I hope you enjoy this video.
(air whooshing)
- I absolutely loved it.
It's been in the pipeline for a long time, hasn't it?
So there's a lot of anticipation.
So I was a bit worried it wouldn't live up to the hype
but no, it was absolutely fantastic.
There are so many myths still about vegan, plant-based diets
particularly athletes and whether you can get
enough protein, enough energy.
Very negative stereotypes particularly around men and sports
and meat, and it really smashed those.
Shows how plant-based athletes really have that advantage.
Yeah, really powerful film.
- I think the movie "Game Changers" is absolutely monumental
and, in fact, it's hopefully going to be a game changer
because it just blows out of the water this stereotype
of the scrawny, undernourished, underperforming vegetarian
and for an hour and a half, just bathes the screen with
these magnificent plant-based athletes doing these
wonderful athletic performances.
And there's just no arguing with the
weight lifters and the sprinters and the cyclists
and all these wonderful people that have nourished
their body on plant-based foods.
It really puts to rest that argument that plant-based foods
are not capable of fostering a body
with great, great power and skill.
- So this movie takes a look at how to best
improve your performance.
We've got world-class athletes, Olympic athletes,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and we've got the science too.
We're talking some of the best medical professionals
in the field who know a whole lot about nutrition
coming together, these two worlds are colliding in a way
to show that you can outperform
your opponents on a whole food, plant-based diet.
- I think it's the single most potent,
best piece of film we have.
It's just that Hollywood production value,
and it's just like 'Wow, finally we have something."
So everyone should drag everyone they know,
now it's on the streaming services,
everyone has to watch this multiple times.
Watch it until you start eating healthier.
- They didn't oversell the science.
They were very measured, they didn't make any
unrealistic claims because you don't have to.
Because the evidence for the benefits of a healthy,
whole food plant-based diet are compelling.
And I loved that as the various talking heads were speaking,
their references appeared at the end of the screen,
just subtly, you can pause it and double screen,
get your mobile out and look up that paper
and decide for yourself.
- I have seen the "Game Changers", I've seen it twice,
and I absolutely loved it.
I thought it was a great movie
It had everything in it.
It had education, it had a personal story, it had
a journey, and what I loved most was that it
brought the science to life.
I've been talking about the science for so long,
and then to have these amazing infographics
popping up on screen,
sharing the studies that I've been reading,
it was really special.
- I love the movie "Game Changers" for a thousand reasons.
But if I had to give you the top two or three,
I would say number one,
it's proven to the world,
using evidence-based science, that this idea of eating
a high protein and/or high fat diet to boost
athletic performance and boost athletic recovery,
was never true to begin with.
And, in fact, the athletes who are eating plant-based diets
that are high in nutrient density are actually getting
better performance, and most importantly,
better improved recovery times.
- It's the documentary that I've been waiting for.
It's great for women too, but for the men in my life
who are like 'Where are you gonna get your protein?'
and 'How am I gonna build muscle?'
It really dispels all the myths that like,
'Oh, can you build muscle on a vegan diet?'
Yes, not only CAN you but it might actually be optimal.
- The "Game Changers" really, in an inspiring way,
reaches a whole new audience.
And these are people who didn't want to just lose weight,
or lower their cholesterol.
These are people who wanted to perform in sports
at the highest possible level.
And they brought it home, I have to say.
It's a fantastic movie.
- It just dispels the myth
that athletes have to eat meat to be successful.
In fact, from this movie, it appears the exact opposite.
That eating a whole food, plant-based diet is gonna really
promote the highest level of athletic performance.
- I think a big problem with the plant-based movement
right now is that men think it's macho to eat meat.
And this does draw that into question.
There was good humor in it.
But the humor was biting, it left a, you know,
let's think about this a little more.
- We think about what's going to move society
where they see somebody famous that they know.
An actor, a race car driver, a body builder that they know.
I think that WAS a game changer.
- I think there's a lot of star power that's coming with it.
So James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan.
So I think these are not names people may think of
and associate them with plant-based or vegan eating,
or plant-friendly eating.
And they'd be surprised that there are some people out there
that they've heard of that do support this,
and there are good reasons for supporting it.
- What do you think of the backlash?
I find it really interesting because, for me, it was
a fantastic documentary, really well-produced.
But do you expect some kind of backlash?
- I think it's inevitable, there's going to be backlash.
There was an article in the Guardian the other day,
'Why do People Hate Vegans',
and many reasons behind that.
But unfortunately there is quite a lot of antipathy
towards vegans, so that was gonna happen.
And all the health stuff I know very well,
as a GP,
from the studies and from my own patients.
And that's exactly what I see.
- There's gonna be a lot of people that are going to
rebut the evidence that is put forth in the
"Game Changers" movie, there's no question about it.
In fact, the fact that people are rebutting it means
that the information is actually penetrating
and it's threatening their way of life.
- If you really think about the message that
"Game Changers" had, it was really only three things, right?
It was to show that you don't need to eat meat to be
manly and strong and fast and run for long.
That you could accomplish the same thing in plants,
and if you eat plants, you will be healthier
and the Planet will be healthier.
And that was all it said, at a fundamental level,
it just said those three things.
- The criticism that it is one sided
and that the research is not strong,
I really have to object to that.
Because there is really good research out there.
For instance, we know that a whole food plant-based diet
can stop and reverse heart disease.
That has been shown in a randomized control trial,
but also in a very large case series of nearly 200 patients.
And there is no other diet today
that has been able to replicate this.
Not the Keto diet or the Paleo diet.
So I think only this, the number one killer in
most Western countries, that we can stop and reverse it
on a whole food, plant-based diet.
That alone should be enough to promote it
and to be prescribed by doctors.
- What were some of your favorite scenes, or favorite
if you had to pick one scene?
- I've been having talks about the fitness stuff.
It was actually the health stuff which really
hit home for me as a GP.
In the fire station where Rip is teaching firefighters
that the greatest risk to their life is actually
heart disease, not fire.
And puts them on a seven-day vegan challenge
and shows how their blood pressure and
their cholesterol comes down,
their blood sugars normalize.
That's what I see with my own patients, so it was great
to see that visually shown to everyone out there.
- I think the one that got my attention the most...
So again, we know about plant-based nutrition in terms of
cardiovascular health, and improving blood flow.
And it turns out, it improves blood flow to lots of places!
And again, we think of middle aged and older adults,
but they took young athletes and they asked them to either
eat just a single meal that was heavy in animal products
versus one that was completely vegan, a plant-based meal.
And then looked at the effects on blood flow
to certain regions.
And it was just insane the kind of differences.
I don't wanna be a spoiler alert here,
but it was just shocking.
- The erectile function scene.
How could you forget about that?
Or even just one healthy meal,
plant-based meal,
compared to one animal-based meal.
The one plant-based meal improved erectile function.
One meal.
And one meal of animal-based food appeared to worsen it.
- There were multiple powerful scenes in the movie.
I found Dotsie Bausch to be the most motivating.
Her story's amazing and how she became faster and faster
when she went vegan.
And they qualified for the Olympics.
And she was the oldest athlete among men or women
to qualify for that particular sport.
And she was 39 years-old.
Most people retire at that age and here she was,
faster than ever, to prove the power of plants.