Fed Up Movie - A must watch for everyone

I've spent the last couple of days watching Fed Up; a movie I've been meaning to add to my list of must-sees for a few months now.  I'm super glad I did.  Unfortunately it was one of the most depressing things I've seen in a while; showing the obesity problem (in USA mainly) as it is today, including through the eyes of children who are doing what they think is right to try and lose weight but are failing.  It also showed the fast food and processed food industry's true colours, manipulating studies and sometimes downright lying about scientific findings to suit their arguments and safeguard their profits.

Now obviously this is a one-sided documentary and some people may disagree with some of the facts or issues discussed within it, and this blog is just my personal/professional opinion too, but you can't dispute the fact that people are fatter and unhealthier than they were 30/40/50 years ago and that there has to be a reason for this.

I'm not going to go into the whole argument as I don't have the time or inclination (and the film has done a pretty good job of giving us a good chunk of the information we need) but it's now obvious that we need to take control of what we put in our mouths and start to be more aware of what is actually in our food so we can make informed choices about what we are eating.

My favourite quote from the film was "junk is still junk even if its a bit less junky" which partners my philosophy brilliantly.  If you're eating reduced fat biscuits/cake/meals/snacks it doesn't make it healthy.  Real food is healthy, so eat that, not some food-esque collection of unpronounceable ingredients which markets itself as healthy.

If you become a client of mine, you will learn that you don't need to carry on with a diet of rice cakes, Weight Watchers chocolate cake bars and skimmed milk.  You can eat butter, steak and full fat milk and still be healthy.  KEEP IT REAL!


Some of the rather worrying facts the film highlights:


Health insurance companies are investing billions of dollars in fast food companies.
Why?  Because they're keeping people ill and means they need to spend more on getting themselves healthy again therefore a bigger insurance spend.  (Obviously this isn't relevant to the UK but the concept still is).

 Fast food companies are still arguing their products do not contribute to the rising obesity levels.  Apparently, McDonalds don't advertise junk food, they advertise fun and happiness through Ronald McDonald.  Really?!?!
The majority of high schools in the US serve fast food on a daily basis and most worryingly of all, a portion of fries and a slice of pizza both count as a vegetable portion in school meals.  Words fail me!

Governments and food companies are still promoting exercise as the cure to obesity.  'Eat Less, Move More', 'Let's Move' and exercise programmes sponsored by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Cadbury etc are just a few examples of this.  Yes, exercise is an important part of living healthily but promoting it as the best way to lose weight over food choices is at best clever marketing, at worst downright lies.  A quote I love is 'You can't out-exercise a bad diet' and it is so true.  It is so much easier to not drink a Coke than it is to add an extra 30 minutes walking into your day.


On a slightly more positive note, the film did show that the UK has taken more steps than the USA has to try and help the obesity problem.  We no longer allow food advertising on kids TV channels, we don't have the amount of fast food in our schools as the USA do and our food labelling shows the percentage of daily sugar allowance where it doesn't in the US.  Also, our food portions thankfully haven't reached the mammoth proportions that you find across the pond although we are seeing more instances of this over recent years (belly buster breakfasts anyone?!).

Overall, the basic message from the film has to be that you have to take control of your own health and the food that you are using to fuel your body, as the food companies sure don't have our health and wellbeing at the top of their priority list.

Watch it now, and learn this for yourself:

Fed Up Movie