The Magic Pill (2017) Poster

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7/10
Just how do we get the message across that REAL FOOD is good for you and processed food not?
amandazz10026 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Reviews on here will be 10/10 or 1/10 in the main. 10/10 will come from everyone who recovered their health through changing their diet to REAL FOOD. 1/10 will come from those who believe a plant based vegetarian diet is the answer. There will not be a lot in between. I watched the documentary and I sighed a little because I knew that this continued division would be the result. My take on this is that any diet which is REAL FOODS is probably a good one. Neither sugar ( our first industrially produced commodity) nor flour ( our second ) is REAL FOOD. When you adopt a low carb or a ketogenic diet, you are doing the exact same thing as any health conscious " plant based" whole foods vegan - eating REAL FOOD. The difference is that real meat and fish products are NATURALLY higher in fat and as such they are " high fat diets" Did you know for example that a simple egg - is 62% fat? If you eat "REAL FOODS" of all kinds including meat and veg you can easily will end up with a diet consisting of about 60% fat. I know because I do and I record it using cronometer a simple program you can download for free . If you eat REAL FOOD across the entire spectrum of choices then you will also have a diet full of natural supplements. Its impossible to achieve health via a vegan diet without any supplements because some of the things you need ONLY come from animal proteins. Anyone can adjust the proportions of the types of real food they eat- meat, dairy, fish, nuts, vegetables, depending on their taste and how that combination makes YOU feel personally. So why did we all become fat and unhealthy? my take is that it stems directly from the decision to replace saturated fats (mostly meat based) with polyunsaturated oils mainly Omega 6 ( seed oils like sunflower, safflower etc.) This was simply a mistake of gigantic proportions. Om 3 & Om 6 oils are found naturally in animal products and we must have TRACE elements of them in balance in our diet because we cannot manufacture them. Our governments interpreted that as being - Om 6 oils are good for us and advised our food industry to make tons of processed products, using sugar, flour and seed oils - a perfect mix of disease causing foods. There is another thing about these seed oils - your body doesn't send signals saying you are full, when you eat them, that's why you can gorge on chips or crisps or chocolates and find it much harder to do on baked potatoes with butter. We hear all the time " junk foods" are bad for you..but no-one truly appreciates the extent of it - the fact is that actually most people feel a bit dodgy most of the time eating highly processed foods. The MAGIC PILL is an attempt to show real results of people eating REAL FOOD. There is science behind it in vast quantities - who has the time to look - but if you took the time to look it can be found easily. Because these processed foods are so bad for us, we develop heart disease, diabetes and tons of other things. One of the main aspects of that is that many of us become diabetic and intolerant to eating any more of it - so we can no longer eat carbohydrates - that stops us eating these processed foods . So we recover - there are thousands of stories of people with diabetes recovering their health through cutting our processed foods and carbohydrates. The scientists are working on it too - but it is slow because who wants to fund " just eat real food and you won't need any of our pills , potions or procedures"? Film is a interesting medium, it can be used to deliver an idea, but the format will always be capable of being shot down because there is simply not enough time to also present all the science that is there - the film makers can only hope that it opens people's eyes enough to think about it, and to start looking themselves. if you want to look then simply access @dietdoctor.com and from there myriad experts on the subject each of whom generally provides the scientific references to whatever it is they are saying. In the meantime please understand that vitriol poured on eating a REAL FOOD diet can only really come from those ideologically opposed to meat in any form - and of course the processed food and pharma industries that have everything to gain from keeping you hungry and sick so expect there to be a LOT of vitriol. REAL FOOD is the MAGIC PILL - the stuff the human body needs to operate properly - eat it and see for yourself.
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7/10
Well-made propaganda, but reviews are not votes
rptb113 October 2019
This movie is trying to convince you to stop eating carbohydrate. It's part of the ongoing controversy about the modern world's entrenched idea that fat causes disease. This idea is indeed very dodgy scientifically, but also has huge vested interests: just imagine what Coca Cola must think of this movie!

But reviews are not votes on truth. This is a well-made and interesting movie about an idea worth investigating. The stories are compelling and well presented. It's a movie worth watching for anyone interested in the sugar/fat controversy, or who is experimenting with low carb diets. For that reason I give it 7/10 *as a movie*.

With the exception of a few segments, the movie fails to present scientific data. The movie itself says that obtaining scientific funding for research against the prevailing paradigm is hard. But I advise anyone to *think* about what they're being shown and *research* anything they're doing to themselves. Always. This movie is no exception.

Nobody should be voting this movie 1/10 or 10/10 because they do or do not believe its claims. It's a fairly well-made movie and good for the debate.
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8/10
A good Change
cheriatipler26 July 2020
This documentary helped my family make a huge change in our eating habits. I would love to see an update version to fortify even further the need to access our eating lifestyle
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9/10
A documentary for Ketogenic diet skeptics
petermckn28 April 2018
The documentary several people and how their life has been affected by Ketogenic diet. There is an autistic boy whos' mother put him and a 'specific carb diet' A family of an Autistic girl, a cancer patient and a diabetic amongst others. My favourite part is regarding a south African sports scientist in a trial when the government tries to silence and destroy his credibility after suggesting a mother wean her baby on cauliflower and high fats. Its a well made and natural feeling documentary there's several professionals and it even shows you studys as well as explaining why we need to improve diet and change the way we handle agriculture. you will not be disappointed so check it out.
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Common Sense
christophercodygrace30 April 2018
This documentary gives good information about how our brains should be running on fat, not carbohydrates. I've seen first hand how the ketogenic way of eating is beneficial and natural for humans. The documentary highlights the fraud of Ancel Keys work in convincing us to rid our diets of fat but it doesn't dive into modern FDA conspiracies. I highly recommend it.
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7/10
Overall Good Message-With Intermittent Junk Science
breycn30 October 2018
I'm a fan of the ketogenic diet. Meat and vegetables are a really good cornerstone of a healthy human diet. This movie did help solidify that fact for me! But there is no reason to choose organic foods, and upon research the creator is a promoter of some serious junk science (earthing, anti-flouride, etc.).
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10/10
This movie is garbage? Certainly not...
slavomirdurej14 May 2018
If you check out all the "Magic Pill Debunking" videos on YouTube, most of them were produced by butt hurt vegans. And some of those vegans are extremely anxious about anybody challenging their beliefs, it's almost like a cult. Worse thing is , this documentary does not even mention vegan / vegetarian style of eating in a bad light. Part of healthy Ketogenic diet actually IS eating a lot of vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, asparagus, and other plant you would typically find in a green leafy salad... They simply take offense to the protein part of ketogenic diet, and cite the health risks of low carb / high protein diet, without realising, that it is NOT ketogenic way of eating. Ketogenic diet macronutrient ratio is around 20g/day or around 4-5% carb (not LOW carb , maybe NO CARB to VERY low carb) and MEDIUM protein intake. If those vegans and some but hurt dietitians took time and look at the latest SCIENCE behind Ketogenic diet, they would see how it's beneficial to any human being. It's not just some average , one of many diets that will fade, but a fundamental change in metabolism type. While on Keto you have all the benefits of fasting, it does help to slow down / stop the growth of cancer cells (as they can't use ketones as fuel) , your mitochondria can effectively convert ketone bodies to energy even if imflamations are present, which it cannot do very well with glucose, burning ketones produces much less oxidative stress which means less free radicals in the body, etc, etc, can't go into too much detail here. None of those critics either here or in those youtube videos , have any deeper knowledge of Ketogenic diet, they make their OWN assumptions of what it is, but so far I haven't seen ONE critic that actually properly understand what this diet / way of eating is about. Check out PhDr Dom D'Agostino on youtube, or Dr Berg for example, for some deeper understanding of this diet and it's benefits.
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6/10
Healthy meat
pienaartjie21 May 2018
Good points made, natural is the way to go. Tho the exploritory of healthy meat when it comes to any form of antibiotics etc is yet unexplored
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10/10
Must watch if you have not yet woken up to what you are eating
gazcart1 May 2018
I think this is a must watch and reading the majority of the other reviewers they have completely missed the point. This documentary does not ram its believes down your throat but reiterates the point that if you eat crap your likely to become ill. It makes a some great points that you should eat whole foods, things you recognise that exist naturally, not heavily processed. Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt ( dietdoctor.com) who appears in the film has done so much for this movement. Another great point it makes is that people followed the dietary guidelines they were told as what to reduce and what to increase in their diet but this has not changed the stats of heart diseases, diabetes and obesity. The films message to me is; except for manmade and super-heated fats stop worrying about them and stop eating so much sugar and carb products that are super processed, you will feel better and live longer.
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5/10
Incomplete
chex137 April 2019
Little reference to actual data, the real take away is to eat unprocessed whole foods. They didn't demonstrate that a ketogenic whole food diet is better than any other balanced whole food diet.

A bit biased towards animal products (I don't care either way but I smelled an agenda), again with no data to explain why animal sourced fats or proteins are better than other sources. Some dubious claims that our ancestors are mostly meat - hunter gatherers get most nutrition from veg and fruit because hunts are only occasionally successful.

Shame that a doco based around the fact that we have a lot of incorrect dietary information from government also tries to push a slight agenda which doesn't have supporting data.
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10/10
This documentary helped us to understand the importance of the keto diet
alexahop2 June 2018
My husband had already tried the keto diet and lost 20 pounds in two months. But he was drifting off it and he stopped losing weight. So, we watched "The Magic Pill" together. We both got really jazzed about the diet. Long story short, now we're both on it.

As a note, the description of the diet in "The Magic Pill" is a description of a Paleo diet, rather than the keto diet. If you want to know the specifics of the keto diet, don't rely on this movie. Instead see Dr. Eric Berg's Youtube videos and also the brochure on his website about the keto diet. There are lots of other websites that also give the specifics of the keto diet. It's a pretty simple diet to follow and easy also. It's really a way of eating rather than a temporary diet.

Also, there are some great recipes for keto bread and keto desserts. I sweeten them with stevia. But you can also use erythritol or xylitol, which are considered safe artificial sweetenera. Keto bread and keto desserts make a long-term approach to keto eating possible for my husband and me.
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4/10
Eat real food....
RubyMouse15 February 2019
Some decent anti-sugar and anti-processed food messages here but as an epidemiologist I'm somewhat surprised that eating beans and legumes as recommended by the World Cancer Research Fund is discouraged in favour of the currently fashionable ketogenic diet. It's a diet that appears to update Atkins and seems very popular in the USA: rehashing the same old Ancel Keys history and putting fat back on the menu. It all seemed very dated to be honest and ignored a lot of recent research in favour of simply following individual families and telling personal stories.

In Europe eating whole grains, legumes and cutting back on animal products is the approach that seems more popular and is supported by the epidemiological research.
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10/10
Best Documentary
jordanjones11114 May 2018
Best documentatary I've ever seen--by far--both in content and delivery. (With most, I stop watching after 20-30 minutes of repetition and boredom.) The concepts presented are mind-blowing and exciting. It almost brought me to tears. This is a MUST-SEE for every man, woman, and child.
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10/10
My doctors are promoting this diet after seeing patients cured
eshamonsky10 May 2018
I'm in disbelief at how long people have thought they were eating right, and how foolishly that notion was started. Every once in awhile, I've seen a story about someone who cured a "so-called incurable" disease with healthy food. But the information never spreads. People are afraid of things that challenge a blind belief. Yet this diet makes so much sense that it's impossible not to want to do it. Critics and skeptics sound like classic brainwashed cult followers. The other thing that hit home was the horror of factory farming, and how the animals from factory farms are not the meat this diet promotes us to eat. In fact, factory farming contributes to making people sick and killing the environment. None of this information is new. It's just made so clear and concise when presented in a documentary, where so much work and care has gone into getting crucial information to a wide audience. Thank you!
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10/10
Great film, real people real information!
adam_henrie12 May 2018
I don't know why people are slamming this. Did they even watch the film? Or are they being paid off by sugar companies?
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Not convinced the ketogenic diet is the healthiest
mmcbride-657602 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
It was an interesting documentary and I'm sure the the ketogenic diet can help a lot of people that have ailments. It may even prevent certain ailments. But it seems to me that you'd be hard pressed to get enough fiber which can cause other issues like colon cancer which is harder to live with than diabetes unless you catch it early. The film should have addressed that as well. I think we can all agree that sugar, overly processed foods, white flour, etc. should be avoided but not eating healthy grains is questionable in my opinion. Plus they taste great!! The film should have included more long term medical studies if they exist and perhaps gone into more detail about why this diet is healthy.
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3/10
Pseudoscience dressed up as fact
jim-8082030 April 2018
This documentary was very well made. The budget was high, and it comes at exactly the most opportune time. Diet crazes seem to be at an all-time high with the organic movement, etc.

It's so unfortunate that it also happens to be full of misinformation. Very few skeptical or scientific voices were portrayed fairly, and it elevates cranks and radicals as if they are credentialed purveyors of scientific consensus.

It takes years of thorough study to become an expert in these things, and to counter the rampant misinformation and biased reporting this documentary represents...and yet it takes us back several steps in all of 90 minutes.
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10/10
Love it!
alexbogue388921 January 2020
Very encouraging and informative! You won't be disappointed with what you see.
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1/10
This movie is TOTALLY inaccurate and here's why
timijan-tuparov15 May 2018
I've been hearing a lot of people talk about this movie, and I hear a lot of people every day switching to keto diet for health benefits. Trying to improve your health and live a better lifestyle is not a bad thing - it's actually what every human being should strive to do. But you should make your choices and do a good research before doing so. Unfortunately, this hour-and-a-half movie doesn't do so. It's very underresearched and completely based on four individuals. They try to make you feel like you are discovering a thousand year old secret kept by this specific group of indigenous peoples from Australia, telling how "robust and muscular" they used to be, but if you actually look closer at the images they show in this documentary, you'll notice that those two words aren't the first ones that come to mind when you see those old black and white pictures. The keto diet has swept the first world countries by a storm in the last few years (especially the United States) and when I heard about it, and all the benefits of it, I tried it myself last summer. I bought a cookbook, I made an entire week of meal-preps, and I constructed a very detailed exercise plan. Ever since moving to the States, I started struggling with high blood pressure and the Keto diet was swearing to do so, and I was super excited to do it so I can get rid of my prescription pills. I started the diet and it was going very well: I lost almost 20 lbs in a little over a month and I started to look a lot better. I couldn't believe it, and I felt so great about myself, but then I had a knee injury and I was rushed to the hospital - where I discovered that my blood pressure was off the chart and the chest pain I was experiencing wasn't from hard workouts, but because I was on a brink of a heart attack. My cholesterol was off the hook, and my arteries were clogged up from all that fat I was ingesting. I immediately stopped the diet, and started warning people about the side effects of this "magic pill" that this documentary and all the Keto books fail to mention. And then just three months after I stopped my Keto diet, I heard that one of my customers, who actually told me about this diet, unfortunately passed away from a cardiovascular arrest which led to heart failure at age of 42. Keto diet is not what it's all hyped up to be, and this documentary does not provide any accurate information about nutrition or healthy diet. I say, do your own research and make up your own mind - don't let people who have personal gain (like the lovely chef who is behind this) serve you something as the truth, chew it up and put it in your mouth for you just to swallow.
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10/10
A common sense good documentary
Cheeseman6710 May 2018
I worry about the other reviewers who feel that the films ideas are not correct. The info in this film is nothing new. High healthy fat is very good and very healing. Man made and factory produced food and grains and nonsense can certainly be eaten by anyone who wants them but dont think for one second that you are eating healthy foods because you are not. Anyone can eat anything they want to eat. If you are a high card eater and wonder why you have troubles or fat and do not realize what it is from then you need to educate yourself a bit. Eat whatever you want to est but if you wish to feel good and be healthy eat high good fat and lo carb low man created food.
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10/10
Potentially the most important documentary you'll ever see.
Phil-3 June 2019
This documentary is so important to absolutely everyone on the planet. For anyone who isn't already aware of the damage all carbohydrates cause the body they need to watch and understand. Unfortunately everyone still thinks they need to follow the food pyramid. I won't go into these things too much but for those who want to live a longer, much healthier, more intelligent, energetic and functional life just watch it. It's still up to you to make your choices but I and many others were already aware of this and I've been trying to promote for a while to family but they just won't listen to me. This documentary will demonstrate scientifically the important information you need to be aware of. Some of my own experiences follow:

So, genuinely. I've found the past 6 years of my life incredibly frustrating. I did zero carbs for the first time in 2012 as a bodybuilder.

My other friends would use carbs, no fat and protein to diet down.

What I had always noticed was my friends would look ill whilst dieting, they'd be constantly tired, huge mood swings and anger (both them and myself took steroids so it wasn't a steroid thing for those thinking that).

Their families would suffer their terrible moods, headaches and exhaustion with them.

I expected the same doing zero carb as our calorific intake was the same. For the first couple of weeks, it was. Then all of a sudden it was like my body made this switch. I had dropped lots of excess water (carbs by nature cause more water retention and are inflammatory by nature), my energy levels were now much more consistent. I could train for longer but without feeling worn out.

My brain was more active like a fog had cleared. Plus my body fat was reducing rapidly.

Within 12 weeks I'd dropped all the fat I wanted to so I could look good. What I noticed equally as much as finally having abs that I could easily see was that my migraines had stopped, my IBS had cleared up, my issues with depression were gone, I was sleeping and actually feeling rested afterwards, my joints felt far less pain (my knees are damaged from years of lifting) .

My friends had got equally as lean on clean carbs , protein and veg (basically rice, chicken, broccoli, spinach and kale every meal or a potato in place of rice). However they felt terrible. They looked ill. They were constantly moody and depressed. In fact everything about what they had done had a negative effect on them in every way except for the physique. The carbs allow the muscles to stay slightly fuller and slighty more powerful than fats (this is initial power only) their endurance was terrible.

I was getting to eat bacon, steaks, nuts, peanut butter, chicken breast with the skin, sausages, fish, I could make my meats or fish into very low carb chilli, curry, bolognese etc and I was still feeling great.

I told my friends. They saw and they did. It was the same for every one of them. Improvements in all areas but always noticably in brain function and inflammation.

My friend who is 65 has had severe arthritis for many years. He could barely walk and was on his way to being chair bound. He was on loads of meds and cortisone based steroids.

He cut out all carbs. A year later he's in the gym moving about without problem. The docs cannot explain the huge improvement in arthritis that had advanced to such a severe stage. He had a heart op, the docs are now amazed that not only has his heart stayed stable but has improved. He has been told in all the years the team at the hospital had been treating and performing surgery they had never seen the heart actually begin to improve over its repair.

I try to tell more people. Carbs are not what we are supposed to eat. It's tough making the change as carbs are addictive and taste great. So to those who find it tough. Do what I did. Zero carb for at least 6-10 day then have 1 day eating whatever you like. Then another 6-10 days and so on. It keeps you driven. The funny thing is. The day you have where you get to eat all the foods you crave (cheat day) makes you feel rough!

Do yourself and your family a huge favour. Watch this documentary as I could never have demonstrated what I and many others knew to the point of actioning change in my family.

This documentary could save your life.

The current food pyramid and the drumming in of fats are bad is the misinformation that had caused the huge rises in illness, cancers etc. But of course, farmers profit from carbs, industry profits from carbs and pharma profits from keeping people ill.

Please watch it.
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9/10
A 'should be' watch for everyone
abhib-0909923 February 2020
A very well researched documentary on a topic that I myself have experienced.
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1/10
Popularising the diet of death
facebook-9610631 August 2019
There's not a single long term study showing any benefit from this way of eating, with the exception of epilepsy suffers.

There is no science in this movie, just anecdotes and good news about bad habits.

People will die from following this unfounded information. Paleo, keto, Atkins, South Beach, they're all iterations of the same low carb, high protein diet that leads to diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

Sure, cut out processed foods, you're bound to have health improvements, reduce caloric intake - you'll lose weight, but don't conflate that with a diet high in cholesterol, saturated fat and animal protein being healthy. This is a disease promotion documentary.
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10/10
Do yourself a favor and watch this!
FanGirl713 February 2019
I just got done watching this and my mind is blown! To see the changes in these people's lives after only a few weeks is inspiring! It is very well done the information well documented and was interesting from start to finish! I'm going to start eating this way and make it my mission to get my friends and family to watch this!
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1/10
Not a documentary
trip-lanigan1 May 2018
The folks interviewed in this "documentary" are listed as "characters" in the credits and there are no sources listed at the end, meaning they essentially document nothing. This is not to say that i think ketogebic diets are bad and that this movie is not entertaining, it just doesn't tie any of its fun little ideas and characters together to make a cohesive point.
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