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Food Choices is a documentary about the impact of what we eat on our health, our planet, current & future generations, openly promoting a plant-based/vegan diet.

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The best diet is the one you don’t know you’re on.

Brian Wansink

Photo by @ellaolsson

FOOD CHOICES REVIEW IN SHORT

The key to good health is moderation.

Food Choices is pretty convincing but lacks a bit of moderation -and you might disagree. You learn lots of useful things about nutrition, and you also get a better understanding of why and how people become vegan. Watching this documentary really made me want to be more informed about nutrition.

So. The question nobody’s asking himself: Will I give up my crêpes with ham and cheese -not cliché at all- every other Sunday? Not yet, but this documentary has definitely planted a seed in my mind that may or may not germinate. 

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BEFORE WE GET STARTED
What you do is none of anybody’s business

Understanding what people believe in and why can be interesting. But remember to verify what you hear through diverse legitimate sources. I’m not a doctor or even a specialist in nutrition, not all of the speakers in this documentary are dieticians or have sufficient legitimacy.

What you eat obviously depends on your income, the access you have to a wide variety of food, the persons you’re sharing your meal with, and simply what YOU want to do. You have opinions, don’t let anybody influence your choices.

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HOW I PICKED THIS DOCUMENTARY

Quitting on my unique-meal diet

I definitely needed to hear what some people -and experts- had to say about all that. Watching Food Choices seemed like a good start to my 2020 resolution: better eating.

THE PURPOSE OF FOOD CHOICES

Basically, pushing you towards a vegan diet

The filmmaker has experienced yo-yo diets and struggled to find the right one for him. He, thus, intended to respond to his concerns about nutrition in this documentary. Pretty honourable so far.

He states at the beginning that Food Choices will answer the following question: which diet is the healthiest and most sustainable for ourselves, future generations, and our planet?
After only 2mn of this documentary, you can hear Michal Siewierski say: ‘What you’re about to learn might forever change the way you look at the food in your plate’.

ALRIGHT, big promises here! This guy knows how to get people’s attention -and set very high standards.

‘What is the best diet for the human species?’. His answer is simply a whole plant-based diet, with no sort of animal products. Aka, a vegan diet.

The first question he tries to answer: ‘What is the best diet for the human species?’. His answer is simply a whole plant-based diet, with no sort of animal products. Aka, a vegan diet.
Then, he answers several other questions such as:

• Can I become nutrient deficient if I start a vegan diet?
• Are animal products necessary for me?
• Should I stop eating red meat and replace it with white meat and fishes?
• Can I eat healthy on a tight budget?
• Is it still worth it to eat vegetables that are not organic?

I’ve felt a bit lost with the structure of Food Choices. Michal Siewierski’s train of thoughts didn’t appear very clear to me, and the tones of information you get in the first 45mn don’t make it any easier.  

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN

You know nothing, non-vegan

What you eat has a big impact on your body. A diversified diet is the basics of what you should do.
Well… I probably shouldn’t mention that when I started living alone, I ate couscous with feta every day for 2 years, before switching to pasta with feta for the 3 following years. You’re probably not wondering: was it because she didn’t have enough money? No, no, I just loved it. At the time, I would have never traded my meal against vegetables, or even ANYTHING else. I digress.

7 takeaways from this documentary

After getting so much information about food, I wanted to check some of them to avoid repeating something half-true or that I only partially understood.
To be honest, I still only partially understand nutrition. As I am not a professional in health and nutrition, it might be a good idea to triple check!

Industrial lobbies influence your perception of what’s good and what’s not for your body

Dairy products (milk, cheese, butter, yoghurts…) are not necessary for humans, we can find enough calcium in a plant-based diet

Meat increases the risk of cancer

Trading red meat for white meat and fishes is useless: all three are high in fat, protein and cholesterol

Fish is very polluted by mercury and dangerous for health

Diets consisting of making you starve or making you sick don’t work

What you eat impacts your mental health

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.

Daniel J. Boorstin

“No thanks. Keep your cake, it’s full of shit”.

So why not these last 15mn? Simply because after talking about how meat and dairies consumption cause pollution, deforestation, and disease, the last 15mn are dedicated to overexploitation of the resources of our planet, and especially animals. They are videos of slaughterhouses operating in terrible conditions. And honestly, I don’t know about you, but I didn’t need to see animals suffer to understand and retain the message.

Food Choices can definitely make some people feel very guilty and bad about their lifestyle, and I don’t think that this is the best way to educate people on any subject.  

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WHAT DID I GET OUT OF THE DOCUMENTARY FOOD CHOICES?

• The less transformed products you eat, the better it is for your health.
• The key to good health is moderation.
• ‘Fear of pesticides should never keep anyone from maximising their vegetable consumption, especially if you’re already consuming commercial meat.’

If you’ve seen it, what did YOU get out of this documentary? Did you enjoy reading this documentary review? Leave a comment below, and reach me on Instagram @just.another.good.story or by email at justanothergoodstory@gmail.com

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BONUS

One sentence in French about Food Choices that you can learn by heart to show off:
“Le réalisateur démontre point par point les bienfaits du véganisme, misant le tout pour le tout pour convaincre autant de spectateurs que possible"

Post an Instagram story of you saying this sentence with your best French accent and tag me! I’ll watch and repost every single one of them!
Or simply leave me a comment telling me using Google translate how you would translate this sentence. As a French living in the UK with an Italian guy, I’m an expert at giving a completely different sense to what people say. Let me read what your brain made up!

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I really hope that you enjoyed reading this documentary review!
If you’re interested in health matters, and more specifically the NHS, you could enjoy reading Adam Kay’s book!
Come back soon
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YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

What are the 3 things to consider when making food choices?

– Be aware of your own needs. Find out what is best for you according to your age, gender, height, weight, and physical activity level.
– Maximize your vegetable consumption -they should be the main part of your meal.
– Don’t deprive yourself and avoid craving for food.

Is a vegan diet healthy?

In theory, it is. In practice too, if you make sure not to lack any nutrients. Protein, calcium, iron and vitamin B12 are less accessible when meat, egg, and dairy are removed from your meals. You might need to have precise control over your meal plan if you want to maintain a sufficient level of nutrients needed by your body.

Should I stop eating meat?

Your food choices are your choice, and only yours. However, there are advantages in reducing your consumption of meat. Any drastic change may not last in the long term, in opposition to more moderate changes or improvements. I won’t be the one telling you that you should since I am still eating meat myself.

Do my food choices have an impact on my mental health?

Research suggests so. Prof. Suzanne Dickson, from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, explains: “We have found that there is increasing evidence of a link between a poor diet and the worsening of mood disorders, including anxiety and depression. However, many common beliefs about the health effects of certain foods are not supported by solid evidence.”

Is the documentary Food Choices pro-vegan?

Yes, definitely. Food Choices is pretty convincing but lacks a bit of moderation. The message is not ‘eat animals responsibly’, or ‘be careful about the conditions in which your meat was collected’. The final message is simply: now you know that what’s in your plate is an animal that suffered for you, we hope you don’t feel appetized by it anymore. It’s the same thing for dairy and egg, the point of this documentary is to convince you to stop consuming them.

Are supplements improving my health?

Most of the time, supplements are not improving your health and are a waste of money. Sometimes, supplements can also be detrimental to your health. You should make sure not to consume them without being recommended to, and pay attention to what you are combining it with.

What to watch after Food Choices?

Check out my other film reviews & find out what to watch next!