Susana & Madeline

A large part of this film is about challenging conventional “wisdom” about protein. For decades the USDA “fed” us the view that meat and dairy products were essential nutrients; that no healthy diet could exclude animal-based products. The Game Changers seeks to explode this view as myth, as marketing, unsupported by science. In scene after scene, this documentary film features skeptics, particularly men in traditionally hyper-masculine roles being shown conclusively that plant-based eating not just would, not just will make you stronger, faster, and healthier, but in fact has already done so. A good part of the film explodes the popular fiction that choosing to consume only plant-based foods means a boring, sickly, wimpy, dismal life, doomed to eat nothing but salad. It shows a great variety of delicious, hearty meals that appeal to the eyes, the nose, the teeth and tongue, and the unbiased brain, and lead to demonstrably improved vitality, even reversing chronic ailments such as clogged arteries and enlarged prostates. The movie makes the point that a plant-based diet will improve not just the health of individuals who partake of it, but also improve the dismal health of our planet. It shows again and again that the amino acids and other essential nutrients we need actually originate in the plants eaten by the herbivores whose flesh many humans eat. Many imagine that ingesting meat, eggs, and dairy products is the only means by which we can ingest protein. It demonstrates that these animals are extraordinarily inefficient at converting their own plant-based dietary inputs into energy to fuel human endeavors. Improving one’s health through the adoption of a plant-based diet does not have to be a sudden, all-or-nothing proposition. Even deciding to have one meat-free day per week would mean a 14% reduction in the damage caused to our bodies and our planet by the meat industry. Whether this film will change the minds of any dedicated carnivores, or even omnivores is questionable. Subjects (not actors) within the movie seemed to be favorably impressed by the improvements in their own measures of health, and feelings of vitality resulting from their consumption of sumptuous, professionally prepared vegan meals. Will they choose change their mindsets and learn to create healthful, nutritious plant-based meals in their own lives remains to be seen. I’m convinced that it will be worth the effort, even if I make occasional missteps along the way.