Recently there has been a lot of attention on a Netflix documentary called ‘What The Health.’ I don’t know about you but it left me feeling very uncertain about eating anything, ever. I went days without eating proper meals – the thought of fish was repulsive, pesticide marinated vegetables scared me and cancer inducing cheese just made me want to cry.
Once I calmed down, I started to think about what I had watched and all the different information it had presented. The entire documentary seemed to be promoting a vegan lifestyle and also contradicted other research I had read discussing American health and food by Dr Mark Hyman. In his book, Eat Fat Get Thin, Dr Hyman examined evidence for sugar and carbohydrates being the main contributor to obesity in the US and alleviated the stigma against fat and cholesterol, exactly the opposite of Kip Anderson’s research for this documentary.
Anderson then goes on to reveal the sponsors behind the health associations but how do we know the professionals he uses on his side of the argument aren’t sponsored by vegan products? The entire food industry in America feels so corrupt, is it the same in the UK? I briefly googled ‘British Diabetes/Heart/Lung Association sponsors’ etc and although I raised an eyebrow at a couple of partners, it looks pretty safe.
The entire documentary is a bundle of scaremongering. Yes, the US has a problem with corrupt health professionals and its extensive diversity of processed foods. That 100% needs to be dealt with. But their conversation around food also needs to change. Moderation, balance and reasonable portion sizes should be encouraged and the general public should not be made to feel like they have to choose between foods. Industries need to take responsibility for how they are affecting citizens of the world as well as the environment. We do not need mass produced meat, fish or dairy. The argument for buyers need is utter rubbish because so much food is wasted in the world.
It all comes down to greed. The big cats would prefer to keep contributing to diabetes and cardiovascular disease and keep filling their pockets than lose their expensive cars and lifestyle and take products off the shelves. It’s a shame that this is the world we live in.
