What's With Wheat? (2016)

What's With Wheat? is a 2016 Australian documentary directed by Justin Brown and Cindy O'Meara. The documentary features interviews with nutritionist Cindy O'Meara, Neurologist David David Perlmutter, clinical professor of medicine Dr. Terry Wahls, medical doctor Natasha Campbell-McBride, and many others.

source: There is no wikipedia.

A hard hitting investigation helping to answer the burning questions about our health today. This documentary features 15 global experts who shed the light on what is currently happening to our wheat.

source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5882206/

***SPOILER ALERT***

F: Hiya peeps! Here I am, living through my second week without gluten and I can tell you for sure that this stuff was poisoning me. I feel much better and I hope that my fatty liver starts to diminish in size in the following months. A new life without 🍔, 🍪,🍕, 🍺, 🍝, 🍞, 🍩... this was like the whole basis of my diet. It's not going to be easy, but I have documentaries like What's With Wheat to encourage me.

We have a very dramatic and intimidating movie poster up here. I surely wouldn't mind spreading some butter on that skull and eating it if I didn't swell up like a pig and felt seriously tired. What new things did I learn from this documentary? There's nothing new, besides some overly complicated amino acid stuff that I'm not able to retain in a single view. The main point is always the same when it comes to food. Eat veggies, eat organically and locally, eat fruit, don't eat processed food, etc. Simple.  

We have some familiar faces from previous documentaries. Krasnaya was definitely happy to see Dr. Natasha Campbell again, weren't you? We've seen Dr. Shiva in some other documentaries before also. I remember her in The World According to Monsanto (2008). If you don't know what company this "was", you MUST watch this documentary. Evil 👿 GMO company Monsanto was bought by Bayer in 2016. I will throw it in the air and say that their hand is probably involved in this "bad" wheat. We have some talk about pesticides in the doc, and they, of course, mention the famous Roundup product which, In June 2020, Bayer agreed to pay numerous settlements in lawsuits involving this product and others produced before by evil Monsanto.

Krasnaya, can you give us some more information on the documentary since I haven't given much? 😂

K: Hello, hello! You know, it was hard for Freddy to endure the huge amount of buns and pizza flashing during the film and everything else baked not from the wheat that our grandmothers ate. I, at those very moments, did not miss all this variety of food at all (my daughter and I decided to support Freddy and give up on gluten also). I repeat what Freddy said above. I did not learn anything new from this documentary either. Before watching What's With Wheat, we discussed the issue of gluten intolerance that has become relevant and popular recently, and we, like the experts from the documentary, concluded that this is precisely because of the process of growing and processing wheat that has changed a lot in modern times. I liked the fact that experts not only attributed all the problems of modern man to wheat, but also mentioned the fact that gluten-free products can also bring lots of damage to health.

In general, this documentary seemed a bit boring to me because, after half-way, it felt repetitive. Also, this documentary does not provide any scientific evidence and facts that the evil is in wheat. They say to eat fruits and vegetables, but most of them are also grown with pesticides. My motto for life is to have moderation in everything (Freddy should say here - booooring). Everyone knows that eating fewer carbs is good for you, but there will never be one single panacea for a good diet. Stop eating fast food and start exercising regularly, eat some more whole foods and you will have all you need. Seems right to you, Freddy?

The little bread of death.

F: Yeah, seems about right. Diets have to be individually examined and experimented, everybody is different. For example, some will grow strong and healthy on a vegan diet, others will rot and die.  

I was quite impressed with the testimonial of the physician and diet book author 🤔, Terry Wahls, who was diagnosed with a chronic progressive neurological disorder and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. Long story short, she was in a wheelchair decaying, then changed her diet to a modified paleo diet, and voilá, she can ride a bike to work every day now. Wikipedia tells us that "Wahls' promotion of her diet and lifestyle regimen as an important strategy for managing MS-related symptoms as well as other disorders has been criticized for relying too much on anecdotal evidence, for failing to initiate adequate research to verify the claims, and for Wahls' perceived conflicts of interest (selling numerous products and educational materials related to her protocol). A 2020 Cochrane review found no research supporting the efficacy or effectiveness of diet or vitamin supplementation for treatment of MS."

My cynicism always prevents me from believing people's claims about something that they find that benefits others. In this case, I would still give it a go and try this diet out if I was diagnosed with MS. I'm also a big conspiracy theorist, so I believe that there is no substantial data to backup such claims because "someone" is just not interested in that.  

I've also become interested in the celebrity doctor David Perlmutter and his book Grain Brain after watching this documentary. Perlmutter is the author of health books, and is known for advocating a functional and holistic approach toward treating brain disorders. Perlmutter serves as a medical advisor for The Dr. Oz Show and Men's Health.The book I've mentioned was released in September 2013, promoting the concept that gluten causes neurological conditions, which became a bestseller. Now, I know why I'm bipolar! There's a lot of criticism of this guy and he's currently listed by Quackwatch as a promoter of questionable health products. I love quackie people, so I'm certainly reading his book now.

So what do you think about the experts on this movie, Krasnaya?

K: I am really happy that Terry Wahls was able to recover from such a difficult condition and able to live life way happier. But to be honest, this documentary reeks of paleo propaganda. Sally Fallon Morell, Dr. Sarah Ballantyne and Joel Salatin are adherents of paleo and make money on the promotion of this diet. A paleo diet typically includes lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds - foods that in the past could be obtained by hunting and gathering. A paleo diet limits foods that became common when farming emerged about 10,000 years ago. These foods include dairy products, legumes and grains. Therefore, in my opinion, the documentary turned out to be one-sided.

This documentary did not impress me with its informative content. I say that you can pass it by.

Name that villain.

F: I prefer this documentary to the previous one we watched on the topic of food (The Gut Movie). It has more information and doesn't rely on entertaining nonsense. It goes a little bit fast sometimes, jumping from orator to orator. I didn't feel that they were trying to sell me the paleo diet and was surprised by their warning on "gluten-free" products. After a little investigation, however, it seems like it's in the interest of almost every documentary participant.

One thing that I can confidently recommend to the director/producer of this documentary is - don't use epic music that seems to prepare you for the entry of lions into the coliseum. People talking about Glyphosate are not that exciting. Get a professional to take care of the music next time. You can hire me for 1500€ (tongue click noises).

I think this is an OK documentary that can make you interested in many different areas related to food. It has some interesting bits and I'm always glad when Monsanto (now Bayer) is brought to people's attention, even if no one cares. Overall, I see it as a good warm up to a more serious, accurate and boring internet study of nutritional science. 🤓

Just switch it back up and that's it.

Freddy's Score: 59/100

Krasnaya's Score: 40/100

FINAL SCORE

MONSANTO ROUNDUP

THE END OF BACON AND EGGS

EPIGENETICS

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