At WIS we believe that learning is not just about following academic courses. It is also about improving yourself and your life!
We are proud of being a green company (the greenest in Malta?) and we really value good healthy practices – even when it comes to our food choices!
Some of us are vegetarian, or even vegan. And many of those among us who eat meat also do their best to reduce it.
This is why we have so many great vegetarian and vegan options in our kitchen cupboards and our fridge – from non-dairy milk like Oat Milk, to vegan chocolate.
With this in mind, our director Paul recently had the cool idea to give us a choice about how to spend our working day. Those who wished, could spend our usual Friday afternoon educational sessions doing something different!
This was when we received a short description of the docu-drama The Game Changers in our email. The film, which came out earlier this year, has attracted a huge lot of praise thanks to its original story line and has even been rated 99% fresh by the Rotten Tomatoes audience.
In fact, it presents us with the stories of high-performing athletes, the best in their field. Each of them practices a different sport, but they have one thing in common. They all follow a plant-based diet.
It all started when former UFC champion James Wilks got badly injured while training. After a lot of medical research to see how he could improve his situation, he made an amazing discovery . A plant-based diet could help him recover faster and improve his performance! Thus, the idea for this film was born.
The next step was to bring eight athletes brought together to share their amazing story:
Scott Jurek - a record- holding Ultramarathoner
Bryant Jennings - a Boxing Heavyweight Title Contender
Derrick Morgan - a linebacker with the Tennessee Titans
Patrik Baboumian - a professional strongman and former Germany's Strongest Man with multiple world records
Morgan Mitchell - two-time Australian 400 meter sprinting champion
Dotsie Bausch - an eight-time US national cycling champion
Kendrick Farris - a three-time Pan American Games champion
Rip Esselstyn - a former fireman and world-class triathlete.
They each share how a plant-based diet has helped them achieve world greatness in their chosen sport. All their stories are inspiring and surprising, and it debunks all the myths about eating meat.
The Game Changers has some very famous names as Executive Producers - James Cameron, Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. So it is no surprise that it is so well-made and very engaging. The producers also brought in several medical professionals to give us a trusted point of view about plant-based diets, and some of the things they mention are very remarkable.
Many members of the WIS team are interested in healthy eating, so The Game Changers attracted a lot of enthusiasm. After lunch, most of us gathered in the lounge area so that we could enjoy the film. And, perhaps, we would even learn something about nutrition while being entertained.
Even today, so many people still take a misinformed approach to their diet. Many still believe that you need to eat meat and dairy products if you want to be healthy and strong.
And, although science has proved this belief to be untrue, the general impression still remains. This is why we were so surprised when we found out that these top level athletes are vegan!
We did learn some very interesting things about what happens to our body when we eat meat. For instance, did you know that a plant-based diet helps athletes perform better because it offers makes muscles more efficient and speeds up recovery by lowering inflammation. The best part is that these benefits are not only good for athletes, but also for anyone who wants to feel better in any aspect of their life!
We also learnt that:
Most scientific evidence suggests that an animal-based diet has a bad effect on your overall health.
A plant-based diet can help us live longer.
It also decreases the risk of disease, especially heart problems.
A high number of athletes are using this new knowledge to change their diets.
And their performance has improved since then!
And the benefits are not only for our health, but also for the planet. Eating a lot of meat means that it has to be farmed. And farmed meat does a lot of bad things for Planet Earth. These include creating gas house emissions, causing pollution, species extinction and more. Remember, there is no Planet B!
For any readers who are interested in giving a vegan lifestyle a try, the film website offers a number of easy-to-prepare and delicious recipes here. My personal favourite? Cinnamon rolls for breakfast! And there is no need to panic if you do not manage to remove all meat and dairy from your diet immediately!
One thing The Game Changers taught us, is that a plant-based diet is not about being 'all or nothing'. Every little step in the right direction is an achievement! The film's official websites offers a lot of tips and support here, to make it easier. So, if you are not sure how to shop, which substitutes to use, or what to cook, you will always find support online, even on other website.
And, if you would like to also watch the film, it is streaming on Netflix and can also be viewed on a number of other streaming platforms like YouTube or Apple.
It may be true that none of us at WIS are training to be Olympians (yet!), but our body can certainly do with these benefits. And it's always fun to learn new things, so thank you WIS!