What The Health

Zahira Gomez Castellano

Salt Lake Community College

Nutrition 1020
Abstract:

What the health a documentary by Kip Anderson, talks about the dangers of eating animal

products and how it’s ruining our bodies. It goes into talking about how many organizations

aren’t informing people about these bad diets, and are encouraging people to eat disease-causing

foods. The documentary talks about going into a vegan diet and the benefits that come with it.

Kip talks about how we should consider going into it to improve our lifestyle.

Keywords: Vegan, diet, animal products, health

 For my nutrition perspective paper, I decided to watch “ What The Health?” on Netflix.

This documentary talks about many important topics and goes into detail about diseases, and

how different diets are the cause of different health failures. Kip Anderson is the writer and the

main person putting this documentary together. He and his family have had a history of diabetes,

heart failure, cancer, and other diseases. Andrew doesn’t want to end up in the same situation as

his parents and his past family members. He wants to do better, by bettering his health with diet,

exercise, and the way he does everyday things. Andrew talks about the importance of a vegan

diet and informs people of the benefits that come with it. Andrew is also an animal activist,

which is also one of the reasons he’s against eating them or animal testing.

Andrew takes us on his journey, on finding out why different organizations suggest certain

things to people that aren’t healthy. He visits clinics, hospitals, farms, and many other places to

gather information as to why animal protein isn’t healthy.

“What The Health?” was released on Netflix on March 7, 2017, by Kip Anderson, who is the

writer, producer, and editor of this documentary film. I believe this film is still applicable today,

the time frame wasn’t that long ago. Our population is growing as years go by, today our

population in the United States is at almost 336 million. Not only is our population increasing

but taxes and prices on food, homes, clothing, etc are also increasing. Many people still believe

that non-healthy foods are a better/ cheaper option. Most of the time, families focus on moving

forward and trying to get through the day. They don’t have the time or energy to make a full

balanced meal which causes them to not focus on their health. I believe this documentary can be

applicable to anyone, and it’s a good source to learn about what you can do to better yourself.
I feel like this documentary in some way is one-sided. I agree that plant-sourced protein is good

for you. However, for some people that might not be the best option. We all need different

amounts of protein for our diet and everyone's body needs different things.

According to this documentary, Animal protein “ plays an enormous role” in cancer and

cardiovascular disease. Many organizations, announce that white meat is healthier. It can be an “

all-natural” chicken but injected with salt water. This documentary is almost forcing people to

believe that only a vegan diet is the best way to live. The textbook talks about the risk of people

who are on a vegan diet, they aren’t getting all the vitamins and minerals that they need. “

Protein synthesis response especially muscle growth in older adults” ( Wordlaw and Smith 2018,

page 214)

The second thing that stood out to me was Anderson talking about how he thought eggs

were a healthy diet. “ Eating at least one egg a day can be just as bad as smoking five cigarettes

per day for life expectancy” the yolk of an egg contains high fatty cholesterol, changing hormone

levels and increasing many blood diseases. Egg is part of my everyday diet, it’s something I eat

almost all the time for breakfast. I don’t have any health complications and I feel very healthy. I

think that eating too much egg can cause problems. But I disagree with how it’s the same as

smoking cigarettes.

The textbook goes into talking about how the egg is a good source of protein along with

meat, fish dairy, and poultry products. It even talks about it being an inexpensive and great

source of protein for students. “ egg and peanut butter are an inexpensive and simple source of

protein”. We should include more protein in our meals to benefit our health, muscle, and bones.

Another thing that stood out to me from the documentary is “ Dairy Products cause

various forms of cancer, especially those related to your hormones such as breasts cancer,
prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, etc.” according to the film men increase their chance of getting

prostate cancer by 34% percent when drinking milk, and for women, just one cup of the day can

increase the risks of breast cancer by 49%.

The MyPlate shown in the textbook shows the different food groups and why we should

include them in our diet. Vitamin D such as milk is a good source to get this nutrient in your

body. Vitamin D is good for calcium in bones and good for muscle growth.

Watching this documentary was very interesting because you don’t know whether to

believe one source or the other. It’s like a rollercoaster of different things being thrown at you.

Do we believe in a Netflix documentary? or do we believe our doctors and health care workers

who should be looking after us?

Every food we put into our bodies has some sort of cause and effect. No matter how healthy

something can be, there’s still some harm that it can cause. As I mentioned earlier this

documentary does seem one-sided. They want to put the idea in our heads that only a vegan diet

is better for our health. Our body needs vitamins and nutrients from every category to keep us

going and give us the energy that we need.

This does give good information for those who might already be vegan or want to learn more

about the causes of different foods. But I also think this can scare some people in some way.

They might not trust their doctors and healthcare workers in giving them dietary advice. But we

also don’t want to trust a documentary in telling us what to eat.

There are some things in this documentary that are very helpful for us, that I can use for my

life such as including more plant-based foods. Will I go vegan? No, but I’ll try to include more

fruits, vegetables, and greens in what I’m eating.

 There are many things in this documentary that stood out to me, one of the things that caught

my attention was how the USDA is hiding many things, the government overall not wanting us

to know what is going on with our food sources. Many of us eat meat without knowing the

background and the process of it being distributed. It was pretty gross knowing that pus would

go everywhere when processing these meats. “ The animals that we’re killing are killing us “ (

Kip Anderson, What The Health).

After watching this documentary I do want to be more informed about where my food is

coming from. Overall I think that I’m healthy, I believe that not only does food play a huge role

in cardiac and respiratory diseases, but so does working out and daily activity. This isn’t talked

about a lot in this documentary. Working out not only improves our physical health but also

improves our mental health. I shouldn’t feel bad because of the food I eat, I should feel

comfortable eating the things I want without feeling judged or feeling like someone’s going to

look bad at me.

What the Health, a documentary by Kip Anderson, goes into detail about his life and

growing up with family members with many health problems. Anderson also discusses the truth

and facts about eating animal protein. This documentary is helpful for those wanting to learn and

be more informed about their health and what they’re eating. I feel like Kip did a great job in

putting this documentary together.

Source

Netflix. ( March 7, 2017). What the Health. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from

https://www.netflix.com/browse/my-list?jbv=80174177&jbp=1&jbr=5.

Wardlaw, G. M., Smith, A. M., Collene, A., & Spees, C. K. (2021). Wardlaw's contemporary

nutrition: A functional approach. McGraw-Hill Education.