“Fed Up” is the clearest and best movie about the evils of advertising to children I’ve ever seen.
I’ve read discussions, talked many, many times with parents in my practice, and thought about what I could possibly do to protect the kids I care about. This movie is inspiring, serious, and entertaining all at once–not an easy thing to be for a movie about obese children and their families.
“Fed Up” has a fierce tone and presents the science regarding how we parents and doctors have ceded decisions about nutrition of our children to the food and agriculture industries. It also discusses how we’ve trusted corrupt politicians to guard kids’ choices, school lunch programs and more. The deceit is too obvious to ignore. And yet, we have ignored it for decades. Notable is specific criticism of public figures like Senator Amy Klobuchar and First Lady Michelle Obama. The agriculture industry (“Big Ag”) guides and twists the Senator’s ethics. Ms. Obama rapidly backed away from her initial statements about changing the way food industry assaults children and turned “Let’s Move” into more of a campaign blaming kids for not exercising enough. She heard from “Big Ag” and she wimped out. Both women should be ashamed of themselves and the movie makers do not go easy on them.
A serious flaw is omitting any mention of breastfeeding, the ultimate unprocessed food. I’ve spoken briefly to those involved and they plead time constraints. That’s hard to believe and they were wrong not to discuss the awful beginning of poor nutrition which infant formula represents. The movie’s so good, I have to forgive them. Almost.
“Fed Up” offers lots of answers but more importantly it informs and offers inspiration.
Every parent and every child should see “Fed Up.”