Last nights, Babs and I attended a preview viewing of That Sugar Film, we knew it would make us rethink our diets… but we didn't realise, That Sugar Film would be an accidental environmental success story.
Let me explain.
Here's the synopsis of the film from the website:
"That sugar film is about one man's journey to discover the bitter truth about sugar. Damon Gameau embarks on a unique experiment to document the effects of a high sugar diet on a healthy body, consuming only foods that are commonly perceived as 'healthy'. Through this entertaining and informative journey, Damon highlights some of the issues that plague the sugar industry, and where sugar lurks on supermarket shelves. THAT SUGAR FILM will forever change the way you think about 'healthy' food."
Featuring cameos from stars like Stephen Fry, Isabel Lucas and Hugh Jackman - the film is bound to be a wide success.
But what no one is mentioning is how the message of That Sugar Film inadvertently promotes a plastic-free lifestyle.
Eating out, and shopping for food and beverages are key parts of our daily lives where we can make a significant difference on CO2 pollution. Sending a message back to the manufacturers by saying 'NO'.
Say ‘NO’ to wasteful packaging, plastic bags and bottled water Estimated CO2 Saving: 13kg per month (150kg per year) .- 1 MILLION WOMEN DATA
The film reveals that 19-30 year olds are unwittingly consuming 40 teaspoons of sugar per day. These mainly come from ingesting perceived 'healthy' foods, like low fat yoghurt, muesli bars, juices and cereals.
All of which are packaged in single use plastic.
This mean these hidden sugars are not just bad for your health, but bad for the planets health too. Research says it could take up to, or more than a million years for this to happen.
When you throw away that empty juice bottle, the snack sized muesli bar or the yoghurt container you grabbed on the run, you're actually throwing away valuable, finite resources embedded in its creation.
So many of us still thoughtlessly grab quick and easy products on the run and then toss them away, without any thought of what the long term affects will be on the planet.
By encouraging people to make the switch to fresh and unpackaged produce for their health, the film fortuitously encourages us to leave single use plastics behind.
After the film there was a Q and A featuring, Damon Gameau (The Sugar Man himself), Pete Evans (The Paleo Way) and Michele Chavelley Hedge (Nutritionist).
I was busting to ask them their thoughts on the reduced amounts of waste they had noticed by reducing hidden refined sugars – but I held back. I wanted to see if they would address the issue themselves without any prompting, which they all inadvertently did.
Michelle emphasized the importance of planning to reduce your dependence on convenience food, day-to-day,
"You can create a habit. Think about crowding in so much good food that you forget about the junk food (held in single use plastic)," She explains.
"If things are accessible in the house and you've taken sometime to do that planning… planning is they key to everything. What do you do in your life that you're good at that hasn't taken time and planning? Planning makes it easy for busy people and busy parents."
Many parents struggle with lunchboxes because the market is heavily saturated with high sugar and single use plastic food products targeted at kids. So what can we do?
"Left overs from the night before make the perfect school lunch," explains Pete Evans.
"Get your kids to take a spoon and fork to school. There are some beautiful lunchboxes our there now. When it gets cold, buy a thermos and send them to school with some soup you had the night before."
Pete explains change won't be initiated by a governments, "it will be a grassroots movement and it's up to parents and schools to think about it."
Michelle adds that if we can take the time to create these foods in our homes, they will be made with only the ingredients we choose to include and free of plastic packaging.
Finally, Damon reminds us that it's not about taking sugar away completely; it's about picking your battles.
"We're not saying to cut sugar out completely, but we are saying slow down and rethink where it's coming from," He explains.
I say if reducing our refined sugar intake means reducing our mindless use of single use plastic bring it on!
What are your thoughts? Let us know below.
