The 6 Plant-Based Documentaries that Changed my Life
A few documentaries completely changed the way I thought about food, health, and disease. They sparked my curiosity, challenged long-held beliefs, and ultimately inspired me to adopt a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle. While no documentary tells the whole story, each one offers a unique perspective and can be a great starting point if you’re curious about eating more plants. In this post, I’m sharing six documentaries that had the biggest impact on my own journey and why I think they’re worth watching.
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My journey to a plant-based lifestyle didn’t happen overnight. Like many people, I started with questions — about my health, my food choices, and whether small changes could really make a difference. These documentaries opened my eyes, challenged my assumptions, and inspired me to explore the connection between what we eat and how we feel.
While I wasn’t dealing with any serious chronic health issues at the time, I was dealing with several smaller ones that, combined, were having a big impact on my life. I was struggling with migraines, insomnia, and fairly debilitating ADHD symptoms. My blood pressure, although it had lowered significantly after my 60-pound weight loss, was still borderline high, and I knew I didn’t want to take medication for that.
I was seeking ways to address the root cause of all of these issues, rather than looking for band-aid solutions, like medication or supplements.
Prior to learning about the many benefits of a plant-based diet, I was following a relatively traditional ‘whole foods’ diet, which included meat dairy, and eggs. I ate very little fruit, as I was following the mainstream advice that fruit was “too high in sugar”.
Little did I know that these documentaries would completely change the way I thought about food and wellness.
1. The Game Changers (2018)
If you think you need meat for protein, this documentary will challenge those beliefs. The Game Changers follows several elite athletes, and highlights the fact that plants can provide all the nutrients needed for a highly active lifestyle. In fact, most of these athletes noticed a big improvement in their performance after eliminating animal products.
What I found most compelling about this documentary, is the immediate physiological impact of removing animal products from the diet. They did some experiments on athletes, some who ate plant-based meals and some who ate animal-based meals, and then measured various physical markers after they had eaten. The results were eye-opening, to say the least!
This documentary is great for those who think they can’t be strong and athletic on a plant-based diet.
2. Forks Over Knives (2011)
This is the documentary that started the movement for many people, as it has the strongest connection to a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle.
Forks Over Knives Examines the relationship between consuming animal-based and highly processed foods and diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. It highlights the work of researchers T. Colin Campbell, an American biochemist, and Caldwell Esselstyn, a cardiologist.
This is an extremely popular documentary that introduced the idea that changing what we eat could dramatically affect our health.
It also has an accompanying cookbook and app, both of which I own and recommend.
3. What the Health (2017)
This eye-opening documentary explores the relationship between diet, disease, and health organizations. It exposes the collusion and corruption in government and big business that is costing us trillions of healthcare dollars, and keeping us sick.
Infused with humour, What the Health is entertaining, while also incredibly eye-opening.
Whether or not you agree with every claim, What the Health encourages you to ask deeper questions about where our nutrition advice comes from.
There is also an accompanying book with recipes to go along with this documentary, also called What the Health.
4. Vegucated (2010)
Vegucated is a real-life experiment, following 3 people as they explore vegan living. It’s based on 3 New Yorker’s who love meat and dairy, but agree to try a vegan diet for 6 weeks. The film explores not just what people eat, but the emotional and social aspects of changing long-held habits.
Vegucated showed me that changing the way we eat is about more than food — it’s about questioning habits, traditions, and the stories we’ve always believed about what a healthy lifestyle looks like.
5. Plant Pure Nation (2015)
Plant Pure Nation follows the efforts of people trying to bring plant-based education into communities, and highlights the challenges of making healthier food choices accessible.
It’s a good reminder that knowledge is only one piece of the puzzle — people also need support, community, and practical tools to implement healthy lifestyle changes.
6. Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days (2009)
This documentary follows six people with diabetes as they participate in a 30-day raw vegan food program. It follows not only physical changes, but also the emotional and psychological challenges involved in making a dramatic lifestyle change.
Watching people transform their meals — and their lives — was a powerful reminder that the choices we make every day can have a profound impact on our wellbeing.
These documentaries didn’t just change the way I thought about food — they changed the way I approached health. I realized that being healthy really is simple – that by simply changing the foods we put in our mouth, we can drastically change the trajectory of our health. They inspired me to explore a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle, and eventually led me down the path of becoming a health coach so I could help others create sustainable, healthy changes in their own lives.
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