EP. 24: You Are What You Eat Documentary
I'm sharing my thoughts as I watch the Netflix original series, "You Are What You Eat: a Twin Study". This is absolutely the GOLD standard when it comes to collecting scientific data, so I applaud the effort. There were some statements I wholeheartedly agreed with and then some not so much... it's important to note how the study is being funded and I shed some light on that in this quick episode. I'd really love to know your thoughts! Message me what you think after you've watched it and listened to my episode.
Show Notes
0:00:00
So I was recommended to watch the Netflix documentary You Are What You Eat. And I have to say I just watched the first episode and I kind of knew where it was going to go just based on how the first episode went and having my background in clinical nutrition. So one episode was enough. But it was very interesting. There's some things that I agreed with it, and then some things that I thought, eh, I don't know if that's really the message we want to convey. And again, this is just my opinion and my analysis. So the first thing that I thought was interesting is the researcher, who's very well educated, of course, very well published, very well respected, does do a fantastic job with the twin study.
0:00:55
And the gold standard, of course, in research is to do twin studies because it's the same genetics and you can just manipulate the environment, right? So is it nature or is it nurture? What's the difference? is he's been a vegetarian for 20 years, so he kind of has, from my perspective, just a bias towards that way of living anyway. And the documentary was funded by the Oceanic Preservation Society, and they're concerned about threats against the planet and the oceans. So from doing some research about that, of course they're going to promote a vegetarian slash vegan diet because it's, quote, good for the environment, right? There's a big push right now with eating meat is bad for the environment, which we can talk about a different day.
0:01:54
So that's a little bit of background there with the funding of the documentary. And I do this with research all the time. I always look, do the research have an alternative? Say, for example, if it's a study on cocoa, was it funded by Hershey? And I know it sounds as simple as that, but it is really as simple as that. You look at some of these studies, and they're funded, say, by the American Diabetic Association or by Pfizer.
0:02:21
Well, of course they're going to have an agenda if they're funded by that company, right? So always look at the source of the information and just kind of dig deeper with the big picture. So I did agree with, you know, they said that a lot of people, based on your cultural environment, you might have different enzymes to digest food and process food. Absolutely.
0:02:46
And I did like that they brought up the blue zones because I brought that up in a podcast, right? On how these different cultures all have different emphasis on diet, on social connection, on exercise that help them live to be close to 100. So I'm glad they brought up the blue zones. I'm glad they brought up the importance of the gut microbiome because of course the gut microbiome is critical. It's the second brain, we make 70% of our serotonin there, it's 80% of our immune system, so the microbiome does make a huge difference.
0:03:27
So when they did the twin study and they put one twin on a vegan study and one on an omnivore study, they basically looked at, at eight weeks poop analysis, stool analysis, and blood results, right? And I've been vegan before. I've been there, I've done that, I've been vegan, I've been vegetarian. I felt great being vegan, but for a short amount of time because there is no culture in our world that's a hundred percent vegan. Try to find one Everybody eats some source of animal to some extent So because of that you don't have the bioavailable Amino acids doing a vegan diet that you do do in an omnivore diet So the body just can't heal it can't recover for me when I was vegan. I felt great I was running and then I started getting knee pain and joint pain.
0:04:25
I added eggs back in and some good amino acids and I felt so much better. So again, I think the key with this is not having one diet over the other, but common sense, right? Just kind of keeping everything in moderation. I did like that they brought up the role of processed foods post-World War II because again, that's when society you know moms started to work more you had two income houses everything was the American society became more fast-paced you want something quick on the table so TV dinner processed food cereal so that's kind of when this whole journey of canola oil and Crisco and all of that started is in the 50s and 60s.
0:05:15
So I'm glad they brought that up. It's the same concept where in the 50s and 60s they said all of that was okay to eat. Doctors also said smoking was okay too. And we know that's not the case, right? We know the consequences. So just because it was developed and it was touted back then doesn't mean processed food is still good these days. And I know you guys know that. Calories, when they talked about calories on the vegan versus the omnivore diet, we know calories in does not equal calories out.
0:05:52
You can have 100 calories of a Twinkie, and it's not as bioavailable as 100 calories from an avocado. So big difference with that. That's one thing I disagree with. And then you know with dairy, yes there's some people that can't handle dairy, absolutely it's based on genetics and enzyme activity, but I don't really think and they said that meat and dairy can be dangerous. To me it's again the quality. So is it grass fed? Is it grain fed? What kind of dairy are we talking about? Same thing, is it fermented, is it not fermented?
0:06:32
And then, to me, what's actually more dangerous is the dairy and meat alternatives, right? Our body's not meant to eat processed soy or tofu. Same thing with cashew cheese or oat milk. We're not meant to do that, right? It's not real food So those are just a couple of things that kind of struck me. It's definitely an interesting Documentary and you know, of course the vegan diet is gonna have lower cholesterol They're not eating any fat right and omnivores gonna have higher cholesterol, but remember we've talked about this You need fat you need cholesterol. We make all of our sex hormones from fat. We make all of our sex hormones from fat cholesterol. It depends on the quality versus the quantity. So again, I'm not a big proponent of a vegan diet or a vegetarian diet. Again, everything in moderation. But check it out. Let me know your thoughts on the documentary. I'd be curious to see what you guys think. And have a discussion about that.
Transcribed with Cockatoo