Stockton James Smith

Mrs. Bowman

4/27/2019

HLTH 1020

What the Health?

The CDC says that a total of 39.8% of Americans are obese. Obesity has a strong link to

type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and many other causes of premature death. With the obesity

epidemic getting worse , how are we as Americans going to solve this issue? Producers and

directors of the film “What the Health” Kip Anderson, and Keegan Kuhn attempt to solve this

problem. They argue that processed foods, specifically processed meats and animal products are

one of the main sources of cancer, and that by switching to a plant based diet that a lot of these

problems caused by obesity can be fixed.

Kip Anderson, and Keegan Kuhn are both Vegan activists who also produced the film

“Cowspiracy” a film about how the cow farming industry was behind many of the pollution

issues of our nation. It’s plenty obvious that Kip, and Keegan have a favorable bias towards a

plant-based diet. However even with a blatant heavy bias, Kip and Keegan make some good

points about how the American public eating way too many processed foods, and how eating

more fruits and vegetables could solve a lot of problems caused by the obesity epidemic.

The main overall theme of the film is how a plant based diet can solve most of the health

issues that plague the American public. They use that by making claims that the majority of big

food companies are colluding with big pharma to make sure that Americans eat badly so that

American can be stuck in a cycle of bad health, and keep giving the pharmaceutical companies
money. In this essay I’ll be comparing and contrasting the views from “what the health’ to my

textbook on healthy dietary patterns, proteins, and lipids and how they contribute to a healthy

lifestyle.

What the health makes it very clear that America has an obesity problem. Throughout

the rest of the documentary they claim that eating meat, and processed food are the cause of this.

The film also claims that the government have a bias towards food companies, and that the

recommendations brought by Myplate are incorrect. The film later show studies claiming that a

plant based diet would be the most effective way of living a healthy lifestyle. They also claim

that a plant based diet can combat this the ailments that are caused by eating too many processed

foods. The film strongly advocates that a plant based diet is the only way to live a truly healthy

lifestyle.

The book does say that Americans do eat a lot of processed foods, however the books

solution to this epidemic is introducing a variety of new healthy foods such a combo of leaner

meats, vegetables, and whole grains to combat this. The book advocates that contributing more

towards moderation, rather than a specific lifestyle would be the most effective. The book also

says that reducing not only on just fat intake, but sugar intake as well can help contribute to a

more healthy lifestyle. All in all the book claims that using a variety of different foods, and

tactics would be the most effective for a healthy lifestyle .

What the Health argues that animal protein are not essential to the human diet. In fact one

of the Dr.’s on the show Dr. Milton Mills says that “all protein is made by plants, and that it’s

not required to eat animal tissue”[2]. Dr Alan Goldhamer also says that if you had “2000 calories

of brown rice and broccoli you’d get enough protein, as well as all 9 essential amino acids”[2] .

The film hammers down that Americans eat double their protein needs, and that they could get
enough from plant based sources. The movie also shows Vegan athletes can also get their protein

needs through plant based sources as well.

The book also shows that the majority of Americans have more than enough protein in

their diets. It also says that eating too many animal products may not be the most beneficial

thing, but rather than out right saying it’s bad, claims that consumption should be lowered rather

than stopped altogether. The book also recommends to go to more plant based sources of protein,

but if you are going to with more plant based sources of proteins to get all 9 amino acids from

other complementary sources. For example a meal of beans and rice that can make up for the

missing amino acid methionine in the beans, and lysine missing in the beans[1]. The book shows

it’s possible.

The film hammers homes that fats, and lipids specifically those from animal products are

not good at all. In the film many doctors claim that the cause of diabetes is from animal based

diets. The film later shows an animation showing how fat from the the animal products go into

the bloodstream eventually going on the walls of the bloodstream, because of this once the cells

become insulin resistant, making the cells not absorb the glucose causing the bloodstream to be

filled with glucose, and overtime will cause diabetes.

The book also says that you should be cautious about fats, and lipids however if you can

get them from the right sources such as fish,olive oil, and not in heavy amounts that you should

be alright. The book explains that lipids help the body absorb vitamins such as A, D, E and K for

later uses. The book also explains to make sure that you have a high count of HDL, and a low

count of LDL. Overall the book says to make sure that you get your fats and lipids from more

plant sources as well.

 What did I think of the film? I overall found the film like I said in the beginning of this

essay the movie was very biased towards a plant based diet, and making it seem that all causes of

cancer, and heart disease are from animal products. In the film they even make the claim that

“one egg is as bad as five cigarettes a day” which I found to be both false, and absurd. Even

doing research about that claim I found a study linked below about how eggs can be healthy for

those with insulin sensitivity issues[3] .

All in all even with my gripes about the film, I did think it made great points about two

specific issues. The first being that Americans eat way too many processed meats and foods, and

not enough vegetables and fruits.Introducing varieties of fruits and vegetables into the diet can

be beneficial for a person wanting to eat healthier. I also do think that food companies do have

an incentive for Americans to still be eating bad, as it helps with their bottom lines.

All in all I think the book sums up way better on how to get rid of the issue of

obesity.That introducing a variety of healthy foods such as whole grains, fruits, veggies, and lean

meats would be the most effective in keep a person both full, and happy. The movie presents one

diet as a cure-all to all the health issues. I think that overall moderation, portion control, and wise

decision making is the best diet anyone can do.

Works Cited

[1] Smith, Anne, et al. Wardlaw's Contemporary Nutrition: A Functional Approach.

[2]Anderson, Kip and Keegan Kuhn, directors. What The Health? . A.U.M. Films & Media,

www.whatthehealthfilm.com/.

[3] “Whole Egg Consumption Improves Lipoprotein Profiles and Insulin Sensitivity to a Greater

Extent than Yolk-Free Egg Substitute in Individuals with Metabolic Syndrome.” Metabolism,

W.B. Saunders, 26 Sept. 2012, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026049512003186.