Stereotypes are hard to break…especially the ones we don’t even realize we are fostering.
Filmmaker Lathe Poland, co-creator of the documentary film-in-progress Carb-Loaded: A Culture Dying to Eat, learned this firsthand in 2010 when he discovered he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. “I couldn’t have been more surprised,” he recounts. “I didn’t fit, or at least, I didn’t think that I fit the typical Type 2 profile. I was a lean 165 pounds. I had a seemingly healthy diet.” He soon learned that he was a statistic in a tidal wave of newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetics.
Once Poland and his co-creator Eric Carlsen began to research this epidemic, they discovered some alarming facts about the origins of the Standard American Diet, and the many processed foods it includes.
“I was a little overwhelmed when I first realized how broken our food culture is,” admits Poland. “I was standing in a grocery store when I realized how much of our health we have signed over to the food industry.” He continues, “It is astounding how we have mindlessly handed the keys to our well being over to food corporations.”
The filmmakers have been interviewing experts from around the world on this important topic. “It’s more than just staying away from junk food,” Carlsen observes. “Along the way, we realized there are plenty of stereotypes about healthy eating that are borderline myths. It’s incredibly interesting, but also a bit scary.”
Poland and Carlsen recently launched their KickStarter Campaign to obtain funding to finish the film. They also have recruited some experts in the medical and food community that regularly contribute informative articles to their website.
The filmmakers don’t claim that their project will fix a broken food culture, but it just might break a few of its stereotypes.
