GUEST COLUMN: 3 Things We Learned From the Documentary "Eating You Alive"

Image: https://unsplash.com/photos/y3aP9oo9Pjc

3 Things We Learned From the Documentary "Eating You Alive"

by Lewis Robinson

Eating You Alive is a 2018 documentary about how the foods we eat can influence our health. While most people know that eating fast food and other junk food is terrible for our health. However, not everyone may not know that even some homemade meals, as wholesome as they may seem, can also cause problems. Below are some of the things we learned from Eating You Live. Learn from the article for the basics and watch the documentary for all the facts!

1. How Insurance Companies Make Rates

Rates for health insurance aren't random. There are predictive analytics in insurance that help companies decide how much they are going to charge for a monthly rate and how much they are going to disperse if a person does need to use their health insurance. While the companies are not likely to ask about a person's diet when they first sign up for health insurance, the companies can guess certain things about a person's diet based on their pre-existing health conditions and weight.

For example, insurance companies often see Type 2 Diabetes as a sign that a person has an unhealthy diet. Since a person who has diabetes (type 1 or 2) has a pre-existing health condition, their insurance rates are likely to be higher. While there is currently no cure for Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes can be prevented with a healthy diet and exercise routine. Avoiding preventable illnesses is one of the best ways to have lower insurance rates.

2. How Certain Foods Can Contribute to Health Problems

The most outwardly noticeable changes that different diets can make on a person's body come with weight gain or loss. However, even if you are not eating too much or too little food, what you eat can still have an effect on your health. All sorts of health problems can occur from eating the wrong foods, such as blood clots, seizures, heart attacks, and diabetes.

Looking at seizures as an example, some foods and drinks have a higher chance of triggering a seizure than others. Taking in too many stimulants, like caffeine and sugar, can increase the chances of someone having a seizure. Having foods that are too high in salt can also be a trigger. At the same time, not eating enough of the right foods can also trigger a seizure. This happens when a person has vitamin deficiencies; in the case of seizures, low calcium levels are often the culprit.

3. Why Exercise Alone Isn't Enough

Even if a person works out at the gym for an hour every day, that doesn't mean they will be healthy if all they eat is junk food and fast food. Yes, exercise is good and more people should probably do more of it. However. exercise is only one part of having a healthy lifestyle. A person also needs to have a healthy diet. Exercising more to make up for a poor diet rarely goes well. Everyone can benefit by having a healthy diet and exercising. One should not be exchanged for the other.

These are just a few of the valuable lessons from Eating You Alive. To watch the documentary yourself and learn more, you can stream the documentary for free (with ads) on Roku, Hoopla, Vudu, Tubi, Kanopy, and Plex. If you want to watch it without ads, you can instead rent it on Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, Apple TV, Microsoft, and Redbox from between $2.99-3.99. No matter which option you choose, you are sure to learn something new from this documentary. Maybe you will even learn something that will encourage you to change your diet and your lifestyle for the better.