There's a new documentary out that aims to prove that "everything we've been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong."
That's a strong statement, and mostly true if the only place you've been getting your news on food and exercise is from the mainstream media. Mass-media outlets love to simplify and scandalize the news, rarely digging deeper into the complex workings of behind-the-scenes messaging strategies led by lobbyists and their huge advertising budgets.
As a result, despite a diet filled with "low-fat foods" and lots of emphasis on exercise--"Let's Move!"--obesity remains an epidemic in America.
What gives? Fed Up, a new documentary narrated and executive-produced by Katie Couric and co-executive-produced by Laurie David (who also produced An Inconvenient Truth) investigates the key role that sugar plays in the American diet--and how the sugar lobby has bullied the government into putting the blame on lack of exercise rather than the fact that Americans are now consuming 130 pounds of sugar each year (much of it hidden in processed low-fat foods, sodas, juices, and "energy drinks").
The film does an excellent job explaining how sugar works in the body, how there's been a giant cover-up of the scientific and medical evidence that sugar is causing the obesity and diabetes epidemic, and how overuse is harming our children's lives.
The sugar lobby is connected to the corn lobby is connected to the agriculture lobby is connected to the oil, gas, and coal lobby--supporting a system that is immensely profitable to a few giant organizations and yet devastatingly destructive to our children, our Earth, and our viability as a species.
Fed Up shines a spotlight on a big problem. See it, and consider it an important step in the process of understanding how powerful American commodity groups can impact policy, public opinion, and ultimately public health.The real problem is actually much, much bigger. But your part in the solution can be simple: Eat real food, organic if possible, as closely aligned with nature as possible.
- Real organic grass-fed butter--not margarine or butter substitute
- Real whole organic eggs--not egg substitute
- Real organic bacon--not breakfast mystery meat
- Real organic fruit--not juice
- Real water--not soda (diet or otherwise)
- Real organic homemade salads with homemade salad dressings--not low-fat sugar-free salad dressings
- Real foods made at home--not from the freezer section of your supermarket, or from the selection of highly processed items in the grocery aisle. And skip the fast food outlet. Laurie David makes this step easy with her book, The Family Cooks: 100+ Recipes to Get Your Family Craving Food That's Simple, Tasty, and Incredibly Good for You.
See Fed Up and start making a positive difference today. You have the power to make the right choices for yourself, for your family and for the earth.
For more from Maria Rodale, visit www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com