Documentary Initial Feelings: CHEMERICAL

Initial Response to Documentary

CHEMERICAL

Redefining Clean for a New Generation

from www.chemicalnation.com

    This documentary looks at the influx of chemicals into developed nations in what most definitely was just a blink of an eye in the context of global history. Most specifically, those chemicals related to home and personal hygeine products. I have positive feelings about this documentary because while its aim is to open people's eyes to how dangerous and pervasive modern chemicals are, it is one of those documentaries which at the same time energizes the viewer with simple steps they can take in their own lives. It is for a similar reason I very much enjoyed the documentary film Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. 

    I think the film would be great for an introductory chemistry class in high schools, or environmental chemistry and practical chemistry courses, but really it should be required viewing for anyone who lives in the developed world. Even if you aren't going to apply these principles in your life right away, it at least encourages thought. The information in the film will not be new to veterans of environmental research. 

  The film is free or available as a low cost rental from many websites so it is worth a look. I've already shunned most manufactured cleaning products from my life, and it helped to have access to stores which sell alternative items, but how great is it that the film provides recipes and the developers of the documentary have even published a book with recipes (although one can easily find recipes online if committed to a google search and some play-time in the kitchen.) 

   To study the topics present in this film in further depth I would recommend reading:

    The Hundred Year Lie- Randall Fitzgerald

     Plastic: A Toxic Love Story- by Susan Freinkel

    Our Stolen Future- by Theo Colborn 

    Silent Spring- by Rachel Carson

    The Autoimmune Epidemic- Donna Jackson Nakazawa    

   Though I find the books less energizing toward practical action, they are more comprehensive in nature in exploring chemicals in every aspect of our lives and more in depth of how they are found in the body and in the home: not just in cleaning and personal care products but they are now medicine, food, clothing, furniture. When you think about the massive scale of these changes and the brevity of the time frame they have occured in, you can't help but wish for a solemn but still energizing film to help us begin to go back to basics and clean up our dirty act. The Earth can never be clean while it is dirtied with these non-biodegradable and fundamentally toxic substances. 

Video Review: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

It's been a while. I guess nothing's happened that struck me with the inspiration to write these days, but recently it has. I'm always in the mood to watch any muckraking, inspirational, or health-educational film and just found one. Excited by the title, I searched for it and found it and want to share it with the masses on the internet.

It's a documentary called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" As you can see. The image and trailer can be accessed at the page: http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/ and also leads to the online community known collectively as "the Reboot." It goes back to the time-tested practice of fasting to in effect "reset" the body.

For anyone who's followed my posting they know I have sporradic health complaints. I think I'm someone who needs a lot of variety in my diet. My last diet experiment had to do with avoiding gluten, and after avoiding it temporarily for a month or so I can tolerate even gluten containing foods in moderation (success!). For those who are severely overweight and experiencing mild to severe health effects from a processed or low plant food containing diet, I think this movie is a must see. Joe Cross (the director and main subject of the film) is your average younger-end middle aged man who finds himself 40 or so, overweight, and saddled with an autoimmune medical condition which for a time he chose to control with modern medicine: predisone. Another subject in the film has the same condition (chronic urticaria) the other man with the condition is a similar age but more overweight. Both stories are inspiring. My father also suffers from a chronic hive condition and he wears the same badge of metabolic crisis: what I would call "basketball gut." Or my mother says it looks like my dad's carrying triplets.

How is it that for all our advancements, technology, and wealth-- we are failing to fuel ourselves with the nutrients we need? Why does our food: that which we put in our bodies, fail to warrant the financial investment we're willing to make for clothes, tech devices, cosmetics, and everything else in our lives?

All in all I find the film to be a great inspiration. It goes where films which came before such as Super Size Me and other food-related documentaries don't go. It shows that there is a way to break the cycle and restore balance in the body. And also, that there's a way to do it without breaking the bank. Both the director/main subject, Joe, and the secondary character, Phil, loose their basketball gut and their western medications--while at the same time inspiring their families and communities to consider themselves undertaking fasts (Joe and Phil complete 60 day juice fasts), although for those who are facing more mild conditions and mild overweight, shorter fasts and maintaining balance in the diet is probably enough to consider fostering health.

A must see. I remember watching Super Size Me in my high school health education class. I think this film could easily take the place of that film as being educational and inspirational for people to suggest to their friends or family members.