Last month, I wrote about a healthy living documentary for our local PBS station that I was privileged to be a part of. I attended the screening party recently at the University of South Florida and was frankly a bit disappointed as the documentary seemed to focus almost exclusively on exercise as the optimal way of being healthy with eating well a distant second on the list of priorities.
The few times healthy eating was actually discussed, it was referred to in a vague and general way. Specific recommendations for what to actually eat and how to prepare the food for optimal nutrition were not included.
I spend nearly two entire mornings filming my part in this documentary including a lengthy interview most of which hit the cutting room floor!
The good news is that the 3 minutes or so that survived in the final version did highlight a few key points about what healthy eating involves.
- Grassfed beef was highlighted although my reasons for eating it didn’t make the final cut.
- Sprouted rice cooked in homemade chicken broth was demonstrated.
- The veggies I prepared were cooked in ghee (I thought butter wouldn’t make the cut because the documentary was way too mainstream in focus)
All in all, even though the documentary was not nearly hard hitting enough on what it truly takes to be healthy, at least these three main points were included which hopefully got people at least thinking about eating grassfed beef, germinating their grains, using homemade broth and making sure to cook veggies in a healthy, traditional fat like ghee!
Here’s the clip which also turns out to be a great how-to video on a typical healthy meal that I prepare for my own family. What do you think? Is the filming too much like the Food Network or is enough Real Information there to be of benefit for folks being exposed to it for the first time?
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
What about all the information about White rice having had the bran removed and thus would make it more processed. Never heard anyone recommend white instead of brown rice. Very interesting. Humm–would love to know more reasons why??
I enjoyed it. Not a lot of food though. Was that a family -size meal or just for show. It sounded like you; the cuts were a little confusing but you could tell it was from the editing. What I want to know is, where this healthfood store is!! WOW. I thought it was a regular grocery store. You can buy all that in one place where you live? I’m totally in awe. My healthfood store has about 1 or 2 of any item. Mostly medicinal, some pantry items (sugar , oil, etc). but nothing fresh. I buy low temp milk from them but couldn’t get my regular order this week because the farmer didn’t deliver it. Whole Foods is about 50 miles away. Yes, that’s five O miles; one way.
I can dream though. Thanks for sharing this, Sarah. And by the way, you looked GAW-JUS!
Great job! Little by little the truth will come out and help people. I hope people will find your blog because they saw the clip. Those are the people who will want to change and benefit the most from the documentary.
Love your videos! What’s up with the brown rice after all that about white being better for our guts? I was so happy to read that on your site that I went right back to white basmati and have never been happier! I thought you and your family ate white basmati instead of brown, sprouted or not. Keep up the video production! I recommend you at each of our WAPF chapter meetings for folks who want to know “how to” with all these great WAPF foods.
I wanted to do a sprouted grain for the video since soaking it wouldn’t work with the timeframe for filming and the only germinated rice I could find was brown. I much prefer soaked white basmati rice though! MUCH easier to digest.
Hi Sarah,
I liked the clip, but felt it was way too short – of course. Instead of showing how you make a meatloaf (who doesn’t know how to make a meatloaf), it would have been good if they had shown you talking about the choice of ingredients while you made it – why grassfed meat is healthier, why you use pastured eggs, why you chose that brand of ketchup, why you chose organic veggies, why real fats, etc. But….. what can you expect from mainstream media eh? Sounds like they had their agenda and sculpted the program to fit that agenda. But good work on the clip you did, I enjoyed it!! :))
I liked it. If they edited out lots of things you would have like to have had included, why don’t you consider putting a documentary together with some of the real foodies out there! I’ve gotta think one of you all has a connection to someone who could put something together. Might be a bit grass roots (pun intended), but look what happened with Food Inc and Food Matters. Truth is, we’re a fast paced, visual culture, and people like seeing these documentaries making things concise and understandable for us. I definitely think you all need to focus on nutrition for kids and pregnant mothers along with research of Dr. Price as a topic in there. Give it some thought!!
I understand your disappointment, but the clip is great! I agree with an earlier comment that hopefully it will make people wonder about the ingredients you used, and maybe they will do some research to learn more.
I like to do double duty with my broccoli. I lightly sautee/simmer it in chicken stock, and then as butter as well. 🙂
Hey Sarah! Great job 🙂 I am sorry that some important things got cut, but your point was still made. Also, just to see someone COOKING is important…that seems to have gone by the wayside for so many mainstream families. Plus it’s a meal with a grassfed meat, a sprouted grain and a veggie (with butter/ghee!) so that’s incredible. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Thanks Amy! You are right – it is great that grassfed beef, germinated grains cooked in homemade broth and cooking veggies in butter/ghee was at least mentioned!
It’s too bad that they didn’t include more of a discussion, at least in what I saw here. WHY we eat what we do is just as important as WHAT we eat. Otherwise people can’t figure out what to choose when faced with choices other than exactly what you demonstrated. But you are out there and perhaps viewers will drop by your virtual home and see everything that you offer, for free, whenever they are willing to look!
Exactly what I was thinking. This cooking clip in the middle of a documentary that talks primarily about exercise as a way to stay healthy made no sense to me either. Without pieces of the interview to go along with what I cooked, people would be clueless.
At least I can use the clip here for folks who get the whole Traditional Food thing!
I like your recipe videos and this reminded me of your other videos. 🙂