The Perfect Human Diet: a nice little fantasy

The Perfect Human Diet

The text links you to the video on Amazon and the photo links you to the documentary website.

I was planning on posting about sprouting nuts but I was browsing Amazon Prime Instant Video and saw this documentary yet again, only this time I decided to watch it. Honestly I was expecting a typical "diet" movie.  While it has its issues, some pretty big ones, it also brings up some excellent points and starts a dialog about what we, as a species, should be eating.
Let me be clear, I AM NOT PRO-PALEO DIET.
I am pro ethnic, native, traditional, clean, sustainable, mindful eating.

There are a few points I take issue with in this movie:

-No conversation about how the diet/raising practices of our meat animals is affecting human health.
-No conversation about differences in genetics regarding how different ethnicities eat.
-No explanation about the digestion of dairy.
-Didn't explain different kinds of fats or importance of Omega 3 & 6 fats
- Making blanket statements about grains i.e. "whole grains are just as bad as white" "humans did not eat grains before we started farming", and then not explaining or backing those statements with science.
-A little weak on scientific sources and (since it's a movie, this is probably me having a stick up my butt) not citing articles/primary literature supporting their statements.

What they got right:

-Their explanations of fats and carbs.
- How ethnic diets are different than modern diets ( they mostly got it)
-Affect of farming on human health.
-Excellent visualizations/ comparisons to explain how important diet is to health.
-Media's impact on the public's view of what "healthy" means.

Most everything else is a mix of wrong/right/incomplete information, so just take it with a grain of salt and watch the movie with the intention of thinking outside the box.

Nutrition, health, agriculture and food are issues I am very passionate about and have spent the majority of my time in college studying.  Because of that I want to start writing about those issue here as their own topic. So, consider this the beginning of a weekly series on making and eating food and how it affects our bodies. To start out I plan to cover topics the movie touched on.When I figure out what day of the week to expect more I will let you know!


If this is subject is particularly interesting to you check out the books below, these are some of my favorite books related to food, healthy and agriculture. 
                  They are affiliate links to Amazon

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