About four years ago, I set out on the health journey provoked by something really simple on the surface: I wanted to lose a bit of extra weight that having a desk job and remodeling houses for 10+ years had inevitably caused.
Fair enough, right? I was mid-30s, had never really struggled with my weight (save for the “chubby” pre-adolescent time), and couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t lose it with simple caloric restriction. Clearly, not an uncommon issue, but I wanted to get ahead of it before a few extra pounds became permanent.
So, I started reading. And reading, and reading some more. And, in time, I figured “it” out. All that figuring led to the eventual start of this blog, and consistent learning has continued to change my views on what to eat, how to eat, and, what should be considered food.
I remember, in the era I’ll call ‘pre-enlightenment,’ reading something to the effect that people should eat 5-9 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. I also remember thinking, “how on earth is that possible?”
Of course, I know now, I was looking at it all wrong. Instead of thinking about removing much of the junk 2Chiliand I ate at the time, I was taking the suggestion as needing to add all that produce on top of all the junk. Ignorance is bliss.
Thank goodness there are people that really know their nutrition, and have written books, made movies, and write blogs in the effort to get the word out about what is really making people obese, diabetic, and on a fast track to the big sleep: The replacement of food with “food-like products.” (Oh and sugar. Lots and lots of sugar.)
I take in a lot of information, parse out what resonates with me, and put it into practice if it makes sense to me. Over the years, our diets around here have evolved greatly. In addition to learning basic, common sense nutrition information, I have easily maintained the ~15 pounds I lost when I had that first “ah ha” moment. My body found a healthy set point and happily stays there.
“Ah ha” moments are funny things. Once you have one, once you “get” something, you can’t un-know it. You want to tell the world of your discovery, and you want to help as many people as possible see the light.
This was a very long intro to tell you about a movie I think everyone should see, especially anyone that struggles with weight, has issues with mood swings or depression, or, simply breathes.
I recently stumbled upon a documentary called Hungry for Change, which gives a great glimpse into what has gone wrong with the American view of food, from how we grow it to why we eat it, and, gives practical information for turning the ship around.
After all, we all make decisions daily on how to fuel our bodies – it isn’t optional – and we should all know the basics of how to do so safely, efficiently, and for best results. Feeling good feels good, and diet is at the core of the equation to feeling good.
The move is free to stream on Amazon if you’re a Prime member. Check it out. If you’ve seen it, let me know what you think in the comments!
P.S. Other good films in the food documentary genre include Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead and Ingredients.
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Another food documentary that is just released (limited right now) is FED UP. Its about the insane amount of sugar in our foods. Directed by Stephanie Soechtig, with Michelle Simon (1 of these ladies worked on Inconvenient Truth). I have Hungry for Change in my Netflix queue and will watch it today.
Thanks for the note, Toni! Yes, FED UP is on my to-watch list as well. It is getting a lot of chatter by folks I follow on Twitter. I wanted to go see it over the weekend, but it’s not at a theatre that’s convenient to me, so I think I will have to wait until it’s available digitally. I’m very interested to see it!