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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Hi Tom,
Fat Head came across as a no-bull film that presented the facts in a relatively unbiased way. (No documentary is ever completely unbiased.
) I had found success with low-carb eating on a few occaisions but did unfortunately fall off the wagon and back to carbs. Turns out that I had clinical depression and a part of my depression was using food as a comfort not a necessity. Having been on anti-depression/anti-anxiety medication for almost a year now it has made such a difference in my state of mind.
I watched Fat Head at the end of December and something clicked in my brain. It was like an instant motivation. The last few times I had tried low-carb I was still constantly craving carbs and I wasn’t happy on low-carb but I blame that on the depression. Now that I’m taken care of mentally, I can now focus on taking care of myself physically.
On January 5th I cut the tie with carbs and started back with low-cab. As of today I have dropped 13 lbs and I feel fantastic. I don’t crave carbs and have no interest in eating them. I’m happier, I’m more full throughout the day (with the help of drinking water as well as the fat), I feel more energetic, and my exhaustion has dwindled down to nothing.
Thanks for providing the boost that I so desperately needed!
David
That’s terrific, David. Onward and upward.
Hey Tom, what are your thoughts on Jaminet’s Perfect Health Diet daily recommendation of 75-150 grams of “safe starches” per day?
Isn’t 75-150 daily grams of carbs considered low carb?
Well, I lost weight during my fast-food experiment while consuming around 100 grams of carbohydrate per day, so I’m certainly not opposed to his diet and consider it a huge improvement over what most people eat.
Some people also claim they have improved thyroid function with a moderate intake of carbohydrates … I don’t know if that’s true or not. My concern would be for people who are diabetic or near-diabetic consuming 150 grams per day. I’m not sure they could handle that much starch without provoking blood-sugar problems.
Hi Tom,
I have been seeing and reading quite a bit about the Engine 2 diet. In fact, you can’t go to a Whole Foods w/o seeing some reference to it. The diet seems to be focused on lowering one’s cholesterol. With all this anti-meat discussion going around, it is sometimes difficult to stay the course!
As always, I appreciate your feedback.
Chris
I have no interest in lowering my cholesterol.
Hello, I have found this documentary to be very interesting. I was wondering if there was a sources page (not that I’m saying these facts are wrong), but I am doing a research project and would need credible sources. thank you
The points on that page were culled from books I read while making the film.
Hey Tom,
After watching your movie, everything started to make sense. I thought to myself ” No wonder I always fail at low fat diets.” I always crave fat and I have always felt that carb based foods are just a vehicle for the good stuff inside. After starting a low carb diet I lost 28 lbs in 4 months and I never felt better. I got off the wagon for about 2 months and I gained almost all of the weight back. Needless to say, I am back on now and I dropping once again.
Medically I feel so much better. I had suffered irregular heart beats ( self diagnosed) that have literally disappeared since cutting carbs. I liken it to the sugar rush you get after eating a carb rich meal or snack. I also don’t feel like I am going to burst after meals. Like you mentioned in the movie, you feel sated and comfortable after meals and not heavy.
This mindset has also started make me see the food industry different. I realized one major fact ” Carb based foods are CHEAP!!!” So that is why Dominos offers breadsticks/Pizza/cinnamon rolls as a App, Entree, Dessert combo pack. Grains are cheap to produce and have huge margins for the retailers. Restaurants constantly try and fill you up on bread before the meal.
I have been watching a lot of Anthony Bordain’s show No Reservations and one thing I noticed is that most of the countries he visits have meat based fast food and not carb and grain based like ours. Think about how much more a Mick’y D’s burger would be with twice the meat and no bun!
Thank you for opening my eyes to something I have secretly believed all along but did not know how to explain!
I hope you’re inspired to stay on the wagon this time.
Based on what this article says at the end, your thoughts on whether or not breaking the yolk while cooking eggs is toxic.
http://www.healthiertalk.com/real-truth-about-egg-beaters-3963
I don’t worry about breaking the yolks.
Hey Tom,
I just wanted to bring something to your attention, if it isn’t already. I was sitting down to watch Fat Head on Netflix again, and I noticed something. The Netflix description of your movie reads:
“Seeing the documentary Super Size Me more as a dare than a warning, a comedian and former health writer shows that you can lose weight eating fries.”
Maybe I’m just being a bit too anal, but as someone whose life has been changed for the better by your movie, I think this description is a bit inaccurate. In your documentary you specifically cut out the fries, and other carb-heavy foods and that was how you lost the weight. People surfing to your movie might get the wrong idea. Again, I’m probably over thinking the whole thing. Anyway, thanks for making Fat Head, it has truly helped me and my family.
Someone at Netflix apparently wrote the description. Oh well.
Hi Tom,
I just watched your movie and I must say it has changed my views on food. A few years back I found out I was allergic to gluten and a wonderful thing happened. I lost about 60 lbs with only cutting gluten from my diet. Since gluten is in most fast and processed foods, I was on a low carb fresh food diet with out even knowing it. I was eating a lot of salads at restaurants with only olive oil and vinegar because i did not know the ingredients of their dressings.
I really thought that the gluten free diet was what was causing me to lose weight but then in the last year I started to gain weight.
Watching your film I started thinking about what I had been eating and It all made sense.
Now that gluten free foods have caught on, there are many more choices for me in restaurants and super markets. I can now have fries in many restaurants because they use different oil from the breaded fried goods. I can also find cookies and other snack foods I had to give up when I first started my G-free diet more readily available. Things like gluten free doughnuts, crackers, brownies exc. The super markets also now sell microwavable dinners that are gluten free but are packed with preservatives and unhealthy fats.
Now I’m back on a low carb non processed food diet I’m starting to see my weight go down. I’m sleeping a lot better. I have a ton more energy. And I’m just an overall happier person.
I think there is really something good about this diet and lifestyle.
Thanks!
-Matt
Thanks for watching.
Wow,
I found your documentary on netflix, and it really is an eye opener. My wife and I have recently decided to start trying to lose weight and be healthier. I have adopted a lower carb style of eating, while my wife is following, a low fat calorie restrictive diet. I tried to get her to take a look at your movie, and she has yet to do so. She is following her doctor’s advice of dieting according to the food pyramid. She can’t seem to understand why I’ve lost about 10lbs in a week and she has maintained the same weight, but she believes my low carb eating style is unhealthy because of the fat and meat intake. Her doctor really is doing her a disservice. Thanks for putting out your movie and opening my eyes.
Robert
I hope she watches it. Better yet, I hope she reads some the books we recommend.
I promoted the film tonight at our ‘Natural Moms’ movie night and discussion group. It’s now required viewing. Thanks for making this topic so understandable to the lay person.
Thanks for watching.
Dear Tom,
My boss watched the documentary “Forks over Knifes” and is absolutely convinced that giving up meats and having a diet that is rich in pastas, whole grains and vegetables or as the website puts it “whole food plant-based diet can prevent, and in many cases, reverse degenerative diseases.” He is going to try this diet for 60 days. I have warned him and even pleaded with him that he watch your documentary. Hopefully tonight, your netflix ticker goes up at least one. He mentioned there was a lot of scientific evidence on “Forks over knifes” that proves that meat causes many types of diseases. And that his friend tried it and lost twenty lbs. (muscle much?) I will be watching the “Forks over Knifes” documentary tonight and try not to bang my head on my desk… With any luck…I will still have a job at the end of his 60 days. I have already pointed him in the direction of your documentary…but do you have any other suggestions on how to help my boss!?
If he’s interested in a critical review of the “science” in Forks Over Knives, you could show him this:
http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/09/22/forks-over-knives-is-the-science-legit-a-review-and-critique/
Hello Tom
Decided to write to you from France after seeing that my childhood hero Davy Jones has just died at the relatively young age of 66 of a heart attack. Thinking that maybe he was probably a mad vegetarian, I found the following:
“He was a vegetarian, and there was not an ounce of fat on the guy,” Jacobson said. “He lived on the beach in Florida and ran miles every morning. This is the last person I expected this to happen to. He couldn’t have been in better shape.” (http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/29/showbiz/obit-davy-jones/index.html).
I have been trying to lose “middle age” weight for a few years now and was sold on low carb/high fat almost straight away. Unfortunately I am an English person married to a French person living in France.
Even though France basically has had a low carb high fat diet for centuries and consequently did so much better than the rest of the world coronary-wise, everyone here has been sold the low fat diet – my husband thinks I am killing myself by cooking everything in butter, lard, duck fat etc and cutting the carbs. I am clogging my children’s arteries by giving them steak and green beans instead of vast amounts of rice and pasta. I have tried to get him to read the various books but to no avail – he is indoctrinated.
Although I haven’t lost that much weight I have stopped putting in on. With two kids around, I still probably eat too much carbohydrate and drink too much wine (!) but surprise surprise, my blood work is perfect with low triglycerides, low “bad” cholesterol and very high “good” cholesterol, and of course, no sign of diabetes. The last time the doctor took my blood pressure he said it was that of a 25 year old!
I know that your film showed here on French tv some time ago so a French version must exist somewhere – is it on your dvd?!
Caroline
Our international “distributor” is incompetent and (I believe) crooked as well. I asked them about finding the French version, they promised to get on it, but nothing happened. I’ve currently got an attorney in Canada working on getting me legally divorced from them.
Hi Tom,
I was diagnosed with Insulin Resistance late last year and came upon Fat Head while trying to understand what my doctor couldn’t explain, about what was happening to me. Life changing much?
I took exception to the perception (of my doctor) that I stuff my face and sit on my butt all day. At the time I was diagnosed I was walking 10km per day in addition to working on my feet for 8 hours six days a week AND seeing a personal trainer 3 nights a week. The weight didn’t budge and I felt like crap. (PS, I was eating in accordance with what he recommended, which is low fat and a lot of grains and a bit of protein).
I’ve now begun the process of proving to my doctor that he’s an idiot and wasted tens of thousands of dollars on his medical degree, and I must admit I haven’t had this much enthusiasm for anything in a long time. I followed his advice for a while, my cholesterol went up and my joie de vivre went down. I have another set of bloodwork coming up at the end of the month. By then I’ll have been low carbing it for about 6 weeks. I’m curious to say the least.
A side note is that constant fatigue and muscle cramps almost convinced me that I needed more carbs…almost. I got on google again and decided to try upping my magnesium supplementation. Worked a treat.
Keep on rocking that boat!
Christine
I promise.
Tom,
Thank You! Your movie has changed my life and those of my friends who have watched it. All the crap we were taught in school would have killed us.
Thank you for watching.
I enjoyed your film. I started using Dr. Jack Kruse’s Optimal Living Leptin Reset and Cold protocol which includes the same advice as your film and takes it too the next level http://jackkruse.com/ . Lots of Saturated Fat, no vegetable oils, sugar, etc. My results have been amazing. Thanks.
Tom,
I have watched your movie after several videos on Gerson Therapy, and others on the USA food production. I then saw your film. When you start piecing everything together the food we eat makes all the difference in the world when it comes to health. If you think about historically how we ate and how we are designed, teeth (canines), body structure (We are designed to hunt, that is why we can run marathons) and what we crave and need chemically, your film does makes sense. I have been doing a lot of research on diets and trying many out. One I know I can live with is a low carb diet.
But the thing I can’t believe is that people still believe natural food, like meat and natural fat is worse for you some chemically prepared unnatural food. That doesn’t even make sense to me.
One thing I do have a question on, the application you used to keep track of all your food was that something you created or readily available to the public?
Thank you for the video, truth is something we all need more of.
The application was a little Access database I wrote. It doesn’t work in the newer versions.
Just want to say thanks for the information. You should take a look at Dr. Joel Wallach and his research.
Tom,
I have watched Fat Head no less than 6 times, love it. I was so pissed off the first time I watched it! I would like for the government and the “Guy from CSPI” to refund me for the years of yo-yo dieting, health issues, and time lost for the pain I have because of inflammation!
I have watched Big Fat Fiasco and Science for Smart People as well – I’m no scientist; mostly with my jaw on the ground at the stupidity that is our modern science.
Thank you!
I watched your documentary for the 5th time or so (whenever I want inspiration) and was wondering 2 different questions:.
1. You figured that you needed 2500 calories, so took in around 2000 to help create a deficit. Where did you get this figure? (Online? Formula?).
2. With your workout, you did a lot of walking, which my wife and I are excited to do more of. Did you also continue your resistance training with the bands during the 28 days?
Thank you so much for making this documentary, and if you respond, for your time. I literally tell everyone to watch this documentary when they are “trying” to lose weight…its all logic.
I used an online calculator. I don’t remember which one, but there are a lot of them available. Yes, I still did the same workout with the bands.
For the last three years I’ve felt really down on myself. I’ve gained weight and just doing what the doctor was telling me wasn’t doing anything. My surprise when I was told I was ‘obese’ was unreal… I knew I was overweight, but looking in the mirror I never would have classified myself as obese, just gaining weight as I age. What really stunned me was the fact that all my tests came back without much of an issue in terms of chloresterol, etc. except for my blood pressure, and for that I’m on the lowest dose available for BP medicine. I am one of these people who hates high fibre, its like chewing on a branch and it didn’t seem to be helping at all. I’m going back to eating what I WANT to eat… lots of fruit and vegetables and the meats that I enjoy. I’ve spent a week doing this and I already feel better overall.
I’m starting to think these doctors don’t really know anything for sure…
They know a lot. Unfortunately, much of what they know is wrong.
Based on research he’s read, a friend told me low carb diets lower thyroid’s t3 serum, lowering your metabolism and overall health and energy levels.
He added that you needed at least 124 grams of carbs per day.
Is this true?
Doctors who have treated thousands of patients with low-carb diets (Dr. Ron Rosedale, Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, Dr. James Carlson) have all said they’ve yet to see this supposed effect on the thyroid, or at least any more of an effect that you get with any diet that induces weight loss.
Your brain needs some glucose, but that doesn’t mean you have to consume 124 grams of carbohydrates per day to produce the glucose. Your body and can and will convert protein to glucose on an as-needed basis. That being said, I still consider 124 grams per day to be a low-carbohydrate diet. I don’t recommend that people go to 20-30 grams per day and stay there forever, unless they’re dealing with diabetes and can’t go over that level without causing glucose spikes.
In a recent interview with Jimmy Moore, organic chemist Mat LaLonde made the point that chronic calorie restriction — on any kind of diet — encourages the body to slow down the metabolism. He recommended mixing calorie-restricted days with occasional high-calorie days to offset that effect. Same goes for very low carbohydrate diets. He recommended mixing in days with more carbohydrates — but he emphasized that he’s not talking about going face-down in a box of donuts or snack cakes. The higher-calorie, higher-carbohydrate meals should still be based on real foods.
That’s what I’ve been doing for the past several months. On Friday or Saturday or both, I eat big meals with more carbohydrates. “More” in this case means perhaps 150 grams of carbohydrate for the day, not the 300-400 most people consume. I also get those carbohydrates from sweet potatoes, fruit, cashews, squash, etc., not from sugar or grains.
I just watched your documentary, and really enjoyed it. If I am understanding correctly, are we saying that high cholesterol levels are nothing worry about?
Thanks so much for your clarification on this one.
It’s not high cholesterol that’s dangerous, it’s the wrong kind of cholesterol … specifically the small, dense type of LDL. You can have high cholesterol with LDL that’s all the large, fluffy variety. That’s nothing to worry about unless it’s WAY high, which means your body isn’t clearing cholesterol. That’s usually only the case in people with hyperlipidemia, a genetic disorder.
I have have a master’s degree in nutrition and have always been taught the low-fat, high complex carbs regiment. I recently tried the 80% fat, 10% carbs consisting of green leafy vegetables and berries, and protein from basically the fat that I ingested. It was very hard to do, since I haven’t eaten much fat in 20+ years. I lost weight right away, and felt much leaner, but I also came down with a urinary tract infection, which I haven’t had in 20+ years as well. I started drinking more water, but just this week end came down with another one. So I am obviously concerned about this.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Sorry, I misstated that the fat I ingested was from olive oil, avocados, red meat, cheese, salmon and nuts.
How many carbs should i eat in a day to lose weight? I was thing about 70 grams. I’m 5’3.5″ and weigh a little more than 125. I want get leaner and fix my metabolism and keep myself in good health. I have a family history of diabetes and heart disease that I am really trying to avoid.
That’s a good target. Most low-carb diet plans start at around 20-30 grams (don’t count the fiber grams) and then gradually raise the limit to somewhere between 50-100, depending on how your tolerance for them.
Some people find they do better if they go in the opposite direction: start with a limit of 150, then step down.
I just watched your movie last night, was a bit confused by the message for the first 45min but once you started talking about a basic “paleo” style diet, I understood where you were going. My wife and I follow a pretty strict Paleo diet and have never felt better. I do have (2) concerns with your movie: 1.) you did not reinforce the importance of veggies and 2.) you do not touch on the importance of eating grass fed beef, free range chickens/eggs, organic fruits and veggies, etc….The quality of meat that is being used at McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, ect…is not good. The meat they are getting is from grain fed cows, of which are proven to have diseases. The goal is to eat “real”, unprocessed food! Overall, I do like the message you are giving.
By the way, you are correct, it is not the food industries fault for society being overweight and unhealth, it is the “overweight and unhealthy’s” fault. Like you said, everyone has a brain and common sense, some just choose not to use it.
I mentioned near the end that a good diet would include a lot more vegetables. I think grass-fed beef is great, but it’s also quite expensive. I don’t want to exclusively promote a diet that many people will dismiss because of the cost. If most people switched from cheap carbs to cheap meats as the basis of their diet, they’d still derive a lot of health benefits. Then they go for the grass-fed if they can afford it.
I saw the movie a couple of months ago and was amazed at how you could loose weight be decreasing the amount of carbs you intake. I have tried to follow the diet to a “T”. so far i have lost 17 pounds in two months. I try and keep the carbs below 100 hundred grams some days i go no less then 20. I’m glad i watched the documentary.
Great results! Keep it up.
I’ve watched your documentary twice now as I’m trying to wrap my brain around the concepts presented. I’ve been a vegetarian for 10+ years and though I’ve always known I’m not the healthiest (the assumption that all vegetarians are healthy or eat healthy is definitely bologna!) I’ve always been an anti-dieter and maintain my body weight fairly well so when fade diets come into the market they make me angry because it feeds into the notion that I should hate how I look. Because of this attitude I suppose it never really dawned on me how carb rich my diet is. I recently started to realize how weak I feel and how tired I am all of the time. Your documentary came at the right time. But now with so much conflicting information presented in the nutrition community its hard to have a source for factual nutrition information. I think this is the most frustrating part for me. If doctors and food pyramids are no longer correct its hard to know my source to guide me in healthy decisions.
Regardless, a couple of questions for you:
At the end of the documentary you report that after finding your diet to be successful that you went a step farther by following one of the doctors’ advice and lost additional weight. Do you know what the recommendations were the doctor made?
What are your thoughts about the Atkins diet?
Thank you.
Dr. Eades challenged me to cut all the sugar and starch from my diet, eat all the saturated fat I wanted, and track what happened with my cholesterol. So that diet was pretty much like an Atkins diet, at least the beginning phase of the Atkins diet.
I think the Atkins diet as it’s promoted now is fine. There’s more of an emphasis on real food than back when the Atkins company was selling low-carb bread, low-carb chips, low-carb cereal, etc. If you wanted to go a little more paleo, I’d suggest picking up Mark Sisson’s book “The Primal Blueprint.” You’ll get a good introduction to the science in there as well.
Hey I just have a quick vital question, does introducing a Fat to a carbohydrate lower the GI of it? I hear that the fat (saturated, unsaturated, etc.) slows the digestion of the carbohydrate and thus lowers the GI of it?
Yes, fat slows the release of carbohydrates into the bloodstream.
Hey Tom your film has tremendously impacted me dietary wise. I’ve tried to spread the words from the documentary to as many people as I could. I’d like to know where do you stand on vegetable oils because you never claimed to be against it but just only showing that our modern vegetable oil consumption lifestyle has greatly being linked to heart attacks.
YOURE FREAKING AWESOME ! MAY YOU AND YOUR FAMILY BE HEALTHY FOREVER!
Thank you, Alex. I believe it’s best to avoid most vegetable oils, since they’re high in omega-6 fats that can cause inflammation and also go rancid easily. We stick with coconut oil, olive oil (a natural vegetable oil, not chemically processed), coconut oil and bacon grease for cooking. Some nut oils, like macadamia oil, are also fine. The real culprits are the seed oils: soybean, corn, canola, etc. Avoid those.
Hey Tom how do you feel about an Omega-3 Fish oil supplement?
I think it’s better to eat fatty fish and grass-fed beef, both of which will provide omega-3 fats.
Your movie changed my life, man. I’m about to be 17 and I watched your movie in July and since then, I’ve followed your “100 carbs or less” diet, and I’ve lost over 40 pounds with regular exercise. You’re the man!
Outstanding, Dan. I wish I’d learned all this when I was your age. My early adulthood would have been a lot different.
TOM NAUGHTON FOR PRESIDENT OF THE USA, UN secretary general, emperor of spain ,japan and the new pope , move out Benedict! So im getting into this paleo diet by cutting carbs omg its hard. lol im maybe consuming about 200g of carbs per day but a lot less!
Tom if you ever come to Montreal ,Canada, let me know because I owe you a meal perhaps my life because without the documentary Id still be deep frying everything in Canola oil. Unless you dont know we have something here called a Poutine which consist of fries, cheese curds and gravy ( amazing). But now that Im well informed about fats, I would have them fried in duck fat or pork fat !
If I’m ever in Montreal, I’ll take you up on that. In my hometown of Springfield, Illinois some restaurants serve a “horseshoe sandwich.” That’s toast topped with meat, topped with french fries, topped with welsh rarebit cheese sauce. Definitely not low-carb, but worth a once-a-year indulgence. (Okay, maybe once every five years.)
Awesome. hey you need that hearty type of food to go through harsh winters!
susan..i had two urinary tract infections from eating raw cheese. you didn’t mention the type of cheese, just my two cents. hope you feel better.
Just watched your movie and absolutely loved it! I recently left veganism after 2+ years, and started eating a more paleo based diet. My cloudy thinking went away instantly, energy increased, and feel all around healthier. I will be recommending this video to everyone and purchasing a copy for myself.
I have just one question: I know that many fruits are high on the glycemic index, but not too bad on the glycemic load (which is what really matters). Can I still eat lots of fruits in the morning and even around lunch time without having unhealthy blood sugar spikes from eating eggs and/or meat (higher fat properties) later in the day? Thank you very much for your time and for putting out an awesome documentary!!!
It would depend on the total fructose load. You don’t want to load up on fruits high in total fructose.
Been eating between 120-195 carbs per day since January with a 1200 to 1500 calorie diet..SLOW WEIGHTLOSS in my opinion…
Only 18 lbs in 4 months….I been doing great with exercises including cardio/weights.. I have another 80lbs to lose with a lot of belly fat.. so I’m.5’2 female… where would you suggest I target my Carb range?
Try going down to 50 for awhile and see if that makes a difference.
My mother loves her magic mirror to put her make up on. She has the 2 sided one and has found my father use it often when he shaves.
Having recently moved away to college (and after having to watch Super Size Me TWICE in classrooms) I started losing weight. I expected it would happen seeing as how I did not eat very well at home.
Then I saw your film, and its completely changed my thoughts about weight loss and what “healthy food” really is.
Initially, when I started losing weight, progress was slow but steady. I did not factor in that I was ingesting less carbs as opposed to the lower amount of fats I was eating. After seeing you film, the science made sense, and I decided to try and introduce practically unlimited saturated fats and cut my carb intake to under 50g a day and see what happened.
Now the weight is really falling off my body and I feel great. I can’t believe how much of modern dietary science is based on a flawed study with skewed data. I am actually glad that I never followed the advice of the food pyramid and conventional dietary opinion as I grew up. Having realized that saturated fats are actually good for you, now I feel that a diet is not something that requires “sacrifice”. I can eat great tasting food and occasionally indulge in a 1/2lb cheeseburger with no negative effects on my weight or health. Discovery’s like Skippy’s natural peanut butter (with higher saturated fat and no hydrogenated oil) are mind-blowing as to how good a “diet” can taste.
Hopefully classrooms start showing your movie instead, because Spurlock really rubbed me the wrong way when he spoke about how McDonald’s is a “corrupt” corporation and advocated that it needs to be attacked like a “big tobacco” company. For me, it sort of torpedoed his argument that he spent the entire moving trying to make. As one of the posters said, no documentary is unbiased, but Spurlock’s is so incredibly biased I don’t understand how it can possibly be considered educational, let alone educational enough for a high-school classroom and or beyond.
It hurts me so much sitting in a food science course in college and being told that eggs are a health concern because they are high in cholesterol and sat. fat. Or that sat. fat is a health concern because its solid at room temperature, its nonsensical science that unfortunately everyone is conditioned to believe now. It probably just comes down to the assumption that “if I am fat, I should not eat fat”. I have tried to tell some people I know about sat. fat and they are just confused as to how that can be truth.
I was 193lb in January, I am now 162 (5′,8″), and still losing.
I’m waiting for someone to explain to me how Super Size Me helped him or her lose weight. We all knew that loading up on sodas and milkshakes will make you fat.
Congratulations on the weight loss.
I joined a spin class at the gym that meets three times a week.
The instructor said the workouts are glycogen-depleting and we needed to take a large serving of carbohydrates in liquid form within an hour after finishing training (she suggested 100 grams of carbs from low fat chocolate milk).
She added that during this period any carbohydrates consumed are preferentially shuttled straight to the muscles where they are used to restore glycogen and do not lurk around in the bloodstream causing damage and/or converted to fat.
Should I follow her suggestions?
Hard workouts do deplete glycogen. However, I wouldn’t go out and drink 100 grams of carbohydrates afterwards to fill them back up. Emptying your glycogen stores for awhile is beneficial. Empty or low glycogen stores encourage your cells to become more insulin-sensitive.
Hi Tom,
I’m a huge fan and loved your movie. I’m also a big believer in low-carb high-fat diets as a way to lose weight and be heart healthy. I just watched a short youtube presentation of a guy that has some pretty interesting statistics and studies that seem to show the opposite (and are kind of convincing). I’d love you to watch it and let me know what you think and perhaps why he is incorrect. I’m sure you are very busy but if you get a chance, I’d love to hear your feedback because I really value your opinion. He starts out talking about the Mediteranean diet but transitions into animal fat and monounsaturated fats and why they are not healthy. It does seem that this guy and his organization have a vegetarian agenda, so Im sure that’s there they are coming from, but I still found the studies interesting. (One even talks about about blood flow greatly decreases after a high-fat meal… Have you head this?) Let us know you think when if and when you get a chance. URL below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfBKauKVi4M&feature=relmfu
Thanks for all you do!
Yes, VegSource is a vegetarian group.
I agree with his point about olive oil. I don’t think it’s any sort of magical oil that prevents heart disease. Olive oil was promoted because it’s monosaturated instead of saturated — and of course, the lipophobes believe saturated fat causes heart disease.
After that, he starts cherry-picking. He points out that the Cretes weren’t eating much meat and fat when they had low rates of heart disease. True. But they also weren’t eating much sugar or white flour. He then quotes a medical journal about the dangers of saturated fat, but ignores the fact that the French and Swiss have the highest intakes of saturated fat in the western world, but also the first- and second-lowest rates of heart disease.
Hi tom,
I was just wondering why when i eat white bread my body responds better than when i eat whole wheat or multi grain bread. Its gonna sound weird but i feel like my body reacts worse when I eat whole wheat/multi grain bread than when i eat white bread.
You may be sensitive to the lectins in whole grains. Better to skip the bread entirely.
Additionally, I was just wondering, is it even that bad to eat a bagel or piece of bread if i smother it in cheese? Wont it drastically lower the GI and the insulin response in my body?
That will slow down the release of glucose, but eventually your body will still have to deal with it. I don’t eat bread or bagels because they’re made of wheat, which I avoid.
Thank you for the answers, also, Im only 16, and if i begin to keto-diet, how do you recommend i deal with the intense lethargic feelings, headaches, and dizziness in the beginning? Are there supplements or vitamins/minerals that can help me deal with it? Also, how do i get in an adequate amount of fiber? And finally, what are some snacks/foods I can eat at school in class (aka food that won’t get spoiled, if there even is any)?
You can offset the lethargic, fuzzy feeling by drinking some salty broths or bullion. Magnesium is supposed to help too. Almonds are good for fiber, as are green vegetables.
For snacks, you can try almonds, olives, lunchmeat rollups, etc.
I stumbled across Fat Head on Netflix last night, and thought I would watch a bit while folding laundry. After about 10 minutes, the laundry was forgotten and i was glued to the TV for 2 solid hours.
Growing up, my family was considered poor, we ate a lot of fruit and veggies, and animal products from my grandparents farm, all bread was homemade. We never ate store bought bread, cereal etc, and no one in my family was overweight growing up.
In 1988 I was diagnosed with a Kidney Disease and told i had to go on a Low Fat Diet, as a side effect of the Kidney Disease was elevated cholesterol. I began to put on weight. The doctor and nutritionist blamed it on my dis-functioning kidneys. In 1990 my 20 year old brother died from a massive heart attack. He was an athlete, played football, rode mountain bikes, etc. and didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. They blamed it on his eating McDonalds the night he died. (however all of his friends who ate with him did not die on that night). After this, my doctors were even more vehement that I stick to a Low Fat diet, as I was now considered ‘genetically cursed’. I stuck to a low fat, high carb diet for 20 years, ultimately becoming 205 lbs. and totally convinced by the nutritionist that it was my fault. I was somehow still not doing the diet right, and i needed to exercise more. I was a professional house cleaner and painter with 3 small kids, working 8 to 10 hours a day. I was NOT inactive.
Last September I was turning 40, and I decided to throw out everything the nutritionist had been telling me. I had lived 20 years under someone’s food rules that I hated and weren’t working for me (at the time I couldn’t have told you why though) . I began to eat high fat, low carb food, cut out all sugar and starch.
Since then I have lost 43 lbs, My mental health has stabilized, there is no longer any guilt about what I put into my mouth.
Watching your documentary last night totally solidified in my mind that I have been completely lied to by nutritionists and doctors for 20 years.
I woke up this morning totally mentally liberated, I no longer feel like my weight issues for the last 20 years were all my fault and that I was merely a weak individual, unable to follow a few simple rules to be healthy.
Thank you for bringing to light the politics behind the low fat diet. That, more than anything, had me completely convinced that you were right on target.
Keep spreading the word!
THANK YOU !!!!
Jenna
Thank you for watching.
Hey Tom, so ive been keto dieting for the past week, and its been great! Ive lost six pounds and im starting to always be full, the only thing i dont understand is why dont my ketostix display purple? They say im not in ketosi but i dont undertsnad how? The closest things to carbs that ive been eating is ‘some’ spinach and ranch dressing
Don’t worry about the ketostix. You may be using the ketones for fuel.
Ive also been exercising daily^
Hi Tom,
I love the movie and I have been begging friends and family to make their minds up for themselves. I am 41 year old diabetic and it pisses me off that I have deprived myself of foods I love for no good reason for most of my adult life. It adds to my anger that my health not only didn’t improve on my Dr’s diet recommended diet, it got worse. Thank you for your website and movie. I am going to ask my doctor on my next visit, but was wondering if you might know why my blood sugar is 140-160 even though I am in ketosis? I am very strict with carbs and sugar substitutes, consuming less than 40 grams of carbohydrates per day. I am 6’3″ 250 lbs and have been lifting weights and doing HIIT training 4 times per week. We need to form a website where folks can search for low Carb friendly Dr’s in their area. Also you might consider another documentary about HIIT training versus ” conventional” cardio exercise and the Bologna in the fitness industry. Dr. Al Sears is a good source of information on this topic. Again thanks for your contribution, courage, sense of humor and work.
As Dr. Mary Vernon recently pointed out, a low-carb diet will help most, but not all, diabetics achieve normal blood sugars. One factor to look at is how much protein you’re consuming. Excess protein can be converted to glucose.
It may take time, or you may need a drug. It depends on how much damage was done before.
My grandfather died of a heart attack back in 1952. Photos of him show him to have been slim and healthy looking, and he certainly lived a physically active lifestyle. An amazing fact I have been told about him was that he was very fat conscious about food – he never ate butter and always cut fat from his meat. This is very common today, but way back then would have been unique. I have often wondered what lead him to go down the fat free route, as his death was before the anti-cholesterol idea really got established. Anyway, it certainly didn’t stop him having a heart attack. More likely causes of that may have been the cigarettes that he (like most people back then) smoked, or the chocolates he apparently consumed in large quantities.
Does saturated fat cause heart attacks ? I no longer believe so.
Thank you. It’s the single biggest thing I can say to you. I was turned on to your movie by a friend after a lengthy discussion about how best to lose weight, as I have been large my whole adult life. I weighed upwards of 411 lbs at one point, but managed to get out of a sit-down job and into a walking job and got down to and hovered around 370 lbs. But it stayed there – and I tried many different styles of eating and everything.
The friend I had been talking to mentioned a ketogenic diet, but I dismissed it (like most people do) as being unhealthy. But I was very curious about it so I read up on it more and more and more, as I sometimes get very bored at work. I was floored that all these lies were running rampant from supposed experts telling me how to eat, what is healthy, etc.
I re-signed up for Netflix when he told me to watch your movie (which has a really bad, misleading –and probably Netflix-written– description). I learned a whole lot from your movie, even after just the one viewing. I plan to re-watch it several more times as time allows.
I started a keto diet last week, and boy I feel a helluva lot better. I have the odd days where I get tired a bit easier, but I know those days are numbered. I did a lot of research on induction and how to minimize it’s effect and have thus far managed to avoid most of the pitfalls others have mentioned.
On a side note, to the commenter “jonathan:” listen to Tom’s advice! The ketostix will only detect ketones in the urine (obviously); these are excess ketones that your body does not use. I believe it depends on how large you are, and/or how efficient your body is at using those ketones. For example, I have a lot of weight around me at the moment. I am showing, at least now, large amounts of ketones in my urine. I know that soon I may not show them at all as my body adapts to the ketones. But, I also know that because I have so much fat that that may take a long time. But no ketones on the strip does not mean “no ketosis.” If you are eating low-no carbs, and have been for some time, then I would imagine you have to be in ketosis!
That aside, I have been on a ketogenic “diet” for a week now and have lost 10 lbs! It’s very encouraging, and even with the small periods where I am tired, the times when I have super amounts of energy more than outweigh those tired times.
I have even started a YouTube channel following my progress, for those interested in learning more about it, watching someone go through it, and to see if it works (which it certainly seems to be and I’m more than satisfied it does).
Thank you so much for continuing to open my eyes. I have since enjoyed your many YouTube videos and look forward to following you and your bad-science-busting ways!
Hoorah!
Mike
Excellent, Mike. Keep it up.