“That Sugar Film”

Reaction Paper

" That Sugar Film" is an Australian blockbuster film, starred by the writer and director himself,
Damon Gameau. It's the story of a man who made himself into a subject in an experiment to
reveal the bitter truth about sugar. In the beginning of the film, it was mentioned how people
substantially considered fat, rather than sugar, as the main trouble to one’s health which was
then later proven wrong. By making a sudden shift in his diet- by consuming foods with no
white sugar each day in a span of 60 days- he proved the unseen reality of how sugar discreetly
contributes to bad health conditions and lurks to what we perceive to be" healthy food”.

Prior to watching the film, I honestly did not feel as much excitement because it was somewhat
of a documentary since most documentaries are monotonous, so I thought that it would be
boring. But In the end, I still watched the film, also because of the fact that we were required to
(haha). Though, after watching the film, It was undoubtedly worth it because I was not
disappointed by the end of the movie. As I was watching the film, I was thinking to myself on
how I unconsciously directed myself to harm my own well-being. Therefore, “that sugar film”
is not the typical boring type of documentary film, but it is a truly entertaining and very
informative film, which has taught me to be more aware and cautious on what I should be
feeding my own body.

First of all, this film has taught me that these so-called “healthy foods” are actually not as
healthy as they advertise and as we think of them to be. Though most of the time there are
indications saying that they are natural, low-fat, organic, etc.. They may still contain hidden
sugars that may affect our body negatively which can cause obesity, a fatty liver, acne,
breakouts, mood swings, etc..
So now I understand why I frequently only get more negative than positive effects on my body,
which is because I was doing it wrong all along. I now fear the long lasting effects on my body
from eating processed food without having put restrictions and having proper knowledge about
them.

Excessive eating of processed foods would make our sugar intake undeniably high.
Eating these kinds of food is quite embedded in our culture, it has already become hard for
people to not crave it, as well as the fact that these types of food are the only food, that a lot of
people in our country, can only afford due to poverty, inflation, and since we are still in a
pandemic, and a lot of people were left without jobs. One of my interpretations from the film is
that sugar is like an addictive drug which is open for everyone to consume. In the experiment of
Gameau, it was shown how it boosts his appetite and mood as it is said that adding sweetness
would make any food palatable. Earlier, i made a comparison of sweets to drugs, and how they
are both addictive, well, like drugs, sweets can also give you this euphoric like high that lightens
up our moods but then after a certain period of time, that high disappears, and we are left with
craving more of that. Because of this, we find it hard to recognize how most of us are already
addicted to sweets, and have a hard time avoiding them.

Sugar affects us not only physically but also mentally. It is quite sad to think how a lot of us are
accustomed to having sweets in their life and find it hard to minimize and regulate their
consumption. Nonetheless, i think the issue is not to be blamed on sugar, or the consumers, but
on the producer. The film mentioned how the companies who produce these types of food are
aware of these effects on people and their bodies, but they dont care. They still continue to
operate and make these products for the sake of earning money.

This film has truly opened my eyes to see how we are decieved and fooled, not by sugar, but by
the industry that is in charge of its production. This is a universal problem that can’t be solved
only by a single person, company, and industry, but by all of us.

With all this having been said, the solution i can give to people towards this problem is, we must
continue to learn and educate others on this topic, how sugar is a hidden threat to all of us.
Though most of us cannot avoid consuming these products, we can only regulate and be
cautious on what we consume and put in our body. We must eat healthily and regularly have
exercise.

References: Gameau D. (Director and writer), That sugar film (2014) {motion picture}

Written by: Ross Nowa S. Hernandez

Gr.9A- Teamwork