Thursday, January 5, 2012

Favorite Movies That Inspire Me to Stay Plant-Strong!:-)

Ok, by popular demand I'm going to do a few posts with my favorite movies, cookbooks, books & blogs that inspire me to stay plant-strong!!  First, movies :-)

Great movies I can recommend that capture the power of the plant-based diet:
Forks Over Knives:  amazing, amazing amazing.  I love this movie and it was one of the main motivating factors to get my husband and I on the vegan diet train.  The science in it is solid, it is really entertaining and very inspiring.  

For me the most powerful part is watching two doctors in LA practice with a "food as medicine" principal where they teach patients how to eat and get them off their pharmaceutical medications!  This movie is a great introduction to the plant-based concepts & features luminaries in the field (Esselstyn, Campbell, McDougall, Barnard) as well.  Netflix it!  We bought it because as my husband says--in the first month we needed motivation to stay on track so we watched it over and over again! :-)
Other great movies:

Fat Sick & Nearly Dead--fantastic--saw it with my husband this week and it has really inspired him.  At first I was worried it was essentially a juicer commercial but they feature Dr. Joel Fuhrman in it and he is someone I really respect.  By the end I totally bought onto the idea that juicing can be a way (for only a brief time, only if medically supervised & only if used as a transition to 100% plant-based eating) for people to reset their taste buds to veggie based eating!  Otherwise, I really don't think it is clinically safe.  The Healthy Librarian has comments on this movie here.

Processed People:  I liked this as well, just not as much as the previous two films.  Its more dry and less entertaining as the previous films but the content is interesting.  I know this sounds strange but I was struck while watching it that nearly all of the brilliant doctors and researchers  they interviewed were men (there is one woman)! Not that it really matters--the content is excellent--I just was so surprised by that for some reason! 

Food Inc:  Brilliant film and I think its very balanced politically.  Watched it awhile ago but still really had an impact on me.  For me the most powerful scene was when they diagrammed out our usual grocery store and demonstrated how false the "variety" of products was--in actuality the majority of the products are produced by only a few major food corporations.  I also liked how they ended the film on a high note--basically saying that if we as consumers demand it by our buying habits, the large corporate food producers will have to change how they operate.  

SuperSize Me:  Ok this I think you probably all have seen.  So powerful, so entertaining.  The part that had the most impact on me was the focus on what the federal school lunch programs are feeding our kids and how the cafeterias don't cook anymore!  The scene where the little girl basically has chips for lunch is so disturbing.  I think we need to really address this because the childhood obesity epidemic is not being taken seriously enough I believe AND kids have a lot more behavioral issues (ADHD, etc) that I believe can be traced directly to food.  I really enjoyed when they feature a school providing the kids with local, freshly made food.  The behavioral difference in the kids is pretty incredible.  

Next up:  Favorite Cookbooks & Recipe Blogs That Inspire Me to Stay Plant-Strong!

4 comments:

  1. YOu have my favorites there. I haven't seen Processed People or Super Size Me. Well check them out. Thanks

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  2. Ooooo Ginger you will love SuperSize Me! Very fun film--powerful :-) I'm glad I hit your favorites too :-) Take care!

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  3. Hi Dr. Cat,
    Have you seen Foodmatters? If not, I think you may find it interesting as well. It is second only to Forks Over Knives in my book-very inspirational.

    Best,
    Alysson

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    Replies
    1. What a great idea Aly, thanks! I haven't seen it! Will definitely check it out :-)

      Delete

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