Vegucated

Makes you stop an think "What am I eating ? Food does matter, animals do matter, WTF is wrong with this world ?". I've always been a critic of vegetarians. I never understood why people would make such a great deal about eating meat. It is just natural , it is cultural and it is the base of almost every diet. Watch this movie if you want to star to understand what vegetarians and vegans are all about. It is ideological but it is more than just that. It might not change your mind, your habits or your diet but it does change you. It makes you more human and it makes you understand.

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian"

The name "Vegucated" sounds to me like a film that would give you a good education on the benefits of a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. I like the concept of introducing 3 people to such a wonderful way of living. Dr. Fuhrman made an appearance, checking their health and showed how their health improved in the short time they were on the program. The show also exposed many problems in some slaughterhouses, dairy and large organic farms, which is appreciated since I am now more likely to purchase meat from small local farms. It was definitely extremely politically slanted for farm animal rights. Its as if they expect you to be shocked at seeing animals who are bred for food to be killed for that purpose. Or that Americans who are only used to seeing animals already dead in the supermarket would not be able to cope with the idea that they were once alive and were killed whether humanely or not. They spent way too much time trying to convert the 3 subjects, and the viewers, into farm animal rights activists. They should have spent some time showing viewers examples of people who have been positively impacted by veganism such as having their cancer (or other terrible disease) cured just by changing their diet. A visit to Florida to see the 70-year old Annette Larkin who looks 35 would have really made this documentary kick, if they really wanted to give a true education about veganism and not just a farm animal rights activist propaganda program.

First off, no documentary is 100% fact based and true as people's emotions, level of knowledge and personal preferences will affect the overall result. So I was not expecting perfection. However this documentary gets many things wrong.

I feel that the producers/writers have good intentions and have a desire to improve people's health and the environment, but they simply need more education and reading on the topics before they give advice.

In short, here are the things that they got right AND what they left out:

WHAT THEY GOT RIGHT:

1. Animals are treated inhumanely and suffer great pain through modernized farming practices, in which they are treated as a number and valued based on the profit they produce. They go through tremendous physical and emotional pain their whole lives up until they are slaughtered for food.

2. Vegans suffer from less heart disease or other chronic conditions. (but I will discuss the reason)

3. Eating fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds are great for your body. They are full of nutrients and fiber. Nuts are high in fats, but they are good fats and that is what we want. _______

WHAT THEY GOT WRONG OR LEFT OUT:

1. There are many Organic and free range farms that DO raise their animals humanely. If we as consumers chose to only buy those products and support local sustainable and ethical farms, even if that means paying more money initially, then eventually we would change the system. It takes two to tango.

2. Vegans suffer from less chronic diseases but it is not because they eliminate meat. There are a few reasons for this such as vegans generally being more mindful of what they eat as they become more educated about food and how it is processed. For instance, after they learn more about the origin of food and how it is processed and they learn about GMO's, chemicals, carcinogens, etc. They will make healthier choices in general.

The other reason is, that vegans will eat a lot more fruits, veggies, seeds and nuts, which are full of nutrients and fiber and nourish your body very well and fight disease. But if someone who ate meat, eggs and bacon on a regular basis, also ate as much of these unrefiend plant foods, they will see similar results.

3. The biggest thing they got wrong was that saturated fat and cholesterol from animal products cause atherosclerosis( clogging of the arteries) and heart disease. This is outdated advice based on epidemiological studies done in the 50's and 60's, mostly done by Ancel keys, and that have been debunked many times through recent clinical trials and a closer look at the data. Recent Data have clearly proven the biggest cause of Obesity, heart disease, clogged arteries and diabetes(diseases that usually accompany each other in the same individual, known as "metabolic syndrome") are SUGAR and REFINED CARBOHYDRATES. Unfortunately Veganism does not eliminate these foods at all. Most vegans eat even more of these dangerous foods, as they look to replace the calories from animal products with other sources.

If you would like to learn more about this topic read: "The big fat surprise" and "Why we get fat and what to do about it"

4. During the transition phase, as they call it in the movie, what they recommended was to buy vegan imitations. Vegan cheese, Vegan ham, Vegan hot dogs, etc. These foods are HIGHLY processed with more than 20 ingredients if you read their labels and are worse than the supposedly "bad" foods they are trying to replace. Moreover they are usually made with soy and textured vegetable protein which is bad for you for a host of reasons. On top of that it is most likely GMO, as 94% of all US soy is. ___ Bottom line:

I feel this could have been way better, by discussing topics such as the effects of unrefined plant foods on the body and how they can help improve health. Topics such as fiber, antioxidants and micro nutrients come to mind.

A focus on eating whole foods and eliminating processed foods would have been another great message.

Hopefully the producers/ writers will improve upon their work in the future.

By the way, this was my first review, but I felt obligated to share my opinion. Excuse the grammar or the way I structured it.

Max

Although I think this movie could have been much better, I gave it a 7. I really liked the concept of meat-lovers experiencing the vegan lifestyle, gaining knowledge about what happens behind doors to provide people with animal products. This movie raises awareness of crazy animal suffering, which so few people really know about. It is also great that this movie takes only 1 hour, which makes it easer for people to decide to go watch this movie.

Before I'll start about the downside of this movie, I want to add that I am a vegetarian and am considering veganism.

The thing that really annoyed me in this movie and actually in general discussions about vegetarianism/veganism, is that vegetarians/vegans always try to prove they've made the right choice, by only showing the veganism supporting arguments, images, studies etcetera, without showing ANY nonsupporting arguments/studies. What about the risks of overconsumption of soy (which is easy with soymilk, because this is highly concentrated with soy), what about people with allergies/intolerances which heavily limit their food options, what about nutrients like vitamin B12 and DHA (an Omega-3 fatty acid), or maybe even some thoughts about the lack of availability of vegan products elsewhere in the world to provide a fully nutritious diet and there are many other points of discussion which are not as easy as you would want it.

For me there are also so many questions unanswered, which nobody seems to talk about and this subject is so much more complex than this movie is showing. At least they added a humorous touch to the movie (although some humor could have been better.. :)), which compensates this problem a little.

Overall, the movie is OK and especially a must watch for ignorant people (which we have LOTS of on this planet), but it would certainly not survive the real critic.

Not a bad movie overall (I really liked the format of following people and teaching them), but ironically not as focused on HEALTH as I would like to have seen.

My two biggest problems with the movie are as follows:

1. Anything vegan was automatically given a "free pass" and labeled as healthy. In reality, the host taught the three people to rely very heavily on highly processed meat-replacement foods. As one point the host happily told them that store bought frosting and teddy grams were vegan, so they were free game and I wanted to scream at the TV. For this reason, I think that the producers and host are either not very knowledgeable about nutrition and/or they don't care about health as much as they do the animals...

2. They really didn't spend a lot of time talking about HEALTH in this movie, oddly. The bulk of the movie was trying to convince them (and you) to go vegan, but they didn't approach it from an angle about becoming healthy so much as they tried to scare and disgust people by showing clips of animals being abused. Granted, there was the guest appearance of Dr. F, but the movie really disappointed me in that regard.

For my full review, see: http://www.drnicoledinezza.com/doctor-dinezzas- blog/a-review-of-vegucated