The Game Changers is a much-hyped documentary about the benefits of eating a plant-based diet for athletes.
It’s the latest of a long list of movies focusing on plant based eating, which include: What The Health, Food, Inc., Forks Over Knives, Vegucated, Food Matters, Supersize Me, Hungry for Change, among others.
The film covers multiple success stories of plant-based athletes, references scientific studies, and touches on other arguments for vegan diets that extend to non-athletes.
It has a large list of producers and co-producers, including Titanic‘s James Cameron, and celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, which also explains its popularity.
I think it is a well put together movie that raises important health issues that (actually) have known for many years. The fact that eating a plant based diet is the most beneficial for humans is hardly a new idea.
Whether or not you trust the research studies on plant based eating and athletic performance presented in this film, I think The Game Changers is having a considerable impact on some sections of society; largely because of the celebrity factor of having film star Arnold Schwarzenegger promoting vegan diets.
I think a lot of people could be better off by watching this movie though; and especially so, those folks brainwashed into believing on the benefits of paleo diets, and well as high fat diets. And there lots of them, believe me…
Does The Game Changers go far enough?
In many aspects, I found this documentary similar to my Health For Life program, but unlike my book, I believe this film is too mainstream and not deep enough.
If you are an athlete eating the Standard Western Diet in your 20s or early 30s and decided to go plant based, you will gain many health benefits, as is chronicled in the movie.
However, if you are into your mid or late 30s and beyond, I believe you need a more radical approach to achieve great health – such a raw food diet; partly because you have done a lot more damage to your body over the years than a lot of younger people.
At the age of 37, my health almost collapsed. I suffered from peripheral neuropathy, arteriosclerosis, constant ear infections, widespread joint and back pain, depression, poor immunity, severe gum disease, and horrible digestive issues that wouldn’t go away, as well as putting on extra weight – and all of these while eating mostly plant-based.
Being vegan alone wasn’t enough for me to get better and overcome disease; I needed to go raw – the Natural Hygiene way; this is where the amazing results appeared, so much so, I decided to study further and start teaching.
This is not to say that raw vegan diets should only be implemented in order to overcome illnesses. Many well-known athletes have benefited greatly over the years from taking a raw food approach, but I believe this is the next step of evolution.
Don’t wait for the mainstream to catch up on raw foods as it did on veganism, because you might have to wait forever.
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3 Responses
Thank you Ariel, I couldn’t agree more.
I had very similar experiences after being on what I thought was a healthy, home-prepared cooked vegan diet for 14 years. It was only when I discovered Natural Hygiene and started eating a raw, fruit-based diet (19 years ago) that I began to regain my health and vitality. I couldn’t believe the difference and wanted to tell everyone they didn’t have to be sick and fat. It came as a shock to me later that many people just don’t want to know where they’re messing up. The website I created back then, http://www.RawSchool.com, is still active (and non-monetized) but my frustration with the power that addiction has over people led me to start applying NH principles to the feeding and care of dogs, which is now my focus via my website http://www.NoMoreVetBills.com. I teach people what really works and they don’t have to address their emotional issues with food, all they have to do is put different food in the dog’s bowl. It works brilliantly. Dogs just get well and stay out of the clutches of the sick dog industry. I have a book on the website that explains the methods. I like to think it’s a “game changer” for dog owners.
Thank you for doing what you do.
I watched it just recently. I’m not an athlete or a body-builder but I found it inspiring. I’ve been vegan for quite a few years – I was diagnosed with MS in 2006 and I’d been vegetarian for most of my life, so I felt a bit miffed. I went vegan not too long after. My symptoms stabilised and I haven’t relapsed in 14 years– but I’m treading water: I’m not getting any worse but I’m not getting any better either. And I’m not getting any younger – no matter what the sweet old lady on the bus told me! The thing is though, I know I don’t eat enough raw produce, and if I did, I think I’d see some changes. Maybe it’s a new year’s resolution – but maybe next year.
Ariel, I completely agree. This movie has been raved about how it is turning more people toward a vegan diet, great, but it is not promoting a particularly healthy vegan diet. There was a lot of junk food shown – faux meats, deep fried processed foods and not much sign of whole foods – let alone raw!
As a nutritionist I am seriously concerned that the current trend to go vegan is going to end up as a bit of a disaster in that people will adopt a less than optimal diet and will start getting sick. This will in turn lead to the skeptics saying ‘ we told you so – a vegan diet is not healthy!’
Looking forward, it will create distorted data and all the good research that has been done to date will be at risk of being diminished.
What we need, Ariel, is a counter-documentary showing the benefits of a whole food plant based diet, with view towards a high raw or fully raw lifestyle 🙂
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