If you are interested in nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle, it may be hard to know where to start. Do you count calories, cut carbs, eat 0 calorie items, go natural/organic, IIFYM, etc? There is no way to answer these questions unless you do research for yourself. Yes it will take time, yes it will be confusing at first - but knowledge is key. Never believe the first thing you read because there are many different views out there and EVERY body is different. An adult male needs a different nutritional break down than an adult woman, just like someone that is 5'2" needs a different nutritional break down than someone who is 6'0".
Because reading may not seem interesting at first, there are nutritional documentaries that I highly recommend taking the time to watch. These documentaries will open your eyes, challenge everything you thought you knew, and get you interested to begin your own research!
HUNGRY FOR CHANGE exposes shocking secrets the diet, weight loss and food industry don't want you to know about; deceptive strategies designed to keep you coming back for more. Find out what's keeping you from having the body and health you deserve and how to escape the diet trap forever. Featuring interviews with best selling health authors and leading medical experts plus real life transformational stories with those who know what it's like to be sick and overweight. Learn from those who have
been there before and continue your health journey today.
2. Food Matters
With nutritionally-depleted foods, chemical additives and our tendency to rely upon pharmaceutical drugs to treat what's wrong with our malnourished bodies, it's no wonder that modern society is getting sicker. Food Matters sets about uncovering the trillion dollar worldwide 'sickness industry' and gives people some scientifically verifiable solutions for overcoming illness naturally. The focus of the film is in helping us rethink the belief systems fed to us by our modern medical and health care establishments. The interviewees point out that not every problem requires costly, major medical attention and reveal many alternative therapies that can be more effective, more economical, less harmful and less invasive than conventional medical treatments.
3. Forks over Knives
Through an examination of the careers of American physician Caldwell Esselstyn and professor of nutritional biochemistry T. Colin Campbell,
Forks Over Knives suggests that "most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods." It also provides an overview of the 20-year China-Cornell-Oxford Project that led to Professor Campbell's findings, outlined in his book,
The China Study (2005) in which he suggests that coronary disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer can be linked to the Western diet of processed and animal-based foods (including all dairy products).
With regard to describing the nutritional approach as a "whole foods plant-based" rather than "vegan" one in the film, Director Lee Fulkerson (in an interview with Canada's National Post) notes that, " 'Veganism just means anything that doesn’t have animal-based products in it. But you can still eat highly processed foods that are vegan,' he says, citing potato chips and french fries as examples. 'You want to use minimally processed things.' ”
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When I began my journey, I watched these documentaries and I believe that this where my passion began. I found the information that is shared in these documentaries are VERY interesting and it all made sense. I questioned the foods I was used to eating, the headaches, the drowsiness, the colds, etc and I took the initiative to do something about it. I truly believe that most people don't know how good their bodies are designed to feel. If you are ready to put your health first, these documentaries are a great place to start.
