I am not the first to write a critique of the documentary The Game Changers, but I chose to write mine before reading others so as not to be influenced. When I finally read the other blogs out there in their entirety, I found that many of the things that troubled me the most also troubled others. Some eloquently written in blogs by Layne Norton and Menno Henselmans, have some overlap with this analysis, but I have added additional points. In my opinion, the more voices for science and unbiased truth, the better.
I will dive very deeply into both the main and minor claims and implications made by GC and go over the actual consensus (or lack thereof) as supported by more than 200 references. I will discuss what the creators of GC got right, what they got almost right, what we just don’t know yet, and what they got dead wrong. I will walk through the film minute by minute so that you can follow along while watching if you would like.
Hopefully at the end of the day all of this helps those swayed by the clever propaganda utilized in this film to better understand how to critically analyze claims and come to the (usually less sexy and more moderate) truths for themselves.
I will summarize each section throughout this article, but first, here is the overarching “TLDR” summary for those not ready to walk through all 60 pages of the gritty details with me:
ARTICLE SUMMARY:
While there is an enormous scientific consensus that eating a plant predominant diet has a multitude of potential health benefits, those benefits appear to result mainly from adding whole plant food rather than from eliminating animal products. There is evidence in support of reducing red meat consumption and some very strong evidence for minimizing or eliminating processed meat consumption.
The overall data suggest that a health and fitness promoting diet need not be vegan, unless you want it to be. There are some supplements that vegans might need for optimal health and fitness and some caveats and care that omnivores must take for optimal nutrition.
Health comes down to maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, and eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, enough protein, healthy fat sources, and unprocessed whole foods. Athletic achievement comes down to rational diet choices (omnivore or vegan), relentless hard work, and good genetics. This is what the data support.
The disappointing part about this film is that it had the opportunity to explain how veganism can be a viable diet choice for high achieving athletes if they make good nutritional choices. They could have outlined the basic principles of a healthy diet rather than leading people to believe that peanut butter cheesecake, mac-n-cheese, and other processed foods are rendered totally healthy so long as they are vegan.
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