Cian Tan

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Today, in the United States of America, the amount they spend on health care is
about five times more than on national defense. It is largely due to diet-related health
issues as 75% of the fund goes to it. With that, the film, Forks over Knives, by Lee
Fulkerson focuses on how changing one’s diet from the usual animal-based to plant-
based can reduce the chances of getting these chronic diseases. Furthermore, the
movie interviews a number of people on their story of how they changed their diet to the
plant-based one and how they felt after the swap. From the film, I learned that medicine
is not the solution to most of the chronic diseases and meat is not the only source of
protein.
First, I was really surprised that food was just the solution to the people who had
chronic diseases because it was also the one that made them have these illnesses.
Furthermore, it seemed too simple because whenever one has a disease, medicine
would usually be given to them. However, based from the people who were interviewed
in the film, it was just making their condition worse. From this, one would think that this
is the end of that person because nothing can be done for him anymore. However, in
the movie, Dr. Esselstyn just told them to change their diet plan to a plant-based.
Afterwards, there were improvements as most of the patients were able to reduce their
chances of getting a diet-related health issue such as diabetes or cancer. To add to
that, it boosts their confidence as most of them would feel younger.
Next, I was amazed by the food myths that they debunked and one of them was
meat is not the only source of protein. Usually, people would say that one needs animal
protein as Connie Diekman says if one removes it from their diet, they may have
inadequate protein content and it provides the amino acid a person needs for cell
growth. However, in the film, Dr. Campbell states that eating whole foods will not make
one protein deficient as they have to be calorie deficient first. To add to that, he says
that by just eating potatoes, one has already met the prescribed amount of protein
needed to take per day.
 In the end, I really learned a lot from the film as shown from the two points I
made in the previous paragraphs. With the increasing diet-related health issues, I
believe that teaching students about nutrition would encourage them to live a healthier
lifestyle as they will realize the consequences of have a poor one.
Cian Tan

The film, Footprints: The Path of Your Life, by Juan Cotelo is about the journey of
ten men to Santiago de Compostela. However, it was not a simple journey as thye had
to travel 500 miles to get there alongside the obstacles they had to overcome. From the
film, I learned a lot of themes.
I found their determination and resilience to be inspiring. Before the trip, they
were mostly nervous and worries because they saw pictures in the internet in which
some had lots of blisters in their feet while some were covered in blood while travelling
to the Santiago de Compostela. However, their motivation to be able to go to the church
in foot for 500 miles overcame their worries. Another reason was because some of them
wanted to find their true selves or find their purpose in life. Furthermore, during the
journey, they experience some drawbacks as some of them were experiencing physical
problems such as blisters or knee problems. In order to combat those, they would talk
with each other which motivates them to start walking again. From this, it can be seen
that the joy in just sharing thoughts with one another overcomes the suffering they are
experiencing. Sometimes, they are just motivated as one of the pilgrims said that “A
person who suffers alone suffers more than a person who endures pain and surrenders
to an ideal that help him continue walking.” To add to that, I was amazed on how they
were able to minimalize as some of them had to give up their extra clothes or their
favorite things just to make their bags fit for the journey. This attitude of being
minimalists was able to help the pilgrims see the important things in their lives. They
were able to see it through the silence they had throughout the journey as the pilgrims
said that it encourages different behaviors which is impossible to happen when it is
noisy such as talking to God.
In the end, the film taught a lot of life lessons such as never giving up and taking
away the unnecessary things in one’s life so that they may be able to focus on the
important ones.