Documentaries That May Save Your Life
Viewing, learning and applying information found in these documentaries could quite literally save your life. The path to regaining your health, is the food you eat. Switching to a whole food, plant-based, no oil diet is a tried and true method for regaining your health.
All of the below documentaries are science centered, plant based and filmed in such a way as to emphasize science, education and a connection to the people represented in the films.
1. Forks Over Knives - Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country’s three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to “battle” these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases. Could it be there’s a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive, but so straightforward, that it’s mind-boggling that more of us haven’t taken it seriously. Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.
Watch the trailer here. The movie is available as a digital download for purchase, rent, or as a DVD or you can watch it on Netflix.
2. Eating You Alive - Half of all adults in the U.S. struggle with chronic health conditions. Despite countless dollars spent on medical research and drugs to improve our health, more Americans are disabled and dying from chronic disease than ever before. Featuring leading medical experts and researchers, this nutrition documentary takes a scientific look at the reasons we’re so sick, who’s responsible for feeding us the wrong information and how we can use whole-food, plant- based nutrition and vegan food approaches to take control of our health—one bite at a time. Advocates for Eating You Alive's nutritional approach to wellness include Suzy Amis Cameron, James Cameron, Samuel L. Jackson and Penn Jillette as well as healthcare experts Doctors Dean Ornish, Neal Barnard, John McDougall, Joel Fuhrman, Caldwell Esselstyn, Michael Greger & T. Colin Campbell.
Watch the trailer here. The movie is available as a digital download for purchase, rent, or as a DVD here.
3. What The Health - What the Health is the groundbreaking follow-up film from the creators of the award-winning documentary Cowspiracy. The film follows intrepid filmmaker Kip Andersen as he uncovers the secret to preventing and even reversing chronic diseases – and investigates why the nation’s leading health organizations don’t want us to know about it. With heart disease and cancer the leading causes of death in America, and diabetes at an all-time high, the film reveals possibly the largest health cover-up of our time. With the help of medical doctors, researchers, and consumer advocates, What the Health exposes the collusion and corruption in government and big business that is costing us trillions of healthcare dollars, and keeping us sick.
Watch the trailer here. The movie is available as a digital download for purchase or you can watch it on Netflix.
4. The Game Changers - Presented by James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic and Chris Paul — a revolutionary new film about meat, protein and strength.
The Game Changers is a 2018 documentary film that promotes a plant-based diet. The film interviews science experts in various fields, showcases success stories of athletes that have adopted such diets, highlights favorable scientific studies, and champions what the filmmakers argue are benefits of plant-based diets for both athletes and non-athletes.
Watch the trailer here. The movie is available to watch on Netflix.
5. PlantPure Nation - The documentary film PlantPure Nation tells the story of three people on a quest to spread the message of one of the most important health breakthroughs of all time. After renowned nutritional scientist and bestselling author T. Colin Campbell gives a stirring speech on the floor of the Kentucky House of Representatives, his son, Nelson, and Kentucky State Representative Tom Riner work together to propose a pilot program documenting the health benefits of a plant-based diet. Once the legislation goes into Committee, agribusiness lobbyists kill the plan. Undeterred, Nelson decides to try his own pilot project in his hometown of Mebane, North Carolina.
6. Processed People - Processed People features in-depth discussions with leading health experts detailing why so many of us are sick, and offers solutions to our current devastating health crisis. Tragically, many Americans are victims of a "health care" system and way of life which are devastating to our overall well-being. To those running our system, the bottom line on the dollars we're able to spend is more important than the bottom line on our health. We're caught in a perpetual grinding machine, unable to escape.
You can watch the trailer and excerpts from some of the interviews in this playlist on YouTube. You can purchase the film with all the extras here.
7. Food Choices - Join award-winning filmmaker Michal Siewierski on his three-year journey to expose the truth about our food choices. This ground-breaking documentary explores the impact that food choices have on people’s health, the health of our planet and on the lives of other living species. And also discusses several misconceptions about food and diet, offering a unique new perspective on these issues. Featuring interviews with 28 world-renowned experts, including Dr. T Colin Campbell, Joe Cross, Dr. John McDougall, Capitan Paul Watson, Dr. Pam Popper, Dr. Michael Greger, Rich Roll, Dr. Richard Oppenlander, Dr. Toni Bark and several others. This film will certainly change the way you look at the food on your plate.
The movie is available as a digital download for purchase or you can watch it on Netflix.
8. Hungry For Change - Hungry For Change exposes shocking secrets the diet, weightloss and food industry don't want you to know about; deceptive strategies designed to keep you coming back for more. Find out what's keeping you from having the body and health you deserve and how to escape the diet trap forever.
Featuring interviews with best selling health authors and leading medical experts plus real life transformational stories with those who know what it’s like to be sick and overweight. Learn from those who have been there before and continue your health journey today.
The movie is available as a DVD or digital download for purchase or you can watch it on Netflix.
9. Fat Sick & Nearly Dead - 100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn't end well— with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn't far behind. FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe's personal mission to regain his health.
With doctors and conventional medicines unable to help long- term, Joe turns to the only option left, the body's ability to heal itself. He trades in the junk food and hits the road with juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for the next 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe has one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle.
While talking to more than 500 Americans about food, health and longevity, it's at a truck stop in Arizona where Joe meets a truck driver who suffers from the same rare condition. Phil Staples is morbidly obese weighing in at 429 lbs; a cheeseburger away from a heart-attack. As Joe is recovering his health, Phil begins his own epic journey to get well.
What emerges is nothing short of amazing – an inspiring tale of healing and human connection.
Part road trip, part self-help manifesto, FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD defies the traditional documentary format to present an unconventional and uplifting story of two men from different worlds who each realize that the only person who can save them is themselves.
The movie is available as a DVD or as a digital download for purchase or you can watch it on Hulu or Netflix.
10. Vegucated - Vegucated is a guerrilla-style documentary that follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks and learn what it's all about.
They have no idea that so much more than steak is at stake and that the planet's fate may fall on their plates. Lured by tales of weight lost and health regained, they begin to uncover hidden sides of animal agriculture that make them wonder whether solutions offered in films like Food, Inc. go far enough. Before long, they find themselves risking everything to expose an industry they supported just weeks before. But can their convictions carry them through when times get tough? What about on family vacations fraught with skeptical step-dads, carnivorous cousins, and breakfast buffets?
Part sociological experiment and part adventure comedy, Vegucated showcases the rapid and at times comedic evolution of three people who are trying their darnedest to change in a culture that seems dead set against it.
The movie is available as a DVD or as a digital download for purchase or you can watch it on Hulu or Netflix.
After you watch the movie you might be interested in these four "where are they now" update videos.
Vegucated Stars "Where They Are Now" Videos: Tesla's Update
Vegucated Stars "Where They Are Now" Videos: Brian's Update
Vegucated Stars "Where They Are Now" Videos: Ellen & Debbie's Updates
Vegucated Filmmakers "Where They Are Now" and Behind the Scenes Update
11. Crazy Sexy Cancer - Crazy Sexy Cancer, the documentary film I wrote and directed (and my loving husband edited), premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and then later aired on TLC and OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. In 2003, when I was a 31-year-old actress and photographer, I was diagnosed with a rare and incurable stage IV cancer. Weeks later I began filming my story. Taking a seemingly tragic situation and turning it into a creative expression, I share my cancer journey with courage, strength and lots of humor. This is truly where my mission, passion and work began…
As experimental treatment was my only option, I became determined to find answers where there were none. Traveling across the country and interviewing experts in alternative medicine, I dove headfirst into a fascinating and often hilarious holistic world. Along the way, I met other vivacious young women who were determined to become survivors and included them in my documentary. Their stories are as poignant and exciting as the women who tell them. As my journey progressed, I realized that healing is truly about living rather than fighting.
Crazy Sexy Cancer is more than a thought-provoking documentary; it’s an attitude! It’s about rising to the challenge of life and turning lemons into champagne.
You can buy the DVD here.
12. The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue
Join Rip Esselstyn, former Texas firefighter and author of the national bestselling The Engine 2 Diet, as he guides the White and Wally families through an "Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue." Watch Rip teach these families how to take control of their health through:
-Undertaking a top-to-bottom pantry clean-out
-Showing them how to navigate the grocery store aisles to not get burned by misleading nutritional labels.
-Cooking lessons to make family favorite dishes tantalizingly plant-strong with the life-saving tips in the "Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue." It's easy to own your health - join Rip and learn how to rescue your kitchen today!
The movie is available as a DVD or as a digital download for rent / purchase from Vudu or Amazon. Or you can watch it on Netflix.
13. The Marshall Plan - When Texas Mayor Ed Smith III was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he elected to forego conventional treatment in favor of a whole food, plant-based diet. The results were nothing short of miraculous: his cancer disappeared. He and his wife embarked on a mission to help their town and community adopt a healthier lifestyle based on plant foods. Their story is being told in THE MARSHALL PLAN. The documentary focuses on the transformation of one town into a healthier place when its residents adopted new eating strategies. The stories of Marshall's residents are combined with interviews from expert doctors and researchers in the field of nutrition, and professional athletes.
You can watch the trailer or the movie online.