“Sugar” and 6 more documentaries that will make you stop eating everything.

The quality of food, alas, is getting worse and worse with every decade. The creators of documentary films have tried to answer the questions – why this happens and whether it is possible to find healthy and environmentally friendly products in the modern world.

“Sugar”, Australia, 2014

Director: Damon Gamo

Main actors: Damon Gamo, Hugh Jackman, Milla Bakaitis

Age Limit: 12+

If you’ve had any doubts about the dangers of sugar, watching this documentary will dispel them for good. Filmmaker Damon Gamo uses his own example to show how sugar, including sugar substitutes and fructose, can cause enormous damage to your health.

The documentary filmmaker sat on a peculiar and dangerous diet for 60 days, his daily diet included the consumption of almost 160 grams of sugar. That’s about 40 teaspoons! In two months Gamo added 10 centimeters to his waist, he developed liver hepatosis, early symptoms of coronary artery disease, as well as problems with his psycho-emotional background. He became subject to sharp mood swings, often experienced apathy and noted a decline in performance.

At the same time Damon drew attention to the fact that consumers do not need to fall for the very labeling healthy, which supposedly implies the absence of sugar in the product.

“Double Dip”, USA, 2004.

Directed by: Morgan Spurlock

Main Actors: Morgan Spurlock, Bridget Bennett, Lisa Ganju

Age Limit: 16+

Another experimental documentary filmmaker has decided to use his own experience to show how eating the wrong foods can be harmful to your health. This time the subject was so-called “junk food”, i.e. fast food.

For a month Morgan ate exclusively burgers, fries and other harmful products. According to the rules, if a fast food restaurant offered him a double portion, he could not refuse. Hence the title of the movie. A month of fast food, no sports and weekly medical examinations – all this Morgan recorded on camera.

At the beginning of filming, 33-year-old Spurlock’s weight was 84 kg at a height of 188 cm. For 30 days of the experiment, he gained an extra 11 kilograms, earned liver damage, erectile dysfunction, hormonal failure. And it took Morgan a year to get rid of the extra weight!

“Food Corporation”, USA, 2008.

Directed by: Robert Kenner

Main actors: Eric Schlosser, Richard Lobb, Vince Edwards.

Age Limit: 0+

This film won a bunch of awards at documentary film festivals and was very favorably received by critics. But the food and manufacturing companies of America were outraged and were going to sue the creators. But it did not go beyond empty verbal threats. Apparently, the arguments of documentary filmmakers were more than weighty, and the companies in the case of court hearings simply could not refute them.

Director Robert Kenner raised an important topic for the American population – namely, showing that most products are dangerous to health. For three years, the filmmaker collected information, interviewed and filmed reports. He emphasized the fact that, for example, big companies save money on production. Cattle and chickens are slaughtered inhumanely, and the conditions in which the animals are kept are terrible. The same principles of extreme austerity are followed by factories for cereals, grains and vegetables.

Kenner also cited evidence that chemicals and pesticides are used in production. The factories and the largest companies themselves are able to cleverly circumvent the laws, come out clean from any problems and supply their products at inflated prices, passing it off as environmentally friendly. In other words, they simply cheat people!

“Earthlings”, USA, 2005

Directed by: Sean Monson

Main actors: Joaquin Phoenix

Age limit: 18+

Not everyone will dare to watch this movie. After all, it clearly demonstrates cruelty to animals. Slaughterhouses, experiments for scientific research, the production of leather and fur garments, and the training of wild animals for the amusement of the circus audience.

The animal rights filmmaker has enlisted the support of many Hollywood stars who are fiercely protective of animal rights. Actress Maggie Q produced the movie, Joaquin Phoenix reads the voice-over, and musician Moby recorded the soundtrack. Many admitted that after watching it, they simply gave up meat for good.

“Forks instead of knives”, USA, 2011.

Directed by: Lee Falkerson

Main actors: Lee Falkerson, Matthew Lederman

Age limit: 12+

The movie is based on the book of the same name, in which famous doctors acted as experts. Their goal was to find a correlation between nutrition and chronic diseases. One of the experts, Colin Campbell, a longtime vegan, is convinced that there is nothing healthier for a person than a good plant-based diet. Refusal of red meat and fatty foods will save from diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease – assure the creators of the movie.

By the way, it is these assurances and agitation of veganism and caused a powerful wave of criticism from other doctors. They said that animal fats and protein in moderate amounts are important and useful to the human body. Plant protein, on the other hand, is not enough to keep blood vessels, muscles and bones healthy. The debate continues to this day.

“Fed Up”, USA, 2014

Directed by Stephanie Zochtig.

Main actors: Katie Couric, Michael Pollan, Michael Bloomberg

Age Limit: 12+

Documentary filmmakers tackle the global topic of obesity. And they look at it in relation to different age categories. Why do children get fat and why is it that today’s teenagers are more obese than their peers a couple of decades ago? Why do young people at a fairly early age begin to suffer from chronic diseases, while the older generation is like a flint – holding on, lurching, but living?

The director emphasizes – it’s all about nutrition, modern products containing a lot of preservatives, flavor enhancers, E-schemes and other garbage. It’s all about cheapening production and causing huge damage to human health. And the older generation lived most of their lives on natural and organic food. The preservative industry just wasn’t as advanced back then.

“In Defense of Food, USA, France, Tanzania, 2015.

Directed by Michael Schwartz

Main actors: Hilty Emmy, Michael Pollan

Age limit: 12+

The director took the book of the same name by Professor Michael Pollan as a basis. The writer published a very interesting study. He spent several years following the lives of Australian Aborigines who had moved from the countryside to the metropolis. And years later, city life led them to health problems and obesity.

Professor Pollan drew a parallel between the quality of food and changes in the human body. The natives started buying ultra-processed foods, convenience foods, canned foods. That is, they switched completely from clean food to, roughly speaking, dirty food.

The creators emphasized and showed how important a healthy diet is. Yes, to give up semi-finished products is sometimes difficult, and to afford ready-made cutlets, for example, is not shameful. But there is no need to turn it into a tradition. The best way to keep yourself and your health in tone is to cook yourself from good products.