Review of Documentary: Diet for a New America

Summary of Diet for a New America

Diet for a New America was a documentary on how food choices are affecting our health, life, and our earth. This movie was by John Robbins. The documentary started by talking about heart attacks and major diseases and why they are directly correlated to what we eat. In the 1990's heart attacks were the number 1 cause of death. Research showed that this was because of a buildup of fat and cholesterol in the arteries. After this discovery, the correlation of what you eat and what it does to your body started to come to attention. China did a study of fats and diets and found that when you ate a low fat diet, there were lower rates in breast cancer and colon cancer; 2 of the leading cancers in the United States. The documentary then talked about how developing countries are now scared that they will become more like us, where meat will become the main course of meals.

A large portion of this documentary was dedicated to raising animals and what they have to do with our eating. The documentary talked about how when raising animals, they are kept in very small areas, so that they cannot move so that their muscles become soft. In feed lots, cattle are confined and fattened; instead of grass to fatten them, they are fed grains. A big thing that happens with all of the animals, is the manure that they produce. The manure can leak into ground or streams which is harmful to the community. The manure can have fertilizers in it which contain nitrate in them which is a very harmful substance. When talking to the residents of the community, this was an issue that many residents definitely were concerned about. They were nervous that birth defects in children would happen because of them drinking the water or the moms drinking it during pregnancy. They were also nervous about neighbors who still drank the water after knowing that it could be contaminated.

Concepts that Challenged my Thinking

This documentary definitely had some moments in it that made me think. The first one was when discussion came up about us in comparison to other countries in our meat intake. The fact that one serving of our meat is approximately 5 servings in another country blows my mind! Even more than that, being that this documentary took place in the 1990's, I am sure that our portion sizes have gotten even larger since then. The next time I have meat, I will for sure look at it and take into account the amount of it that I am eating. Another thing that I was kind of amazed at was when Robbins was in the classroom and talking about turning grain into ground beef. 12 pounds of grain could turn into 12 loaves of bread, or 52 boxes of corn flakes. However, when it was turned into ground beef, only 1 pound could come out of it! That is crazy I think! We could get so much more use out of it I guess if we turned it into things that can go farther. A statstic that shocked me was that 80% of grain is consumed by animals, and not humans. I love my meat way to much to ever give it up, however I will definitely start thinking about it before I eat it, and I'm going to cut WAY back on it!

Terms

So I know that most of these are kind of common words, but I wanted to get true definitions for them because I think that they are important.

Atherosclerosis: A disease affecting arterial blood vessels.
Saturated Fat: A fat, most often of animal origin, that is solid at room temperature and whose fatty acid chains cannot incorporate additional hydrogen atoms. An excess of these fats in the diet is thought to raise the cholesterol level in the bloodstream.
Cholesterol: A lipidic, waxy alcohol found in the cell membranes and transported in the blood plasma of all animals.
Feedlot: A confined animal feeding operation which is used for finishing livestock prior to slaughter.
Contaminated:To soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by by contact or association.

Additional Links

The first link provided is a website about John Robbins and all of the work that he has done. It talks about the books he has written and has a question and answer forum that is kind of neat.
The Food Revolution

The second link that I found useful was an article form the New York Times from 1990 that was about the Chinese study on fats and diets.
Huge Study of Diet Indicts Fat and Meat