What the Health?! 🐄

Question

Last night my husband and I were flipping through Netflix searching for something to watch. I came across a documentary called "What the Health". I've always found documentaries about the food industry and it's effect on our health very interesting. I particularly found this one interesting because it's focused on a plant based diet, which my husband and I have recently taken on due to health issues. (were not 100% plant based, or vegan, but we definitely have restricted our diet. We're essentially paleo)
So we went ahead and watched the movie and it was very insightful. I personally felt it was over exaggerated and I doubt that 100% of the information shared was totally true. BUT I see a lot of validity in the point they were trying to convey. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do.
But it was basically about how the animal product industry (meat, dairy, eggs etc.) and the government (its greed $) are taking advantage of the American people and promoting unhealthy lifestyles as being healthy, and as a result it's causing an epidemic of diseases (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, cancer etc.) Their main point was to show that a plant based (vegan) diet is exponentially better for you, and prevents and/or even heals diseases. 
Id love to know if anyone else has seen this documentary and what are your thoughts on it?? Or even if you haven't seen it, what's your opinion on this subject?

Answer

I've seen parts of it. What I have seen its a load of garbage information (some of it was ok). Anyone in the agriculture industry or any large animal veterinarian can spot a million things that are either portrayed incorrectly or are just made up nonsense. It happens a lot in these kids of videos- they do not give an accurate representation at all. I can't stand documentaries like this because they're basically fear mongering and give farmers a bad name. If there's an issue in Agriculture then we should and do try to deal with that issue, but not make them up and cause issues. Animal welfare is HUGE in agriculture- ask any farmer or vet. It's their primary concern. Unhealthy animals do not make for good production rates or good quality products at all.

Answer

I have watched it. But I was already vegan. I liked all of the information.

Answer

I don't know. I watch a lot of videos and documentaries like that (though not this specific one) and it's really unhealthy for me to do so. For a while, I was into all of those YouTube vegans and I watched them religiously. They seem to try to target young girls with eating disorders. I am recovering from a serious case of anorexia and found that these videos were detrimental to my recovery. I was becoming overly obsessive with what I was eating. I started focusing on what they were saying. I noticed that every article they linked would contradict the next. It seriously made me crazy. I just want to be healthy and a good person, you know? Some would say don't use oil, others said coconut oil is best, others canola. It seems like there are no true answers and it frustrates me. I just want to be healthy but I'm very gullible and will listen to all of these people. I probably have not answered your questions so sorry lol. My point is, I think it's cool they're trying to shed some light, but I have no clue when they're telling the reality of it all or not.

Answer

Personally, I feel that any diet you participate in can potentially be healthy, as long as you're doing it correctly. There is a right and wrong way to be a vegan. There is a right and wrong way to be paleo. There is a right and wrong way to eat, even if you aren't following a specific dietary lifestyle.
I believe eating meat is okay...as long as you are eating organic, free range, hormone/pesticide free meat. And as long as you aren't regularly eating it every single day. I'm on the paleo diet, but I personally only eat chicken, turkey or fish maybe 2-3 times in a week. The rest of the time I'm strictly plant based, gluten free, totally dairy free, and only egg whites. No yolks.
A person can easily say, oh I'm on the paleo diet but they're eating tons of animal fat and bacon and processed meats every single day without even realizing that isn't the correct way to do it. Nor is it the healthy way.
In the same way, a vegan can successfully avoid all forms of animal product, yet live a sedentary lifestyle, eating super high fats and refined sugars and processed foods. That's not healthy either.
I see the dangers and health effects in animal products. If you're not too careful, you could be consuming hormone and drug ridden meats, you could be at risk for salmonella or other parasites, if you consume too much too often you could get high cholesterol, gain weight, and potentially lead yourself into having a heart attack in the future.
In my personal experience, I was really sick last year for a long time. Stomach problems, migraines, hormone imbalances...so I went to a naturopath and got some tests done. I had no good estrogen in my body, a high build up of toxins, and one of the worst cases of candida in my stomach she's ever seen. My cortisol levels were through the roof, and my adrenal function wasn't the best. She did a food intolerance test and I found I had allergies and inflammation due to dairy, red meat, egg yolks, gluten, corn, and refined sugars. So I immediately went on my new diet, avoiding all those foods. In three months, my headaches went away, my hormones went back to normal levels, and my stress levels and cortisol went down by 75%. And the candida levels in my stomach cut in half. It really shows how diet does honestly effect your health. 
Moral of the story is to be careful. You don't have to go vegan, unless you really want to. But just be cautious of what you're consuming.

What the Health?! 🐄

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