The Best Health Food Documentaries on Netflix
I’m kind of obsessed with food documentaries. Honestly, I love documentaries in general, so when I find one that’s about food, I can’t resist! It’s fascinating to learn about the food industry, food policies, health, nutrition, and the environment. A great documentary has the power to educate our society on the importance of healthy, sustainable food, and some of these might even inspire you to eat a little healthier! I’ve seen some great ones and some not so great ones, so to spare you from the not so great ones, here’s my round-up of the best health food documentaries on Netflix!
The Best Food Documentaries on Netflix
Food Inc.
Ok, this is an obvious one, but I have to start with this one. This is like the gateway documentary into all the others. Food, Inc. shows the impact that corporate farming has on the environment, animals, and people. It looks at the whole process, from where our food is grown to the chain restaurants and grocery stores where it’s sold. Warning: there are some scenes inside a meat processing plant that could be a bit difficult to watch if you’re a meat eater. While it might not leave you feeling warm and fuzzy, it does interview some folks on the positive side of the industry, like Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin. It’ll make you think twice about eating conventionally raised meat.
Fed Up
Fed Up is focused on the causes of obesity, largely focusing on sugar. This documentary actually motivated us to go sugar-free for 30 days. Aside from the negative effects of sugar, this film also points out some major flaws in the U.S. nutritional guidelines which are pretty eye opening. If you’re like me, it’ll make you think twice about sugar… and school lunches.
Forks Over Knives
Forks Over Knives is focused on the benefits of a plant-based diet. This one was less about government regulations and more about the importance of eating better foods for your individual health. Forks over Knives also shares a lot of data from The China Study, so it was interesting here some of the statistics and research that have been done on a plant based diet. I went vegan for 6 months back in 2009 and that experience taught me a lot about plant-based living. I found that I was personally able to eat a little healthier on a vegetarian diet, but I think the overall idea of eating more plants and less meat and dairy is a great concept.
Sugar Coated
Sugar Coated was sort of similar to Fed Up but it touches a little bit more of the food industry and not quite as much on the health impacts. It’s actually a little bit scary when they pull back the curtain on the politics behind the sugar industry. It’s definitely eye-opening and it’ll make you a little more skeptical about food marketing and regulations.
I have a whole laundry list of food documentaries on Netflix that I’ve watched but these are definitely the ones I’d recommend you watch first! What we put into our body is so important. Whether you’re vegan, paleo, gluten-free, vegetarian, or just a regular omnivore, we should all know what’s in our food, how it’s made, and how it impacts the environment. I think each of these documentaries gives you a different perspective on some of the most important issues in our food systems. If you’ve seen any of these, I’d love to hear what you think!
I love documentaries in general, I’ll have to see about adding a few of these to my queue.
I really liked Fed Up for how it took a major issue and made it more understandable to a broad audience without using the scare tactics some documentaries do. I personally added meat (pork and bison, grass fed) back into my diet after a lifetime of solely fish and poultry because my combination of Celiacs disease and nut and avocado allergies makes it very difficult to eat a solely plant based diet, although I DO eat a lot of plants! I think it works for me and certainly cuts down on sugar.
I loved watching Cowspiracy, Vegucated and Supersize Me. I love those type of independent filmmaker movies
Well I know what I’ll be doing this weekend. I haven’t checked out any of these documentaries and I am certainly intrigued! I will start with Sugar Coated. Thanks for sharing.
IM OBESESSED with the food documentaries! On my next to watch list are sugar coasted and Cowspiracy. I really enjoyed Plant Pure Nation too
I tried watching “Food Inc” and got too upset to finish it when they started showing the actual slaughtering of animals. I just couldn’t get past it. The others are great. I also enjoyed “Supersize Me” which looks into the fast food industry and its effects on our health.
Food Inc. is what pushed me over the edge to become a vegetarian! Eye-opening doesn’t even begin to describe it!
I have yet to watch Sugar Coated – it’s now next on my list!
I haven’t seen sugar coated yet, but I love all the food documentaries on netflix too. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve seen all if these except sugar coated and I’m definitely going to watch that next. I appreciate you sharing.
I love documentaries of all kinds! The ones in my queue right now are fashion and outdoors related ones. I watched Damn Nation about a year ago and it was so interesting to see how all the damns that were built to harness power for humans area actually completely disrupting ecosystems around rivers, oceans and all of the fish and even mammals that feed off fish from rivers (which are now blocked and not flowing freely). Obviously most documentaries are biased, so I try to watch everything with that view, but they are still fascinating!