Revamping your diet is a hard task in general. Starting is difficult, but sticking to the change is even more challenging; and the same principle applies when switching to a vegan diet. Whether you’re on the fence about veganism or seeking some motivation to stick to it, these documentaries will give you the extra push you need to fully commit to the lifestyle.
1. Vegucated
You may think you’re the biggest carnivore in North America, rendering it impossible for you to make the switch to a vegan diet. However, Vegucated takes three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers and challenges them to do just that for six weeks. At first, the participants are extremely wary, but the amount of growth they undergo in just a month and a half is incredible and will give you tangible proof that a lifestyle change — even a drastic one — is completely possible.
2. Forks Over Knives
Did you know Congress has dubbed pizza as a vegetable? Yep, it’s true: in order to appease the food corporations that are in charge of supplying school lunches, our government has decided that the half cup of tomato paste smothered on top of pizza is a serving of vegetables. Unfortunately, this is just the surface level of manipulation that occurs daily within the food industry. Forks Over Knives fights back against food regulations and the Western diet, and explains how moving from an animal-based diet to plant-based eating can help lower and even eliminate some diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. So if you’re interested in the health benefits of a vegan diet, this is for you. And if lowering your risk of diseases like cancer doesn’t convince you that plant-based is better, I don’t know what will.
3. Food, Inc.
Food, Inc. is a well-known documentary that heavily criticizes the food industry and its practices. The film explains how the pricing system of our food is skewed the wrong way, making unhealthy food cheaper and more readily available. This in turn causes individuals to develop different diseases, which then requires people who are struggling to support themselves and their families to spend their hard-earned income on expensive medication in order to simply live. The power to change this epidemic exists, but is not enacted in order to protect the status quo. Food Inc. also goes behind the scenes on farms and gives viewers a look into the bleak reality of how sick and poorly cared for the animals they consume actually are. Some of the images may be hard to stomach, but they’re important to see in order to fully realize the cost of meat and dairy consumption.
After watching even just one of these documentaries, you’re sure to be convinced to start — or stick to — a vegan diet. And better yet, all three of these films are available to stream on Netflix right now.