Fed Up

source: Fed Up

As a doco this isn't half bad, it's informative with interesting graphics to keep the viewer interested. However I felt so frustrated and angry watching this! No.1 I know the premise of this Documentary is to showcase the addictive nature of sugar and it's control over our lives and yes it does that, but why are the subject matter so naive and stupid? I don't understand how people can choose to ignore their own responsibility to this 'epidemic' and blame the food companies solely? This is what I got out of this documentary. Seems the parents and their lack of education and responsibility to their kids is not important! Maybe we are different is Australia, but I thought it's the parents' responsibility to provide food for their kids, not turn to the school cafeteria and then fast food companies to provide this for them.. these people are over weight yet sitting around the table scuffing down bowls of sugary cereals!? We sit around and wait for governments and then these big food companies make decisions for us so we can follow them blindly.. or so this documentary will make you believe. It is outrageous what is happening with food production around the world but if a product comes in a box with massive promotional casing 'sugarcoating' the shite that is inside and then we blame them for making poor choices for us, then I'm sorry we are to blame. Real food isn't processed nor does it need to be marketed. It doesn't expire in 2018 when it's 2014.. If you are in a country where tomato paste on a pizza is classified as a vegetable, and you accept this as fact then maybe Darwin had it right: 'survival of the fittest'. We need to accept accountability on our choices and not have bias opinions shape them for us. This documentary in short needed to also point out the horrible educational flaw in the US system and not just the lack of labeling and pointing to food companies.. it's the role of the government to control and educate not to be influenced by greed. I feel sorry and hopeless for the US if this is where their focus lies.

This is just a Leftie propaganda piece. The doctors are the only important people to listen to in this sht fest. Want to lose weight? Don't eat sht. Sugar, fat, processed foods. No bread, no cheese. Just real food. Fresh veggies, Chicken, oatmeal, less salt. Zero sugar! Just say NO to any and all of the food companies. Do push-ups, sit ups, and squats. Running is useless.

They left the most important point of the equation until the very last bit. It is that nobody cooks any more from scratch. They all want a fast fix by eating packaged foods. Parents are usually the first to say they would die for the children and do anything for them. Well, why are they not cooking for their children instead of being lazy and going for something out of the box? That is the problem right there. Just because these corporations keep putting all their products on the shelf does not mean one has to buy them. Why not send a STRONG message to these companies by BOYCOTTING their products and starting to cook from scratch? Try eating rice and beans, and frozen vegetables without cheese and all that stuff, just plain veggies that you season to your liking. Unless parents are ready to take back their children's lives by actually cooking for them, then this problem will continue to grow. We as a nation have become lazy and just want a quick fix, we only have ourselves to blame.

This documentary is absolutely terrible. Being a college student double majoring in psychology and exercise and sports science, this film is utter crap and is not helpful in anyway to the viewer. I watched the entire thing hoping that the experts in the film would point viewers in the right direction as far as getting correct and reliable nutrition information, but they did not. Instead their motto was "sugar is bad" and "less sugar the better." One pretty simple fact is that if someone lacks fat in their diet their bodies are going to need to make up the calories somehow. However, the film did not mention anything about eating the proper amount of fat or how to properly satiate cravings of sugar and why those cravings happen. Secondly, the film points fingers at external sources and holds society and politics as the culprits of obesity. That is utter crap. It is not the companies and other people making the decisions at the grocery store, it is the INDIVIDUAL! The only common denominator in every situation is YOU! Why did they create Google if no one is going to use it for finding nutrition advice? A common theme among any Google search on nutrition would be to stay away from sweets and fast food. That is not a hard concept to grasp and I do not need to watch this documentary to understand that. One easy tip is if you like sweets and fast food only eat them a couple times a week! They are TREATS for a reason! One overarching tip they forgot to mention during the film was bringing a lunch to school! If the school lunch is bad or doesn't meet healthy standards, bring a lunch! No one is forcing you to eat the school lunch or buy anything out of school vending machines. One banana and a table spoon of peanut butter or Nutella is going to be cheaper and healthier than buying a Snickers bar out of the vending machine. The final thing they missed was nutrient timing. That a plays a huge role on how to counteract fat gain and loss. If you are unfamiliar with nutrient timing I would suggest looking it up. One example of nutrient timing is the fact that eating low or no carbs for breakfast keeps the body in a state of ketosis, which means the body is using it fats stores for fuel. As soon as sufficient carbs are introduced to the body the body switches to using carbohydrates as fuel since carbs are the primary fuel source. There are millions of ways to gather information on nutrition and in this technological world we live in, finding information is nearly effortless. Therefore, there is no excuse on why people are so ignorant about nutrition. It's time for parents to step up to the plate and learn something in order to avoid leading your child down the road of obesity. It's not hard and it all starts with the curiosity/necessity of what healthy eating is and what people feel like when they do eat healthy. Let me tell you, that bloated, groggy, sluggish feeling after eating a Big Mac doesn't happen after eating a properly portioned healthy meal.

Im 10-20 minutes into this and already have heard so many false statements. Its just making excuses, blaming advertising companies for making people overeat. Its absolutely maddening. Im going to finish it, because I have to for a school project. If it turns around, Ill update the review accordingly.

Read, "It Starts with Food"! I just watched this and I will admit it was very informative. I am lucky to be married to someone who has a very solid understanding of healthy eating. Because of my wife, and years of reading Mens Health, I know a lot of things about the food I choose to eat that the people in this documentary and honestly most people do not. The fact that sugar is in just about everything these days and that calories are very different from food to food. It was difficult watching the people thinking they were making good choices and eating healthy with the cereals and "low calorie" low fat" food" that is ultimately full of sugar. I do give the filmmakers credit for highlighting the real culprit of fat and disease in the large consumption of sugar. What I wish they would have done is stop making every fat person some type of victim of government failure. While the government could probably be doing something better lets be honest, the government never will. The reality is that there is too much money and power in the food industry which is okay as far as I am concerned. The way to stop "Big Food", is to stop buying it. People need to start taking some personal responsibility for themselves. Harsh, I know, and a viewpoint that was criticized throughout the movie but come on. There are endless resources available to everyone these days. Anyone can go to a public library and for free use the internet to learn about healthy eating or for free check out a book. I recommend, again, It Starts with Food. All you need to do is educate yourself just a little bit. We need to stop waiting for other people to solve our problems all the time. The issue of childhood obesity is a big one and I fully understand the vulnerability of kids with advertising and sugary foods. But we as parents have the ability to make the correct choices for ourselves and our families. Sugar filled foods are just cheap and easy, so people stock up and chow down. I could only give five stars because although very informative and eye opening, this documentary fell back on such a typical expose format, blaming someone else. Imagine what would happen to childhood obesity if we stopped blaming the government, and "Big Food", and thought for ourselves just a little bit. When we see our children getting fat and being made fun of, rather then calling out the food companies and assuring ourselves that it's not our fault, we took control of the situation and changed our lifestyle. Educated ourselves and our children so that moving forward they had the power to make better decisions and truly understand the food they eat. We did it with tobacco. Private groups are telling us all the time what tobacco does and fewer people smoke these days. When someone does smoke, and gets sick, popular culture holds them responsible because they knew the dangers. I know this is a concise response to a complex issue but rather then be offended by it, try it. Take control. Detox. Drink water!

I've seen most of the movies that have been in theaters and online about nutrition. "Fed Up" is an important movie that does not have everything in it, but it tells the story in a good way and contains a wide variety of important information. I was very impressed. One thread talks about how it is virtually impossible to overcome your body's instincts as well as habits you have been trained in since birth by commercials, and the ubiquity of food placement and messages that we get. Another thread talks about the political system and how taken over it has been. When you start to piece things together - including facts from other industries - it becomes apparent that when we count GDP, Gross Domestic Product, we are really fooling ourselves counting the sale of foods that carry with them health costs that will show up for decades and be problems. The one thing we seem to be good at is manipulating people to hurt themselves in this country, and how can that have any good effect on either personal responsibility or the future of our way of life. There is a lot to think about there. Several people have important messages including Dr. Robert Lustig, Gary Taubes, Michael Pollan, as well as others. I wish we got more than sound bytes and the movie was able to deeper into some of the issues here. The main idea that the movies takes on is that a calorie is not just a calorie, but it depends on the state of your body, and from where that calorie came from and what is it. Sadly this is not explained in depth, and I could have been. An important movie that I am going to mention and urge people to go see. NOTE - if you look through the reviews and comments in the message board you will see the typical empty vapid comments from people on the right-wing who will talk about personal responsibility. This is a good issue, and the movie deals well with it. Go see this movie. 10/10

Stephanie Soechtig did an amazing job at creating a masterpiece that will truly open your eyes. From the writing on this magnificent documentary to the directing, the graphics and cinematography, Stephanie and all of the producers of the film have done an incredible job. The film manages to captivate you all throughout and pull you in with the shocking information that is displayed in it. The food industry is indeed in deep trouble and the film accomplishes excellence in illustrating that to the viewers. It is even witty and humorous at times, however this will soften even the most hardcore of people. This will hopefully open your eyes to do something and make a change. Brilliant imagery and emotions flying through the roof, making this movie, life-changing.

There's something rotten here. This "documentary" flick is full of rock-hard pronouncements that are not backed up with science. They'd have us believe that all our problems in life can be attributed to sugar. Yup. Just that sweet stuff, sugar. Nothing else really matters. Here are a few quotes that should raise doubts instantly. "Everything we've been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong." Are you pulling our leg?! "Everything"? Oh, I think not. In fact, we KNOW that's foolish. Another one: "Kids are being told the biggest lie they'll ever hear in their lives." Come on now ... biggest lie they'll EVER hear? Not likely. Not possible. Not realistic. Their statement may be the biggest lie we'll ever hear (with apologies to some of our politicians!) Another: "This is the fundamental problem no one is talking about in society." Someone didn't do their fact-checking. There have been multiple movies that made mainstream news, about the problems with food. Even Michael Pollan, who appears in FED UP, has written books about issues with our food that have received considerable attention. The statement is simply a red herring. Another, "Forget about getting more exercise." Whoa! They can't be serious! They think exercise is unimportant? That doesn't pass the straight face test, eh? Another: "We're toast as a country." Yeah, yeah. We'll if we are it will be more likely because of the US Congress and banks 'too big to fail' and not sugar. Toast anyone? I like toast. Note: These were all especially dramatic proclamations offered as hard facts. Says who? I submit that not one makes any sense. And if the viewer stops to think about it, they'll realize these decrees are baloney. Now for the kicker. All these are just from ... the trailer. There are more of the same in the full movie and far, far too many declarations of fact that have no attribution. Watch this with a seriously jaundiced eye. Don't be taken in by the deep voices, scary music, and fear- mongering. We're better and smarter than this movie gives us credit for. I'm not taking a position on sugar (not yet) but I sure am saddened by the unrealistic tenor of this movie.