19 February 2013 - Hungry for Change

I watched the full documentary that this clip advertises and wanted to discuss some of the contents which has really stuck with me. The full documentary can be accessed online for free viewing via their website. If you'd like to view the full documentary click here.

The biggest problem with this documentary is some of the hyperbolic statements made (The hard and fast use of the word "deadly" in this ad is just the tip of the ice berg). I've noticed in online forums discussing the film that this has unfortunately distracted viewers from the content that is genuinely helpful and true.

These were my favourite points:

1. "People don't consider that looking good can be done from the inside out. They go about it the wrong way." After making this point they go on to discuss the absurdity of the chemical beauty industry - we use chemically manipulated lotions and products to try to achieve glowing skin and a natural type of beauty that is a natural side effect of feeding ourselves the right nutrition! I know in myself that when I'm eating right my eyes are brighter, I sleep better and my skin has a certain glow about it.

2. Most people are overfed, and yet they're undernourished. When the majority of what you're consuming on a daily basis is food with little to no nutritional value though you might be full of food you can actually experience symptoms of malnourishment at the same time. It is essential to our health and wellbeing to be getting enough of the right foods. Everyday. They included a daunting image of a modern family's weekly food supply. A lot of food. Very little nourishment.

3. The key is to start with adding the good stuff in, rather than taking stuff away. I think this point is excellent as it examines the psychology of somebody going on a 'diet.' It rings true for me that the second you tell yourself you cannot eat something it's all you want to have. But maintaining a diet where you only tell yourself you have to eat all of your essential daily nutrients a natural consequence of this change is that there is less room and less desire for foods that do not have a high nutritional quality. Before you know it your mindset changes from "I can't have that" to "I can have that but I don't want to have it."

4. We are a species. And we should be eating the foods that our bodies are designed to consume. This is a concept contributed by my favourite personality in the documentary - Daniel Vitalis. A leader in the field of health and nutrition Daniel's teaching emphasizes that human health is achieved by living in alignment with our biological design. I appreciated an image he used which put us as human's into a habitat at the zoo -  the question being "What should we feed them?"

So I guess the funniest thought that has stuck with me after this film is a sign on a fence of the "human enclosure" at the zoo reading "Please do not feed the humans any chemicals or junk food. They are a species that depend on the nutrients found in natural sources of food for survival and other products could be harmful to their health. Thank you"

I just picture myself standing there shaking my head at a person that has thrown a Krispy Kreme donut into that enclosure. "Can't you read the sign?!" I would say. "That's no good for them!"