Hope a bowl of Nutritious Food matters to us!

 

In the documentary H.O.P.E What you Eat Matters, Nina Messinger has beautifully brought the association of Western diet and chronic illnesses such as Cardio-vascular disease, cancer, diabetes etc. The documentary reveals how the dietary consumption patterns of humans have completely undergone a change where processed and animal based foods have become a part of our regular meals.

This change in the food habits that have developed essentially as a result of commercialization and uniformity of food items itself, have some life taking repercussions on human health. As the documentary progresses, it does a myth busting job for its viewers through interviews of world famous Nutritionists such as Colin Campbell who unravels the long standing belief that animal and dairy based products are high source of useful proteins.  Through several years of research and empirical evidence, Dr. Campbell has discovered milk contains casein which promotes the growth of cancer cells.

The documentary then dives deep into the quest to find out the reason behind the general conception that animal based food is required for a healthy and wholesome diet. It is only while looking for this answer, the makers realize that the academia and policy makers have been corrupted by the pharmaceutical industry as only in keeping people ill will they generate high amount of profits.

The documentary further goes on to show the cruelty to animals that is committed in the factory farms in the Western World. Each scene from the second half of documentary points out to the horrific and merciless treatment of animals that we often enjoy on our table. The documentary ends by focusing on the importance of individual consciousness that can play a massive role in omitting this kind of cruelty to animals and improving our health by adopting a plant based diet.

However, what the documentary fails to address is that not all animal based diet is essentially bad for human health. If that was the case then the communities of hunters and gatherers with thousands of years of meat eating habits would have been wiped off completely. The elephant in the room is essentially the commercialization of consumption of meat and meat being turned into a daily food from a food to be consumed during the festivals. Traditionally, many cultures and rituals were associated with the consumption of animal based and dairy products which may not be a result of the politics of Capitalism.

Overall the documentary does a fantastic job as an eye opener for all meat eaters around the world and calls for conscious consumption of food. It should be a definite watch during the Nutrition Week!