The Movie Fresh

Just a quick note: the producers of the movie Fresh have made it available for free this week on Dr. Mercola’s site.

From the movie web site:

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

Free access ends Saturday night, so check it out!

  1. how cool! It’s a great movie, hope lots of people can watch. It’s pretty upbeat too, which is a nice change of pace from other darker looks at the food system.

  2. Love it. Feel-good movie of the year?! Perhaps.

  3. Thanks for the heads-up about the availability of this movie. The people are intelligent and interesting, and even those who were interviewed who participate in the factory-farming system were treated with respect and sympathy.

    I have to admit, after seeing stuff like this, I want to buy pastured eggs and free-range meat much more than I do now. I just need to convince my wife. Or hide the grocery receipts.

    This movie leaves me with one outstanding question: if Salatin earns $3,000 an acre and his neighbor earns $150 per acre, then why don’t more farmers convert their farms to his system?

  4. Some optimism at last. I’m very pessimistic where US & UK food policy is concerned, as Big Agra & food manufacturers are “in bed” with the government and the general population don’t care.

  5. Hi Paul,

    Thanks for the link!

    I just have to small questions I was hoping you could help me answer.

    1. Do you think that cordyceps is safe (its an ingredient in my NAC supplement)?

    2. Could Toxoplasma gondii or C. pneumoniae be responsable for high levels of 1,25D ?

  6. Hi Eirik,

    1. Is it live or dead? I wouldn’t eat live parasitic fungi even if their main hosts are not mammals. Dead, it is undoubtedly somewhat toxic but the dose probably isn’t high.

    2. Some chronic infections do cause high 1,25D, I’ve blogged about that here: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=421. However, the specific pathogens and the mechanisms are not known. High 1,25D may simply indicate the presence of granulomas in the body, which aren’t very pathogen specific.

  7. Thank you for replying Paul. I assume its dead. According to google: “Cordyceps have been harvested and used for thousands of years and is a staple in ancient Chinese herbalism and holistic medicinal practice”. Although its a fungi its also classified as an adaptogen. Its supposed to help relieve many conditions ranging from hepatic diseases to high cholesterol.

    The thing is I can’t seem to find any negative opinons on it, only positive, but if you say it might have toxic effects, then I’m not so sure I want to continue with my NAC supplement.

  8. Hi Eirik,

    All medicinal compounds are toxic, the question is whether the influence they have on the immune system generates benefits against your infections. Fungal components like beta glucans are known to activate immune cells. I would assume the doses are such that the negative effects to human cells would be minimal.

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