Fat Head For Foreigners

Let’s start with the big news: If you check the sidebar on the right, you’ll see that Fat Head is finally available outside the USA. We had hoped to have this all set up a month ago — just in time for Christmas shopping — but the fulfillment center ran a bit behind schedule.

For the past year and a half, I’ve been receiving emails and comments from people who live outside the U.S., asking where they can buy a DVD. It was no fun telling them they couldn’t. Eventually, I started hearing from people who downloaded the film illegally and wanted to make a contribution as payment. I certainly don’t approve of illegal downloads, but since our international distributor (and I use the term loosely in their case) never managed to place the DVD overseas, I understood why people who wanted to see the film ended up downloading it.

After seeing the response to the Big Fat Fiasco DVD, we decided to author a new Fat Head DVD without the U.S. region restriction and distribute it ourselves. (In retrospect, I should’ve gone that route a year ago.) By way of saying thanks for your patience — and to sweeten the deal for those who’ve already seen the film — I added the Big Fat Fiasco speech as a second bonus track. That means the non-USA version includes:

• Fat Head, the documentary (duh)
• Bonus interviews: nearly 40 minutes of extra interview footage with Drs. Mike and Mary Dan Eades, Dr. Al Sears, Sally Fallon, Eric Oliver and Jacob Sullum
• The Big Fat Fiasco speech

The fulfillment center has the DVD in stock and is ready to process the orders. (Direct link to the order page here.) They tell me the DVD should arrive in most locations within 5 to 10 business days after an order is placed.  We’ll still process orders for the U.S. version ourselves.

Dad’s Alzheimer’s

During our time away, we visited my family in Springfield, Illinois and then my wife’s family in Chicago. It was a fun and relaxing vacation, and the girls enjoyed themselves immensely. They even got to participate in a snowball fight on Christmas with a gang of cousins.

The only downer of the trip was visiting my dad in the nursing home. Last year, Dad couldn’t remember my name, but he brightened when he saw me and tried to carry on a conversation. This year, he simply looked at me for a second, then looked away. No spark of recognition. He smiled at the girls, but I’m pretty sure he was just happy to see some kids. All the old people in the nursing home smiled at the girls, some waved, and a few even wandered over to talk to them.

What really struck me when I first walked in the room was how much my dad reminds me of his grandfather now … but Great-Grandpa Markwell was in his 90s when he looked like that. (He lived to be 101 and was lucid until the last three years.) Dad is only 76.

High Cholesterol, No Heart Disease

A friend of my mom’s is also 76, but looks and acts at least 10 years younger. She dropped by one day for a lunch visit, and during the conversation she mentioned that every few years, some doctor will insist she get her coronary arteries checked. The reason? Her cholesterol is over 300. She tries telling the doctors her arteries always check out just fine, but they still insist. Then they look at the lab results, shake their heads, and say, “I just don’t see how this can be true. Your arteries don’t show any blockage at all.” Then they pronounce her genetically gifted.

Home, Sweet Home

We drove home from Chicago two days ago. I still haven’t finished going through all the mail, but I’m getting there. I spent yesterday and today catching up on processing orders for the Fat Head and Big Fat Fiasco DVDs. If you ordered in the last 10 days or so before Christmas, sorry for the delay. We ran out of stock and then left for vacation. All the existing orders have been processed and went into the mail today.

Gary Taubes’ New Book

As you probably know, Gary Taubes recently published a consumer-friendly version of Good Calories, Bad Calories titled Why We Get Fat – And What To Do About It. My copy was in the mail when we arrived home. I’ll write a full review later, but I can already tell you it’s a much easier read than GCBC. This is the one you could probably convince your Aunt Martha to read.

Overeating, But Not Gaining

In Good Calories, Bad Calories, Taubes described experiments in which naturally lean people massively increased their food intake but barely gained any weight. Judging by what I’ve read in online discussion groups and various blogs, quite a few people still insist that overeating must always lead to gaining weight, and also insist that anyone who says otherwise simply doesn’t understand the laws of thermodynamics (thus proving that they don’t actually grasp the laws of thermodynamics themselves).

Those people should talk to some of my relatives. As I’ve recounted in a few posts, my naturally-lean son has occasionally tried to gain weight by eating quite a bit more, but his weight refuses to budge. Over the holidays, one of my wife’s relatives – a thin woman in her 40s — told me she’s been losing weight despite trying to gain. (Yeah, yeah, I know … some of you wish you had that problem.) Over the past few years, she’s gone from a lean, athletic build to a too-skinny build. Her veins pop out like a body-builder’s, she’s losing fat everywhere including in her face, and she’s tired of her friends and relatives hinting or outright suggesting she’s suffering from anorexia.

She told me she’s been eating more and more, including plenty of meat, fruit, potatoes and other starches, whole milk, butter and cream, but can’t gain a pound. She set a goal of gaining two pounds during her two-week holiday vacation, ate as much as she could stand, but didn’t gain an ounce. I asked if she’s been checked for diabetes. She has, and that’s not it. Her blood sugar is normal, and her doctor can’t explain the weight loss. I told her “we don’t know what’s wrong” isn’t an acceptable answer from a doctor and suggested she visit an endocrinologist.

The point is, she’s eating far more than she used to, but losing weight. That doesn’t violate the laws of thermodynamics; it just means her body is finding a way to burn off or otherwise waste all those extra calories.

Happy New Year

We’ll be celebrating the new year by doing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. My wife can rarely stay awake past 11:00 PM, so the beginning of 2011 will probably find me watching a movie by myself in the family room, as is often the case on weekend nights. The real celebration for me will be on January 15th, when we’ll see Bill Cosby perform live at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

When I started doing standup comedy in my 30s, Bill Cosby was my inspiration — not that I ever came close to his level. In fact, I don’t think anyone has ever come close to his level. I can’t think of another comedian who can make 10-year-olds and grandparents laugh equally hard, and whose material is so timeless. I recently watched a concert he recorded nearly 30 years ago, and it was just as funny now as it was then. My ribs were sore from laughing.

Happy New Year to all of you, and may 2011 be your best year ever.

I’m out of town with limited access to the internet. We arrived at my mom’s house in Springfield, Illinois just a wee bit later than planned, thanks to my brain being on autopilot.

There we were, happily rolling along north on Interstate 65, and even making unusually good time. On most trips, my daughters counter-synchronize their bladders to ensure that I’ll be exiting the interstate at least every 45 minutes to find a bathroom. Yesterday, perhaps because of the excitement of seeing grandmas, aunts, uncles and cousins, they forgot to counter-synchronize.

It was when I saw a sign informing me that Louisville, Kentucky was only 120 miles ahead that something in my brain finally clicked … now why would making such good time give me an uncomfortable feeling? … a mere two hours away from Louisville and it’s not even noon yet …

Then it hit me: Louisville is on the way to Chicago, not Springfield. I was supposed to take the exit for Interstate 24 at least an hour earlier. I’d been going north and east when I should have been going north and west.

So we had to take two-lane highways through little towns and work our way west for a couple of hours before we were back on track. At least that area of Kentucky is beautiful, with rolling countryside and forests all around.

I’ll check comments when I can, but mostly I’ll be visiting family.

Another little note: A few people sent in orders for the Fat Head DVD just before we left. We’re waiting to get more in stock, and will likely have them when we arrive home next week. I’ll fill the orders then. Same goes for any Big Fat Fiasco orders.

Several readers sent me links to articles about The Guy From CSPI suing McDonald’s for offering toys with Happy Meals.  My wife also left a copy of a newspaper article about the lawsuit on my desk this morning, perhaps hoping she’d see me do a spit-take with my coffee.  I was of course planning to write a post on the topic, but decided to create a video instead.

p.s. — Our internet was down for a good chunk of the day.  Turned out a connection outside the house was damaged by the snow and 15-degree nights we’ve had lately.  Sorry for the delay in responding to comments.

It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is after all a specialized discipline and one that most people consider a dismal science. But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance. — Murray Rothbard, economist

Don’t worry, this isn’t a post about economics. It’s a post about the strange combination of ignorance and arrogance. As I’ve told my wife more times than she’d probably prefer, it doesn’t bother me much when people are arrogant but well-informed, and it doesn’t bother me much when people are ignorant but humble. But when ignorant people are arrogant, that gets me riled.

Long before I became fascinated by nutrition science, I became fascinated by history and economics. I’m not sure exactly how many books I’ve read on economics, but it’s easily more than 20. I certainly don’t know everything about the subject, but I know more than most people by a long shot.

I saved the quote from Murray Rothbard because over the years, I’ve been amazed at how many people I’ve encountered who are exactly like he described: never took a class in economics, never read a book on economics, but are nonetheless full of loud and vociferous opinions on everything from the economic effects of tax rates to the cause of high oil prices. They know what they know, and by gosh, they don’t need to bother with any research to keep knowing what they know, because they already know it — and anyone who disagrees must be an idiot. (This attitude was rampant in Hollywood.)

Since creating this blog and putting my YouTube clips online, I’ve noticed the same phenomenon in discussions about health and nutrition: once some people form an opinion, they are incapable of changing their minds. I can more or less understand why researchers whose reputations or grants are tethered to a particular theory will cling so tightly to it. As described brilliantly in the book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), they engage in mental cherry-picking of the evidence to convince themselves they are Doing the Right Thing. It’s not good for science, but at least their opinions are based on research, even if the research if flawed or incomplete.

What I don’t understand are laymen who have nothing at stake professionally, yet form strong opinions about diet and health without looking at any research whatsoever, then go ballistic if those opinions are challenged by someone who, heaven forbid, might actually know something they don’t. One of the Fat Head clips I uploaded to YouTube is titled Why You Got Fat and explains how insulin drives fat storage. That clip recently drew this comment:

you know what would really make your body stop storing fat??? if you got off your lazy f@#$% asses and did something!!

Ignorance and arrogance combined … my favorite combination. For some reason, challenging the simple “eat less, move more” advice for losing weight seems to bring these goofs out of the woodwork. Some people just know it’s all about counting calories — in my experience, they’re usually people who’ve never had to lose weight, and therefore consider themselves experts in how it all works. Since they’re thin, that proves they know how to be thin … MeMe Roth comes to mind.

I kept my reply to the arrogant ignoramus short:

Glad to see you’ve done so much research on the biochemistry of weight loss. If only I’d spoken to someone with your deep understanding of metabolism and endocrinology before shooting the film, I might have gotten it right.

Agreeing with arrogant ignoramuses is my preferred method for dealing with them, and has been for well over 24 hours.

The way I see it, anyone who challenges your current beliefs with logic or evidence is an opportunity, not a threat. When I sent the first cut of Fat Head to Dr. Mike Eades, he replied with a long email telling me which parts he liked, but also informed me some parts were scientifically incorrect. It never would’ve occurred to me to dig in my heels and tell him I already know what I know, so that’s it, and he must be wrong. I asked him to explain why those parts were wrong and point me to the evidence. He did. I learned valuable new information precisely because he disagreed with me.

But arrogant ignoramuses don’t see it that way. They believe changing an opinion, no matter how uninformed that opinion might be, can cause paralysis below the neck, or erectile dysfunction at the very least, and must be avoided at all costs.

I’ve tried replying to their comments with logic or evidence, but they have this amazing ability to shrug it off and go on repeating themselves. So I’ve ended up engaging in what my wife calls (by way of encouraging me to stop) Arguing With Idiots. It’s pointless, as last night’s online debate eventually convinced me. Here are some highlights, with the opponent’s comments in italic, mine in plain text:

If carbs and so evil than why are so many chinese and japanese and indians, who eat white rice on a daily basis, thinner and healthier than americansky?

Their thinness is partly hereditary; Asians have higher levels of osteoporosis because their bones are thinner. Thin-boned people also tend to be more resistant to becoming obese. As for the carbs, they actually consume fewer of them than a typical American. They eat rice, yes. We consume rice, pasta, french fries, donuts, sodas, frappucinos, bagels, breakfast cereals, deli sandwiches, Snickers bars, Little Debbie Snack Cakes and ice cream.

they consume fewer? Hmmm, eating LESS seems to be the determining factor, hein?

If only it were as simple as that. By eating fewer carbs and (especially) a lot less fructose, they are less likely to become insulin resistant and therefore less likely to go into fat-accumulation mode. It’s not just about how much you eat; it’s about the hormonal changes produced by what you eat. If hormones signal your body to store more fat, yes, you will likely eat more because you’re storing more calories and therefore running short of fuel for your cells.

how about the nutrition professor who lost 27 pounds eating mainly junk food?

He averaged 173 carbohydrates per day, which is less than half of what a typical American consumes. By his own estimation, he reduced his carb intake by over 100 grams per day on the “junk” diet. His food log is online, so I ran the numbers. “Mainly junk food” was media hype. He ate many meals consisting of steak, chicken, protein shakes, etc., then tossed in some donuts and twinkies. It wasn’t a junk food diet, it was a diet that included some junk food.

So on one hand you say sugar and carbs are evil, but when I point out about this nutrition professor you counter by saying that he simply was not eating too many carbs, which is exactly what I have been saying. You can eat anything: as long as you less calories than you need, you will lose weight!

No, I’m saying if you restrict calories AND keep your insulin low enough to allow your body to burn fat, you’ll lose weight. Professor Haub ate twinkies and donuts but still consumed a LOW number of carbohydrates while restricting calories, same as I did in my documentary. That means his insulin likely dropped. If insulin stays high, your body reacts to calorie restriction by slowing your metabolism, eliminating or reducing the calorie deficit. That’s why so many diets fail.

Right, he restricted CALORIES. If i eat 100% sugar everyday, but only eat 500 calories I will lose weight.

Duh, do you think? First off, that’s 125 carbohydrates, second, your body would suck up every calorie so there’d be no need for insulin to convert carbohydrates to fat and store them, which is what happens on high-carb diets, and third, you’d also become sick and lose muscle mass.

So you admit that to lose weight, you need to eat less calories?

Go to YouTube, search ‘Taubes science weightloss,’ watch the lecture on the actual science, pay close attention to the sections about populations where food intake was low, malnutrition was rampant, yet a high proportion of adults were obese. Then see if you still believe it’s all about simply counting calories.

then why do all scientists disagree with taubes, who is a journalist?

Really, all the scientists disagree? That must be news to the many scientists whose articles I’ve read, whom I’ve interviewed or corresponded with, who agree very much with Taubes. As for him being “just a journalist,” he’s a journalist with a degree in physics from Harvard and a master’s in engineering from Stanford. He’s won the science writer of the year award twice. Try coming up with something besides a weak appeal to authority to prove your point.

many of them do. the majority. sugar is bad for you, no doubt, but taube’s takes his reasoning too far. and he doesn’t have a masters in engineering.

This is like talking to a child. Yes, he has a master’s in aerospace engineering and another in journalism. Look it up. If you’re more psychologically comfortable deciding you already know how metabolism and fat accumulation work than with looking into the actual science, be my guest. I really don’t care if you choose to stick with your current beliefs.

not just my beliefs, but the beliefs of the majority of nutrition scientists.

Well, that explains the fabulous success rate of the diets they’ve designed. Nearly 2% lose weight and keep it off — can’t argue with those credentials! Like I said, if you want to simply declare that already know how metabolism works and avoid looking into the science for yourself, I don’t really care.

[Yes, this is the point where I should've stopped replying to the ignoramus. Took me a while longer to wise up.]

you thesis is completely wrong. plenty of people eat carbs and sugar and are thin. it’s because they simply don’t eat more than they need. you even admitted it, so i am not even sure what point you are trying to make

Yes, because plenty of people are what they call “metabolically gifted,” which means they don’t become insulin resistant. Most people don’t fall into that category. Plenty of people smoke two packs per day and never develop lung cancer, so I guess to your way of thinking, that proves smoking isn’t a cause of lung cancer.

No, you are wrong. There may be mulitple ways to lsoe weight, but eating less calories will result in weight loss. I didn’t see any fat people in the concentration camps.

You didn’t see any healthy people in concentration camps either. If you starve people, duh, they’ll lose weight. They’ll lose muscle mass and eventually digest their own organs, too. That isn’t the point. The question is whether you can burn body fat without sacrificing your muscles and wrecking your metabolism simply by restricting calories without changing your hormonal balance, and the answer is no. That’s why people who starve themselves on diets usually end up fatter.

you don’t have to starve yourself; you can just eat less. instead of eating and 8 inch grinder and bag of chips for lunch, you can eat a 6 in grinder and an apple.

[At this point, I began to realize I was talking to wall and decided perhaps the smart move would be to just agree with him.]

Thank you for sharing your superior biological knowledge with me. I appreciate it. You’re right and I’m wrong. Weight loss is purely about counting calories, hormones have nothing to do with it, diabetics don’t become emaciated and die without insulin, and there’s never been a poor population that became obese despite living on less than 2000 calories per day. None of that ever happened. You’re clearly correct, and I thank you.

So how do devout hindus who don’t eat meat and eat rice and lentils and such be healthy? or are they really unhealthy?

If you consider having one of the highest rates of heart disease and diabetes in the world, “healthy,” okay, yeah. You might want to do some research on this stuff before popping off.

[Oops, my mistake... I backslid and actually replied.]

Indians have a high rate of heart disease and diabetes?? Where is your source? Remember, I am stalking about people from India, not Native Americans. Also, what group of peolple were obese despite eating less than 2000 calories a day?

[I was trying to figure out how he decided I believe Native Americans are Hindus, then reminded myself to just agree with him.]

You’re correct, I simply made up the statement that people in India have high rates of heart disease and diabetes. I admit it here and now. Same for the obese populations who live on little food. As you’ve surmised, I don’t actually put any research into my documentaries, speeches, or blog posts. I thank you for sharing your superior knowledge of biology, endocrinology, metabolism, and Gary Taubes’ resume. Your beliefs are 100% correct and I urge you to keep them.

So you can’t provide one source to back up the claim about heart disease in India?

Like I said, I don’t actually do any research. I just make stuff up, as you’ve surmised. Do a little Googling and I’m sure you’ll instantly confirm your belief that heart disease, obesity and diabetes are low in India.

Oh yes, the good old “Google it for yourself and find out!” You made a claim that Indians suffer high rates of diabetes and heart disease. It is up to you, the claimant, to provide proof. All I am asking for is one link to a study that support your claim. You made the claim. So provide support for your claim.

Like I said, the claim was pure drivel, all made up. I do no research whatsoever. So instead of troubling yourself with spending, say, 20 seconds doing Google research, I urge you to cease your relentless open-mindedness and try very hard to simply accept that you already know everything. I know it’ll be difficult, but try, man, try.

You made the claim. I am waiting for evidence for you claim. If it only takes 20 seconds to retreive, then it should be no trouble for you.

You’re right. I suddenly feel an overwhelming need and obligation to convince you. Please sit there staring at your screen, and I’ll provide you with sources as soon as I can. Do not leave your chair until you hear back from me.

[At that point, I went to the kitchen for a small dish of almonds and then watched Sunday Night Football. I enjoy a good debate with people who've actually done a bit of research and can back up their beliefs, but no more arguing with idiots. That's my rule.]

I mentioned in an earlier post that my wife makes a squash pie as our holiday substitute for pumpkin pie, and someone asked for a recipe.  Here it is, straight from the chef herself.

Chareva’s Butternut Squash Crustless Pie

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash
Between 1 and 1 1/2 cups Splenda or Truvia, depending on how sweet you like it
6 eggs
1 cup heavy cream  (or 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup unsweetened evaporated milk)
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp cinnamon
Small pinch of salt

Cut butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Place cut side down in a large casserole dish. Add a little water. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for an hour or until soft. Let cool and then remove skin.

Mix squash and other ingredients with electric mixer.  Butter a casserole dish to prevent sticking, pour in the mixture and bake in a 350-degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until the top is dry and the edges are starting to brown. If cracks start to form, even better.

Our casserole dish is 8 x 13, and we end up with a pie about an inch thick.  Every time I make this, my proportions are different. Sometimes it comes out very dense and other times it comes out more like a custard.

When Fat Head was released, I knew it was controversial and expected a love-it-or-hate-it response. As it turned out, most people heard about the film through low-carb or paleo-diet blogs, so they were predisposed to like it. Ahhh, the good old days. Now that Fat Head is on Hulu and being viewed by people who thought Super Size Me was both truthful and brilliant, I’m seeing more of the angry reviews I always expected. 

A few of Spurlock’s fans have shown up previously to comment on my YouTube clips. I referred to them as boozlers in a previous post because they refuse to believe they were bamboozled by Spurlock, even though logic and simple math prove he couldn’t have followed his own rules. I replied to their comments on YouTube since it’s my channel and they took it upon themselves to show up there, but I’m not going to bother posting replies on Hulu. I’m not sure it’s even possible, and I don’t think it would be good idea anyway.

But just for a fun, I’ll post some quotes here with my replies.

Are you kidding me? Why in the world would you want to stand up in defense for the likes of McDonalds?

I have this crazy tendency to be annoyed when people are accused of crimes they didn’t commit. If someone produced a film blaming Anheuser-Busch for all the alcoholics in the country, I’d stand up and defend Anheuser-Busch as well.

Spurlock attended film school and was experienced and well-versed on how to create a documentary that spoke to a varied demographic. It is difficult to connect with Naughton’s attempt, which amounts to a lengthy, redundant, monotone rant.

I have no problem admitting that Morgan Spurlock is far more skilled at producing polished propaganda than I am. He sucks as a researcher, he’s clueless about science and nutrition, and simple math says he was dishonest about what he actually ate, but he’s an entertaining filmmaker. I didn’t attend film school, but I’m guessing they don’t offer a course titled It’s Not Ethical to Lie to Your Audience in a Documentary.

Super-size Me started an epidemic in the fast food industry, MacDonald & others was shaking in their boots when that film came out.

Yes, Old MacDonald was deeply shaken by Super Size Me. So was McDonald’s, especially when their sales continued going up every year after it was released. Newsflash: the people who swallowed the nonsense in Super Size Me weren’t eating at McDonald’s in the first place. The film had roughly the same economic impact as if the faculty at Yale boycotted NASCAR events.

Morgan is a great guy & don’t judge him base on Super Size me.

Good point. I shouldn’t judge him base on the film that made his career. From now on, I’ll judge him by how nicely he treats waitresses and taxi drivers.

clearly, morgan spurlock was attempting to point out that if you eat three square meals per day at a fast food restaurant your caloric intake will be staggering.

I guess the simple math I put on the screen wasn’t simple enough. To average more than 5,000 calories per day, he had to eat far more than even three large combos would provide — and since he promised to eat everything on the menu at least once, what the heck happened on the days he ordered a 400-calorie chicken salad? Of course, he could clear up this mystery by honoring the dozens of requests from journalists to publish his food log, but since he won’t, I’m going with the simple math for now.

Guess what, Supersize Me actually made a lot of change in the world.

Can’t argue with that. I’ve been amazed at the drop in obesity and diabetes since Super Size Me was released. I was delighted when Michelle Obama held a press conference recently and said, “I am terminating the government’s anti-obesity program. It turns out Super Size Me solved the crisis.”

He should REALLY be using a DEXA scan or something much more accurate to measure body fat. Bioelectrical impedance analysis is terribly inaccurate.

I didn’t know the doctor was going to measure my body fat until he handed me the device. But next time, I’ll call ahead and make sure he uses the brand you recommend.

Ok McJacka$…keep eating your burgers if that makes you happy, you are a big boy, and nobody can tell you what to put in you pie hole.

I’m delighted to know you share my libertarian views on freedom and personal responsibility.  Give me a fist-bump, my brother.

This guy is a joke. I can’t even list the number of arguments he made that were later contradicted by other arguments.

Pretty please, list them. I’d like to know.

Humans got shorter? No, humans evolved into taller humans.

If you believe human history began 12,000 years ago, you are correct. But it’s comforting to know that after switching to agriculture made us six inches shorter, it only took 10,000 years to regain our Paleolithic height.

And based on anthropological data, most of what we ate was plant based, with meat coming in when the tribe made a kill, which could be days or weeks apart. I’m calling a tool alert on this annoyingly voice-varying airhead.

Yes, my ancestors in Ireland no doubt lived exclusively on plants during the long, cold winters when nothing grows. Same for Inuits; they grow a lot of corn and beans up there in the Arctic. And of course, after the buffalo-hide hunters wiped out the buffalo population, the Plains Indians said to themselves, “No big deal. We only managed to kill one every few weeks anyway.”

jacka** is giving fat people hope that they can cling too their food (poison) and their terrible way of life.

That’s the main message of my documentary: Don’t change anything, cling too your food, keep eating all the sugar and starch you’re eating now, and you’ll magically begin to lose weight and regain your health.

There’s no way in hell eating high saturated fat, process carbs can be good for you.

I thought about toning down the pro-process-carb message, but in the end I decided it was important for people to understand how essential process carbs are for remaining healthy and lean.

What the creator fail to realize is the chemical composition of said fast food is addicting, which is the main reason why people continue to eat it.

That explains why both Spurlock and I couldn’t wait for our fast-food-diets to end.  We both fail to give in to the addiction.

Plus, Naughton ate fast foods at least 3 years after Spurlock’s movie, which meant that he was eating fast foods with lowered calories.

If the calories in a Double-Quarter Pounder were reduced after 2004, it’s news to me. McDonald’s stopped selling super-sized sodas and fries, but I didn’t drink sodas and only rarely ate fries. Meanwhile, if Spurlock actually followed his rules, he only consumed two super-sized meals per week.

As for the doctors in the movie, I wonder about their credibility. Doctors who are not educated in scientific studies and not know that there are such things as correlation in conjectures should really be fired.

I’d ask science wonks like Mike Eades, Gary Taubes, Malcolm Kendrick, Uffe Ravnskov and Mary Enig if they know or not know about correlation in conjectures, but I’m afraid they’d conclude I’ve turned stupid and stop talking to me.

This guy is a f__king idiot.

I’m defenseless in the face of such rhetorical skill.

Of course he chose quack doctors to support his claims but talk to any nutritionist and you’ll get the real information.

Can’t type … shaking with laughter.

Well, you get the idea. As I discovered when I first began writing for my college newspaper, you can’t put anything before the public without someone getting ticked off. As I once told my roommate, “I swear, if I write a column saying it was a beautiful day yesterday, I’ll get at least two letters informing me that it wasn’t a nice day for the people starving in Bangladesh, and if I wasn’t such a heartless son of a bitch who only thinks about himself, I’d realize that and stop talking about the weather, so I should do everyone a favor and kill myself.” I even received hate mail for a column I wrote making fun of stupid commercials — kid you not.

It goes with the territory …