Alfredo Gonzalez

Megan Christensen

HLTH 1020

December 9. 2017

Signature Assignment for ePortfolio Nutrition Perspectives; Fed Up Documentary

Fed Up is a food documentary directed by Stephanie Soachtig and produced by Katie Couric. It
first premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was received with both praise and
criticism for its portrayal of the obesity epidemic and Big food in America

I chose this film because it had been sitting on my Netflix watch list for several months and this
was the perfect opportunity to watch it. Prior to my first viewing, the only thing I knew about
the documentary was that it was shown in Park City a few years back and had sparked
conversation between critics and audiences alike.

The film, in summation, hits on three major points, the growing obesity epidemic in the United
States that is killing thousands each year, the theory that sugar might be at the root of the
problem, and the political and social system that is allowing this to happen. In the process of
addressing the three main points, the filmmakers included real interviews and testimonies,
such as that of Wesley Randall, a thirteen-year-old boy from Houston Texas who suffers from
Type 2 Diabetes, or that of Joe Lopez, who at age 14 and weighing nearly 400 pounds,
underwent dangerous bariatric surgery in the hopes of saving his life in the long run.

The film also debunks and exposes some common myths and misconceptions, such as how
sugar free or fat free items are sometimes inversely related, if you remove or take away
one, the other replaces it on the ingredient list; the product may also end up containing the
same amount of calories. Speaking of calories, another myth debunked in the film is how the
overly simplistic more calories out than in model to lose weight is not only flawed but wrong,
as it turns out, not all calories are created equal and what type of calories are ingested makes a
huge impact on the body.

Some of the arguments made against the documentary were its blatant criticism of the food
industry and lobby, and the way it rendered people suffering from obesity and weight related
health problems as victims of a disease and societal failure for which they cannot be held
accountable.

Overall however, Fed Up was a critical success that was met with far more positive reviews than
negative ones, and the rights to the film were quickly acquired by a major studio. Because the
film is so recent (2014) all the topics and events covered ring relevant in todays society.

Stephanie Soachtig, director, is no stranger to controversy, and tackles hard-hitting, hot-button

issues with the finesse of a master filmmaker.

Some of her previous work includes 2009s Tapped a documentary examining the bottled
water industry and its effect on health, climate, and politics, and 2016s Under the Gun a
documentary about the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre and its impact on US gun
policies.

[Note: Although Fed Up was released two years before Under the Gun, I felt it important to
mention the latter as to show Soachtigs caliber as a director and producer]

Finding information on Stephanie Soachtig was no easy feat, as a relatively new and upcoming
director that enjoys her privacy, she lacks the thousands of online pages and blogs dedicated to
her and her work that more established documentary filmmakers like Michael Moore (Bowling
for Columbine) or Werner Herzog (Grizzle Man & Encounters at the End of the World) is used
to.

For the purpose of this assignment and in the context of this class, neither Soachtig nor
producer Katie Couric have a nutritional background, instead they hold degrees in Broadcast
Journalism from New York University and American Studies from Virginia University
respectively. Thats not to say either director or producer is not passionate about nutrition or is
under qualified to talk about the topic, quite the opposite is true.
Fed Up took over two years to film and hundreds of hours to research and execute. Fed Up is
not the first time director Soachtig addresses food related problems in her work. As co-founder
and CEO of Atlas Films, she aims to make films that educate and inspire according to IMDB.

The film does at times fall short, it makes three main points in its entire 92-minute runtime but
doesnt delve any deeper into the large-scale diet related problem that are affecting the United
States. Conversely, this might be a result of the filmmakers wanting to get the more important
points across at their simplest, without overloading the audience with information or
contaminating their message with too many interviews and opinions.

The documentary had a striking impact in me, it opened my eyes to the reality of the food
business in America as well as the sugar addiction that most people have. Theres a scene in the
documentary where a physician shows multiple brain scans and likens the effects of sugar to
those of heroin and cocaine. I walked away feeling informed and changed, and will definitely
apply the powerful lessons learned to my daily life and diet. If not everything in the film, at
minimum I will be more conscience of sugar intake and where my calories come from as to not
be deficient of other nutrients.