I’m down in Texas right now (hiding from winter)and getting some sunshine. I brought my handy little apple tv device with me and have been watching Netflix documentaries lately.
I have to say how thoroughly impressed I am that Netflix (in the USA at least) has tons of awesome documentaries to choose from that are well done and inspirational.
In these documentaries they show that anybody no matter who they are can make a change and start on the path to a plant based diet. And when you have full access to information like this for one low price on Netflix, you really can’t go wrong.
If you don’t have Netflix you can watch some of these documentaries online or probably rent them on iTunes. I’ve also provided their websites so you can get more information on them as well.
Here is a list of the documentaries I HIGHLY recommend you check out if you’re looking for some entertainment style education and inspiration to get on track with a healthy diet.
Forks Over Knives
www.ForksOverKnives.com – website features some of my recipes and many other oil free plant based recipes as well.
This is a great documentary because it features both interviews from heavy hitters such as Dr. John McDougall, Dr. T Colin Campbell, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Pam Popper and follows 3 people who are led by Dr. Matthew Lederman in eating a whole foods plant based diet to regain their health, get off medication and lose weight.
This film is jam packed with great information about how you can lose weight, cure type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease with a low fat plant based diet.
It is a very easy to watch film and I suggest your family and friends watch this (if you can manage it). There’s no vegan propaganda or animal rights focus, it’s all about eating plants for health and how it works.
This film alone got my family on board of accepting my vegan eating habits and understanding why I wanted to be in the business of teaching people how to eat healthy. So I think it’s very important to share this message and I highly recommend this film to anyone and everyone!
Forks Over Knives The Extended Interviews
This is also highly recommended! You get the full interviews that went into this film and more detailed answers.
Vegucated
This is actually a very entertaining documentary to watch by Marisa Miller Wolfson. She creates a social experiment where 3 individuals from New York (who don’t think they could ever be vegan but are curious to try it) are educated in veganism and shown how to eat for 6 weeks. They are extremely skeptical in the beginning and you get to watch them through their growing pains of this lifestyle. They get a health checkup from Dr. Joel Fuhrman before and after their 6 week journey with some pretty good results.
Initially, I did not expect to be as impressed with this film as I was. I don’t teach the ethical side of veganism because I feel it is such a personal choice for people, but the way it was depicted in this movie was very touching. Becoming vegan and eating vegan made such sense to these 3 individuals at the end of this movie they couldn’t even imagine not continuing. It resonated with them at such a deep level. In the end they felt better, they understood factory farming and they found a way to make the diet work for them.
I highly recommend this film for you and your friends or family to watch because it covers many of the struggles of eating out or eating with family and really shows you how you can be successful and happier with food choices.
Foodmatters
Hungry For Change
This film focuses on a lot of individual interviews with health leaders such as Mike Adams (Natural News), David Wolfe, Daniel Vitalis, Dr.Mercola, Kris Carr (Crazy Sexy Cancer) and more.
While it does not talk about a vegan or vegetarian diet, it does recommend a whole foods based diet and living a natural lifestyle. Even though I don’t necessarily agree with all of the leaders’ personal lifestyles in this video, it is still a good documentary to watch and if you’re unfamiliar with some of them.
Fat Sick & Nearly Dead
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com
Joe Cross a native Australian, wants to turn his life around and go on a 60 day juice fast in the land of the hamburger (the USA).
He starts out getting some tests from Dr. Joel Furhman and with a goal to lose weight and cure his debilitating skin rash he’s had for 9 years that no previous doctor could cure. He goes on a road trip across the states shopping at farmer’s markets and grocery stores along the way and makes juice in the back of his SUV. He spends a lot of time interviewing people about their current diet and lifestyle and why it’s hard for them to change.
Joe also encourages a woman he meets (who is a wife and mother) to go on a 10 day juice fast and check in with him on her progress. Half way through the film another man named Phil (who is seriously obese and has the same skin condition as Joe) also wants to go on a juice fast and see if he can save his life by making a change. The second half of the film follows his journey on a 60 day juice fast as well.
While this film is not as fast paced as some others, it does have a great message and might inspire you to go on juice fast or start juicing regularly for health benefits. Joe loses an incredible amount of weight (82 lbs) over the course of this movie (Phil loses even more) and it is quite inspirational if you feel hopeless and are looking for a fresh start!
Non Health Related Documentaries:
Craigslist Joe
This film was intriguing to me because I have used Craigslist in the past to find housing, list household items and meet friends. It follows a young man named Joe who wants to see if he can survive for 30 days on the generosity of people he meets exclusively on Craigslist.org through posting and reading other user’s posts.
He has no money and takes only his cell phone, laptop, the clothes on his back and his camera man friend and they go off on a journey across the USA.They rely on strangers for their shelter, food, transportation and companionship throughout the film.
Often Joe lends a helping hand for a meal or helps drive on a road trip and meets some really
It’s actually a really touching story about the generosity of others and how genuine people can be if you just give them a chance. It really makes you want to get out there and connect with new people because generally strangers are good at heart, so it was a pretty beautiful journey.
Inspirational juice recipe from Fat Sick & Nearly Dead. I use a Breville juicer that I got from Amazon to make my juices (nothing too fancy), but better than a cheapie juicer, so it lasts.
Mean Green Juice
by Phil Staples
Ingredients:
1 cucumber
4 celery stalks
2 granny smith apples
6-8 leaves kale
1/2 lemon
1 tbsp ginger
Directions:
Wash all the produce well
Peel the lemon (optional)
Juice, starting with the kale
Pour over ice
Enjoy!
For more juicing for weight-loss info go to: http://www.rebootwithjoe.com
I hope you’ve enjoyed these recommendations. I know so many of us watch far too much tv these days, and I think it’s important to see some quality documentaries once in a while.
Especially if you’re not the kind of person who wants to read a book or program on health, you can easily sit down for an hour and watch a health documentary instead and get informed and inspired.
If you want to jump in and get started today on a plant based diet? Check out my Low Fat Vegan Starter Kit here:
http://www.plantbasedu.com/LowFatVeganStarterKit
Thanks for this list! I enjoyed Vegucated but I think that they made the viewer think it was about health when it really was about animal rights. I think that’s fine they just should have been upfront about it. The products they had them buying were highly processed vegan alternatives to meat and dairy, and while they said it was to ease them in they never showed them how to eat a healthier version of vegan! I also didn’t like that when the one girl struggled because she felt like she had to give up family foods they basically told her to get new friends! I wish they had given her some help remaking her favorites! Maybe I’m over thinking it! I still enjoyed the movie.
Yes I agree, it did tend to sneak in the animal rights part of it. And while I don’t like this approach I did feel that it was a big reason that these people decided to accept a vegan lifestyle. So while a good message, it probably should have been more up front.
And maybe she should have give some information about how to eat without using fake meat and fakes cheese at the end, as regular eaters may never know that many vegans don’t eat those products regularly.
There’s always this conflict in the vegan movement, do it for animals and eat fake animal products instead because you love them, or eat plants for health and for yourself and not for the animals. So there’s always this rift in belief.