used during the interviews and datasets worked, but they weren’t very flashy or as professional as you would see on networks such as CNN or FOX News.

The interview progression throughout the film was well thought out and kept the movie flowing at a decent pace. The framing of interviewees was never fully centered, thus using the rule of thirds effectively. The interviews consisted of quick snippets and were never monotonous. However, there were no dramatic B-rolls or flashy zoom techniques which may have emphasized certain aspects. Like most informational documentaries, this film used interviews of experts to push opinions. Interviews with experts in the appropriate fields (PHDs, MDs, and political figureheads) as well as patient testimonials were used to provide the information and results in layman’s terms.

Unlike most infomercials, documentaries give you an in-depth approach to a consumer’s start and end point; Forks Over Knives was no different. The film used several examples of patients facing dire consequences, which were reversed with extreme diet changes. The beginning of the film showed the first patient, who drove to his destination while drinking two Red Bulls and nearly two Coca-Colas. He met with an expert in nutritional health, switched to an all plant-based diet, and within several weeks began showing vast improvement. The film never touched on whether or not the patient strayed from his diet, but the end result played straight into the film’s message. All of the patients portrayed in the film had similar positive results. However, patients with detrimental reactions to the diet (if any) were never addressed. This film may not have had the highest budget or flashiest graphics but I felt as though there were no loose ends once the film had ended.

In my opinion, Forks Over Knives is most likely the bearer of bad news to the human race. As we all eventually suffer from some kind of ailment, and we see our loved ones pass away from preventable diseases, we must question what we have been taught for generations or suffer the consequences. As they said in the film, we must learn to "eat to live, not live to eat."