Netflix trailer:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Yj_rmCzhE This show is SO good I recommend it to all.
Not that you'll necessarily agree with it, not that it won't creep you out.
What you've got here is a lying influencer saying she cured cancer she did not have with diet. Along with another influencer who does have cancer and refuses to employ western medicine and is convinced diet has cured her.
Irrelevant of the plot, the cinematography, the style is so innovative and modern... This is not your usual documentary. The titles, the angles... I could tell you more, but it will be obvious immediately. And it's not overdone, it's not distracting, it adds to your enjoyment of the series.
Which is based on a true story.
I have a rare skin condition that took four doctors and eighteen months to diagnose. When I wrote about my incessant itching my inbox was full of home remedies. I was scratching up a storm. Not a single person said to go to a Western doctor, as a matter of fact, they said to stay away from them. Needless to say my leaking blisters got so bad I had to be hospitalized.
But I still get e-mail from readers telling me I could cure my pemphigus foliaceus with diet, as opposed to treating it with Rituxan, a lymphoma drug, otherwise known as chemotherapy.
Two household names recently told me that everything comes down to diet, it's all about what you eat. And if you eat the right things you won't get sick, and if you are sick, if you just eat this or that, you'll be cured.
Whenever I say I'm sick, the very first thing people talk to me about is diet. Without fail. Oftentimes the most educated people. I've got a theory about this, this makes them feel powerful, they don't like to submit to medical doctors. I do not want to say what you eat makes no difference, what you eat can contribute to development of disease, but what you eat will almost never cure what you've got.
And then there are those who don't like hearing what the doctor says. They come up with bogus sayings like "my body, my choice." As if they know more about their health than those with education and experience in the field.
I do not want to say the doctor is always right. If you are facing a serious choice re treatment, ABSOLUTELY get a second opinion. Then again, sometimes the disease is so common the treatment is standard and this is unnecessary. But don't do your own research and say you know more than the M.D., please!
I remember when my herniated disk was so bad that the doctor at UCLA told me I needed an operation when I walked into his office, before I even said anything. Another world famous doctor said that by time patients reach him, they're ready for surgery. I asked him if there was any alternative. He said I could try physical therapy. He had a guy who treated all the hockey players, the best in L.A. But first to get the injection.
So I went online and read all the horror stories, whatever I did, I absolutely should not get the injection, that's what everybody said.
And I didn't. Stupidly.
When my back went nuclear years later I caved, got the injection and it worked, instantly. Like a charm.
It's kind of like Amazon reviews, there are always those featuring one star. I ignore them, they're almost always cranks.
Tell your doctor you diagnosed yourself via the internet and their eyes will roll. It's possible, but oftentimes you get it completely wrong. But you want control. I get it, but that does not make you right.
I know someone who didn't believe in AIDS. They had HIV, refused to get treatment, went the alternative route, and you know what happened to him? HE DIED!
We could even tiptoe into vaccines. More misinformation has been written since Covid, you'd think the vaccines are the disease itself!
But "Apple Cider Vinegar" gets it right. There are all these self-professed experts online, making bucks, convincing you to do it their way as opposed to the western science way.
These people are oftentimes delusional. Even worse, a lot of them are just into making bucks. And if you think the government is cracking down on them...you believe everything you read on X is true.
And we accept people at face value, we expect them to be reasonable. We don't expect them to lie, even when it's not important to do so, when there are no consequences. There are people who can't come through, can't complete anything. There are those who are jumping from opportunity to opportunity. There are those from bad households without education angry that they're not making bucks so...they take matters into their own hands.
And then there are the vulnerable, listening to them.
So on one hand, I'm watching "Apple Cider Vinegar" cheering. They're getting it right, they're exposing these people.
On the other hand, the show is completely creeping me out, because I've been victimized by people like this. Who I took at face value. Who I assumed were reasonable when they were not. I'm just a middle class suburbanite. I grew up far from rich, but we did not struggle. But not everybody had this experience, they have different values, and will do things you'd never do. And they'll drag you down with them. And you think you can save them, but...
And you can exist easily without obeying the rules. You don't have to pay taxes, assuming you don't make much money. The government rarely catches up with you. But if you're a bad actor on a regular basis, usually you pay the price, it's just a matter of when.
Kaitlyn Dever as Belle Gibson is astoundingly good. She was equally good in "Unbelievable,' you might know her from that Netflix series. But you might also have seen her elsewhere, she has many credits. You truly believe she is Belle. She's trading on her attractiveness, on her feminine wiles. People want to do things for her, especially men. Manipulation is in her blood. And it's not that she's rawly evil, she just crosses the line when she thinks it will help her, which is even worse, because sometimes she's reasonable, and sometimes she's not.
Tina Cobham-Hervey as a cancer patient who believes in Belle... Is also extremely believable. There are those who are so sick they look for answers anywhere, they want to feel better, they don't want to trust their diagnosis. However, those who are truly ill, they accept their condition long before those surrounding them, they surrender to it. As for the canard that a positive attitude makes a difference, that's been proven to be totally false.
But you want to argue with me, you don't want to believe that. That's just a study and you read about it in the "New York Times"! I'm going to fight my disease... If I hear that one more time... Do what the doctors say, but that still does not mean you'll live, that you won't be compromised.
But we lionize those breaking the rules. We don't want to believe the door is closed. We want options. It's kind of like math. People don't want to believe two plus two is four, so they ignore the numbers completely. Crazy.
I don't care where you are on the map re touchy-feely health remedies, the wellness industry, diet...you'll be riveted by "Apple Cider Vinegar." It is not didactic, and it is very entertaining without being lowest common denominator.
"Apple Cider Vinegar" is the series of the year. It's on Netflix, you can binge it. Ignore the hype about the usual suspects on HBO and network... This is the sh*t. This is first class entertainment. It was made in Australia, maybe turn on the subtitles. But just because something is not made by a Hollywood studio and not exhibited in a theatre that does not mean it is substandard.
"Apple Cider Vinegar" is what you're looking for on the flat screen.
Having said that, as breezy as it can be, it might upset you. I'm often uncomfortable watching it. Because I'm bombarded by info from people like Belle and Milla, and I've been victimized by those with different values, but...
You can't argue with the truth.
But can you handle the truth?
Watch "Apple Cider Vinegar" and find out.
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