The Netflix Documentary Diet

I see Netflix documentaries as 'teachable' moments, but likely not for the reason that most would presume. I use Netflix documentaries to teach skepticism. Often, I have friends or acquaintances ask me if I saw "XYZ" documentary on Netflix, and how it inspired them to make "ABC" lifestyle change (which may or may not have been meaningful). When they ask me what I think of it, my response is usually "You should follow a Netflix documentary diet, where you only eat things that are Netflix documentary approved". This tends to get me a puzzled look, to which I respond, "think about it - follow a diet that complies only with those foods that every Netflix documentary says is okay and let me know how that turns out". At this point, the other individual usually giggles and gets my point: if you take Netflix documentaries about food as fact, you'll be left eating gusts of wind for breakfast lunch and dinner. OKAY - I'm being a bit hyperbolic - I'm sure there's an organic, non-gmo, non-domesticated weed that you could juice for a while before you got beriberi. Let's take a look at what a Netflix documentary diet would consist of:

GMO OMG - This documentary "follows one family's struggle to live and eat without participating in an unhealthy, unjust, and destructive food system." Similar messages are seen from movies like, "The Future of Food".

Food Inc - Food Inc works to expose the 'horrors' of industrialized agriculture and paints a pretty picture of small, local, organic farms. Quite similar to Fresh.

SuperSize Me - This one follows Morgan Spurlock as he only eats McDonald's food for 3 meals/day, and the health effects this has on his health.  

Forks Over Knives - FOK focuses on the benefits of a whole foods, plant-based diet (essentially a vegan diet). It features notable vegan/plant-based promoters like Esselstyn and Campbell.  This one is quite similar to Vegucated.

Food Matters - This one focuses on 'orthomolecular' medicine and features a number of 'nutritionists' and naturopaths. It speaks highly of the Gerson therapy, laments how we've 'depleted' the soil of its nutrients, the benefits of consuming organic, raw foods and is quite pro-supplementation. Although not on Netflix, this one is quite similar to Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days, which highlights the benefits of a vegan diet (like in Forks over Knives) as long as it is raw. 

FedUp - FedUp was one of the more recent documentaries. Apart from its critiques about the food industry and industry-funded research(ers), it focuses mostly on the dietary evils of sugar, with some notable low-carb folks/fructose alarmists. One can be sure that the new documentary Sugar Coated will beat the same drum.

FatHead - This documentary is in response to SuperSizeMe, filmed by Tom Naughton. Naughton eats a low-carbohydrate fast food diet (mostly food from McDonald's). Naughton has a lot of disdain for low fat recommendations, and espouses a low-carbohydrate diet for health. Contrary to SuperSizeMe, Naughton loses weight and improves many biomarkers during his fast food diet. 

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead - This one follows Joe Cross, as he goes on a 60-day juice fast across the country. It, again, espouses the benefits of a plant-based diet (he is advised by Joel Fuhrman) but also the wonders of juicing. 

 So looking at all of these, if a person wanted to lose weight and get healthier, they would start off with a plant-based, animal product free diet, that is also quite low in carbohydrates, fat, and animal protein (silken tofu it is then!) and primarily made up of organic, non-GMO vegetable juices (remember, not fruit because quickly absorbed sugars are bad), sourced from locally produced crops. Sadly, I didn't even cover all of the food documentaries out there. There's some non-Netflix ones out there, like CerealKillers and PerfectHumanDiet, which espouse the benefits of low-carbohydrate and Paleo diets. If we threw diet books in, I'm sure we'd get even fewer foods to eat. I wonder why consumers are confused about what to eat? 

Be skeptical of what you watch/read online about food and nutrition. Inspire others to be skeptical of these documentaries as well. Netflix documentaries are anything but peer reviewed. Most importantly, get your diet advice from a physician and registered dietitian, and find what works for you.