A Indústria da Cura

But I felt there wasn't a lot of "there" / "there". Many of the episodes took on a lite throwing up of facts to let the viewer decide but you felt you really didn't get the full information just what might have been lying around. In particular the "fasting" episode shouldn't have been in this series. Fasting, even for 28 days, is by no means "fringe" and the story they put up of negative consequences simply didn't hold muster. Basic facts were not told to the audience making one question what exactly did happen in that particular case. In addition the nutritionist gave wrong information. Fasting has been proven not to lower your metabolic rate. Metabolic rate has been proven not to start to reduce for 14 to 21 days after reducing food. She needs to crack a medical journal. Someone needs to do a documentary on the failure of nutritionists and their deadly advice.

What an awesome idea to debunk pseudosience in a Netflix series. But these documentaries don't do anything to support a scientific worldview or combat pseudoscience. Such a missed chance!

Right of the bat, in the opening lines of each episode, there are judgments, but we don't need judgments based on who know whose opinion, we need a series like this to present products, highlight what's controversial about them, denounce any misinfirmation if it's out there, and present scientifically grounded and paracticle conclusions.

You can do better, Netflix!

I was pleasantly surprised the way they handled the subject. I did Ayahuasca three years ago and it changed my life. The stories are powerful and very moving, and different perspectives including the scientific is covered in a respectful way. I also really liked that they included the perspective of the natives that have shared their medicines compassionately with the west.

What I feel is missing very often concerning documentaries on aya, is the fact that you are responsible to stay off medicines, drugs, alcohol and to cleanse and fast before the ceremony. The other thing is that unfortunalely aya is not healing in itself, if you are not surrounded by experienced, grounded and loving guides! The third thing is that aya requires you to work on your self and make necessary changes in your life, it is you who needs to do the work, and some experience with introspection and reflection is very useful before you choose to do it.

This is an interesting, yet flawed presentation of alternative "medicine" health strategies. Testimonials from practitioners are not challenged in a traditional reporting style question and answer format. This leaves many crackpots extolling the virtues of their unscientific therapies unchallenged as they speak. My biggest issue so far was related to the fasting episode. Specifically, a man with Mantle Cell Lymphoma (which I also have), claimed that after 2 rounds of chemo and intermittent fasting while on chemo, his scans came back "cancer free." If he was "cancer free" then why did his doctors have him complete 6 rounds of chemo? I had 8 rounds of chemo and after my 3rd round my PET scan was clear. My doctors explained my cancer wasn't gone and I was certainly not "cancer free" at that point. The medical fact is after your first few rounds the remaining cancer cells can become so dispersed and small that a PET scan doesn't detect them. So you STILL have cancer and you STILL need to complete all of your chemo. I focused on healthy eating according to the Certified Dietician's recommendations for all 8 rounds. The testimonial was false, misleading and dangerous for him to indicate 2 rounds plus hydration and fasting did anything to make him "cancer free." I agree with his nutritional and exercise approach post-chemo while he's in remission, but there is zero scientific evidence that his fasting will keep him in remission longer than me. I'm on a mostly plant-based diet (which I've followed for years) plus exercise every day (which I've also done for years). Despite strongly disagreeing with his conclusions on the role of fasting during his chemo, I wish him the best. We are both going to face health challenges in the future from this aggressive, incurable disease.

So it was very informative on how people can go way overboard with "naturals" so much so that they can put them selves and their family in a health deficit thru "naturals" that often (not always but often) don't do anything and ignoring the FACT that it's largely because theirs no proof it does work, and taking the placebo affect and things like spontaneous cancer remissions, or even what is often the result the medications that they were on and attributed it to whatever natural thing they were taking and took it as evidence that it's worked. There's also been no long term research done on these things and this documentary really shines a light on that falsity however, it lacks a conclusion or even a real direction. All the story's and testimonials from people are just done at random to no real end.

But hopefully people will start to understand that big naturals are no better than big pharma in terms of marketing and lac of accountability. Definitely worth watching it thru and see for yourself.