Fed Up

If you pay attention to nutrition labels on the food products you buy, you may notice that next to the number of grams of sugar, there is no percentage shown. The sugar industry made sure of that. What they don't want consumers to know is that the sugar content of many of their products is 100% or more of the average daily requirement. Stephanie Soechtig excoriates the sugar industry for valuing profits over health in her hard-hitting documentary Fed Up. Produced by Katie Couric, who is also the narrator and Laurie David, producer of the climate-change documentary An Inconvenient Truth, the film compares awareness of the true causes of obesity to the decade's long campaign informing the public about the danger of smoking cigarettes.

Though individual choice does play a part, Fed Up says that the main problem is not the lack of will power of the individual but the fact that people have become addicted to sugar. According to Soechtig, collusion between the food industry, Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has led to fierce opposition to regulation, government subsidies to farmers for their corn (which has been turned into high fructose corn syrup), unhealthy school lunch programs (80% have contracts with Coke or Pepsi), and relentless advertising campaigns directed towards children.

Bolstered by interviews with former President Bill Clinton, author Michael Pollan, and Senator Tom Harkin together with a bevy of medical researchers, the film cites statistics showing that 80% of the approximately 600,000 products sold in the supermarkets and convenience stores have added sugar and that, since the late 1970s, Americans have doubled their daily consumption of sugar so that now, one in every five people face obesity. It is estimated by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that in one year, kids eat more than 10 pounds of sugar by weight from breakfast cereal.

Using charts and graphs, Soechtig also shows that the amount of sugar the industry has added to food to compensate for the unappealing taste of low-fat products has contributed to the increase in Type II diabetes such that by the year 2050, it is predicted that one out of three Americans will be diabetic. The film makes the problem even more real by focusing on several teenagers who have struggled with their weight for many years, emphatically pointing out the error of the conventional wisdom which says that eating less and exercising more (striking a balance between calories in and calories out), is the best solution.

Sparing no one including Michelle Obama, the film notes that her "Let's Move" campaign has been co-opted by the food industry and the responsibility for obesity placed on the individual. While Fed Up is definitely an advocacy doc and is typically one-sided (representatives of the food industry refused to be interviewed), it is an important film that doesn't try to "sugar coat" the problem but asks us to become involved by seeking an alternative to sugar-laden products, putting pressure on government and industry representatives, and demanding that the food industry begin caring about the health of our children. Now wouldn't that be sweet?

Fed Up is a very interesting documentary about everything what is wrong in the food industry, especially the American one. It's all about the lobbyists and making as much profit as possible. The same like it was with the tobacco industry in the past, and the same as what is still happening with the firearm and oil industry. It's almost impossible to fight those big companies because they have so much money that they will corrupt the majority of people that are in charge of the laws. On the other hand you will still have people that are not selfish and that will try to make this world a better place. A place where money has no role and where people can live healthy and in peace. For that Fed Up is ideal because they can't ban a documentary like this one, where the truth about the food industry is being said. What makes the documentary sad sometimes is seeing how badly informed and brainwashed that a lot of Americans are. Seeing those morbidly obese children being desperate and trying to figure out why they are so fat is sad to see. What I found utterly disgusting as an European was the food those kids eat in their school. I had absolutely no clue that all those fast-food companies ruled the whole cafeteria. That would be absolutely impossible in any European country. There is no way our schools would serve our children hamburgers with fries, pizzas, nachos and all other crap food every day. I just can't believe parents in America don't say anything about that. Well most of them are obese as well so I guess they are used to it since they were kid themselves, but it's just appalling that something like that is possible in schools where your kids should learn to grow up healthy. Anyways, Fed Up, is a well done documentary that should be mandatory in every American family. A must see for every citizen of the world, fat or skinny, it doesn't matter.

Incredible documentary. Actually seeing people speaking the truth and exposing the food industry is so fulfilling. I applaud every one of those people who have a conscience and are more worried about protecting our children and future generations than filling their pockets with our new God, Money.

I laughed so hard at the part where they replaced the "Half the fat" label with "Double the sugar", it reminds me of super markets who make bigger shopping carts and brand them as "for your shopping convenience" rather than, "So you can buy more stuff and we can make more money."

My only regret with this movie is that I didn't see it 30 years ago. I've heard for years about how bad sugar is for you and not to drink pop and always shrugged it off. Sometimes you have to see a documentary like this for it to really sink in. I already know who I'm giving my last bag of sugar to.

A huge THANK YOU! to the creators of this movie from this parent.

Fed Up is a clearly well-meaning documentary, and its producers, director, and parties involved obviously bear emotions on the food industry that are perfectly in-line with the title of the documentary they are making. However, it bothers me that reviews of the documentary praise the film as something groundbreaking and that its discoveries and examination of the food industry is shocking. Did everyone forget the documentary Super Size Me, which garnered nearly-unanimous praise and just came out ten years ago? What about Food, Inc., another documentary concerning what we eat and where it comes from, or even its follow-up documentary A Place at the Table, released last year? As stylistically sublime and efficient as Fed Up is, it's not new information, but, maybe like the recent NSA/wiretapping controversy, maybe we just need a friendly reminder with more bells and whistles.

Fed Up is narrated by news anchor/talk-show host Katie Couric, who brings her perky-mannerisms and clarity to the table when discussing the food industry's peddling of high-sugar products, in addition to illustrating the tremendous influx of diseases like diabetes, heart problems, and obesity in America. Couric examines how America has seen numbers and their pant-sizes explode in the last couple decades, after the McGovern Report in the late seventies attempted to implement harsher food restrictions and advertising campaigns on the food industry. The industry responded by releasing many products claiming "low fat," "reduced fat," and "no fat" products which, despite their ostensible health benefits, literally taint their possibilities for being nutritious by adding massive amounts of sugar to compensate for the flavor fat provided. In addition, ad campaigns of the food industry were not given very detailed restrictions, allowing corporations to peddle food to kids that had little to no nutritional value and result in health problems from an early age.

How anyone could see any of this information to be new or groundbreaking is beyond me, but I continue to digress. Fed Up, after all, is a competent and intensely watchable documentary, illustrating a growing problem in America. The topic it touches on is one I've been telling people about for years, when my friends and I engage in debates about food and the health of America, in that poor-quality, processed food is ubiquitous beyond belief. Service stations have turned into gas stations/convenient stores, stocking every brand of soda, chips, and frozen foods one could imagine, and with no restrictions with advertising and lower-cost ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup in the foods, the corporations wisely look to glitz their products with billion dollar advertising campaigns to make sure your children know their product, by every color on the box to the plastic-wrap you need to peel off of the tray.

In addition to exploring the utter anomaly of how gym memberships in America could double, while obesity rates do the same, directress Stephanie Soechtig also illustrates stories from obese teens all across America, who are committing themselves to make healthy eating choices. While these kids are only twelve, fifteen, and even as young as ten or eleven, they condemn the idea of a diet, stating consuming healthy foods is how we should be eating all the time, but nonetheless, feel soul-crushed to learn that their lifestyle changes result in little-to-no weight loss whatsoever. Some of them, through their dietary ventures, experiences weight gain. While this part of the documentary steers into emotionally manipulating territory, if one looks past this effect and seriously contemplates the devotion of the kids and the fact that everything they were told to do to lose weight isn't working, it becomes a very upsetting situation to witness.

Watching these kids in tough positions makes me recall my own food habits, which are flawed to say the least. I weigh about one-hundred and forty pounds at age eighteen, am roughly five feet, ten inches tall, and, for the last two years of my high school career, scarcely ate breakfast, ate a muffin and an RC Cola for lunch, occasionally ate a balanced dinner, but mostly just played it by ear, and still kind of live that way today. When I was younger, my family ate a balanced dinner nearly every night we could, with meat, a vegetable, a salad, and a side of corn, mashed potatoes, rice, or stuffing. Then both my parents began working irregular work hours, I got a job and began working irregular hours, and to this day, we only eat together on Mondays.

This is the point Fed Up never brings up when questioning why Americans continue to buy into the cheap, alternative food that is heavily processed and infused with sugar when there are obviously healthy options. Few have time to cook when jobs demand so much of us today. It's far too difficult, especially when we can head down to the local fast food place, get a bag of food impersonally thrown at us at the drive-thru window, and get home with money in our wallets and time to spare.

Fed Up really hits its stride at the documentary's conclusion, when it compares the food industry's peddling of garbage to the manipulative and cloyingly false advertisements of the tobacco industry about four decades ago, which almost seem like farcical parodies today. Could you believe we bought their lie that smoking was sexy? Could you believe we thought it was okay to suck anything other than oxygen into our lungs and believed that it wasn't quietly hurting us? The filmmakers behind Fed Up believe (or hope) we'll be saying the same about the food industry in a short time. All I can say is if we continue getting "wakeup calls" like this documentary, we should learn to make their impact last before being greeted with a fairly similar product in relative short notice.

Eye-opening! I love the way this film's message comes through in an intellectual and impactful way. This documentary tackles the issue of childhood obesity and follows the lives of kids across America. In between, we learn that everything we know about losing weight is wrong and that the content in our food products is a lie.

I want you to find any processed food product and look on the nutrition label. You will find that sugar does not have a percent daily value. All the other ingredients do. Why not sugar? Because, "80% out of the 600,000 food products sold in the country have added sugar and since 1995 the government has provided over eight billion dollars in subsides for corn based sweeteners." Revealing these surprising facts was no easy feat however, director Stephanie Soechtig brilliantly shows the struggle that all kids go through as they battle obesity. The half a dozen kids they follow through their physical and, more important, emotional pain - are amazing. We see them living different lives but dealing with the same obstacles. Their everyday struggles prove this film's theory. Many doctors, authors and, even presidents, are interviewed. Each has their say in the issue and all have wise words. The animation showing graphs, pie charts and ratings are clever. Mixed in with the informative, stock footage of news and food commercials showing the history of obesity, make this an exciting and insightful film.

I was blown away by Maggie Valentine's story. This beautiful girl is going through the heartache of trying to control her weight. She works everyday to release weight but, in the end, it's futile. To see her tears, frustration and sadness is unbearable to watch.

The message in this film is, "Change the food industry!" Being overweight is not entirely a personal fault. Our processed foods are a huge cause of the obesity rate in America. Food companies continue to grow bigger and stronger. Thus, we need to change the way we eat. We need to stop putting gasoline on to the fire. It's not easy. As Margo Wootan says, "Healthy eating is like swimming up stream. If you want to eat better you have to work hard against the food environment." The interview with David Allison, PH.D, Director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center, is both tragic and funny. Allison has repeatedly taken research money from Coke, Pepsi and America Beverage Association. Asked about sugary beverages, David says, "one question you might ask is 'weather sugary beverages contribute more calories than other foods'" The interviewer asks, "Do they?" David replies, "It's a good question but I don't think the evidence is quite clear." The interviewer asks, "What is the science behind that?" David replies, "The ideal study might be to require people to … (he stumbles) Ah, let me start again on that. Let me get my thoughts together..." Allison can't even form words. This made me chuckle because he can't even devise a logical explanation.

I give this 5 out of 5 stars and recommend this to 6- to 18-year-olds. Kids need to be aware of what's in the food they eat and learn how to make better choices.

Reviewed by Keefer B., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. For more reviews go to kidsfirst dot org