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.
Entries (RSS)
I enjoyed the film. It made me look up more information and Ive started making changes to my diet.
I was looking up medicinal uses for low carb diets and sidetracked to the ADA website to read a bit about diabetes. Under their diabetes myth section they state that healthy diets for diabetics are low fat meals based on whole grain foods, vegetables, and fruits. I then read elsewhere that the ADA acknowledged that low carb diets can help diabetics but that they dont want to change their dietary guidelines. Intesting stuff.
On another note, I find the psychology of all this interesting. It seems that years of embedding in our heads that fat kills has caused, if not fear of consuming fatty foods, at least the thought that it is dangerous. I guess fear is still the most effective tool for controlling the masses.
Thanks for the film and the spread of information it has caused.
I LIKE THIS LOWCARB
We were required to watch Super Size Me in my high school health class. Even then I thought some of Spurlock’s claims were sketchy and I thought it was interesting that the teacher couldn’t produce solid proof of his ideas.
I’m so glad I had the chance to watch your documentary. Not only did I learn how to keep my body healthy the REAL way, but I also learned I can do it by making my taste buds happy.
Whenever the subject of health standards comes up, I bring up your movie and your theories. I hope I’m making a difference in their lives the way you did in mine!
I hope so too.
I’ve watched Fathead several times now and the proof is pretty clear – in two weeks I’ve dropped 13 pounds and this is for a guy who was already deemed quite fit and toned. What carbs I take in are from primarily vegetables and fruit. I had done Atkins before, but I had also gone low fat, which was my downfall. Adding the sat’d fats in have helped keep the appetite in check.
I have been urging people around my office to watch your documentary and finding that many people have already been reducing starches and high fructose corn syrup ( oops sorry “corn sugar”) in a bid to drop weight. The high fat aspect was/is missing.
I have a friend that has worked in the food industry for a long time and he had some eye opening info about corn syrup. My wife and I made a decision about ten years ago that our kids would only drink pure fruit juice (in limited amounts) and pop is akin to cake ( ie very seldom).
I’m curious to know if you came across any information on a link between high carb/high glycmic index foods and anemia.
Also what is your stake on Stevia?
I haven’t seen anything on anemia, but I wasn’t looking. I believe a little stevia is fine. It’s a natural product.
Where did you get the stat that half of Asian Indians are vegetarians? Estimates I’ve seen range from 20 to 42 per cent. Ghee (which is of course pure animal fat) is a staple of Indian vegetarian diets.
Can you also ref the claim that when men limit their saturated fat, their testosterone level drops? There doesn’t seem to be much difference according to this study:
“Sex hormones and IGF-1 levels by diet group in men
Allen NE, Appleby PN, Davey GK, Key TJ. Hormones and diet: low insulin-like growth factor-I but normal bioavailable androgens in vegan men. Br J Cancer. 2000; 83(1):95-97.
Mean serum insulin-like growth factor-I was 9% lower in 233 vegan men than in 226 meat-eaters and 237 vegetarians (P = 0.002). Vegans had higher testosterone levels than vegetarians and meat-eaters, but this was offset by higher sex hormone binding globulin, and there were no differences between diet groups in free testosterone, androstanediol glucuronide or luteinizing hormone.”
You can eat ghee and still be a vegetarian, but not a vegan. I looked up figures just now for Indian vegetarianism and found what you found, along with a statement the incidence of vegetarianism is dropping, since apparently it was partly an economic choice for many.
http://jap.physiology.org/content/82/1/49.full
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1435181?dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3360302?dopt=Abstract
I have watched the movie several times and get something new from it each time. You have helped motivate me to get back on the band wagon and I regret having played a different tune on another wagon for way too long!
Barry
Thank you.
By common definition, a vegetarian (i.e. a lacto-ovo) can eat animal products such as dairy and eggs. As such, this type of vegetarian has access to the best animal proteins available (better than meat, at least according to PDCAAS). These foods are also good sources of testosterone-producing cholesterol and saturated fat.
Your linked studies conflict with the one I posted (so what else is new?), but with 696 participants in the Allen NE, Appleby PN, Davey GK, Key TJ study I posted, you would think they would be on fairly solid ground with their conclusions.
Better than meat? In what way? I consider meat a better food choice than dairy.
The study you linked was an observational study, and I don’t make much of those because it’s difficult to control the variables. Vegans, as just one example of a possible confounding variable, are less likely to eat sugar than the population at large, and sugar apparently depresses testosterone levels:
http://www.physorg.com/news164164943.html
Two of the studies I posted in response were clinical studies in which the diets were controlled. Controlled studies are the kind that matter. Observational studies are useful for forming a hypothesis to test in a controlled study, but it’s a mistake to treat them as proof … they’re not. According to Dr. John Ionnidis, an MD and math genius who has spent years studying studies, 80% of the conclusions drawn from observational studies have turned out to be wrong — again, because of confounding variables the researchers didn’t spot and didn’t account for.
Nice, nice, nice! Exactly the point: “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.” Really nice post and I thank you for share! Hope is OK to repost it on my blog too.
Btw, the film was awesome!
Thank you.
Yes, but the bottom line conclusion was that the vegans had as much free testosterone as the omnivores. How do you know vegans are less likely to eat sugar than the population at large? As your study pointed out, food itself causes blood glucose levels to rise.
Milk is superior to meat in its protein bio-availabilty.
Milk causes problems for a lot of people. Some have the genetic adaptation to digest it, some don’t. Milk also appears to raise insulin levels beyond what the carb count would predict, which isn’t surprising — it was, after all, intended to make young bovines grow and put on weight.
The bottom line conclusion doesn’t in any way contradict the fact that saturated fat raises testosterone, as clinical studies have demonstrated. You’re treating the vegans vs. omnivores issue as if the only difference in their diets is the amount of saturated fat they consume, and therefore if vegans have equal levels of testosterone, that must prove saturated fat has no effect.
Not so. Most omnivores these days are consuming a lousy diet with high levels of sugar and white flour. Compared to the population as a whole, vegans and vegetarians are more health-conscious and avoid a lot of the junk in the standard American diet along with the meat. So vegans may take in less of a nutrient that raises testosterone (saturated fat) while also taking in less of other nutrients that lower testosterone, such as sugar. We can’t possibly isolate all the variables in an observational study like the one you linked.
The only way we could make a real conclusion is if we conducted a study in which we controlled all the variables except for saturated fat consumption. The study you linked doesn’t come anywhere close to that level of precision, therefore it doesn’t prove anything about the effects of saturated fat on testosterone.
“The bottom line conclusion doesn’t in any way contradict the fact that saturated fat raises testosterone, as clinical studies have demonstrated. You’re treating the vegans vs. omnivores issue as if the only difference in their diets is the amount of saturated fat they consume, and therefore if vegans have equal levels of testosterone, that must prove saturated fat has no effect.”
Actually a vegan diet could involve the ingestion of substantial saturated fat, since it is found in both animal and plant foods. I did not make the conclusion that you imply in your second sentence. All I stated was that the vegans in my quoted study (which involved a significantly large cohort) were found to have as much freely circulating testosterone as the omnivore subjects—I didn’t conjecture why.
My point about vegetarians is that none need suffer low testosterone, since goodly amounts of saturated fat (as you indicate, necessary for testosterone production) are found in dairy and egg products. As well, both milk and eggs have superior protein bio-availabilty as compared to meat. So, meat consumption is not necessary to preserve one’s testosterone levels.
As far as I know, lactose intolerance is not an issue with milk derivatives such as butter and cheese. Being a high-quality protein, milk also increases glucagon levels, which negate the effects of raised insulin.
I took it from your first comment that you were offering up an observational study as proof that saturated fats don’t raise testosterone. No, meat isn’t required to preserve testosterone levels, although meat with good saturated fats would clearly help to keep them high.
I watched your documentary for the first time a few days ago. It was very informative and made me laugh in some parts as well. I was shocked to hear that there are no scientific studies whatsoever that prove the link between saturated fat consumption and heart disease. It’s funny how certain notions become culturally embedded in our brains. I considered myself a well-read person, especially in topics regarding health. But I had figured since most government funded health programs prescribed the low-fat lifestyle, that it was a well-founded conclusion based on hard evidence. Not so.
I remember reading a health magazine article and the reader was asking “I really like butter and hate margarine, can I please use butter in my diet?”, and the answer was something along the lines of, “Yes, but to limit saturated fat stick to 1/2 tsp per day”. This is madness.
I used to really stress over calories and fat grams. I found myself depressed and lacking energy to do anything – especially exercise. I was burned out within a couple weeks, and I only lost a couple pounds considering how starving I was and how hard I felt I had worked. Thinking back on this – my poor brain was probably starving.
I have a new diet in the last three weeks, not stressing over grams of fat, eating lots of the natural foods that contain fat (like eggs, meat, coconut oil, nuts) while limiting carbs, eating lots of green vegetables and eliminating wheat and refined vegetable oils. So far I’ve dropped 10lbs. I’m never starving and I have tonnes of energy. It’s effortless and I feel amazing.
This works. And it’s healthy. Period. I just would like to thank you very much for bringing this information into the public realm.
Thank you for watching. That’s what makes this all worth it.
My blood pressure just jump to borderline Stage-2, within a period of six month, and my doctor wants me to follow this DASH diet. Do you have any say on this diet, and can you point me to a better diet or good reading about blood pressure? Thanks
The DASH diet hasn’t worked well in studies for most people. High blood pressure can be caused by an excess of carbohydrates. Try going low-carb, and cut the sugars completely.
I just watched your movie and it makes perfect sense. About two years ago I cut out most carbs and ate lots of pretein and veggies. I have never had so much energy in my life! I noted though, as soon as I started eating sugary foods and foods full of carbs, I became very tired, felt very sick, and just dragged for the entire day.
Low carbs and a great mix of protein and veggies are the way to go. I did want to ask a question. Do you think a protein shake like whey powder is a good choice if someone cannot get a lot of protein in each day? Someone asked me this and I have no clue.
Thank you for making this movie! It is a great eye opener!
I drink protein shakes after lifting weights. Most of the time I’d prefer to see people get their protein from meals, but I believe a whey protein shake is still a better option than most of the carb-filled junk out there.
Tom, elite East African long distance runners, who average 75 miles running at varying speeds per week, are all slim, even though their average daily diet is 3,133 calories: 607 grams of carbohydrates, 75 grams of protein and 45 grams of fat.
Do you agree that the East African long distance runners high volume training, either running or any other exercise that burns an equivalent number of calories, would help the average person mitigate or banish the harmful effects of carbohydrates?
References
1. “Kenya’s Running Tribe,” The Sports Historian, Vol. 17 (2), pp. 14-27, 1997
2. “Food and Macronutrient Intake of Elite Kenyan Distance Runners,” International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, Vol. 14, pp. 709-719, 2004
3. “Food and Macronutrient Intake of Male Adolescent Kalenjin Runners in Kenya,” British Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 88 (6), pp. 711-717, 2002
4. “Nutrition and Body Build: A Kenyan Review,” World Rev Nutr Diet, Vol. 72, pp. 218-226, 1993
Sure, people who log that many miles burn off the glucose.
Thank you so much! I saw your movie on Netflix here in Canada, and we’ve been changing the way we’re eating. I was shocked to learn that all these health guidelines are based on nothing! We’ve been eating more fat, less grains and sugar, and I am definitely hungry much less (which help since I am still nursing my baby). I’m even finding LCHF desserts from translated Swedish sites! My family has a history of heart disease and high blood pressure (history of it…probably only a couple generations of margarine and vegetable oil eating family) and now that I know the right way to eat, I feel confident knowing I am not heading down that path. I’m spreading the word up here! Thank you!!!
Thank you for watching.
All I have to say is, I tell people all about this film. I’m a freshman in college, and we all know about the freshman 15. Well I put on some pounds over the summer and wanted to try to lose or just keep where I am. I was doing all the wrong things like eaing loads of carbs. Then I saw your movie. I cut out unnessesary carbs and pop the best I could, chese burger comes with a bun and I don’t want to waste, and pizza is typically my only other option, and pop is just tasty. Well now I drink water at every meal except breakfast where I have black, unsweetened tea. When my parents saw me 3 weeks ago, they said I looked like I lt weight. Thank-you for your knowledge. When my meal isn’t complemented by bread, ie the rare occasion when I don’t eat pizza or burgers, no bread. And now I can eat that half plate of baccon witno guilt.
I started a low carb diet three months ago and already lost 20 lb.
Everybody at work tells me I’ll die of a heart attack but I don’t believe it.
I’m scheduled for a blood test next week.
What are the ideal lipid profiles I should be shooting for?
Thanks!
You want high HDL (preferably above 50) and low triglycerides (below 150 is okay; below 100 is better). Check the ratio of triglycerides/HDL. That should be under 2.0.
ARE YOU F***ing kidding me!? Pizza is now classified as a vegetable.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/pizza-vegetable-school-lunches-lobbyists_n_1098029.html
Holy F***ing HELL…. Where the F bomb do these idiots come up with this STEAMY HOT SH**….
-Thank you for Reading
A few years ago I went on a modified paleo diet, but not to loose weight so much as to see if my health improved. I don’t eat breakfast as I’m never really hungry in the morning, but at around 10AM I’d drink a couple of cans of V8 juice. Lunch was always my big meal of the day and typically consisted of a main course of broccoli and other raw veggies drizzled in ranch dressing, a side of fried chicken win pieces, meatloaf in gravy, broiled salmon in butter sauce, or similar animal-fat dish, plus another side of a different meat or fish or another veggie (terriyaki baby bok choy, for instance.) Dinner typically consisted of a couple of steaks or half a roast chicken. Like I said, I wasn’t monitoring my weight, but I felt great! I was actually charged with energy after eating rather than feeling sleepy as I did when I ate a sandwich and chips, or a big plate of pasta.
Now I live in the Philippines, and it’s kind of hard not to eat rice, this being Asia. The typical meal here consists of steamed rice with a small amount of “viands” to add flavor to the otherwise horribly bland rice. When I arrived in spring of 2009 I weighed 219 pounds (down from the 235 I’d maintained for years of eating grains and pasta, so the paleo diet probably did let me lose weight: if nothing else, the increased energy level made me want to exercise rather than just sit around.) In my first year in the Phils I went down to 180 pounds and have maintained that weight ever since, eating lots of rice (probably 1 1/2 cups per meal) and veggies with just a little meat, or rice with fried chicken and gravy, or rice and meat and fried (in palm oil) eggs and an occasional burger/fries meal now and then. How do you account for my weight loss when eating that many carbs? Could it be related to the hot climate?
I doubt it’s the climate. In Chris Gardener’s study at Stanford, he found that people who aren’t insulin-resistant lose weight on almost any restrictive diet, whereas people who are insulin-resistant lose weight much more easily on low-carb diets. So my guess is that 1) you’re not insulin-resistant, and 2) you’re eating less than before. You have have also lost some muscle mass if your current diet is low in protein.
Hey Tom,
I’ve been reading a little and I came across claims that say that coconut oil might be risky for high-temperature cooking because of it’s low smoke point.
What’s your opinion of that matter?
We fry foods in coconut oil, but you can cause almost any oil to smoke if you crank up the heat too high. From what I see online, the smoke point for coconut oil is 350 degrees. Lard is listed at 361-400, and of course people fried foods in lard for generations.
I watched your movie on netflix a while ago and am about to watch it again. I’ve been going through all my past diet journals and noticed a trend. Low carb high meat equals weightloss energy, high carb low meat or vegetarian equals sluggish feeling, candida (something zoe harcombe explains in her book) she basically writes about everything you tell about but to the uk audience. Honestly i started watching your documentary and wasn’t interested, then you said iowa (i’m from iowa). Hahaha i stayed and was pleasantly suprised. I lost 6 lbs in one week when i cut out carbs except for a serving of brown rice and i gained it all back in two days once i went back to eating refined carbs and sugar again. Keep up the good work. I’m thinking of buying this movie for my dad for xmas
We happily fill Christmas orders. Six pounds in one week is a great start.
Well, I may have been accidentally misleading in my estimation of how much meat we eat. I forgot about lunches, which are typically canned goods (meats or fatty fish: examples are carne norte, a chopped corned beef with lots of juicy fat; lechon paksiw, fatty pork pieces cooked in a sweet sauce; tuna flakes in oil; sardines in tomato and chili sauce; beef loaf; and Vienna sausages.) I often fry an egg or two along with my canned fatty meat. But I do eat a lot of rice, so maybe you’re right and I’m not insulin-resistant.
I just made cabbage Cebuano-style and although I didn’t weigh or measure the amount of pork I added, I estimate that it’s probably two average-sized pork chops worth. This, along with a large head of cabbage, a small onion, a head of garlic, some soy sauce, palm oil, water, pork Knorr cubes and pepper, and around 3 cups of steamed rice, will be dinner for two (unless my wife already grabbed a bite somewhere and didn’t tell me.)
As an aside, pork here is typically sold with the fat untrimmed and the skin still on. And I’ve noticed that the only fat Filipino kids I see are rich kids, who probably eat more Western food than regular kids here do.
I know that anecdotal evidence is no evidence, but I’ve heard a lot of other foreigners (Americans, Canadians, western Europeans and Aussies) say that they lose weight when they come here to live, and gain it back if they go home again. There must be *something* in the diet causing that.
My family has seen this film a thousand times. My mom and my brother started doing a no-carb, high fat diet about six months ago. My brother is bipolar 2, and since he started this diet he has been off meds and happier and healthier than I have ever seen him. So far my mom has lost 66 pounds. My dad started doing this diet as well. He loves it and he is happy. I am the only one in my immediate family who does not follow this lifestyle. It isn’t that I don’t believe this diet is good for you (I’m surrounded by proof that it’s amazing for you) I just can’t seem to kick the sugar and the carbs. It is so hard. I want to join my family in their healthy living, but I can’t seem to stop eating the carbs. I was recently diagnosed with ADD and I have been taking medication to treat it for about 4 months now. The medication works but I get angry and upset too often for it to go unnoticed. Do you have any suggestions that could help me lose my addiction to, what my brother calls, poison?
Yes, I’d suggest picking up a copy of “The Mood Cure” by Julia Ross.
http://www.amazon.com/Mood-Cure-Rebalance-Rediscover-Well-Being/dp/0670030694
I just watched your movie and i wanna change my diet. But it’s hard to find low-carb thing i can eat. Could anyone help me change my ways?
I’d suggest picking up a good low-carb cookbook. Go to Amazon and search for Dana Carpender.
Hi, I saw your film today and I must say I’m extremely grateful. For all of my adult life I’ve held the current ideas of what makes you healthy suspect. Now I have a good basis in the data to show. I genuinely learned something from your documentary, not something I often say of health programs.
The inlaws recently switched to vegetarianism based purely off the ideas started with the lipid hypothesis. They’ve also taken to being rather judgmental about dietary choices. Should it come up again I’ll be glad for the factual data for my response.
I sense a family food fight coming.
QUOTE:
Mike says:
October 23, 2011 at 8:38 am
Yes, but the bottom line conclusion was that the vegans had as much free testosterone as the omnivores.
Mike says:
October 23, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Actually a vegan diet could involve the ingestion of substantial saturated fat, since it is found in both animal and plant foods…vegans in my quoted study (which involved a significantly large cohort) were found to have as much freely circulating testosterone as the omnivore subjects…
My point about vegetarians is that none need suffer low testosterone, since goodly amounts of saturated fat (as you indicate, necessary for testosterone production) are found in dairy and egg products. As well, both milk and eggs have superior protein bio-availabilty as compared to meat.
END QUOTE
No one noticed the switch from VEGAN to VEGETARIAN as soon as the logic of the argument was challenged with due diligence to reason and the scientific method? Not a very good tactic to answer a challenge to a logical fallacy with another logical fallacy; specifically, moving from Affirming the Consequent to Definist Fallacy.
I’ve been eating low carb for eight years now, against my doctor’s advice, and lost several things besides 80 pounds — things like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, reflux and depression.
I love to watch Super Size Me followed by Fathead. Morgan Spurlock does make an excellent point about the horrible school lunches. Unfortunately for him, the point he makes — that *parents* need to take responsibility for what their children eat — isn’t the one I think he intended. Children need to learn how to eat healthily not from what they’re told by the school or by Ronald McDonald, but by their parents and BY EXAMPLE and by learning to prepare food themselves from real ingredients. Spurlock showed students eating nothing but soda and fries or soda and chips for lunch, then blamed the school. Where are the parents in this equation? Good grief!
We need to be willing to take responsibility for ourselves and our children. If we let our children eat crap, that’s on us as parents. If we simply swallow (literally or figuratively) what anyone tells us and can’t be bothered to look up information on our own, don’t whine later, “I was misled!” Nobody forced me at gunpoint to eat crap and get fat and sick. I spent four decades doing it all on my own — then got even sicker on a doctor-mandated low-fat diet. Then I came to my senses and did some research *myself* and took charge of my own life and my own wellness.
Thank you, Mr. Naughton, for a *thinking person’s* perspective!
Primal Blue Print Cookbook is great
http://www.healthylivinghowto.com is a great website. Gluten Free, sugar free, etc…
I live this life style and my Total HDL is 99, triglycerides are 52, and Blood Glucose is 80, highest my Dr. has ever seen in a male and she said it has nothing to do with me eating fat. I do this for a living and I make my clients do it too. I am successful as well. I also have them take blood/saliva hormone tests. There is HDL, HDL-2, HDL-3, LDL 1, LDL 2, LDL 3, and LDL 4 and a density patterns A and B. There is also IDL as well and a few others. We had a 39 year old woman with LDL of 99 and total cholesterol of 163, but had high triglycerides and low HDL. She was a B pattern and when we then looked at CRP (which isn’t tested a lot) but is a great indicator of heart disease. Hers was 11.44!!! Normal is 0-3.0, but optimal is 1.0 or below. Then we looked and she had low Vitamin D, HIGH insulin resistance, and a blood glucose of 105. She had high MEBs which shows gut inflammation. The high carb/grain diet does that! Our stomachs don’t like it because it is unnatural.
An unhealthy Gut is also linked to depression/anxiety because of the neurotransmitters it triggers. You can google a lot of this as well.
http://www.chriskresser.com is a great website for this style of eating too with a ton of great articles.
What do you think?
http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/buzz-y-noodle-japan-boasts-zero-carbs-zero-231600298.html
I’ve had them and they’re not bad, but I don’t miss pasta anymore, so I’m not looking for substitutes.
Mr. Naughton, I’d like to thank you for making this movie and opening my eyes to the world of high fat/low-carb dieting. As a swimmer in high school, I was very accustomed to “carb loading” before a big meet, and even throughout college spaghetti was one of my main sources of energy. I ballooned in college (gaining 40 pounds my freshman year) and when I was finally diagnosed with a hiatal hernia and hypertension at age 22, I weighed over 220 pounds, had a BP of 161/98, had no energy, was depressed, and felt terrible. After seeing your movie, I dropped the carbs, learned how to cook, and began making my own meals with lots of meat and vegetables. The cooking was very therapeutic, and, once combined with regular exercise, began to drastically affect my health in positive ways.
Now, two months before my 23rd birthday, I have lost over fifty pounds, have a BP of 115/75, a resting heart of 55, am no longer depressed, am not troubled by my hernia, have boundless energy, and in general, feel very much better. I even had the pleasure of meeting your friend Dana Carpender when she came to the grocery store where I work, and we had a lovely chat about your film. She even invited me to register for the Lo Carb Cruise, which for financial reasons I was not able to do.
I have since read The Great Cholesterol Con by Malcolm Kendrick, and I’m in the process of studying more and reaching out to others to let them know the truth about the foods we eat…including my dad, a diabetic who is also taking statins regularly.
Thank you again, for everything, and I hope one day to give back to the community of meat eaters that changed my life.
Dana posted about meeting you. Congratulations on the return to real food and real health.
I am on cholesterol medicine. I am going to undertake a low carb/sugar diet.
In your opinion will the cholesterol meds hamper my weight loss efforts?
I’m not aware of them inhibiting weight loss, but I hope you’ll get a copy of Dr. Malcolm Kendrick’s book “The Great Cholesterol Con” and decide if you still want to take the drugs.
I watched the documentary a few months ago, and it was litterally life changing. A couple other questions have popped up in my head over the previous months that I was hoping you could address:
1) If bread were to be part of a daily diet, which would you recommend? Sourdough because of its lack of impact on blood sugar spikes, or some other kind?
I avoid bread, but if you must eat some, I’d suggest looking for a sprouted-grain variety. The lectins are somewhat neutralized in sprouted grains.
2) Is the science behind the documentary claiming that the Saturated Fat/Cholesterol relationship to Heart Disease is actually completely wrong and will always be regardless of presented evidence…or just that it is unproven (in other words leaving open the possiblity that there is some truth to it, if more evidence was obtained)
The Lipid Hypothesis is just plain false. Researchers have tried over and over to prove it in clinical trials without success. In scientific terms, we’d say the hypothesis has been falsified.
3) If Mayonaise were to be part of a diet, is there a kind that is “less bad” for you than another, or are they all not ideal?
Try to find one that uses olive oil instead of soybean oil if you can. Best bet is to make your own.
4) I have hereditary high cholesterol and it has ranged as high as 265 Total (I forgot my HDL, LDL, and Triglicerides). Since you documentary, I have given in to my urges to eat eggs and bacon. I am honestly eating on average 12 eggs a day (6 AM and 6PM) and my cholesterol has dropped to 215. I chuckled a little when my doctor tried to tell me that 215 was putting me at “elevated” risk of a cardiovascular event. So I guess this last one was not really a question, just more of a compliment to the amazing work that you have completed.
Enjoy those eggs. They’re not hurting you any.
Thanks Tom!
Also, if you look up the lipid theory on wikipedia, there are some studies there cited regarding the relationship between Fat-Cholesterol and Heart Disease. Could you take a look at that article on Wikipedia and let me know your opinion please.
The studies cited in support of the Lipid Hypothesis are cherry-picked observational studies. Researchers can find a link between fat intake and heart disease in some populations, but not others. If fat intake caused heart disease, we’d see that link consistently, but we don’t. The French and Swiss, for example, have the highest intake of saturated fat in Europe, but also the first and second lowest rates of heart disease. Russians have a much lower intake of fat, but very high rates of heart disease.
Controlled trials (the kind that matter) have failed over and over to support the Lipid Hypothesis.
Loved the movie! Just watched it two nights in a row this week. I was recently diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. FBG was 300+, tryglycerides 500+, A1c 12.6, yada yada yada. Doctor put me on Lantus, Metformin, something-statin, HBP meds for kidney protection, and daily aspirin. I’m 34; scared the crap out of me. Granted I use to run 40-45 miles a week and now have a desk job, but dang. It’s been about 6 weeks since diagnosis and I’m doing much better, but I want to get off these meds. Is there any data out there that would show changing to this type of diet will have an adverse affects with my meds? I’m hoping to be off a couple after my next blood work in February. Thanks for the movie. I’m loving my eggs in the morning which keep me full until lunch unlike the cereal breakfast before. Thanks again and keep up the good fight.
You should work with a doctor (preferably one who approves of the diet) as you wean yourself from the medications. If the diet drops your blood sugar to normal levels and you’re still taking the medications, you could end up with very low blood sugar.
What happened to the question that I posted yesterday?
Sorry for the delay. We were busy arranging things in the new house and I didn’t check comments for a couple of days.
thank you for making this film. for years I’ve been going to doctors trying to figure out why I have 0 energy and a little bit of depression.
no one could tell me why. I got every excuse known to science. from you need more sleep(all I do is sleep), more exercise(my job is physical work plus I walk my dog every day for 2 miles), eat less fat, yada yada yada
nothing worked. I only became more and more tired. to the point some days I felt like a zombie.
something was seriously wrong.
after seeing your movie I decided to give a low carb diet a try. I’ve only been doing it for a little over a week and already my mood is elevated along witenergygergy levels. in fact I cleaned up the basement and garage the other night. something I’ve put off for 3 years. I’ve been that depressed and tired. strange a 35 year old man has to sleep 9 hrs and takes a 2 hr nap and still feels tired. it’s not normal.
but doctors just kept telling me to get more sleep and welcome to getting old. I don’t think anyone listens to people at all anymore. as long as you are doing what the “gov” tells you to eat, you should be healthy and feel great. what a bunch of bologna. lol
there is def something to this carb stuff. I’ve been telling everyone I know to see this movie.
I can’t thank you enough mr. Naughton. your movie might just go down in the history books for saving the people from the government’s killer food pyramid and saving peoples lives.
Reading about your improvement is a late Christmas present. Thanks.
Can you please provide citation information for the “No Bologna Facts” section. I’d like to investigate the basis for some of these claims. Thanks!
Most of those were from books:
The Great Cholesterol Con, by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick
The Cholesterol Myths, by Dr. Uffe Ravnskov
Good Calories, Bad Calories, by Gary Taubes
Fat Politics, by Prof. Eric Oliver
Can you please provide links a few of the controlled trials (the kind that matter) that have failed over and over to support the Lipid Hypothesis.
I’d love to shove them in the face of my doctor.
Some links, and posts that include links:
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/07/diet-heart-hypothesis-stuck-at-starting.html
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/07/diet-heart-hypothesis-little.html
http://wilstar.com/lowcarb/research/
http://www.ajcn.org/content/91/3/535.abstract
http://www.metabolismjournal.com/article/S0026-0495%2809%2900250-9/abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10837285
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15164336
http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8636&catid=1&Itemid=17
http://healthydietsandscience.blogspot.com/2010/10/saturated-fat-lowers-risk-of-heart.html?spref=tw
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/10/saturated-fat-and-health-brief.html
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-carbs-20101220,0,5464425.story
Hey!
Looks like your following continues to increase! Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you had a beer? So hard to give up!
I had some Guinness on New Year’s Eve.
After reading lots of your posts, I looked into the lectin issue a little. Wow…it seems to be yet another huge reason to avoid carbs!
One question I did have, is a lot of the websites I looked at stated that Milk and Eggs in particular are high in lectins?? Is there a difference between dairy lectins and grain lectins?
Thanks so much!
Here’s a good rundown on the topic from Mark’s Daily Apple.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/lectins/#axzz1iookNWoh
I checked out that site, unless I missed it I really didint see anything about dairy lectins vs. grain lectins.
I typically eat ALOT of eggs, whole milk, and cheddar cheese. Concerned I am getting to many of these lectins. Thoughts??
The point he made there is that most foods have some lectins, so it’s a matter of dose. Grains and soy are high in lectins, while dairy foods contain far fewer of them.
Thank you very much for making this documentary; I really enjoyed the points that you made, and the information provided regarding studies conducted on the Lipid Hypothesis. I know many people that have been on low-carb diets, but have not been able to maintain the diet and/or the weight loss associated with the diet. I believe this is due to the fact that they have also been trying to reduce their fat intake. I am slowly changing my diet to reflect a more natural, and low-carb diet, but have a couple questions.
1) What is your stance on dairy (milk products of any kind). Are they a smart choice for a protein source. If so, should I be looking for full fat, or non-fat options?
2)Are you suggesting that grains be eliminated if possible, or only those that have been processed. (Is oatmeal, cracked wheat, barley etc. a good source of carbs when needed?)
Thanks again!
Also! I was wondering how the diet has been working for you since the end of filming.
Have you been able to maintain healthy blood test results, and have you managed to keep the weight off (or lose any more??) – if you’re comfortable answering these questions, that is.
Thanks
Hi, Robyn. I’ll answer both sets of questions here.
I believe it’s best to avoid grains. I treat them now like I’d treat a candy bar — maybe once in a blue moon, but never part of my regular diet. I eat some full-fat dairy products, but not as much as I once did. Some people have sensitivities to dairy, and dairy appears to raise insulin more in some people than the carb count would predict. So I pretty much limit it to cream in my coffee and cheese on my burgers.
I’ve gone more paleo since making the film, eliminating grains as opposed to limiting them, giving up the low-carb ice cream treats, etc. Perhaps for that reason, I’m noticeably leaner now. I’ve also been more dedicated to working out (Fred Hahn’s Slow Burn method), so I’ve put on more muscle.
Tom, I have proclaimed your movie as the “Movie to See” to expose the health fraud in this country and the gateway to a better diet!
I gave up gluten in November 2010 to help with my Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (always being thin and sick, I put on 25 pounds in 6 weeks and developed a laundry list of symptoms concurrently). I also gave up sugar since I knew I had some serious issues with binging on very unhealthy foods. It took a 90 day detox to break the habits, but since then I have felt like a new person.
Most of my friends and all of my family questioned my actions when I began to eat more fat and less grain. I read more and more about the perils of the standard american diet and the overwhelming benefits of getting back to our roots with the paleo lifestyle.
I have been moving in the direction of paleo for the past year, but still love my full fat dairy.
Your movie came a the perfect time for me since I am starting to answer questions about my lifestyle and diet often these days. My weight is stable (back to what I weighed in my 20s; I am now 41) and my shape is still transforming for the better. Exercise consists of only chasing my 3 kids around.
My observation and question to you- it seems like in order to get anywhere close to the quality of food that was available before the 1970s, one must seek organic foods. I rely heavily on organic options and raw dairy as much as possbile. Have you gone this direction as well? A little bit of reading site such as “ChrisKresser.com”, “MarksDailyApple” and Robb Wolf only made me dive in deeper to learning more about this (sadly alternative) view of what’s healthy.
Your movie is a wonderful start for anyone wanting to feel good. Thank you so much for making it.
We still buy produce at the grocery store that isn’t always organic, but we’re heading in that direction primarily by our recent move to a small farm. The plan is to grow/raise as much of our own food as possible.
This could be the most important movie I have ever seen in my life!! Thank you so much Tom.
I too have gone through phases of depression on low fat/high grain diets. Now I know what the problem is I can take proper steps to fix it.
Thank you once again.
Thanks for watching.
Tom, I was introduced to your film by a friend of mine who had lost a ton of Weight… FAT weight, specifically… after being on a hamster wheel of gaining and losing the same 5 lbs and getting frustrated, he sent me a link to your film.
I remember seeing the cover on netflix before, but just never sat down to watch.
Wasn’t ready for the information I guess.
After watching your film, (5 times already!) I recommend it to all of my clients so that they fully understand what it takes to see results with their weightloss.
What I love most about this film is, that… for some crazy reason.. I TRUST YOU..
I TRUST that your information is correct…
I believe that the Agenda You have is to Share the TRUTH…
And I went so far as to really dig for information that would try to disprove what you were saying, or bad reviews, and I couldn’t find any (weird eh?)
And then I started going down the rabbit whole of eating and living primal, as our ancestors did and it just all made perfect sense to me.
The Food Industry has an agenda. There is no way in heck that Sugary Cereal is Part of A nutritious breakfast, and I think we actually KNOW THIS, yet we keep doing the same thing over and over because we haven’t stopped to really THINK for ourselves…
Thank YOU for creating this film…
I would actually like to do Screenings of the film locally so I can introduce more people to this information.
Again, Thank you!
Your film and the way you presented the information has transformed both my way of thinking, and my life!
Down 9 lbs in 2.5 weeks
Barbie
Those are great results, Barbie. (Five times?! My mother only watched it once.)
Hello Tom,
Despite the fact that I went on Atkins before I saw your documentary, I still want to applaud you. You make important information easily accessible for people who do not want to do a whole lot of digging.
Here in The Netherlands it is less common for people to go on a low carb diet, so I kicked up quite a lot of dust when I started Atkins a year and a half ago.
I am down to a weight that is very low and healthy for me and I have maintained that now for an entire year, without a whole lot of effort, merely some adjustments here and there.
I would like to point out for the people that value ‘ease’ when it comes to food, that bread made solely out of rye is a very good substitute to regular bread. I found that it does not raise my blood sugar very much and it does not cause me to gain weight. I know that such bread are very hard to find in the US, but if you can find it, or if you can make it yourself, it makes an easy and tasty meal if you’re in a hurry.
All rye would certainly be preferable to the wheat bread here. I’m pretty much grain-free these days.
In my eighth grade health class, my teacher made us watch supersize me. We are required to write an essay about our opinion of the movie. I am going to write an essay on your movie. I want him to be angry and impressed at the same time. Thanks for the documentary, it really helped me learn a lot and hopefully my health teacher will have his students watch fat head next year instead of that load of Bologna.
Check back and let us know how he reacts to your essay.
Hey Tom,
I wanted to send you an email on my updates but I thought I’d post it publicly to give people hope that they can possibly change their lives, too. I’ll keep it short and sweet but I’ve been following a relatively low-carb lifestyle and after losing 25 lbs, people are actually noticing and that’s pretty motivating. It started as gluten-free and the more reading I did it eventually became grain-free. Difficult for some to understand, but eating more fat and fewer carbs actually made me lose weight. I was never diagnosed as diabetic, but I knew that I had insulin resistance. I didn’t know until later that that was probably the most important factor in my previous weight gain. But since changing my eating habits, I feel this has been largely reversed and my health continues to improve.
My one question comes from, well… more of a socio-cultural perspective. How do you deal with people? I mean I get dirty looks for putting cream in my coffee, and for putting butter on my vegetables. Someone said to me the other day that by putting butter and cheese on my cauliflower, I was reversing the healthy aspects of my food. Do you use it as an opportunity to educate people? Or do you simply ignore it? I don’t pass judgement on other people’s diets – I simply don’t feel it’s my place to step in and say HEY, DONT EAT THAT… but other people feel inclined to do this to me on the daily. Even despite some of them seeing my tangible results, why do they do this?
On the rare occasions someone feels compelled to warn me about the arterycloggingsaturatedfat in my diet, I reply that the fear of fat was based on flawed evidence from the beginning, and that not even the head of the nutrition department at Harvard believes fat is bad for us anymore. If the busybody continues with a “but everybody knows saturated fat is bad for you” line, I reply with something like “Sounds like you already know everything you need to know. Enjoy your pasta.” and let it go.
Hey Tom
Awesome film, thx for making it. I was wondering what your thoughts were on the SouthBeach diet?
Thx Mark
The South Beach doctor believes in eating healthywholegrains and avoiding saturated fats. I don’t.