Health systems are crumbling under the weight of chronic diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, etc.). However, 80% of the most common chronic diseases could be prevented simply by changing our lifestyles. How ? Pediatrician and researcher Julie St-Pierre and her sidekick Jean-Marie Lapointe wanted to know.
The duo is launching the documentary this week Why wait ? Health at your fingertips, the result of a quest that took them to five countries, facing eminent researchers and personalities who have global and sustainable health at heart. Francesco Branca, from the World Health Organization (WHO); neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik; triathlete Pierre Lavoie; astronaut David Saint-Jacques; the Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard: the spectrum is wide.
Launched on May 28 at Jean-Eudes College in Montreal, the documentary will be available free to the public from May 31 to June 2 on the Cardiovascular Health Action Network website. It will then be associated with the Chair in interdisciplinary education for a healthy lifestyle, also launched this week. The plan is also to present it at documentary film festivals.
“There are punchy documentary films in the United States like Super Size Me. We’re not in that. Our film is not hype: it is a “little train goes far” film,” illustrates actor and author Jean-Marie Lapointe. “We want it to be a luminous documentary, full of solutions,” adds the DD St-Pierre, for whom television broadcasting is not a priority.
The film is made up of a series of interviews with experts from here and elsewhere, from whom the two interviewers wanted to “extract the elixir”, the pieces of the puzzle. Is adopting a healthy lifestyle an individual or collective responsibility? “Both,” replies Julie St-Pierre. It is individual, she says, provided that the person is informed and the options are accessible to them.
Their quest first leads them to Professor Robert Lustig, enemy of junk food in the United States. He explains to them how ultra-processed foods – high in sugar and low in fiber – cause inflammation and harm intestinal health and metabolic health, which we now know are “inseparable”. The duo was also able to meet the Dr Francesco Branca, Director of the WHO Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, to talk about strategies that work: tackling the digital marketing of the agri-food industry; tax sugary drinks (cheaper than water in certain regions!), subsidize the purchase of healthy foods.
Julie St-Pierre and Jean-Marie Lapointe went to Denmark to visit the Herlev hospital, which serves healthy meals to patients, while saving money. A short visit also to Copenhagen, the capital, designed to encourage physical activity, with its cycle paths, its access to water, its public benches… The DD St-Pierre draws a parallel with the outcry from motorists who feel threatened by the new cycle paths in Montreal.
When we see what is happening in other regions of the world, we understand the beneficial effects of these measures on the health of the population.
The Dr Julie St-Pierre
According to the Danish government, for every kilometer traveled by bicycle, society gains 0.8 euros in socio-economic benefits.
Julie St-Pierre and Jean-Marie Lapointe also spoke about childhood with the neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik, and about altruism with the Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, a geneticist by training, with supporting studies (an idea from Jean-Marie Lapointe , that the DD St-Pierre welcomed it as a “gift”).
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IMAGE FROM THE DOCUMENTARY WHY WAIT ?
“Eat real food. Real food comes from the ground, or from animals fed food from the ground. » — Robert H. Lustig, professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco
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IMAGE FROM THE DOCUMENTARY WHY WAIT ?
“You don’t choose to have cancer. On the other hand, we will treat the person who has cancer with empathy. And U.S ? We do not have the right ? » — Anne-Sophie Joly, president of the National Collective of Obese Associations
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IMAGE FROM THE DOCUMENTARY WHY WAIT ?
“What interests me is low-level sport. The bad soccer team, football team. The bad jazz orchestra, with the boys and girls from the neighborhood who are going to party in the village. » — Neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik
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IMAGE FROM THE DOCUMENTARY WHY WAIT ?
“We have environments where foods high in fat, sugar and salt, and therefore highly processed, are offered to people, especially children, who are not able to defend themselves. » — Francesco Branca, WHO
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IMAGE FROM THE DOCUMENTARY WHY WAIT ?
“We know that people who practice kindness, volunteerism, who dedicate themselves to others, who have extremely rich human relationships, generally have a greater life expectancy. » — Matthieu Ricard, geneticist turned Buddhist monk
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IMAGE FROM THE DOCUMENTARY WHY WAIT ?
“I dream of changing my model for physical activity. That each young person can develop in a favorable, non-toxic environment. » — Triathlete Pierre Lavoie
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IMAGE FROM THE DOCUMENTARY WHY WAIT ?
“When we say the importance of the seven generations, it is to honor the seven generations that precede us, and to think of the seven generations that will follow us. » — Thérèse Niquay, from the Atikamekw nation of Manawan
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IMAGE FROM THE DOCUMENTARY WHY WAIT ?
“Walking, getting around by bike, makes us experience our city in a way that is different, that is nourishing. ” – The DD Véronique Morin, family doctor specializing in prevention
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The quest had a personal dimension, both for the DD St-Pierre, both of whose parents had heart attacks when she was a teenager, and for Jean-Marie Lapointe, who was once obese and suffered from an eating disorder.
Changing the way you eat also means risking falling into the trap of diets, obsession and control. How to find balance? According to the DD St-Pierre, the key is to intervene early, both to prevent eating disorders and to learn good lifestyle habits. The team also visited the Étincelle school, a new lab school in Saguenay, where children do cooking workshops and work out in the acoustic gymnasium or the superb schoolyard.
Isn’t preventing 80% of chronic diseases a utopian goal? “It’s true that it’s utopian,” agrees Julie St-Pierre, “but if we don’t believe in it, if we don’t try, we’ll just continue to die out. »
Visit the Cardiovascular Health Action Network website