Food / Nutriton / Diet documentaries, less than worthless?

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  • godlikepoetyes
    godlikepoetyes Posts: 442 Member
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    I have decided that you are mostly correct. My Fitness Pal is working for me because I am eating whatever I want. I just count the calories. Calories in = Calories out. The only proven thing.

    Here are a couple of articles addressing your thoughts--

    http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/04/food_fad_evidence_logic_and_science_can_fight_misperceptions_about_nutrition.2.html

    http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2015/04/nutritional_clinical_trials_vs_observational_studies_for_dietary_recommendations.html
  • mattyc772014
    mattyc772014 Posts: 3,543 Member
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    An Honest Liar is very much educational. Maybe be not related to food, but happy to say it shows how so many can be fooled. If any one of the food docs motivates someone to make a change in there life for the better I would call that a win.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    beachhouse758 wrote: »
    But if you are able to, let's say inspired to workout or to eat slightly better after watching a documentary, then why not?

    P.S: I looove TED Talks too.

    For me, the why not isn't the inspired workout or better eating - it is that some of the documentaries can actually harm worthy causes. In another thread I was replying to someone about GMO OMG. I think the film is, in a small way, contributing to children dying in impoverished countries. Golden Rice is a GMO that can prevent vitamin A deficiency, which causes blindness and death in hundreds of thousands of children a year across the globe. People watch something like GMO OMG, they go out with good intentions and living in a country relatively free of worrying about those kinds of malnourishment, and support organizations like Green Peace, which goes out and burns the test fields.
  • mattyc772014
    mattyc772014 Posts: 3,543 Member
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    Generation Iron seems good. I am half way through it. Really shows the dedication some make for professional bodybuilding.
  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    I don't think Mr. Moore was specially funded. I think he wanted to be famous. Fear-mongering is the fastest way to fame it seems.

    He's the one who proved you can lie in a documentary and still make a profit, though. Prior to that, they were more of a niche area, because they didn't really make money. People made them because they were really devoted to a subject, and either wanted to promote it or detract from it, but the only chance they had of getting any exposure for it was if it was accurate. These days you just have to pick a hot button issue, hire a computer graphics team to make it flashy enough, and you can say whatever you want. Between discovery channel and Netflix, they're so desperate for content, they'll buy anything.
  • mattyc772014
    mattyc772014 Posts: 3,543 Member
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    I will admit I watch My 600lb Life and it does motivate me. It is amazing how some get to where they are and then make a change for the better. Sensationalism is nothing new and will always endure. Emotions can be triggered many different ways. I think it is important that you stay level headed when viewing these documentaries. Make a change for the better for yourself.
  • Indigoblu1
    Indigoblu1 Posts: 127 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I'm struggling through Forks Over Knives currently.

    That was probably the most boring of them that I'd seen - and blatantly skewed, if I remember right.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    Frankly, I'm surprised anyone ever thought that by calling a movie a 'documentary' somehow made it more truthful
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    There should be a flashy documentary on critical thinking skills.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Indigoblu1 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I'm struggling through Forks Over Knives currently.

    That was probably the most boring of them that I'd seen - and blatantly skewed, if I remember right.

    The problem is probably that I've read a bunch about the topic already, so I see all the skewed stuff. It's very frustrating. ;-) Can't wait til I watch Fed Up, heh.

    As background (embarrassing as this is), I'm someone who can go to sleep listening to a podcast discussion and then incorporate it into a dream where I'm furious because I'm on a panel discussion and yet no one is responding to my contributions. Yes, this really happened.
  • Indigoblu1
    Indigoblu1 Posts: 127 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    As background (embarrassing as this is), I'm someone who can go to sleep listening to a podcast discussion and then incorporate it into a dream where I'm furious because I'm on a panel discussion and yet no one is responding to my contributions. Yes, this really happened.

    I can really relate, lemur. I don't appear in panels, but the TV weaves it's way into my dreams. If I fall asleep to Chopped or Cutthroat Kitchen, or anything, it's incorporated and I'm talking to somebody about this new food or I'm trying it.
  • mistikal13
    mistikal13 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    From the ones that I have seen, I pretty much agree.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    The problem, IMO, is that people are nearly completely ignorant on the subject of nutrition going into these things. As such, they don't really know how to tell when something is fudged/completely made up/dependent upon situation/whatever. Many (most?) people also don't really understand enough science (IMO) - as well as not knowing much about nutrition - to be able to ask the right sorts of questions to determine if what being purported is accurate/reasonable/worthy of discussion. So they just accept everything in them as truth. And since they are "documentaries," they figure the info in them must be true.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,089 Member
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    Yep...I had to bring this back.....

    Because the fear mongering films like these mentioned drive me nuts.
    Like someone stated above, many people believe the woo these types of films promote
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    thorsmom01 wrote: »
    Yep...I had to bring this back.....

    Because the fear mongering films like these mentioned drive me nuts.
    Like someone stated above, many people believe the woo these types of films promote
    I suppose some of it has to be economical thinking. People believe these films wouldn't get funded without them knowing what they're talking about.
    Also, with the cherry picking of people they tend to use for the film, it is pretty easy to make any narrative they want, they just have to find outliers.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    I do enjoy these films as a jumping off point. They get me thinking about things I might not have before, and then I can use it as a spot to start my own research from.

    I did enjoy Supersize Me although some of the premises were comical; it entertained me and made me think.

    Fathead was very entertaining and made more sense than Supersize me... It is sort of the anti-Supersize Me.

    I thought The Perfect Human Diet was very well done and gave me a lot to think about.

    Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead motivated me to buy a really good blender and make smoothies for me and my kids more often. LOL
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,950 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Indigoblu1 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I'm struggling through Forks Over Knives currently.

    That was probably the most boring of them that I'd seen - and blatantly skewed, if I remember right.

    The problem is probably that I've read a bunch about the topic already, so I see all the skewed stuff. It's very frustrating. ;-) Can't wait til I watch Fed Up, heh.

    As background (embarrassing as this is), I'm someone who can go to sleep listening to a podcast discussion and then incorporate it into a dream where I'm furious because I'm on a panel discussion and yet no one is responding to my contributions. Yes, this really happened.

    That's awesome :smiley:

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,950 Member
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    mattyc772014 wrote: »
    I will admit I watch My 600lb Life and it does motivate me. It is amazing how some get to where they are and then make a change for the better. Sensationalism is nothing new and will always endure. Emotions can be triggered many different ways. I think it is important that you stay level headed when viewing these documentaries. Make a change for the better for yourself.

    I started watching My 600 Pound Life after hearing it mentioned here on MFP on weight loss surgery threads. I like watching (most of) the people break through their denial. I'd be more entertained if Dr Now would get all Judge Judy on the ones who are lying about what they claim to be eating when they haven't lost weight, but he got through to 7 out of 8 people in this season.

    When I finished the season, Netflix offered me Downsize Me, which I found rather silly and sensationalized, as well as eight weeks being too short to accomplish the transformations that inspire me.

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