The Top Five Life-Changing Documentaries You Must See

The ocean is being strangled by trash, our children are being poisoned by BPA, "Frankenfood" is destroying our health, we're all dying from diseases related to eating meat, and America is dumbing down its children. Should we all become vegans who use cloth bags, grow our own organic fruits and vegetables, and send our children private schools where they'll learn to split atoms in kindergarten so we can keep up with the rest of the world? Well, not quite. It is possible to ferret out the truth behind these claims without believing all the hype. The following five documentaries are well-researched, pragmatic, and logical. Each one of them presents the facts in a way that can change your way of thinking and living without being condescending or unrealistic.

Bag It - Winner of countless film awards for this documentary, Jeb Berrier is an actor and director who simply wondered if plastic bags were necessary and why we use so much plastic in America. During his search to find the truth about plastics, he discovers that his wife is pregnant and he becomes even more determined to spread the word about the dangers of plastic. Rather than a radical left-winger, Berrier comes across as a friendly neighbor who just wants everyone to have the knowledge they need to protect themselves and the environment. The big "aha" for me came with the simple truth that the plastic fork that you may use for just 15 to 30 minutes will take over 100 years to biodegrade. The chemical that is used to make plastic hard, bisphenol A (or BPA for short) is commonly used in plastics that store food and drinks and in personal care items like lotion bottles. It has been shown to cause breast and prostate cancer, enlargement of the prostate, early onset of puberty, hyperactivity in children, obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Just that, and plastic's effect on marine animals, is enough to make me avoid it like the plague.

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead - Poor Joe Cross, he has everything in life, except his health. Cross is a wealthy Australian entrepeneur who finds himself 100 pounds overweight and at the mercy of steroids that keep his autoimmune disorder, chronic utricaria, at bay. He suffers from painful rashes that cover his body from head to toe and conventional medicine is unable to provide relief. Cross decides to give his body the chance to heal itself by embarking on a 60 day juice fast while he travels 3,000 miles across America talking to people about their health. Humble and unassuming, he shares his triumphant journey as he loses the weight and manages to finally get relief from the urticaria without steroids. The idea that our bodies have the ability to heal themselves of chronic diseases is fascinating and it does not get the recognition it deserves. Everyone can benefit from the simple act of juicing.

Food, Inc. - This documentary is far scarier than any horror movie, and it's all true. America's food supply is controlled by a small number of very powerful corporations who simply value profit more than they do the health of Americans. Filmaker Robert Kenner takes the viewer from factory farms where over millions of animals live in inhumane conditions, to the story of a devastated mother whose son died from e. coli tainted hamburger, to the genetically modified soy bean fields of Machiavellian corporations who put organic farmers out of business. But, there's a bright side - a few bright souls, like farmer Joel Salatin, who work tirelessly to change the prognosis for food in America.

Forks Over Knives- The premise of this film is that the three biggest killers of Americans, heart disease, cancer, and stroke, can all be prevented by a vegetarian diet that restricts processed food. "Forks Over Knives" simply means that if you watch what you eat with your fork, you'll avoid going under the knife on the operating table. The experts of this movie, nutrional scientist Dr. T. Colin Campbell and surgeon Dr. Caldwell Esseltyn, are mesmerizing in their narrative of how far we've gone in the wrong direction and how easy it is to recover. Even if you never plan on adopting a completely vegetarian diet, you can't argue with the doctors' cold, hard facts. They offer simple steps we can all do to improve our health.

Waiting for Superman- If you thought the state of education in America was dire, you'll be horrified by by how much worse it really is in some areas. This story follows five students who hope to win a lottery to be chosen to attend a well-performing charter school rather than their dismal district school. In these cases, winning the lottery is the children's only chance at escaping a world of poverty and ignorance. The title comes from Geoffrey Canada, the award winning educator who has been revolutionizing education in a small area of Harlem known as the Harlem Children's Zone. As a child of poverty, Canada said he was always waiting for Superman to swoop in and save him, but he never did. This movie is a must-see for anyone who works in education or has children in school.

From these documentaries I've learned that we still have a lot of control over our environment, our health, what we eat, and how our children are educated. But we have to be diligent about searching for the truth, listening to the facts, and acting on the information that we get.