Clearing Up Questions from The Game Changers on Netflix
In this episode, Chuck, Jim, and Dana address questions that have come up repeatedly about the Netflix movie, The Game Changers.
Is this a vegan movie, a vegetarian movie, or a plant-based movie?
Every diet movie is polarizing. What makes for good TV doesn’t make good science. The Game Changers talks a lot about a plant-based diet. The words vegan and vegetarians have a negative connotation associated with them.
Will a plant-based diet increase the performance of our athletes compared to a meat-based diet?
There is nothing wrong with a plant-based diet. If you are going to eat a primarily plant-based diet, you will likely see numerous health benefits. As for performance benefits, we are still learning about that. It is not clear if there is an endurance benefit, however, there may be some chronic disease benefits.
After watching this movie, I am looking to make a dietary change.
You need to be careful about who you are taking your dietary advice from. The person who narrated this movie spent countless hours doing research. Despite this, not one dietician was interviewed in the film. You shouldn’t be getting advice from someone who hasn’t done any schooling and has only spent a fraction of the time doing research. The movie missed an opportunity to include thoughts from registered dieticians
Is there a scientific definition of a low-carbohydrate diet?
Less than 40% of your calories are from carbs. Are you talking about a low-carb diet that is producing ketones? This would be below 50 grams of carbohydrates a day. If you are an endurance athlete, you are not going to perform as well on a diet like this. Endurance athletes need carbs to perform well. Plants are an excellent source of healthy carbohydrates.
What are the benefits of a plant-based diet?
A plant-based diet can indeed reduce heart disease and high blood pressure. However, there is no evidence of an endurance benefit with a plant-based diet. Make sure that you are getting healthy colors and flavors in your diet – make sure there are three different colors in each of your meals. One way you can ensure that the food you are making is healthy is by getting an excellent vegetarian or a plant-based cookbook.
Should I recommend that athletes become vegetarians?
Have an open conversation with your athletes about the benefits of including plant-based meals in your diet. Some athletes are eating vegetarian and breaking the myth of needing protein to get big. There is some emerging research about the possible negative effects of red meat, and the movie also fights the stigma of “real men” eating meat.
How do you look at the movie from an economic standpoint?
There are many financial and environmental costs to a meat-based diet. People should factor that in when they are making their food choices because the economics of all this is very complicated. In some countries, quinoa is a staple. Now that the price has gone up, the countries have turned to something else because it is too expensive to consume.
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More links:
On Cardiometabolic risk and veganism:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30571724 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30571724]
2018 Meta-Analysis by Benatar and Stewart. They pooled 40 studies with 12619 vegans and 179, 630 omnivores and the conclusion was that in most studies and in most countries, vegan diet was associated (keyword here) with more favorable cardiometabolic risk factors.
On Athletic Performance:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26568522 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26568522]
2016 Meta-Analysis by Craddock and colleagues comparing vegetarian diets to Omnivorous ones looking at physical performance. They ID 8 studies an
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