The BEST Plant-Based Eating Documentaries

I hope you’ve had a fantastic Christmas and holiday season are ready to sit back and enjoy the relaxation that comes with this time of year. 

If you’re anything like us, we have a few more wide open days before the kids go back to school. It’s a great time to enjoy a slower pace and use some of that time to jump start your health in the new year.

So with that in mind, I hope you’ll use a little of that time to check out some of these health documentaries. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to watch them–they were not only very informative but highly motivating. 

You have to be super careful with documentaries–people go out and make them all the time and may not always share the facts as accurately as they should. Which is why I am going to share some of my favorites–the ones that really resonate and I believe are done in an effort to spread truth rather than a personal agenda.

The Game Changers

New in 2019, the Game Changers is making ripples. With Arnold Schwarzenegger behind it’s production, it takes the angle of appealing to men or anyone who wants to be stronger or faster in their athletics. It covers stories of Germany’s Strongest Man, Dotsie Bautsch, Olympic Cyclist and others and how their plant-based diet helps them dominate their sports. 

It does have some language and other parts I didn’t feel was appropriate for my tweens, so I made some notes to help me edit as we watched. Grab your copy here!

Forks Over Knives

If you only watch one documentary this year and haven’t seen Forks Over Knives, watch it. So many of us can relate to Dr. Campbell and Dr. Esselstyn–we’ve been brought up with the belief that meat and dairy are the essential and ideal sources of protein and calcium. But Forks Over Knives takes us through their journey of discovering that the healthiest populations in the world are actually the ones that eat very few animal products. Simultaneously, the host explains his own journey of transitioning to a whole-foods, plant-based diet and experiencing startling improvements in his blood work over a relatively short period of time.

I love Forks Over Knives because I feel like the information it relates is very accurate without unnecessary drama. I know people in real life who have experienced similar improvements in their cholesterol, blood pressure, and diabetic numbers. Forks Over Knives feels very authentic and will leave you motivated to do better in your eating. 

Having my kids watch this with us was fantastic–they were totally grossed out by the open-heart surgery videos and began to appreciate the impact of our food choices. If you have a family member who may not totally be on board, watching this can be a powerful experience. Even if they aren’t interested in sitting down to watch it with you, having it on while they are around can plant seeds for when they are ready to improve their health. 

What the Health

What the Health is the other documentary that comes up a lot in the plant-based movement. The host exposes so much of the collusion that occurs in the government and big business to hide accurate health information from America and keep us sick. It’s a fascinating premise and is eye-opening to realize that yet again, we can’t trust the health advice we receive from the government, and that organizations such as the American Heart Association are driven more by sponsorship than real research to reverse disease.

While I do think parts of it could have been produced with a little more class (the host goes to meet with the president of one of these associations in a hoodie and baseball cap, I’d be a little more inclined to kick him out of my office too), it’s really amazing to sit back and realize that company profits are intentionally keeping America in the dark about the real sources of disease. 

Nutrition Facts

If sitting down for an entire documentary is not your thing, NutritionFacts.org is another great place to absorb motivating and accurate information. Dr. Greger keeps his side ad and sponsor free and simply explains the research in a way that all of us can understand it.  It’s easy to simply search for your topic of interest and see what research Dr. Greger has found on it. Just today I learned some fascinating things about the long list of health benefits that come with consuming flaxseed. 

Now my husband will be the first to tell you that I don’t watch a lot of TV or movies. Like at all. So I’m going to confess that I haven’t made the time to watch others yet.  And I don’t want to give you too much to do so I am going to keep this list short.  If you have other favorite health documentaries, tell us about them in the comments.