Film & TV Archives - The Paleo Network

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Have you seen who’s behind the (not so) Healthy Star Ratings system?

I saw a TV commercial recently for Uncle Toby’s Oat sachets and the main focus of the advert was how amazingly healthy they are. Apparently these Oats achieve a “4 healthy star rating” – and the higher the star rating, the healthier the product. So they say. Whilst I don’t want to pick on oats specifically, as I think they’re probably one of the not-as-bad-as-the-other-cereals out there, it really highlights how dangerously misleading these Healthy Star Ratings are. Initially I thought the Healthy Rating System was just based on old, outdated (incorrect) advice, but when I saw who was involved in its creation, it took a far more sinister turn.

What are Healthy Star Ratings?

This is an Australian initiative, and it’s jointly funded by the Australian, state and territory governments, and developed in partnership with industry and public health and consumer groups.

I took a further look into these groups, who have jointly developed these ratings, and they include the Australian Beverages Council, and the Australian Food and Grocery Council.

And just who makes up these bodies?

Members of the Australian Beverages Council include:

Coca-Cola Amatil Pty Ltd
Coca-Cola South Pacific
Heinz Australia P/L
PepsiCo Australia Holdings Pty Ltd
Red Bull Australia Pty Ltd
Tropico Fruits Pty Ltd

Among many others… (Surely we're not going to ever see health ratings on Red Bull?)

The Australian Food and Grocery Council has on its board:

Clive Stiff who is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Unilever Australia & NZ – their brands include Bertolli, Streets Ice Cream and my favourite Flora pro-activ
Trevor Clayton who is Chief Executive Officer for Nestle Australia Ltd
Andrew Towle who is Managing Director for Kellogg (Australia) Pty Ltd
Darren O’Brien who is Managing Director for Mondelez Foods Australia (better known as Kraft Foods and Cadbury)
Michael Ryan who is General Manager of Mars Chocolate, and
Peter West, Managing Director of Lion Dairy & Drinks

So the very companies who produce packaged, processed convenience food have very helpfully come up with a healthy star rating system? And we’re supposed to use this to tell us what is healthy food we should be eating lots of?

How to get a high star rating?

No surprisingly the star system is based on the old beliefs that whole grains are good for us, and fat to be avoided. Products receiving above 4 stars will include whole-grain foods, low-fat milk and reduced fat cheese, and extra lite (urgh I hate that word, theirs, not mine) spreads.

And how to get a low rating?

Products getting below 1 star include those that are full fat, regular fat yoghurt, high saturated fat cheese, salted butter, coconut oil (yes, they expressly list coconut oil on the less healthy foods list) and of course, untrimmed meats. So we can pretty much assume if it’s a natural, unprocessed, paleo food, it won’t get a high healthy star rating.

So I’ve come up with a new system to help you use the star rating system to identify healthy foods:

If it has a healthy star rating, avoid it tweet this quote

What’s your opinion on the Healthy Star Rating system?

Why Whole Foods Are Overlooked by the Star Rating System

One of the biggest flaws in the Healthy Star Rating system is that it almost completely overlooks unprocessed, single-ingredient foods. Whole foods like grass-fed beef, wild-caught salmon, free-range eggs, and fresh avocados do not have labels. Therefore, they are not eligible for a rating. Meanwhile, boxed cereals, artificially sweetened yoghurts, and margarine spreads can receive four or even five stars.

This reinforces the dangerous idea that health can be assessed by marketing claims on a label, instead of the nutritional integrity of the food itself. Real food doesn’t need a label or a tick of approval from a marketing committee. It speaks for itself.

Why “Low Fat” Isn’t Always Better

The obsession with low-fat products continues to dominate the criteria behind the star system. This outdated mindset fails to consider the importance of dietary fats for hormone regulation, brain health, and nutrient absorption. Natural fats found in foods like coconut oil, full-fat yoghurt, pasture-raised meat, and nuts are often labelled as unhealthy, purely based on saturated fat content.

On the other hand, ultra-processed low-fat alternatives with added thickeners, emulsifiers, and sugar replacements score higher, simply because they meet arbitrary macronutrient thresholds. This does not reflect current nutritional science and continues to mislead well-meaning consumers.

Where Sugar Hides in “Healthy” Foods

Products that are high in sugar can still achieve a favourable star rating if they contain added fibre or whole grains. Breakfast cereals, flavoured oat sachets, and even some children’s snacks are prime examples. Despite being loaded with sugar, these products manage to receive ratings of four stars or more because of their fibre content and reduced fat formulation.

This creates a false sense of health, especially for parents shopping for their children. They see a star rating, assume it has been vetted by experts, and make a purchase based on faulty assumptions. A bowl of sugary cereal does not become a health food just because it contains oats and is fortified with synthetic vitamins.

The Marketing Power Behind the Stars

Major food manufacturers are not simply following the guidelines, they are actively involved in shaping them. With their seats on boards and advisory councils, these companies have every incentive to design a system that works in their favour. The Healthy Star Rating becomes a marketing tool, not a scientific assessment of nutritional value.

It’s no coincidence that many of the products awarded high ratings are made by the very companies that helped draft the criteria. The system rewards processed food innovation over genuine nutrition.

What Shoppers Can Do Instead

Rather than relying on front-of-pack labels or star systems, it is more effective to build your shopping strategy around real food principles. Here are a few ways to make better choices without falling for industry-led health claims:

Shop the perimeter of the store where the fresh produce, meat, eggs, and fish are located
Read the ingredients list instead of the front of the packet
Focus on whole, unpackaged foods that are naturally rich in nutrients
Question health claims like “lite”, “low fat”, and “fortified”, which often signal a heavily processed product

Star Ratings and the Influence on Children’s Food Choices

Another major concern is how the star system influences food marketed to children. Brightly coloured boxes with cartoon characters and stars on the front create the impression that these are good daily choices. A muesli bar with sugar, seed oils, and flavour enhancers might still receive a four-star rating due to added fibre or oats.

Children should be learning about the benefits of real food, not trained to trust front-of-pack labels. A sliced apple with almond butter or a boiled egg with veggie sticks doesn’t come with a rating, but offers far more nutrition than a “healthy” snack bar from the packaged goods aisle.

Can We Really Trust Government-Endorsed Labels?

With industry lobbyists heavily involved in the creation and promotion of the star system, it's difficult to view it as an impartial guide. While the original intention may have been to improve public health, the result is a watered-down, easily manipulated system that benefits large food manufacturers more than the consumer.

True health comes from education, not marketing. The more informed consumers become about the sources and quality of their food, the less power these labelling schemes will hold.

How to Educate Friends and Family

It can be challenging to explain to friends or family members why something with a high star rating is not necessarily healthy. One strategy is to help them flip the box over and look at what’s actually inside. Highlight the presence of seed oils, preservatives, artificial flavours, and sugar. Compare that to a simple, real food alternative like roasted chicken, steamed vegetables, or homemade snacks using nuts and dried fruit.

Once people learn how to identify food quality themselves, they begin to trust marketing labels less and their instincts more.

Real Food Doesn’t Need a Star

Ultimately, if a food product is being promoted with stars, ticks, or heart symbols, it is most likely not a food that supports true health. Real food is found in nature, not in a factory. It is nutrient-dense, satisfying, and does not require fortification or marketing gimmicks to justify its existence.

If you want to eat better, ignore the stars and follow the ingredients. Your body knows the difference.

“Eat Margarine or Your Family Will Die” – Really?

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“Health food” commercials are getting worse and worse – and of course I'm not referring to adverts for kale or grass-fed beef. I'm talking about products with a list of unpronounceable ingredients – products I go out of my way to avoid. And given that you're reading my blog, I suspect you do too.

There seems to have been a huge turn here. It seems to slow be becoming the norm to eat an unprocessed diet of real, whole foods. Avoiding processed carbs like bread and pasta seems to be slowly becoming mainstream, and a feat of fat is definitely starting to disappear. I get the impression the manufacturers of all those other food-like-products are getting worried…

So which advert has been annoying me most this week?

Flora Pro-Activ

Cue upset wife that her husband has high cholesterol. He undertakes the Flora Pro-Activ challenge for three weeks, has his cholesterol re-checked. Ends with happy wife, now her husband isn't about to drop dead due to a high cholesterol invoked heart attack.

So what is the Flora challenge? For three weeks you eat 25 g of Flora every day, make sure you eat your wholegrains, replace BAD saturated fat with healthy saturated fat and generally keep your fat as low as possible. Nooo!

And what does Flora Pro-Activ actually contain?

Ingredients: Water, Vegetable Oils (30%), Plant Sterol Esters (12.5%), Buttermilk, Modified Waxy Corn Starch, Salt (1%), Emulsifiers (Mono-and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Sunflower Lecithin), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Citric Acid, Flavourings, Colour (Beta Carotene), Vitamin A and D

And evil butter? Let’s remind ourselves of the dangerous ingredients that contains: Pasteurised Cream (from Milk), Water, Salt. Three ingredients that I have in my kitchen; compared to unidentified “vegetable” oils and a host of ingredients not available at the local farmers market.

Despite a lot of research showing a higher cholesterol actually lowers the risk of heart attack, of course, these companies still like to keep us fearing cholesterol. More worrying is the margarine they want us to eat to benefit our health – so chemically processed, they are a fat that our bodies don’t recognise at all.

The other issue, is the claim that the plant sterol esters in this product actually lower your cholesterol. The adverts make it sound like a magic potion, with the ability to dramatically cut your cholesterol in a matter of days. The reality is that alone, these chemicals can supposedly only reduce cholesterol by a maximum of 10% (average results presumably a lot lower) – and of course that’s assuming reducing cholesterol is a good thing.

All in all I find the advert extremely misleading and think it’s outrageous that they come into our homes every day, suggesting that if you love your family, you need to make sure they eat 25 g of margarine a day – or risk losing them to heart disease.

The Myth of Margarine: What’s the Real Health Risk?

For years, margarine was touted as the heart-healthy alternative to butter — a spread allegedly designed with your arteries in mind. But now that we’ve pulled back the curtain on what margarine actually contains, many of us are asking a far more sensible question: why were we ever told to eat this in the first place?

The truth is, margarine is an ultra-processed product engineered in labs and pumped full of chemically altered fats. These fats, including trans fats and processed polyunsaturated oils, are nothing like the natural fats our bodies evolved to metabolise. And no amount of rebranding or health halo marketing can change that.

What Happened to “Natural”?

It’s amazing to witness the food industry’s efforts to redefine what’s “healthy.” Butter, cream, eggs — once demonised — are now slowly regaining their rightful place in real-food circles. And while health-conscious communities have been embracing whole foods and ancestral eating patterns for over a decade, mainstream advertising is only just starting to notice. But instead of embracing these shifts, many brands are scrambling to cling to their outdated models, doubling down on their margarine and cholesterol-fear campaigns.

“Cholesterol Lowering” – But At What Cost?

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: cholesterol. The suggestion that lowering cholesterol is always a positive outcome is deeply flawed. Numerous studies have shown that cholesterol is essential for hormone production, brain function, and cellular repair. Lowering it artificially through chemical means, without addressing the underlying cause of poor health, could actually be harmful.

Not to mention, many of these cholesterol-lowering spreads (like Flora Pro-Activ) aren’t doing anything particularly miraculous. As mentioned, their key active ingredient — plant sterol esters — might reduce LDL cholesterol levels by around 10% at best. And that’s in ideal conditions, alongside a textbook-perfect low-fat, grain-heavy diet. But does this reduction equate to reduced risk of heart attack or stroke? The evidence simply isn’t conclusive.

Marketing vs Science: Who Do You Trust?

When you see a glossy commercial that plays on fear and emotion — a worried wife, a serious voiceover, a heartfelt pledge to “take control” — you’re not watching science. You’re watching marketing. These ads aren’t concerned with long-term health outcomes; they’re focused on brand loyalty, product sales, and cleverly timed emotional triggers.

Compare that to the growing body of independent research that’s highlighting the role of nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods in long-term wellbeing. More and more nutritionists, doctors and ancestral health advocates are saying the same thing: eat real food, minimise inflammatory ingredients, and don’t fear healthy fats.

The Paleo Perspective on Spreads and Fats

If you’re following a Paleo lifestyle, the idea of margarine probably seems laughable. Why would you swap something like grass-fed butter or ghee — both rich in vitamins A, D, E and K2 — for a synthetic product with preservatives, chemical stabilisers, and ambiguous “vegetable oils”?

Butter, coconut oil, animal fats and olive oil have stood the test of time. These are fats our ancestors consumed, often in abundance, without the chronic health epidemics we face today. Margarine, by contrast, is a modern invention born out of post-war industrialisation and misguided dietary guidelines — guidelines that are only now being dismantled as the science catches up.

The Bigger Problem with “Health” Products

Flora Pro-Activ isn’t the only product blurring the line between food and pharmaceutical. Every aisle in the supermarket is filled with processed products dressed up with buzzwords: “cholesterol friendly,” “heart smart,” “low GI,” and “plant-based.” But if you flip the packet and read the ingredients, it’s a different story entirely.

These labels exist to distract you from what’s really going on: ultra-processed food manufacturers are cashing in on health trends without genuinely supporting better health outcomes. They’re relying on outdated nutritional myths and fear tactics to keep consumers locked into a cycle of dependency on fake food — while real food sits quietly on the perimeter of the store.

What Can You Do Instead?

So, what’s the alternative to taking a “cholesterol challenge”? It’s simpler than you might think. Here are some truly health-supportive swaps:

Use butter or ghee from grass-fed sources — it’s natural, nourishing, and doesn’t require a marketing campaign to prove it.
Choose olive oil or avocado oil for cold applications, and coconut oil or animal fats for high heat cooking.
Eat a nutrient-dense diet full of vegetables, pastured meats, nuts, seeds and wild seafood — real foods your body recognises.
Get your fats from whole sources like eggs, oily fish, olives and coconuts.

You don’t need a challenge. You need information — and real, nourishing food that doesn’t come with a side of marketing spin.

Conclusion: Trust Your Instincts, Not the Ad Break

The next time an ad tries to scare you into believing your breakfast spread will determine whether you live to see your grandchildren, pause. Think critically. Ask yourself: does this message align with what I know about real health and real food?

If something feels off, it probably is. If a product needs a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to convince you it’s good for your heart, maybe it isn’t. Trust your instincts. Trust your body. And above all, trust the food that humans have eaten for generations — not the version that was created in a lab to mimic it.

What do you think about the Flora Pro-Activ challenge and the health commercials that come into your home each day?

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Top 14 Paleo Films & TV Shows

There seem to be quite a few Paleo Films and TV shows with a Paleo theme.

My favourites are: –

Robb Wolf in ICaveman As I'm sure everyone has heard by now Robb Wolf was just on ICaveman on Discovery spreading the Paleo message.
Tom Naughton’s Fat Head Tom made this film in response to “Super Size Me” and it’s a great watch, Tom is a very funny guy!
Food Inc This film is about how big corporations control Americas food industry, scary watching!
Food Matters This documentary is about the role of nutrition in health, an obvious link, but one that is often ignored.
Fresh This is a good follow-on film to Food Inc, addressing how we go about changing the way food is produced.
Flow All about water…
King Corn How the food system works
Future of Food Food and GMO
Forks over Knives Linking diseases with processed foods
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead How an overweight man saved himself by taking control of his diet
Gourmet Farmer This is a documentary series filmed in Tasmania, Australia following a former restaurant critic as he attempts to become self sufficient on his recently acquired farm. He’s not Paleo and it is a bit of an Aussie version of Riverside cottage – but it’s all about whole, real food and self sufficiently – and that is Paleo.
Riverside Cottage Perhaps the inspiration for “Gourmet Farmer” another series about self sufficiency and real food.
Man V’s Wild It doesn't get much more Paleo than watching Bear Grylls mastering the art of survival in very challenging environments!
Castaway So, not strictly Paleo, but it has Tom Hanks in it and explores quite a Primal situation!

Food-Related Series That Align with Paleo Principles

Chef’s Table

Though not explicitly Paleo, Chef’s Table on Netflix occasionally features chefs who focus on foraging, fermentation, and sustainability — all of which support Paleo values. Certain episodes, especially those featuring chefs from traditional and Indigenous backgrounds, highlight the importance of seasonal and local food, connection to nature, and nose-to-tail cooking.

Cooked

Cooked, another Michael Pollan-inspired series, is structured around the four elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. It explores how cooking transformed human culture and biology — a key evolutionary step in our species. The series reinforces the benefits of real food, traditional preparation methods and the deep human connection to our meals. It’s highly aligned with Paleo philosophy in its call to return to the roots of how we eat.

Down to Earth with Zac Efron

Though broader in theme, Down to Earth with Zac Efron touches on food systems, clean water, natural remedies and holistic living. The series visits different cultures and communities around the world, exploring how people live in harmony with nature. The Iceland and Sardinia episodes, in particular, are fascinating for their approach to ancestral-style diets and community-based living.

Survival-Based Entertainment with a Primal Edge

If you love the raw, survival side of Paleo, there are more options beyond Man vs. Wild and Castaway. Here are a few shows with a primal edge:

Alone

Alone is a survival competition series where participants are dropped into remote wilderness with minimal gear and must survive as long as possible — hunting, foraging and building shelter entirely on their own. It’s a real-life test of primal living and has incredible lessons in resourcefulness, food preparation, and mental resilience.

Survivorman

Survivorman with Les Stroud is another classic survival series that leans into traditional skills, wild food and mental fortitude. Unlike many overproduced shows, Stroud is alone, self-filming his experience and often consuming insects, small animals and foraged plants to survive — something any Paleo enthusiast will find fascinating.

Films That Inspire a Paleo Mindset

Into the Wild

This beautifully filmed movie tells the story of Christopher McCandless, who leaves behind modern society to live off the land in Alaska. While tragic, it highlights the desire many feel to disconnect from consumerism and return to simplicity and nature — a key tenet of Paleo thinking.

Before the Flood

Before the Flood is a powerful documentary about climate change featuring Leonardo DiCaprio. While not food-focused, it’s relevant to the Paleo mindset of sustainability, conscious consumption and our relationship with the natural world.

Have You Found a Hidden Gem?

It’s always great to uncover lesser-known shows or films that align with ancestral health, sustainability, or traditional food wisdom. If you’ve watched something inspiring recently — whether it’s fiction or documentary — that celebrates real food, minimalism, movement or self-reliance, I’d love to hear about it. This list is far from complete, and the world of Paleo-relevant media is growing all the time.

I'm sure I've missed hundreds of Paleo related documentaries, films and TV shows. I love to hear about your favourites and what I've missed off the list!

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