You Are What You Eat: A Review.

Netflix's documentary on twins eating a vegan vs. omnivore diet raises more questions than it answers.

Diliny M. De Alwis

08 Jan 2024 — 6 min read

Diet

You Are What You Eat: A Review.

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I was intrigued by the first episode of “You Are What You Eat.” The show began as a promising and balanced feud between vegan and omnivore diets. I was impressed by the number of scientists quoted early on in the show, especially since not all of these scientists are pro-vegan.

I wanted to enjoy this documentary. They could have done a lot with it. However, in the subsequent episodes, I realized this was another pull by the vegan diet proponents to put forward their polarized arguments against the omnivore diet.

I am super curious about what was cut and left out at the writers’ and producers’ whim.

Propaganda you will be exposed to in this documentary

Beef/cattle industry and the environment, slash and burn of Amazon rainforest, cow farts, industrial farming practices.
Fish industry and the environment, parasitic fish, disease plumes, dead fish.
Contaminant fears of the meat/fish industries, e-coli, antibiotic resistance, you never get that stain off your hands.
Terrible farming practices and policies, abused farmers, abused landscapes, it’s raining poop.
People have epiphanies/shock at the excellent vegan food they could be eating. Americans are stunned to discover what the rest of the world already knows. Vegetables like kale, chickpeas, and sweet potatoes are excellent.
Conversion of study participants to the vegan diet despite a love of meat, ethnic food, cheese, etc.
Cheese, milk, eggs, butter — all bad and unnecessary to life. Tell that to my French husband.
Cherry-picked data (and correlations) show the shortening of telomeres, the raising of sex drive, and a decrease in visceral adipose tissue (the danger zone of fat that grows near your organs as opposed to subcutaneous fat, which is under your skin).

They’re not wrong in what they are documenting. However, they are definitely pushing the pro-vegan agenda. There is much product placement and promotion for vegan companies and their products. The experiment's results are presented to the study participants (and show viewers) without the caution that this is a scientific experiment and subject to analysis and caveats.

IMHPOV: The participants were told they didn’t eat enough food as a result of the increased roughage (vegetables) in their diet and their general satiation and fullness, especially those partipants on the vegan diet. They were also given a personal trainer and expected to increase their level of fitness and strength. So technically, they were all on extreme low-caloric (for the vegans) and low-caloric (for the ominores) BUT healthy diets. There is a potential correlation of low-caloric diet, and increased excercise to longer telomeres and less visceral fat. I would be very interested if they compared vegan diet and fasted diet (to go to an extreme). IF the body isn’t receiving all it needs, it WILL digest (atrophy) itself to get it, especially in the short run. So it makes perfect sense that those on the vegan diet would experience a drop in visceral fat. Would they eventually put back on visceral fat if they ate the right amount? There should be a disclaimer on this documentary that being vegan does not guarantee being normal weight, healthy, cancer free, etc. It’s not a magic bullet.

The real point I’m trying to make here — all scientific studies should end with a list of recommended further research needed and cite potential conflicts or correlations that were not explored. Scientists always have more questions and are not in the business of making conclusive remarks.

I also admit the realistic amount of data they would need to summarize is like drinking water from a firehose.

Summary of the twin study results.

Participants switching to vegan and (healthy) omnivore diets failed to eat enough protein. As a result, they showed a decrease in body fat and body protein by weight in some cases. As someone who has struggled with weight, I’ve heard this argument so many times. It’s not the study, diet, or trainer’s fault; it’s YOUR fault because you didn’t ‘perform’ enough. In this case, you didn’t eat enough protein. The study was poorly planned, if this is a result.
Overweight women did not lose significant weight while on either diet. One woman burned her existing muscles as fuel during her workouts due to insufficient protein. The study was poorly planned and biased if exercise resulted in a participant failing to provide desired ‘results.’ There are a ton of studies on overweight women and the complications of metabolism, diet, workouts, cortisol, etc. So many factors could play a part, and as usual, I resent the documentary making it her fault because she didn’t eat enough. This was a missed opportunity to discuss recent findings in women’s health and provide better advice on what overweight women can do about it. Given the researchers quoted in the first episode, they had access to experts in this field!
Many of the results were insignificant, but with all the pro-vegan arguments, it’s hard not to be disgusted by meat. Twenty-one pairs of twins is not a significant number for a conclusive study. The documentary admits that a longer-term study would be more relevant.
Exercise boosts sexual health and pretty much everything. The participants were embarrassed the first time being asked to watch porn. By the second time around, they had done their homework and were more comfortable participating in the creepy experience. In truth, they should clarify and have taken more samples to average the results per person.

The documentary does an excellent job of showing humans being humans.

The one gent had life happen and decided to work out at home while looking after his daughter. He was shown to be tired, not eating enough, and underperforming. Life happens; it affects your gains. The documentary eludes to his failed gains as being the fault of his choices. Do they give the poor man a break? No.
They talk about the teacher's life, who had a very stressful lifestyle that contributed to her food choices and subsequent gut health. This would have been an exciting tangent to walk down and explore the effect of cortisol on women’s health.

The documentary doesn’t give all the arguments for health and a good gut biome.

Too many of these food documentaries are worshipping one diet over another. I find this brand of veganism annoying. This all-or-nothing mindset creates hurdles that are unsustainable.

Food deserts and poverty: The documentary ignores the simplest solution to encourage the success of independent grocery stores in addition to gardens. Instead, let’s force or trick people into choosing veganism.
There is no spotlight on the poor practices of avocado and nut farmers, agriculture, etc. There are other stories here that are not being told! Lucky for us, there is a documentary for everything!

Missed opportunities

Emphasis on exercise to prove that you can gain muscle on a vegan diet has nothing to do with ‘You Are What You Eat.’ What would have been more interesting is if they encouraged participants to move more and to gauge activity level increase based on the diet they were following.
Emphasis on sustainable fishing and farming practices that support communities' back-to-grassroots efforts for meat, dairy, and agriculture.
More of the omnivore ‘whole foods’ and unprocessed foods. The documentary focused on pushing highly processed foods, inevitably leading to the next wave of documentaries about why your gut biome is still broken.

Final Thoughts

Netflix, can you make a good food documentary?

Let’s see a documentary that gives a balanced amount of information about the omnivore diet vs. vegetarian, vegan, fasting, low-calorie, high protein, all-meat diets.
What percentage of the world’s population follows these eating styles, and what are these people's long-term issues?
Can you make a documentary where there’s zero shaming of people and their choices?
More importantly, what about making a documentary about what it’s like to not stress over food? What about not adding to the stresses we have over food?

I leave you with one link. Let’s get back to remembering that food is ultimately for pleasure. To engage in an exploration of all the wonderful cultural traditions and practices out there. Remember the WHY we eat what we eat. Check out Sonny Side and his team at the Best Ever Food Review Show.