10 eye-opening health documentaries you can stream right now

Cooked

Where to stream: Netflix

The original 2016 Netflix show Cooked, based on the best-selling book Cooked, is a gem waiting to be discovered. Food author Michael Pollan shows the audience how cooking, braising and baking changes the make-up of food and the way we indulge.

The mini-documentary is condensed into four binge-worthy episodes. Pollan discusses how the making of food has changed throughout history and how closely it has stayed the same – always including air, Earth, fire, and water.

The purpose of the show Cooked is to make the point to the audience that we must start cooking for ourselves in order to avoid future health problems that are food related such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

Pollan also describes how modern cooking methods are what have caused health problems in our world. For example, gluten-intolerance was never an issue in the ancient times of baking bread. But, because of the new process of the industrialized bread industry, gluten-free muffins, for example, can be found at most bakeries around the United States.

And, of course, because life has gotten busier, the amount of prep-time taken to prep our food has decreased dramatically in the past 50 years. By half! Today, the average American takes 27 minutes to prep their food for the day. So, think about it. How much care can really be put into what we are feeding our bodies in 27 minutes?

This Netflix treasure is a great way to understand what you are doing to your body on a daily basis. And, learn to make the proper changes to help it be at its best health.