This is the forth documentary about nutrition that I found on Netflix and the first one that I don't feel it's propaganda.
It covers a huge variety of topics, like the history of nutrition science, why fiber is important, why is important to eat many different vegetables, about omega 3 - omega 6 ratios, why saturated fats are dangerous, different aboriginal diets(other documentaries do the bold claim that there is an ideal diet of our ancestors, but this one just show how many diets can be good), a little big of politics(but not too much and without focusing in the conspiracy part that other documentaries do), and specially it focuses on the importance of whole foods.
Don't get me wrong, this is not just a bunch of data, it does try to persuade you to do something: eat(whole) food, not too much and mostly plants.I don't agree completely with any of those statements, but I think all 3 have value and the way in which they are presented is very informative.
I rate it 8 instead of 10 because, as other review said, if you are already digging into nutritional documentaries, probably you already know 90% of the relevant information of this documentary, but it's an easy one to recommend to anyone who is just starting to learn about nutrition.
5 Reviews
Finally a nutritional documentary that doesn't feels like propaganda
luisoncpp13 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Eat smaller portions of healthier food
alexmarmur10 October 2015
A continuation and in the vein of Food, Inc, Michael Pollen's In Defense of Food explores what we are eating, and we can change our habits to eat healthier.
For those familiar with Pollen, the movie proposes a common sense how to eat better; we should be eating smaller portions of healthier foods, eat more greens, and watch our fat, salt, sugars and meat. Also, food manufacturers, restaurants, food retailers and advertising do all they can to steer us away from healthy eating habits/options.
If you are the type of person who wants to see this film, you probably already know much of what is espoused here; nothing much new here.
I also felt about this similarly to the book Fast Food Nation; both explore interesting different aspects of how we eat and about our food; however both follow each topic with an overkill of minutia data, statistics and analysis, which winds up reducing topics' impact.
Lastly, I realize that this movie is about Michael Pollen's work and philosophy, but there is so much of him that it comes off somewhat pompous and self indulgent.
All that being said, I generally agree with this lifestyle and find it challenging to adhere to due to all the good tasting bad food out there.
This is to be shown on PBS stations in December
For those familiar with Pollen, the movie proposes a common sense how to eat better; we should be eating smaller portions of healthier foods, eat more greens, and watch our fat, salt, sugars and meat. Also, food manufacturers, restaurants, food retailers and advertising do all they can to steer us away from healthy eating habits/options.
If you are the type of person who wants to see this film, you probably already know much of what is espoused here; nothing much new here.
I also felt about this similarly to the book Fast Food Nation; both explore interesting different aspects of how we eat and about our food; however both follow each topic with an overkill of minutia data, statistics and analysis, which winds up reducing topics' impact.
Lastly, I realize that this movie is about Michael Pollen's work and philosophy, but there is so much of him that it comes off somewhat pompous and self indulgent.
All that being said, I generally agree with this lifestyle and find it challenging to adhere to due to all the good tasting bad food out there.
This is to be shown on PBS stations in December
Not much substance in this...
inframan1 January 2016
This is like one of those pseudo-infomercials they play Saturday nights on PBS (to pace out the golden oldies shows with Nick Clooney & Peter Marshall).
The few interesting points are not pursued to any depth, having mostly to do with the role of fiber enhancing the production of beneficial microbes that fight bad bacteria. OTW there's not much new here, same old stuff about how sodas & breakfast cereals are bad for you & vegetables are better than meat (but the only meat they show is always a big piece of something that looks like prime rib).
Also annoying & borderline dishonest (IMO) are the gratuitous plugs (after Pollan has knocked Nutritionism) by nutrition propagandists: One raving about converting school kids/borderline delinquents into salad eaters without ever showing them in the act of actually eating lettuce greens. (I wanted to see what kind of sugar & carb-drenched dressing they used to wash the raw veggies down & if not that then what they used.) The other was some genius from Cornell who revolutionized high school cafeteria eating habits by putting healthy foods like raw carrots first in the cafeteria line so the kids would load up on those. (I just wanted to see what was left on the trays at then end of the meal.)
Sorry if I seem cynical, but this is pretty lightweight stuff. Pollan seems like a likable guy & I'm sure he's very bright & has a lot of good ideas, but what come across here looks like a promo for a book. Maybe that's all it is.
The few interesting points are not pursued to any depth, having mostly to do with the role of fiber enhancing the production of beneficial microbes that fight bad bacteria. OTW there's not much new here, same old stuff about how sodas & breakfast cereals are bad for you & vegetables are better than meat (but the only meat they show is always a big piece of something that looks like prime rib).
Also annoying & borderline dishonest (IMO) are the gratuitous plugs (after Pollan has knocked Nutritionism) by nutrition propagandists: One raving about converting school kids/borderline delinquents into salad eaters without ever showing them in the act of actually eating lettuce greens. (I wanted to see what kind of sugar & carb-drenched dressing they used to wash the raw veggies down & if not that then what they used.) The other was some genius from Cornell who revolutionized high school cafeteria eating habits by putting healthy foods like raw carrots first in the cafeteria line so the kids would load up on those. (I just wanted to see what was left on the trays at then end of the meal.)
Sorry if I seem cynical, but this is pretty lightweight stuff. Pollan seems like a likable guy & I'm sure he's very bright & has a lot of good ideas, but what come across here looks like a promo for a book. Maybe that's all it is.
SPOILER - Eat food, mostly plants, not too much ...
bruce-1291 January 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Eat food, mostly plants, not too much ... that's the plot, but I don't think it is really a spoiler, I am being flippant ... it is ...
Michael Pollan's message.
It is not pompous. It is not communist. It is not what people already know. What we see in our country almost universally now is an attack on reason, and attack on positivity, somehow for the average working or middle class person the marketing tool of associating bad behavior with freedom and them over-exulting freedom over everything else.
Our PR/advertising industry and our industrial focus on life has killed or made miserable millions of people. The idea that science and technology and products are somehow all the same, and that the externalized effects can just be ignored because at some point in the future, we'll get it right. Yeah, after our health is ruined, and our money in the hands of the people who ruined it.
Look at our entertainment industry. The Right wing corporatist rail against government media, PBS, but "In Defense Of Food" is one of the best things I've seen on TV ... and I would not see anything like it on broadcast TV. Night after night on broadcast TV I keep seeing murder and crime one after the other. Ridiculous game shows, many of them from 40 years ago.
Our news has become the same way. Useless, junkified, and as Pollan points out here, it is also so with our food. The thing that keeps up alive eventually kills us, and keeps us apart, maybe even predisposed to violence or mental illness. It makes learning and growing up more difficult for children, and yet, because it makes certain people money, we have it forced on us at high cost, so that we can then force it on other countries.
It is the same thing with health care. Every other developed rich country in the world has national universal health case, and yet somehow because the US is militarily dominant, we are right to deny our citizens health care.
AND WHY? Because if the taxpayers and corporations of this country had to actually pay for all the damage the food industry, tobacco industry and junk food industry did, whoops, there goes all that money.
"In Defense of Food" makes a great point about how "we" ... whoever that is, allow the food industry to manipulate us. We are exposed to their brainwashing commercials from the time we are babies. We are victims to their neurological testing about what flavors and textures light up our brains like drugs. We are tricked into buying things laid out by experts in the supermarkets so we will load up on all the most profitable stuff first and not have room in our carts, baskets or plates. Yet, somehow when the government tries to reverse or counter that as in the soda tax or limits on soft drink size ... it is communism or un-American.
Associating American with being stupid and suicidal and sick? Think about it. It starts there, thinking about it, and "In Defense of Food" is food for thought, and it is just a start, because you can apply this same thinking to just about all of our industries and our economy and answer why we seem to have so many problems today.
"In Defense Of Food" Very well done ... 5/5 .... see it, see it again, think about it.
Michael Pollan's message.
It is not pompous. It is not communist. It is not what people already know. What we see in our country almost universally now is an attack on reason, and attack on positivity, somehow for the average working or middle class person the marketing tool of associating bad behavior with freedom and them over-exulting freedom over everything else.
Our PR/advertising industry and our industrial focus on life has killed or made miserable millions of people. The idea that science and technology and products are somehow all the same, and that the externalized effects can just be ignored because at some point in the future, we'll get it right. Yeah, after our health is ruined, and our money in the hands of the people who ruined it.
Look at our entertainment industry. The Right wing corporatist rail against government media, PBS, but "In Defense Of Food" is one of the best things I've seen on TV ... and I would not see anything like it on broadcast TV. Night after night on broadcast TV I keep seeing murder and crime one after the other. Ridiculous game shows, many of them from 40 years ago.
Our news has become the same way. Useless, junkified, and as Pollan points out here, it is also so with our food. The thing that keeps up alive eventually kills us, and keeps us apart, maybe even predisposed to violence or mental illness. It makes learning and growing up more difficult for children, and yet, because it makes certain people money, we have it forced on us at high cost, so that we can then force it on other countries.
It is the same thing with health care. Every other developed rich country in the world has national universal health case, and yet somehow because the US is militarily dominant, we are right to deny our citizens health care.
AND WHY? Because if the taxpayers and corporations of this country had to actually pay for all the damage the food industry, tobacco industry and junk food industry did, whoops, there goes all that money.
"In Defense of Food" makes a great point about how "we" ... whoever that is, allow the food industry to manipulate us. We are exposed to their brainwashing commercials from the time we are babies. We are victims to their neurological testing about what flavors and textures light up our brains like drugs. We are tricked into buying things laid out by experts in the supermarkets so we will load up on all the most profitable stuff first and not have room in our carts, baskets or plates. Yet, somehow when the government tries to reverse or counter that as in the soda tax or limits on soft drink size ... it is communism or un-American.
Associating American with being stupid and suicidal and sick? Think about it. It starts there, thinking about it, and "In Defense of Food" is food for thought, and it is just a start, because you can apply this same thinking to just about all of our industries and our economy and answer why we seem to have so many problems today.
"In Defense Of Food" Very well done ... 5/5 .... see it, see it again, think about it.
Watch "What the Health" Instead
mikejdesign23 September 2017
Too many generalizations and not much science.
The doctor that found TMAO in beef (which causes cancer) said that he still eats meat. Hmm...
If you're already a plant-based eater, this documentary might make you frustrated.
The doctor that found TMAO in beef (which causes cancer) said that he still eats meat. Hmm...
If you're already a plant-based eater, this documentary might make you frustrated.
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