The Magic Pill Page #2

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just about everything

except for, like...

the Goldfish and Doritos.

So...

[jazz music playing]

I just don't know.

I don't know what

it's gonna be like.

I may get overwhelmed with it.

-[hisses]

-[inhales]

But I'm truly

at a point in my life

where I'm afraid.

I'm afraid that my chips

have run out.

You breathe it in,

and then you hold it,

and then you breathe out.

That's how that works.

I'm scared.

I'm genuinely scared.

[Robert] Debbie, you're about

to change your diet.

-What are you most afraid of?

-Failure.

-B-b-b!

-[chuckles]

B-b-b!

Wishing for luck...

Yes.

[shudders, laughs]

[Nora Gedgaudas]

We are all physiologically

and genetically

hunter-gatherers.

We've only been consuming

an agriculturally-based diet now

for maybe 500 generations or so

versus more

than 100,000 generations--

not 100,000 years,

but 100,000 generations--

on a largely meat-

and fat-based diet.

We have the brains that we do

because of the enormous amount

of fat that we consumed

as a species throughout

our evolutionary history.

Suddenly now, we're eating

a carbohydrate-based diet,

and in the last

13 or so generations,

since this thing called

the industrial revolution,

this has just gone down

a slippery slope.

[Richard Trudgen] You are

the oldest culture on earth,

is Yolngu culture.

Forty-thousand years.

So anybody that

has a go at us,

don't talk to us

unless you've got

40,000 years of research.

Yeah?

The American

scientific expedition that came

to Arnhem Land in 1948

showed that Yolngu people

were extremely robust.

No chronic disease, great teeth,

well-built, muscular.

I remember the Yolngu

in the '70s-- rippled muscles.

They were like supermen.

I came back in '83

to see a population

that was decimated.

This chronic disease tsunami

that is now wiping

across the Yolngu population.

[people chattering]

[Kama Trudgen]

Funerals are just this

constant part of life here,

where you finish one,

and then the next one arrives

and then the next one arrives

and you can kind of get

a funeral fatigue.

-6.3.

-6.3. [speaks Yolngu Matha]

[Kama]

And all of life is needing to be

reorganized around that.

There are definitely still

people are alive today

who, as they were growing up,

were living

a traditional lifestyle.

We're running out

of those people.

Everybody died.

My friends have all gone.

Even my best friends.

They're not with me anymore.

-[Robert] Life's not supposed

to be like that.

-No. No.

[Robert]

Yuranydjil, can you

tell me, in your own words,

why, why are you here

at this retreat?

-Boy, I can't talk

when I'm walking.

-Okay, fair enough.

Maybe down on the beach

when I'm sitting down, I will.

I think my body,

maybe weren't built

to do some walks,

or...I don't know.

I remember

when I was a little girl

I used to come

with my grandfather.

We'd be walking

along this beach.

And every night he'd,

he'd share stories.

He would tell me,

"This is the way to go.

"This is what you eat.

"Don't eat this.

"This is nice,

but this is bad.

"Don't touch this.

Don't eat this.

It's not even food.

It's "nhangining."

"Nhangining"

meaning "non-edible."

Even those red and black beads,

they're pretty to make

a good necklace,

but it's not good to eat.

It's "nhangining."

[chattering]

[Kama]

So much has been done

to Yolngu people

to send the message

that they are inferior

and that whatever is going on

in the dominant culture

is more powerful and superior.

And that definitely applies

to people's perception of food.

[Tim]

This one's got caffeine.

[Kama]

Coca-Cola is something that's

frequently drunk for breakfast.

It's something frequently given

to really small children

for breakfast.

A lot of people

look in on that,

and they think, "Wow.

That family mustn't care

about that child."

But that's coming

from information

that these families

just don't have.

[Tim]

The total carbs in one serving,

28.6 grams,

and a serving's 40 grams.

[Kama]

They believe they're

being loving and caring

to their child

by giving them good food

bought from the dominant

culture's store.

No sugar in this one, but...

[speaks Yolngu Matha]

[Pete Evans]

The Australian government's

pumping millions of dollars

into trying to fix

Aboriginal health,

and here's

these two individuals

that have managed to do

what they're trying to do

on a large scale.

[speaks Yolngu Matha]

[Pete]

What they're managing

to do is to say,

"The way you had it

before white person came

was actually the right way."

We have ancient wisdom,

and we have modern wisdom,

and I think the two

need to work

harmoniously together,

in balance.

[Robert]

So in the philosophy

of Hope for Health,

what is good food?

Good food is food

that is grounded

in the tradition

of Aboriginal people.

This is the Yolngu way

of cooking.

[Robert]

And how might that translate

to the rest of us?

[Tim]

Umm, it's basically...

meat and vegetables. Okay?

Meat and vegetables

that come from a place

that is closest

to its natural state.

[chirping]

[serene music playing]

[David Perlmutter]

Years ago, there was

a commercial

for a particular margarine.

[woman]

That's not margarine.

That's my sweet, creamy butter.

[David] This woman,

who actually turned out

to be Mother Nature,

tasted it, and she said,

"It's not nice to fool

Mother Nature,"

and made lightning happen

and thunder.

The fact is that processed food

is not natural.

That's trying to fool

Mother Nature.

[Debbie]

Should I get the trash bag out?

[Nell Stephenson laughs]

Probably.

[David]

We should be eating

the foods that nature provides,

not that are scientized,

not that factories provide.

Would it be okay if I sat down

on that chair over here?

-Go through the store

without a problem.

-Yeah.

Okay. I'm sorry.

[Robert]

Your mom is the daughter

of my father's sister.

-So, your dad is my mom's uncle.

-That's right.

[Barry]

Dude, everything in there's

gonna have to go.

[Robert]

I think it's probably best

if it does.

Pasta Roni.

What is Pasta Roni?

-[Debbie laughs] Pasta.

-[Nell] I guess.

Even the name in and of itself

tells you how highly processed--

it's somebody's brand name.

-Abigail, get down.

-Any food preferences?

I know you gave me

the three-day diet diary.

-[Barry] Those are

her food preferences.

-[both laugh]

SpaghettiOs, chicken nuggets,

-Goldfish. Doritos.

-Goldfish is the normal--

-[Robert] What about drinks?

-Apple juice.

Apple juice.

[Rangan Chattergee]

We've hijacked our taste buds

with food-like substances

that are not whole food,

that are not real food.

Here's a good one.

Imitation vanilla flavor.

"Propylene glycol, sodium

benzoate, phosphoric acid."

-Doesn't that sound lovely?

-I don't even know what it is.

-Right.

-[Robert] The whole "low fat"

thing is completely wrong,

so we're gonna add

more fat to the diet.

I mean good, natural fats.

That's avocados, olive oil,

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