If you’re worried about your health, here a chance to find out more about it in 11 best health documentaries on Netflix streaming.
While most people will jump the gun on an opportunity to see some of the best fashion documentaries, health ones are often neglected. Considering the importance, it hardly seems logical, especially when you go through the list and realize that all of the 11 best health documentaries on Netflix streaming are food related. It seems that people are realizing how important a healthy diet is for their overall health. In fact, most of this may as well be listed under best food documentaries as well.
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In an effort to create an accurate listing, we consulted IMDb as well as various popular sites on the Internet and what they recommend as the best health documentaries on Netflix streaming. Half of our ranking comes from IMDb rating while the other half represents the vox populi.
11. GMO OMG
Site rank 2, IMDb rank 2; Overal rank = 4
Directed by Jeremy Seifert
Year: 2013
Jeremy Seifert’s film has received a very mixed reviews since its release. While some praised it for the bravery to stand up to Monsanto’s GMO empire, others suggested that majority of claims Seifert made in the movie are simply false and that he’s trying to make a quick buck out of GMO hate bandwagon. Another controversial topic is his use of his children in the movie, which some people deemed unethical. He also often pokes fun at scientific terms, which doesn’t really lends to his credibility. Still, if you are concerned about the genetically modified food we eat every day, GMO OMG may be an interesting watch.
10. Bite Size
Site rank 3, IMDb rank 1; Overal rank = 4
Directed by Corbin Billings
Year: 2014
Obesity epidemic among the American kids has reached epic proportions. Bombarded daily by the commercials for fast food and sugary drinks, children of America are among the most vulnerable groups when it comes to health risks associated with diet. According to the American Heart Association, one in three kids in America is overweight. Corbin Billings’ Bite Size tries to show us that everything isn’t lost and that there is another way we can approach the problem. His film focuses on four children across the US who, with the help of their parents and educators, try to learn how to eat healthy, loose the excess weight and be happier in their lives.
9. Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days
Site rank 1, IMDb rank 7; Overal rank = 8
Directed by Aiyana Elliott
Year: 2009
We have been taught that diabetes is an incurable disease. The number of people suffering from it is fast approaching 250 million worldwide. Six of them have agreed to participate in a trial that required them to stay off things like meat, sugar, dairy, coffee, and alcohol, among others, and only eat raw vegetables for one month. The film follows their stories from the beginning, as they embark on their journey. The idea that a simple diet plan can cure a disease against which modern medicine is powerless, seems a bit preposterous, but for these six people it changed their lives. By the end of the 30 day period, their blood sugar levels were stable and they were effectively cured of diabetes.
8. Super Size Me
Site rank 5, IMDb rank 4; Overal rank = 9
Directed by Morgan Spurlock
Year: 2004
From February 1 to March 2, 2003, Morgan Spurlock only source of food was McDonalds. In those 30 days, he gained 24 pounds, increased his cholesterol levels, and obtained fat liver and experienced depression and sexual dysfunction. It took him 14 months on a strict vegan diet to go back to the weight he had prior to starting the experiment. His critics claim that his health deterioration is a logical conclusion of his diet, consisting of more than 5,000 calories daily, paired with the lack of exercise. Spurlock told us what we already know, that fast food in excess is bad for you. Still, his film is a funny and entertaining and definitely worth a watch.
7. Bigger Stronger Faster
Site rank 4, IMDb rank 6; Overal rank = 10
Directed by Chris Bell
Year: 2008
Chris Bell presents us with an interesting take on the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs, mainly anabolic steroids. He draws a parallel between bodybuilders’ use of steroids and Tiger woods’ laser eye operation, which brought his vision to 20/15 or the drugs US Air force pilots use to stay longer in the air. But instead of dealing with just the abuse of drugs, Bell tries to uncover the reasons why do people feel compelled to do it in the first place and how is that abuse connected to the American Dream.
6. Vegucated
Site rank 8, IMDb rank 3; Overal rank = 11
Directed by Marisa Miller Wolfson
Year: 2011
Number 6 on our 11 best health documentaries on Netflix streaming in 2015 list is Vegucated. Marisa Miller Wolfson managed to find three people who enjoy their cheeseburger and convince them to try a strictly vegan diet for 6 weeks by promising them weight loss and improved health. What started as an experiment soon transforms into an adventure comedy, where three newly reborn vegans discover the truth about the meat industry and its unpleasant secrets. In the end, just like most converts do, they become more catholic than the Pope. But trying to change their friends and families may prove to be a tall order.
5. Hungry for Change
Site rank 10, IMDb rank 5; Overal rank = 15
Directed by James Colquhoun, Laurentine Ten Bosch, and Carlo Ledesma
Year: 2012
Diet and weight loss industry in the USA alone is worth $60 billion annually. But can all that money buy us what we are looking for, a healthy body that looks like a cover magazine model? In short, probably not. After all, if two-thirds of people who lost weight dieting regained it in their first year, there’s something deeply flawed with the whole concept. Hungry for Change, featuring some of the world’s most renowned experts including Jamie Oliver, tries to teach us the proper way of dieting which will keep us healthy and happy at the same time. Fair warning, it involves plenty of raw vegetables, so be prepared to love broccoli.
4. Forks over Knives
Site rank 7, IMDb rank 8; Overal rank = 15
Directed by Lee Fulkerson
Year: 2011
In an age where more and more people are dying from obesity-related illnesses, we are faced with a choice: change the way we eat or face the grim consequences. Forks over Knives advocates that plant-based food is the answer we are looking for. Furthermore, Lee Fulkerson claims that “most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us, can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.” While this may be hard for some of us to accept, some of the evidence he presents in his film can’t be simply overlooked or ignore. Watch the movie and decide for yourself.
3. Food Matters
Site rank 6, IMDb rank 11; Overal rank = 17
Directed by James Colquhoun and Carlo Ledesma
Year: 2008
Food Matters explores the vicious cycle we find ourselves in the modern world, the one where we consume processed food that is nutrients deficient and then try to repair our bodies with pharmaceutical products. Could it be that simply changing our diet is the answer? Is the modern food we eat the source of most of, if not all, medical conditions that are killing us? While the authors make some bold claims, like the one where all illnesses can be treated with an appropriate diet and supplements, including the terminal cancer cases, some of what they are saying actually makes sense. Even if you don’t believe in cancer-healing herbs, the film can be worth watching.
2. Fed Up
Site rank 9, IMDb rank 9; Overal rank = 18
Directed by Jeremy Seifert
Year: 2014
80% of all food items sold in the United States contain added sugar. Despite being proven many times that refined sugar is highly dangerous and addictive, especially for children, we still feed it to them by a truckload. And no amount of activity, exercise or willpower will make them healthy again, unless we change what they eat. Fed Up reveals just how far sugar industry and their lobbies are willing to go to prevent this. Perhaps it is time for them to face the same kind of pressure tobacco industry faced several decades ago. Perhaps the future generation can be saved from their toxic influence.
1. Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead
Site rank 11, IMDb rank 10; Overal rank = 21
Directed by Joe Cross, Kurt Engfehr
Year: 2010
What do you do when you weigh 310 pounds and are stuck with a rare autoimmune disease that requires you to take medications for the rest of your life? For Joe Cross, the choice was simple. In an effort to regain his health, he drastically changes his diet, from predominately fast food to a raw plant juice and nothing else for two months. While he spent the first month in New York, under the care of a nutrition specialist, the second half of his journey was spent traveling the United States and talking to people about their eating habits. He even convinces few of them to try his liquid diet. Highly entertaining, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead deserves a top spot on our list of 11 best health documentaries on Netflix streaming in 2015.
