No-Bologna Facts
- There’s never been a single study that proves saturated fat causes heart disease.
- As heart-disease rates were skyrocketing in the mid-1900s, consumption of animal fat was going down, not up. Consumption of vegetable oils, however, was going up dramatically.
- Half of all heart-attack victims have normal or low cholesterol. Autopsies performed on heart-attack victims routinely reveal plaque-filled arteries in people whose cholesterol was low (as low as 115 in one case).
- Asian Indians – half of whom are vegetarians – have one of the highest rates of heart disease in the entire world. Yup, that fatty meat will kill you, all right.
- When Morgan Spurlock tells you that a McDonald’s salad supplies almost a day’s allowance of fat, he’s basing that statement on the FDA’s low-fat/high-carbohydrate dietary guidelines, which in turn are based on … absolutely nothing. There’s no science behind those guidelines; they were simply made up by a congressional committee.
- Kids who were diagnosed as suffering from ADD have been successfully treated by re-introducing natural saturated fats into their diets. Your brain is made largely of fat.
- Many epileptics have reduced or eliminated seizures by adopting a diet low in sugar and starch and high in saturated animal fats.
- Despite everything you’ve heard about saturated fat being linked to cancer, that link is statistically weak. However, there is a strong link between sugar and cancer. In Europe, doctors tell patients, “Sugar feeds cancer.”
- Being fat is not, in and of itself, bad for your health. The behaviors that can make you fat – eating excess sugar and starch, not getting any exercise – can also ruin your health, and that’s why being fat is associated with bad health. But it’s entirely possible to be fat and healthy. It’s also possible to be thin while developing Type II diabetes and heart disease.
- Saturated fat and cholesterol help produce testosterone. When men limit their saturated fat, their testosterone level drops. So, regardless of what a famous vegan chef believes, saturated fat does not impair sexual performance.
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Glad to see some sense talked about fats and sugars.
fat is OK – but sugar becomes extra fat in all the wrong tissues.
Great vids on youtube thanks.
Great job Tom! Keep up the good work. If enough of us keep at it we’ll turn the tide.
Thanks, Fred. The tide will turn, but you’re right; it’s going to bubble up from the bottom. That’s why I love the digital age. You, Mike Eades, Jimmy Moore, myself … a decade ago, we could’ve dispute this nonsense all we wanted, but we would’ve depended on a publisher to put it into print.
Hi,
I saw the doco last night here in N.Z. and was amazed at all of the myths being completely crushed. We are still getting advice from doctors to lower fat intake to lower cholesterol – my Mum being a recent case in point. However, her cholesterol level – “bad cholesterol” – has not come down on this low fat diet. I will be recommending to her that she watch your doco today!! Thanks for deconstructing the information from professionals that really wasn’t making sense.
A friend of mine cut all the sugar and starch from his diet after watching the film, and his cholesterol dropped dramatically. He never was able to do that with a lowfat diet. Hope you mum tries the low-carb approach; it seems to work much more often.
Hi,
I am also from New Zealand and watched your doco last night and was amazed how it made such sense!!! It would be awesome for you to post up a list of all the good low-carb foods and good saturated fats to eat and what to eat for “good cholesterol”. So would the Atkins diet which you hear so many mix messages about actullay be a good diet to follow?
The Atkins diet was a major step forward because Dr. Atkins identified carbohydrates as the problem. However, he didn’t distinguish between good fats, such as butter, and harmful fats, such as corn oil. (Had he lived longer, I believe he would have.)
I’ll think about putting up some sample menus, but in the meantime, I’d say the good low-carb foods are all non-starchy vegetables, especially green vegetables, and low-sugar fruits, such as strawberries and blueberries.
Nearly all naturally-occurring fats are good for you and will raise your HDL. That would be animal fats, olive oil, coconut oil, etc. — oils that primitive humans would have consumed and don’t require processing. Stay away from corn oil, soybean oil, and anything that says “hydrogenated” on the label.
Drs. Mike and Mary Dan Eades do an excellent job of identifying the good and bad carbs and fats in their books, too. If you check the Recommended Reading page, you’ll see links to their books. I think “Protein Power Lifeplan” is the most useful for creating menus.
Another Kiwi here who also watched your doco last night. Well done and many thanks for dispelling the bullshit our media and governments feed us constantly.
I do have one question though, I love my 2% milk Lattes (200ml milk content, 9.6 g carb ) twice a day max, would this still be ok on a lowered carb eating lifestyle?
PS just ordered some stevia drops to replace the refined sugar I would normally have.
As long as you keep your carbs low enough to avoid insulin spikes (which varies from person to person), I would think you can get away with some milk. But I don’t see any reason to avoid whole milk. Fat actually helps keep insulin down. The whole campaign against whole milk was based on the theory that animal fat is bad for you.
Hey yet another kiwi.
I also saw your docco the other-day (will the last half hour or so) and made so much sense about how i was feeling since my change of lifestyle (cutting out fats and eating more “healthy” food) I once lived on Mc D’s for 3 months 3 meals a day non stop. i felt great, my cholesterol was a record low and my doctor wasn’t at all shocked. i was like “why am i not some high cholesterol fatty?”
But recently i started having gut problems and decided to go on a health kick, I have never felt more fatigued in my life, i can barely drive home after a day at work. after lunch i need to sleep and i keep putting on more and more weight.
I could never eat that much maccas but I’m keen to re-introduce it.
Anyway, great docco again and now i only have one question: How do i now remove this little layer of fat building up?
Your experience sounds very much like mine when I tried a “healthy” low-fat, near-vegetarian diet. I gained weight and felt fatigued. In retrospect, I realize I was also showing signs of pre-diabetes.
It’s all about the insulin. If your diet drives up your insulin, you will store calories instead of burning them, then run short on fuel and feel tired. Also, without natural saturated fats in the diet, you will have a hard time making “feel good” hormones, which require fat and cholesterol as building blocks.
If I were you, I’d try a very low-carb diet and see what happens. Avoid all “Frankenstein fats,” such as corn oil and soybean oil. If you get a copy of “The Protein Power Lifeplan,” it’ll spell out a good diet for you. Check the Recommended Reading tab, if you haven’t already. And no, I don’t get a commission on the books.
Hi,
Sorta another Kiwi – actually a fellow American living in New Zealand. Caught your doco on the Documentary Channel here on the same night as everybody else. I am not overly surprised as I was in the USA when the last rush of the Atkins-style dieting was sweeping the country. And, everybody I knew who was following the diet dropped weight, felt better and their metabolic indicators improved.
My girl friend has chronic fatigue and has been trying to eat a ‘healthy’ diet however, when she strays to more fat and fewer carbs, she invariably feels better. I would recommend that others suffering from the same or similar conditions try the type of diet your movie recommends. (And, of course other choices such as adequate exercise, sleep, non-smoking, etc.)
Thank you for your work – wish I had heard/seen it sooner. Is it available in its entirety on DVD other than Region 1 – as listed on Amazon?
Cheers!
We welcome semi-kiwis as well.
Our foreign distributor is working on getting DVD distribution in other markets. For now, they seem to be doing better with cable TV rights.
My composer used to believe he was suffering from chronic fatigue — when he was a vegetarian. When he stopped eating so much rice (the staple of his diet) and returned to primarily meat and vegetables, he realized he’d simply been following the wrong diet. He lost weight and his energy came back.
Carbs raise insulin, and insulin tells your body to store calories as fat, so you run out of available fuel. Cut the carbs, consume more natural fats, and you have a steady supply of fuel. I hope your girlfriend gives it a try.
Word of warning, though: some people feel awful for a few weeks when they give up carbs. Their bodies have become conditioned to burn glucose for fuel, and it takes time to re-adjust before they can burn fat efficiently.
Fats and cholesterol are also the building blocks for feel-good hormones, so insulin aside, low-fat diets can make some people feel tired and depressed.
Hey Tom, I LOVE Fathead! Watched it with my sweetie, I think it finally convinced him that all the stuff I’ve written on my website is true.. he’s been cutting his carbs ever since! Yea! Thanks for making a film that is fun to watch, thought provoking, and tells the low carb story straight. I’m so glad I bought a copy for myself…I think I’ll go watch it again..
Well, I hate to think you sweetie is more inclined to listen to me than to you, but all’s well that ends well.
I’m about add your site to our links section.
Hi Tom
And yet another kiwi…. Your movie Fathead is a revelation to me and makes complete sense. Going to go off the lipitor and off to get organised for some low good carb/good protein living. I have thought of little else since seeing your movie here!! Grateful
I’m lovin’ the kiwi converts. I think you’ll enjoy a lot more health and energy once you make the change. Just be prepared for a little withdrawal period if you’ve been eating a lot of carbs.
I hear ya, buddy, but I don’t understand why you’ve taken the approach of targeting Spurlock for ridicule. It seems kind of petty and unoriginal. Besides, I don’t think Super Size Me was necessarily a low-fat diet kind of movie. It looks like you’re pushing back at his politics, not his food politics.
As you’ve noted, Spurlock’s nutritional approach is conventional and orthodox. I don’t see any agression or activism on his side regarding this.
Also, keep in mind that he was criticizing the psychological manipulation of the food industry (encouraging gluttony). This is a very real, measurable, tangible thing.
I targeted Spurlock for a few reasons: He blamed a restaurant chain for the obestiy epidemic, when the real blame belongs with the government go-gooders who convinced us we should live primarily on carbohydrates; he clearly lied about eating just three meals per day during that month (which explains why he won’t show his food log to anyone — mine’s online); he blamed high-fat diets for ailments that high-fat diets don’t cause, such as fatty liver disease; and he made heroes out of CSPI, a group of nut-jobs who almost singlehandedly pushed trans fats into our food supply, then had the gall to sue restaurants later for using them.
I myself wondered if Super Size Me was still a relevant target, but then found out from my nephews and nieces that they’ve all been forced to sit through this piece of propaganda in high-school health classes.
So add it up, and what I saw was a dishonest, manipulative documentary that accused a corporation of a crime they didn’t commit, promoted the goals of a vegetarian nanny-group who wants to tax the foods I prefer, and reinforced the low-fat message that got us all in trouble in the first place. To me that’s aggressive and activist.
Other people, especially in academia, saw a wonderful, truthful, entertaining look at how the big, bad food industry caused the obesity epidemic by selling overly large portions of food to Americans who, zombie-like, eat them up without thinking.
UPDATE: after some research of my own I am now low carbing and feel great, energy levels are constant, when I wake in the morning I am AWAKE and the weight loss is steady, 4kg in around 9 days and still eating really well, actually to be honest I have never eaten so many whole foods consistently ever!! I do HIT resistance training every 2nd day for at least 30 mins and for the first time since beginning this regime (since middle of Feb this year) I do not “crash” afterwards!!
Thanks Tom for opening my eyes!!
Most people I’ve talked to who’ve tried cutting back on sugar and starch say their energy is both higher and more stable … not so many ups and downs.
Just how think what you’ll look like and feel like six months from now.
Hi Tom, along with half the NZ population I watched the doco and it struck a chord. I studied sport nutrition and we were continually indoctrinated with low fat/high carb education. As a fairly critical thinker I continued to research and found as much evidence for higher fat, low GI, higher protein being the way to go. In my own life I have found that when I am eating a diet chocker with red meat (aaaarrggh no, so evil!), fresh vegetables and low carbs I am at my leanest and also find it easiest to gain muscle at the gym – testosterone coming through nicely. I hope more and more people can see your doco and re-programme their systems.
I hope so as well. When I think of how difficult it was to lose weight and how awful I eventually felt while adhering to the low-fat nonsense, it makes me angry all over again. And when I see some obese woman loading up on Weight Watchers lowfat dinners at the grocery store, it breaks my heart. I know she’s going to fail on that diet and then blame herself.
Sugar and white flour also raise triglyceride levels which causes heart attack and stroke. My mother is now in heaven due to this and she was never over weight a day in her life and up until she had Coronary Artery Disease she had always been active. She loved her some chips, cookies and other junk food at night. She rarely ate meat. She died at 67 years old. I live Low Carb every day. I am full of energy and very healthy. Except for a low vitamin D level which I am working on.
That’s one of the messages I wanted to put across in Fat Head: just because you’re thin, it doesn’t automatically mean you’re healthy. Plenty of thin people end up with heart disease and type II diabetes.
Fitness and muscle information is great and so useful for everyone. Thanks for the information.
Another kiwi. . ., loved your movie. I’m just wondering about vegetable fats/oils. Which ones should I be consuming less of?
Clearly in your facts above, you relate vegetable oils to heart disease, but in one of your previous posts you say that “coconut oil [a vegetable oil?] is waaaay yummy” so you had some for lunch that day.
I’m just a bit confused about whether there is a difference between various vegetable fats/oils. Sorry, but is there something I’m missing?
Here’s the short answer: natural oils such as olive and coconut oil are great. Avoid unnatural oils, which includes corn, soybean, cottonseed, safflower, etc.
Now the long answer:
The difference is between natural vs. unnatural oils. Coconut oil and olive oil have been in the human diet for many thousands of years. Coconuts and olives are naturally oily, and you can extract the oil by squeezing.
Many other vegetable oils have only been in the diet for 100 years or so, because the vegetables (or seeds) are not naturally oily. You can’t squeeze corn or soybeans and get oil from them; the oil has to be extracted, usually chemically. This creates concentrations of these oils that humans would never ingest simply by eating the foods. You couldn’t stomach enough corn to get the equivalent of a half-cup of corn oil.
Those extracted oils contain high levels of compounds that humans can’t handle well in such concentrated amounts, such as Omega 6 fats and other inflammatory agents.
Here’s an article by Mary Enig that goes into more detail.
I watched your movie on TV in Turkey-Istanbul.I’m not fat at all but whenever I read about BMI I felt guilty because of my meal.What ever I do,I seem fat for it.I want to believe in you,you seem reasonable and honest.thanks for the movie.
I didn’t know the film was showing in Turkey. Was it subtitled?
Hi Tom,
I live in New Zealand and watched the documentary earlier in the year and thought it was fantastic. I want to watch it again and show my students and can’t seem to find a copy other than amazon. I would like to know if I can pay to download it somewhere.
Thanks
The plan is to get it on Amazon’s Unbox download service eventually, but for now we don’t want to cannibalize our DVD distributor’s sales. Stay tuned to the blog and we’ll make an announcement when it’s available for download.
Glad you enjoyed it. What do you teach?
I watched your movie on TV in Israel, I think it was second time there. I am just 6 days on “low carb diet”. I eat just vegetable, protein food like meat, eggs and chees and one fruit-like apple. You movie gave me push to continue. I belive for years that carbs are the”badguys”, but it is not easy stand again the common opinion “the body needs carbohydrats”. So thank You for Your movie. I just have to change the soya oil to olive oil. It is even tastes better. I want just ask You – have I change the apple to barries? Here are berries just imported and mostly frozen. And, by the way, the movie was subtitled.
Congratulations on your diet change. I’m pleased to hear Fat Head is showing on TV again — the December showing in Israel was actually the world-wide premiere.
You will find that it becomes easier and easier to avoid carbohydrates. As your body adjusts to burning fat instead of sugar for fuel, carbohydrates will have less appeal, and you will no longer enjoy how they make you feel.
As far as fruit, it depends on how many carbohydrates you can tolerate. Some people can barely consume any. If you’re going to allow yourself, say, 50 grams of carbohydrates per day, then some fruits can be included. But yes, I believe berries are better. They’re lower in sugar and higher in antioxidants.
Hi Tom,
My name is Peter from the lovely city of Toronto in the Nanny State of Canada. (more about that, later)
First, I need to bare my soul. About a month ago, I watched a copy of Fat Head that I downloaded from — ummm — well — you know — the net. I found out about the movie from Jimmy Moore’s website and the snippets of the movie available on-line were enticing
It has helped re-kindle my passion to regain my health and I’m actually finding myself becoming somewhat of an evangelist for the low-carb way of eating.
I thought it appropriate that I actually buy a copy. I work right downtown in the largest city in Canada and none of the major purveyors of videos even knew about it – let alone had it in stock. (Strangely enough, they all had a copy of “Super Size me” but quite frankly, I saw that movie too and I’m in no rush to buy a copy.)
This, I suppose, shouldn’t come as a shock since Canada is the country that, a back in 2004, changed its labeling laws essentially forbidding any food label from suggesting lowered carbohydrates because, apparently, “there is no proof that lowered carbohydrates contribute to weight loss.”
Yeah, right!
And CSPI has reached it’s tentacles across the border into Canada. In fact, they are lobbying hard to get legislation passed to force conspicuous displays of calorie counts in restaurants. The scary thing is that the law has already passed first reading in the Ontario Provincial legislature. Canadians are far from immune from these people. I was totally unaware of them until I saw Fat Head but little did I realize that they made it over to this side of our border.
Fortunately, amazon.ca came to the rescue. I just got my copy today and look forward to watching the movie again, along with the extra interview footage. (which I haven’t seen yet) At least now my conscience is clearer.
It’s a fine piece of work and definitely worth a permanent place in my library.
Cheers,
–Peter
Glad you did the right thing and bought a copy, both for your conscience and my pocketbook. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been offered pirated software and drawn strange looks when I say, “I make my living as a software programmer. It’s not a good idea for me to get into stealing the stuff.”
I asked our distributor about the pirate sites, and he said they’re out of legal reach.
Strange about the distributors … both our U.S. and international (Canada included) distributors are based in Toronto, but the international distributors can’t seem to get it into the stores in their own country yet. Meanwhile, the U.S. distributor, who doesn’t have an office in the states, managed to get it into Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.
We’re going to fire up a new media campaign and hope some exposure prompts more stores into carrying it. The P.R. agency we used the first time didn’t do much good.
Happy low-carbing. I’m sure it’ll help.
Funny how all the comments are favorable – akin to “dear leader” getting 89% of the votes. Here are some FACTS:
FACT 1. (Insurance co) actuarial tables show at what weight people live the longest, we call this Ideal Body Weight (e.g., female 5’4 = 120#; male 5’9″ = 160#).
FACT 2. Numerous (animal) studies (would not be ethical to use people) indicate healthier and longer life span when calories are restricted to about 80% of actual need (measured in scientific ways).
FACT 3. By sheer number of empirical experiences, most sedentary females need about 1200 to 1600 Kcals per day; most sedentary males need 1500 to 2000 Kcals per day.
FACT 4. It takes 3500 Kcals to make ONE lbs of body weight weight. You do the math for an average sedentary male (needing 1800 Kcals per day) and consuming your average Kcals without super-sizing of 3600 Kclas (rounded down), the difference being 1800 Kcals of excess food energy divided by 500 Kcals = every 3.6 days you gain One lbs of body weight (give or take a few ounces).
FACT 5. (The most important) Obesity in and of itself has been shown to be high risk for shorter life span and development of chronic diseases because studies have found inflammatory and stress proteins (PAI-1, CRP, Homocistein) present in obese and overweight in abundance.
FACT 6. Happy eating and drinking everything in moderation! Eat like a king for breakfast; like a prince for lunch and like a pauper for dinner.
Yes, we execute anyone who disagrees with me. Or it could be that this site attracts fans of the film; I can’t remember which.
Your facts are based on associations, not causes. Saying obesity “in and of itself is a risk factor” is a contradiction in terms. A risk factor is, by definition, an association.
I take it you haven’t seen the film, so here are two of the main points:
1) It’s not obesity that’s killing us, it’s high blood sugar and elevated insulin — which also causes most (but not all) people to begin accumulating excess fat. Therefore, obesity is associated (in and of itself?) with all the diseases caused by elevated insulin, including the inflammation you mentioned. However, there are many fat people who don’t have elevated insulin. I’m one of them. My health markers are all outstanding. There are also thin people who do have elevated insulin. My father-in-law is lean, but a type II diabetic. His health markers are lousy. By focusing on weight instead of blood sugar, we are hectoring many people who are healthy and ignoring many people who aren’t.
2) When elevated insulin triggers the conversion of calories to stored body fat, the body runs low on available fuel, which leads to hunger, which leads to eating more. But eating more is not the cause of being overweight; it’s the effect of the elevated insulin. In the lab, researchers have taken hibernating animals and cut their food supply in half during the pre-hibernating season, when their bodies produce more insulin. The result? They got just as fat as the control group whose intake wasn’t restricted.
If you simply restrict calories without reducing insulin levels, the body will dramatically adjust its metabolism to maintain the fat stores. That’s why calorie-restricted diets that don’t address the insulin imbalance are such colossal failures over time — unless you consider 1% a good success rate.
Meanwhile, when naturally lean prisoners were overfed by 1,000 calories per day for six months, they barely gained any weight at all — they should’ve gained 50 pounds if the 3500 calories = 1 lb. fat theory held true. Once again, their metabolisms adjusted.
As for longevity, if you take two groups of non-hibernating animals eating identical high-carb lab chow and restrict the intake for one group, that group will automatically end up with lower insulin levels. Recent research indicates that it’s low insulin, not calorie restriction per se, that encourages longevity. Given the organ damage that elevated insulin causes, this makes perfect sense.
For humans, here’s what the most recent CDC study comparing BMI to longevity (published in JAMA) concluded:
· Among nonsmoking people under age 60, being “overweight” (BMI 25-30) and “obese” (BMI 30-35) was actually associated with lower risks for premature death than those of “normal” weight.
· Being thin is 25% more dangerous than being the government recommended “normal” weight (BMI 18.5-25).
· Being thin accounts for 37,746 premature deaths, more than even being the most extremely “obese” (BMI >35).
Now if you don’t mind, please send me your address. I need to have one of my henchmen come and invite you to a re-education camp so I can keep that approval rating hovering around 90%. (I’d aim for 100%, but I’m afraid the press would become suspicious.)
Hi Tom,
I finally got to see the movie and absolutely loved it. My wife and I have been living low carb for almost 10 years now and have spent most of it trying to convert those we love. It is difficult but we keep on trying. I love the “facts” that you have listed above and would love to send some of my smarter friends to your site but unfortunately you have no citations for any of them. I went to college for biology and math so most of my college friends would disregard your entire list with out the citations. I see you are a busy guy with 2 blogs and a family but adding the citations will certainly strengthen your argument.
Keep up the good work!
Dave
That would probably be a good idea, although most of them are compiled from multiple sources. In the meantime, you could direct your friends to the Recommended Reading links.
I’m from Turkey and i saw your wonderfull documentary on a turkish channel with subtitles. For a while, i’ve been thinking about our diets,how every artificial thing such as vegetable oils or cereals could be healthy and how most natural food that the human race consumed all these centuries could be harmful. your movie really answered all my questions, enumerated reasons such as political facts convinced me. thanks to your work…
I also want to thank to those experts who had enough courage to talk about it.
I knew our international distributor had some TV deals in the works in that region, but I wasn’t sure about the air dates. Thanks for the compliments, and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it.
Hi Tom,
I watched your doco when it was on in NZ and loved it. can’t believe how much sense it made. I’m currently studying and doing a paper on Low Cholesterol Diets and hoping to include some of your info but I can’t seem to buy the DVD anywhere in NZ. Any ideas about how I can get a copy without spending a mint getting it from USA??
Thanks again
Clare
Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten overseas distribution on the DVD yet. I hope that will come along eventually. Is the shipping from Amazon very expensive, or not available to NZ?
As a nurse I applaud your film. If the government and healthcare in general would embrace the fact that we need to get back to basics and start eating right, we’d save billion. Now THAT’s healthcare reform! Unfortunately, it’l never happen. Think of all those people living longer that would have to collect Social security and… wait a minute, maybe I’ve stumbled upon something here… can’t have people living too long you know!
At any rate, I educate everyone I can on how we should REALLY eat. So far… nobody really listens, in spite of my own personal story. The short form on that is: 1. After years of eating too many cookies and ice cream adn a SAD (standard American Diet) I got blood pressure and high blood sugar problems. Tried following ADA diet for blood sugar. Even raised money for the ADA (like a good nurse) No luck, blood sugars getting worse. Finally eliminated all processed food and sugar and started eating only “real” food like grass fed beef, eggs from the farm (sometimes up to 5 a day EVERY day) lots of vegetables and fruit treated more like a dessert (sparingly, one to two servings a day) REAL milk, that is raw and unpasteurized from local farm here, both cow and goat milk. Results? Glucose tolerance down from 198 to 100. Fasting from 125 down to high 70′s low 80′s, blood pressure down from 135/90′s to 115 or so over high 60′s to low 70′s. Dropped 30 lbs. All this in just a few months.
I had to learn how to eat the hard way, then found marksdailyapple.com where I found that what I ws doing has a name “paleo diet”.
the gov’t and healthcare won’t embrace what’s right from a nutritional standpoint, so I just live the example and tell those interested…one at a time.
I did buy the movie, and it was a gem.
Congratulations for figuring it out before the standard advice killed you. And thanks for supporting the film.
I need to add I ditched all vegetable oils. I only use EV olive oil (for making my own dressing) and virgin coconut oil for cooking. And in case you think I never get any “indulgences” I make ice cream out of the raw milk using the cream off the top and use stevia for sweetener. Best Ice cream ever!
I also eat 2-3 raw eggs a day in a smoothy. I would not do that with typical store bought eggs though, just the ones from the farm where I can actually see the chickens running aroung eating what chickens eat: bugs and other protien.
I’ve always wondered if that “from vegitarian fed hens” and the like that you see on the eggs at the store is an attempt to get business from vegetarians, because that’s sure not what chcikes normaly eat! If they can get them chickens will even eat small lizards.
I actually didn’t know what real chickens eat. That’s interesting. I wonder if some chickens are smug about being vegans?
Hey mate,
Another kiwi here. Very interesting doco. It was mentioned by someone at work a few months ago and has been at the top of my to see list since then. Well got the chance to see it last week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Have been eating a similar diet for a long time now and haven’t had any problems. I always found it funny that after my partner and I saw Super-size me for the first time, we went out and got ourselves some Big Macs.
Just wondering though, I’m of SE Asian descent and there is a lot of rice in our diet. Since we have been eating this for a very long time would our bodies have adapted so we can eat more of it compared to say people of European ancestry?
So would it be better to have a high fat/low carb diet, where the ingredients I suppose, were from where we came from orginally?
From what I’ve read, the longer a grain has been consumed as food in the region of your ancestry, the more likely you are to be adapted to it, yes. People from the Middle East, for example, can apparently tolerate wheat better than many others. My ancestors were Irish, and I don’t tolerate wheat well. The Irish and Scandinavians have a relatively high rate of Celiac disease.
I went to McDonald’s immediately after watching Super Size Me. All that movie did for me was make me want a burger.
Glad you enjoyed Fat Head.
Hey there,
Saw your doco on TV in New Zealand. Incredible! Looks like I’m one of many Kiwis who are also shocked by it, moreso, horrified for what we’ve all been told by nutritionists.
My husband and I are going to give the new eating plan a go starting August 1st – weigh ins, measurements, doctors checks and all. August-us Gloop, no more!
Do you have any recommended sites/eating plans/recipes you could suggest for us all in New Zealand?
Thanks,
Andrea
My eating plan is no sugar, no starch, no processed vegetable oils. Olive oil is fine; it’s squeezed, not chemically extracted. If you give up bread, rice, sugar, potatoes and pasta, you’re already making big strides towards avoiding the insulin-spiking foods.
I don’t know which books you have available there, but I like the Protein Power books, by Drs. Mike and Mary Dan Eades. They have a new one coming out soon, at least in the U.S. market.
Atkins didn’t distinguish between fats — all fats were fine by him. If he’d lived longer, I’m sure he would’ve seen the light on the negative effects of corn oil, soybean oil, etc. He also approved of pretty much anything that was low-carb, which included soy products. Soy isn’t good for most people.
“Nourising Traditions” by Sally Fallon and the books by Nina Planck are also good starters.
Let me know how you feel after the change. Be aware that many people go through a foggy period when they give up the carbs … it’s withdrawal and it will pass.
Hi
Yet another kiwi (and quite proud to be one after reading the comments here). I saw most of the doco a few nights ago. Brilliant.
I have been aware for a while that carbs were my problem – it’s carbs I crave and binge on. It has been hard to control because I am on prednisome which messes with the satiety signals. So I’ve been meaning to do it, but your doco gave me the impetus. Have cut my carbs by probably 75% in the last few days, and so far am finding it surprisingly easy.
I may have missed this, but can you please give a list of the fruit and veges that you do and don’t recommend. I’m particularly interested to know about green beans, carrots, peas, pumpkin, tomatoes, stone fruit, bananas. What about legumes like chick peas and barley?
Thank you !
We’ve picked up so many intelligent Kiwi fans here, I really want to visit your country now. We’ll have a giant barbecue party somewhere.
A bit of fruit is good, but what the nutrition nannies often forget is that most humans only had access to fruit in season, usually in the autumn … and nature may have intended for the fruit sugar to fatten us up a bit before the winter. We certainly don’t want to fatten up for the winter year-round. So I aim for low-sugar fruits only: strawberries, blueberries, blackberries. Green beans are great, carrots are fine (just don’t juice them; you’ll end up drinking a glass of sugar).
Bananas are very high in sugar, so I avoid them totally. I eat pumpkin in limited quantities in the autumn. Tomatoes are a pretty good bargain; lots of taste, not many carbs. Legumes of any sort, including peas, can be trouble for some folks. They contain anti-nutrients that many of us can’t handle, which can lead to autoimmune diseases. More on that here.
Hi
Saw your movie the othernight on tv. Another kiwi. How much carbs is too much carbs? would a sandwhich each day at lunch be too much, even with meat in it? Or a potato with dinner having had no carbs earlier in the day? I also noticed on Fat Head that you said whole grain bread is high G.I. meaning its not that great for you. Does that mean all whole grain products should be avoided such as weet-bix?
Thanks
It depends on the individual. Some people can tolerate a lot of carbs without developing insulin problems, others (like me) need to keep the carb count pretty low. If you’re trying to lose weight, the fewer the carbs, the better. Most low-carb diets start with an induction phase where you limit it to 30 grams per day, then gradually increase until you notice the weight loss begins stalling.
Grains can be a real problem for some people, whether or not they’re trying to lose weight. They contain anti-nutrients that can leak from the gut into the bloodstream, which in turn can cause autoimmune problems. I hardly eat them anymore, as my Irish heritage pre-disposes me to have problems with wheat. (More info on grain intolerance here.)
I must’ve been the last New Zealander to see this doco!
I watched it with my Mum and we were both laughing… and gasping… the whole way through.
You put together a truly amazing investigation, and presented it in a believable way, which is no small feat considering the myths you put to rest, and the amount of research you had to sum up in such a (relatively) small time.
Thank you!
And big ups to all the people here who want to cut through the BS and improve their lives- Tom you’ve made it possible.
Cheers
Ant
Glad you enjoyed it, and I appreciate the compliments. During my research phase (which continued well into production), I kept annoying my wife with, “Honey, you’re not going to believe this!” and such. If I’d included everything I found interesting, it would’ve been a mini-series. Probably a good thing I had a time limit.
Hi there, yet another Kiwi. Definitely consider coming to NZ, we have a great interest in health and nutrition here! I have not seen your movie yet – will try to find out if the doco channel is screening this again – and am interested to after reading all the comments.
I have been studying a holistic form of nutrition (natural therapies college) for the past 3 years. I do agree with a lot of what you are saying and certainly find that many people who I see as clients are eating diets which do not follow low GI eating principles – leading to many health conditions. The main issue that people seem to come to see me for is fatigue, along with a desire for weight loss. There are also a lot of people with type 2 diabetes and far more women with PCOS (hormonal disturbances also related to insulin resistance) which is a great concern.
One thing I have learned is that there is no one diet for everyone, we are all so different and ancestral diets can be helpful (depending on where you are from as mentioned in an earlier post). I do subscribe to Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions approach, eating seasonally and eating food as close to nature as possible, as well as others like Udo Erasmus, Mary Enig, Elson M Haas and the like. I do think wholegrains have their place, as do legumes and beans. (Wholemeal bread is high GI, but I wouldn’t call wholegrain bread high GI as mentioned in the previous post). The anti-nutritive qualities that you speak about from legumes etc may be negated or minimised by proper cooking, or using acid (like lemon juice) etc as well as ensuring that your digestive system is producing enough HCl to break down these foods properly. Having said all that, they don’t suit everyone and most people eat FAR too many grains or starchy carbs. I am a happy meat eater and after trying all sorts of food / diet approcahes now, I consider myself a protein type who does very well on quality protein, good quality fat and low starchy carbs – which is what you appear to be saying. Fat does not make us fat and I am so sick of people thinking and saying that.
With regards to fats: extra virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil and butter are our cooking / eating choices. Sometimes macadamia oil and sunflower oil (cold pressed, organic) NOT canola, soybean or rice bran oil etc. The latter are processed oils with a uniform taste and texture. For all the people asking about fats, read Udo Erasmus’ information on fats and you will find out what you are eating. I had the opportunity to meet him and asked: what about people who eat maragrine for lowering cholesterol? He said, margarine will lower cholesterol, but what is the goal? Is the goal health? If so, then margarine is not the answer.
If you do have plans to come to NZ, please do let us know
I’m sure many people have adapted to grains. My ancestors came from Ireland, where the rate of celiac disease is quite high. I can do with a bit of wheat here and there, but not much. If I eat very much, say a big plate of pasta or a pizza, I start wheezing soon after and have arthritic pains within hours. I used to get a lot of arthritic pain, but didn’t make the connection for years. I could’ve saved my liver the insult of quite a few doses of ibuprofen.
Hope you see the film soon.
Hey there – whilst on sick leave this week, I caught your movie on TV. WOW!!!
A few years ago I suffered a string of injuries which lead to me becoming a complete couch potato. In order not to put on weight during my down time – I did the whole low fat, cut out meat, eat only salad kind of thing. Lo and behold 45kg increase in weight later and still doing the low fat thing – I watched your movie on TV. I’m definitely going to locate a copy of the movie to re-watch and will source your recommended books.
Mate – come to NZ – it’s a fantastic place – I do an AWESOME beer-can chicken on the BBQ. You’re welcome anytime.
Glad you enjoyed it. Let us know how you progress after kicking the carbs.
Hey there, another kiwi fan!
Firstly, I LOVED your documentary. And that’s saying something because I am quite the documentary fan especially if they’re to do with food. I never liked Super Size Me though… after sitting through half of it I wasn’t convinced that it was worth sitting through the rest and turned it off – not to mention I don’t particularly enjoy watching people throw up to get their point across – LAME.
I just wanted to ask (sorry if this is somewhere on your website, I’m not the best at finding things) – I remember in your documentary you mentioned a certain amount of carbs to have per day, what amount was that? And do the carbs in fruit and such (the non-bread kind) count?
Also I wonder (in a totally non-cynical, genuine way) if the Japanese eat so many carbs per day with all the rice and such, howcome they stay so small? Is it because their bodies are more adapted to it? That’s always made me wonder, because every time I eat sushi it seems to make me gain weight.
Believe or not, most asians eat fewer carbs per day than Americans, despite the rice. (Can’t speak for Kiwis on that one.) We load up on cereals, bread, potatoes, pasta, sodas and fruit, plus frankenfoods with corn syrup in them. Then we add protein and fat.
There is also some evidence that people who come from areas where grains have been considered food for a longer period have adapted better. Middle easterners, for example, are less likely to have an intolerace to wheat than northern Europeans.
As for how many carbs to consume per day, it depends on how much insulin you produce in response to carbs. I basically skip sugars and starches completely now. My wife eats more carbs than I do, but not as much as she used to. During the fast-food diet, I kept it around 100 grams per day. I’m probably closer to 50 now. You may want to go very low and then gradually increase again, just see how you feel.
I would be a lot more convinced of your opinions if there were more critical comments, instead of everyone showering you with praise. Also, do you have any problems with meat whatsoever? I haven’t read anything negative about cholesterol or meat-eating here, which shows bias instead of balance.
The blog draws fans of the film, so there’s some preaching-to-the-choir effect, naturally. Naysayers are welcome to comment too, and we don’t edit them out.
My only problem with meat is how it’s raised. Grass-fed meat (which is what nature intended) has a much healthier balance of Omega-3 fats than the corn-fed variety produced in feed lots.
I don’t have anything negative to say about cholesterol because the idea that cholesterol causes heart attacks is now and always has been a myth. And I say that as a former vegetarian who believed all that nonsense, until I started doing the research that led to this film. There were and still are cultures where people lived primarily on meat — the buffalo-hunting tribes, the Masai in Africa, etc. They had virtually no heart disease, which didn’t become a major cause of death until we started consuming sugar, white flour, and processed vegetable oils. When heart disease rates skyrocketed in the U.S., people were eating less animal fat, not more.
I’m not going to create some artificial “balance” by writing negative articles about meat and cholesterol that have no basis in science, any more than I would attempt to create balance by writing about the Dark Side of Eating Broccoli.
I eat mostly venison rather than beef. The venison is low in fat. I hunt in farmland, so the deer eat corn, soybeans, hay, etc as well as leaves and other forest vegetation. Should I use olive oil to increase the good fat in my venison meals, and what do you think of venison overall as a healthy meat?
I’d say an animal that’s been running around in the forest is a better choice than a feed-lot animal, even if it picks up some stray feed-lot food here and there. Olive oil is a good fat, but lard and tallow and butter are good fats, too. Whatever tastes good to you should be fine if it’s a natural fat.
I remember making venison after a friend of mine returned from a hunting trip. I had to add a lot of oil.
Hey there another Kiwi here – nah just kidding! I’m north of the border in Montreal, Canada.
I have a question in regards to how would it be possible to spread the word on the corruption and false information being fed to everyone (not only in North America but seemingly around the world)?
For example, if say in schools children are being taught that it is “essential” to eat from the 4 major food groups and necessary to eat lots of carbs (especially at breakfast) in order to have a healthy lifestyle and have energy throughout the day. I feel it would be very difficult, maybe even impossible, to get things to change seeing that the government has total control over what is being taught. Not trying to be politically correct or anything but even such topics as history are either lies or not told in full. It’s as if we’re being brainwashed at a young age to believe certain “facts” like how important it is to eat whole grain foods 35 times per day! My point is that I know that there are good people like yourself and other posters on here that try to spread the word however it’s almost impossible to change opinions of some people let alone the government who can actually have a major impact in educating.
It’s an uphill battle, definitely. I believe there’s a saying that scientific progress is often the result of funerals. The old guard may have to die off before the prevailing advice goes away.
Thanks so much for “Fathead”! Both my hubby and I are considered “obese” and have been most of our lives. Every attempt at dieting has failed, and we were both considering lap-band surgery so that we “would both be around for” our “children.” My family has been going the low-carb route for years, but I was never convinced that eating all that “fat” could be “healthy!” Thanks for breaking down the science behind it–makes total sense now!
Since seeing your film, we’ve adopted a low-carb lifestyle, cutting out nearly all refined sugars and flours (but not really worrying about carbs in fruits and veggies, with the exception of “starchy” veggies like potatoes.) We’ve been losing weight, which is great. However, we recently found out that we’re expecting our third child, and while I’m excited about losing weight, I want to make sure I’m “feeding my baby” too. How do you find the balance between eating low-carb and just maintaining weight instead of losing??
I can’t imagine a growing baby in the womb needs sugar or starch, since humans didn’t eat the stuff for most of our history. I’ve also read that high-carb diets in insulin-resistant mothers can produce insulin-resistant children. If you’re eating until you’re full and including plenty of real food, vegetables, good natural fats, I would think you’d be fine. Sally Fallon has written about raising healthy kids on real fats, so the Weston A. Price site probably has some good info.
This is where I have to say I’m not a doctor, consult with your doctor, blah-blah-blah …
thanks so much for fathaed!!! have yet to see it, but its great to see how many people are finally listening to the low-carb message
you mentioned a couple of times in the comments that irish and northen europeans aren’t that tollerant of carbs. is the same true for people of scotish/english or ukrani descent?
thanks again for fathead
:)
It appears that grains were first harvested in the Middle East, then the practice slowly moved north over thousands of years. So the more “northern” your ancestors, the more likely you won’t tolerate many carbs, especially grains.
There are always individual exceptions, of course.
I’d like to thank you Tom for the movie, your movie has been the biggest single influence on changing my eating habits full stop. I have also researched and lived very low carb since I first viewed it late March this year. Its been quite a journey of new discoveries and self education that has gotten some pretty decent results.
FACT: I spent from mid Feb 2009 until when I first saw your movie doing the low fat “healthy” calorie restricted diet combined with high intensity weight training. Total Time 6 weeks RESULT: 2kg lost for all that hard work and effort.
FACT: On March 30th 2009 I had a starting weight of around 105kg, first day of low carbing. Total Time 4.5 months RESULT 16kg lost (with no exercise other than my reasonably active job), 88.9kg weighed today.
I feel much better, I look much better and I now actually don’t mind going shopping for new clothes that now always fit me off the rack. I had held a steady weight at around 105kg for around 15 years!!!!!!
I have set myself a goal of 85kg by Christmas eve 2009 (probably hit that target earlier I think) and from there I will reassess how I look and feel as to what final weight I will decide on.
One of the biggest issues I have found here in New Zealand is getting access to some products/ingredients that are mentioned on websites that are usually US based. Also a lot of the low carb recipes can be quite complex bordering on gourmet, so I made my own and I am getting pretty good at it, and much to my wife’s pleasure I have now taken over doing most of the cooking for the family. I felt there was a need for a website that contains recipes that are simple, that use simple ingredients, are not expensive to make and most importantly taste fantastic.
ie:Icecream that anyone can make, and it should turn out to be pretty much the best you’ve ever eaten and low carb without the chemical crap!! Eggs, cream, flavoring and a sweetener…simple.
Chocolate Fudge, Chicken soup, Oopsie Roll (pizza Base), Pancakes (that are in the same ballpark) etc etc. I can now have some cheat meals once or twice a week and keep the cheats themselves low carb, fantastic!!
Once again thanks Tom.
PS: Up to you if you publish a link back to my website Tom
Congrats on the weight loss. Those are great results.
I’ll add your site to the Helpful Links section. People occasionally ask me for recipe ideas. Glad to see you’ve got the food pyramid right.
Good work on your film and good to see some new perpective to what it means to have a healthy diet. I like the idea of eating what our forefathers ate, as their location would have dictated what foods were available and the diet they evolved with. As a Scot I’m guessing that would have meant lots of meat, poultry and fish with seasonal vegatables.
I’m now living in NZ and have suffered at times, especially during the day, from low energy. I also do a lot of sport, endurance type stuff and have traditionally eaten a lot of carbs to provide the necessary energy I need to train and race.
What do you think people with high demands for energy should eat? All the current advice is for high energy type foods (pasta, potato and carbo powders and drinks). Or should I gnaw on a steak as I race around?
I’m not as active as you are, but I don’t get the energy drops since I eliminated sugar and starch. Our forefathers certainly needed energy for the lives they led, and they wouldn’t have had sugar or starch in their diets. You might find articles for athletes on MarksDailyApple.com. Mark Sisson was a champion athlete in his day and is still very active.
I have heard the low fat diet advice all my life but there was always something wrong about it, it wasn’t logical. Why would my body crave something that in high quantities that would cause it harm. The documentary was completely logical and I loved it, I have been explaining it to all my friends, some now follow it and some hate the idea. It is amazing how well entrenched this low fat high starch mentality is.
I am a high school student in new Zealand, and I was in chemistry being taught by the head of science at my school. He was explaining fat molecules and decided to ask the class what type is good for you, saturated animal or polyunsaturated vegetable. His answer was the later. When I challenged him on this point he told me I needed peer reviewed studies backing my point of view, my reply was to say he doesn’t have any studies that say cholesterol causes heart disease. So currently I’m trying to convince him of the falsities of the lipid hypothesis and natural human diet.
The annoying thing is that, while America (government) has a reason to be lying about this whole issue New Zealand doesn’t. New Zealand blindly followed American guidelines that where designed to promote the agricultural industry when the backbone of the New Zealand industry is based on sheep and dairy farming above anything else.
If you could send me any material that could help me create a powerful presentation on the issue that would be fantastic. Once I convince the head of science at my school the health ministry shouldn’t be so hard. And thank you so much for opening my eyes and others. Oh and now that my fat intake is up I don’t have a sweet tooth.
If we’ve got high school students challenging the Lipid Hypothesis, there’s hope for the future. I would’ve never challenged my high-school chemistry teacher.
There are some good links in the Recommended Reading links sidebar. If you really want to dazzle the teacher with some study analyses, I’d recommend The Cholesterol Myths and The Great Cholesterol Con, both written by doctors. These links might help too:
http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/riskfactors/a/Atkinsvind.htm
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,384362,00.html
http://www.controlcarb.com/ccn-news-nejm.july%2008.htm
I’m from America and I”m amazed at how vulnerable people are to believing what a totally unqualified, non-doctor has to say about nutrition. Remember that Sporlock’s docu was full of sound medical advice while this docu seems to be nothing more than a political slap at a perceived liberal. What a load of crap.
Ah yes, Spurlock’s highly-qualified doctor was so well educated, he blamed Spurlock’s fatty liver on eating fat — even though anyone who reads the medical literature knows that it’s sugars that cause fatty liver, especially fructose.
And Spurlock’s sound medical diet after his McDiet was so effective, he couldn’t manage to lose even one pound per week. And that’s weight he had just gained, which is the easiest to lose. Meanwhile, I lost more than three pounds per week following my “non-doctor” diet.
Except of course, my diet is supported by doctors, including those who appeared in my film. And not one of them was stupid enough to blame a fatty liver on eating fat.
But we agree on one thing: I’m also amazed at how vulnerable people are to believing what a totally unqualified non-doctor has to say about nutrition. Remind me again … where did Spurlock get his medical degree?
Hi Tom,
I am an Aussie and stumbled across your site via some Crossfit site. I have been veggo for over 20 years and always thought my lethargy was normal. I incorporated meat back in recently and have been less frugal with my fats. As a result, I have strength and energy I would not have dreamed possible. I have decreased my carbs somewhat as well, but I found I was getting shakey and horrid without carbs. I obviously need to detox, but not while I have a stack load of things going on. All this is leading me to say that there is something to be looked into further by those who advocate high carbs.
The one thing I found imperative in your site was your support for eating what is in season, locally. Bananas may be in season in far north Queensland, but they are not in southern Victoria. We only eat organic strawberries during the summer, and my word, they taste unbelievable! Eating them all the time blunts the taste buds, so that nature no longer tickles our interest; hence the need to introduce hyperflavourings.
I agree that autumn is the time to fatten up using fruit and veggies. I eat copious amounts during this time and find my desire for them lessens. That is when turnips and swedes come into play!
Good luck with it all. You may feel rest assured that there is a huge support base in Australia – particularly with figure competitors and body buiders – for a paleo style of eating. Your efforts are not in vain.
Regards,
Kate
Glad to hear you’ve re-discovered the joys of a more natural diet. The carb withdrawal can be nasty, but it’ll pass.
Hi Tom,
I haven’t seen your movie, but I already completely agree with your views (and I have added it to my Netflix queue to watch!). As an American woman with PCOS (and therefore high insulin production) I know all to well the importance of lower carb-higher fat diets. I don’t have diabetes fortunately but really want to avoid it in the future obviously. I’d say I have about 40-50 pounds to lose.
I am good at not eating sugar, but I will splurge every once in a while and eat cake and ice cream or something like that, but I don’t think that’s a problem. Do you ever splurge?
I suppose my issue is that I don’t think I can just cut out starchy carbs completely for the long-term. I’ve tried in the past to do low carb diets, and the results are the same: I cut out all bread, pasta, rice, etc and I do well for a while, like 6 months. But by then I become so miserable because I miss eating those things that I go right back to it, gain weight, and it becomes a vicous cycle. I know that some people say “well just get used to it” but that thought makes me unhappy.
Do you believe it’s possible to still lose weight and avoid Type 2 diabetes by just limiting the intake of bread, pasta, rice? I was thinking I could try limiting myself to only 1-2 servings of these per day. Bear in mind when I do eat rice/pasta I always chose whole wheat/whole grain options. What are your thoughts on low carb substitutes for pasta (Dreamfields brand is what I’m thinking of)? I have used these before and I like them.
Thank you for listening. As you know, in America there are so many different views on what people should do to lose weight, and I’m just trying to figure out where I can fit in without making myself too miserable.
Thanks again! I love your blog and will be reading it frequently from now on.
April
On my fast-food diet, I was able to lose weight while still consuming 100 or so grams of carbs per day. Since this was fast food, those carbs were mostly bread and potatoes. We all have a different tolerance for carbohydrates, and finding your level will probably be a matter of trial and error.
Some people also are able to skip sugar and starch all week, then indulge a little on the weekend. For others, the weekend splurges rekindle the carbohydrate addiction. They’re a bit like alcoholics who can’t drink, ever.
If the goal is to avoid type II diabetes, then yes, I believe you’re better off with whole grains than with the white-flour versions of the same foods. You might also find that substitutes help. We whip steamed cauliflower with butter, salt, and parmesan or feta cheese as a substitute for mashed potatoes, for example. My girls love the stuff.
I’ve eliminated sugar and starch almost entirely in the past year. My exceptions are an occasional evening when I enjoy some Guinness or another good beer, and a bowl of reduced-carb ice cream maybe once a week. Perhaps once every other month or so, I’ll go to a Mexican restaurant and enjoy the whole works … the chips, the tortillas, the rice, etc.
I find that as long I eat plenty of good quality fat, including saturated fat, my body is happy and I don’t crave the sugars and starches. If you find that the carb cravings are really getting in the way, I’ve heard that L-tryptophan helps. (I’ve never tried it myself.)
Best of luck on the diet, and let us know how you progress.
April,
L-tryptophan does help, and that is found in turkey. Another worthwhile investment is chromium supplements. It helps with blood sugar balance and carb cravings. When the body is deficient, the cravings, obviously, come back in full force. This mineral is found in wholegrains, but if the soil it is grown in is deficient, then the grain most certainly will be. That is why, when you eat some wholegrains, the desire for carbs returns with such gusto. Give both a try – L-tryptophan in turkey form, and chromium in a decent supplement form (decent, meaning with added b complex and magnesium). It may take a month for the chromium to kick in, but give it two months and see how you feel.
Hope that helps with the carb cravings,
Kate
I thought eating grains was what we’re supposed not to be doing or at least cutting back on?
Admittedly I’m no expert but as a thought but wouldnt it be better if Chromium was taken from another natural source? It sounds like April already is using whole grains. From what I’ve read 1/2 cup of Brocolli contains 11mcg of Chromium.
Males – Daily Recommended Chromium Intake:
Males age 19-50 require 35 mcg of chromium per day.
Males over 50 require 30 mcg of chromium per day.
Females – Daily Recommended Chromium Intake:
Females age 19-50 require 25 mcg of chromium per day.
Females over 50 require 20 mcg of chromium per day.
Steve
Grains may have a few nutrients we can use, but I don’t think they’re a good nutrition bargain for most of us. The lectins are a real problem for some people.
That is what I was getting at SteveC. Without the grains, in which L-Trypt is found, we do have to find alternate sources. With regards to chromium, to help someone find momentum and to stop the mood swings, a pill taken for a short time is ONE way to address the problem. Some people find they need to feel okay with something before they progress to another level of self help; if a pill helps to get them to base one, why not? I agree natural all the way, but not everyone responds best this way.
My hubbie and I just watched your film last night…fantastic! We bought our own copy as there was a long wait via Netflix. Everyone on my Christmas list is getting a copy this year! Your film touched briefly on your wife’s diet (i.e., has always been slim) but what exactly does she eat? Has her diet changed since your film?
I guess Netflix is doing us a favor with those long waits. And of course, I’m delighted to know we’ll be in some Christmas stockings this year.
My wife changed her diet quite a bit after I researched the film. She inherited her father’s body type — he’s naturally lean and athletic and can eat pretty much anything without gaining weight. However, he ended up with type II diabetes from his high-carb diet. She doesn’t want to follow in those footsteps.
She’ll eat a bit of bread or a potato now and then, but she’s given up sugar pretty much entirely. And she’s noticed that if she does indulge in sugar now, she doesn’t feel good afterwards, which makes it easier to avoid.
There has been studies for saturated fat now by Havard University and it’s being published in Men’s Health magazines and they are doing is proving you right!
I’ll check it out. Thanks for the heads up.
Hi, another member of the New Zealand horde here. I almost feel like i’m part of a large country!
I saw Fathead a few months ago and stumbled upon this site while doing a reseach for a high school assignment. I don’t really have a weight problem but am trying to follow the low-carb approach as best I can, it isnt easy to do so because I dont shop for my family or cook (maybe I should start). Im happy to have found this documentary, I love it when things actually make sense. Unfortunately most of my classmates I try to convince have very short attention spans, and don’t respond well to what they consider “big words”. It’s also difficult conflicting something that has been repeatedly imprinted into just about everyones mind since most of us were young. Also, it seems to me that despite all the diet choices we can make, metabolism looks like the dominant factor, or at least for the majority of people in my generation.
We welcome all kiwis. You are correct that metabolism has a lot to do with it. I knew skinny guys in high school who lived on french fries and ice cream.
But over time, diet can affect metabolism dramatically. Once your diet induces insullin resistance, you will go into fat-storage mode. I ran into a guy at a high-school reunion who was lean and muscular in high school — he even had the “cut” look back then. But 20 years later, he was a blimp. His diet finally changed his metabolism.