Odds and Ends from the internet and my inbox:
Netflix
Wow, it’s amazing how many people who were previously unaware of Fat Head have already discovered it on Netflix now that it’s in the instant-play lineup. After being away from home most of Sunday, I checked my email around midnight and found my inbox swamped. There were also dozens of new messages on Facebook (one from a guy who apparently found me there solely for the purpose of writing: Your an idiot. Nothing in your film made sence), DVD orders to fill, lots of comments on the blog, etc. I didn’t even bother trying to tackle the emails until today.
A question I often receive from new viewers is: What happened with your weight during the second diet experiment in Fat Head, when you went on a saturated-fat pigout? I should’ve answered that in the film, but it didn’t occur to me since the point of that sequence was to show that my overall cholesterol dropped while my HDL went up. But for those of you who are new to the blog, the answer is: I lost another two pounds.
The World is ‘Failing’ to Statinate Itself
Oh, horrors. It turns out there are still plenty of people in the world with high cholesterol who aren’t taking statins, according to a World Health Organization Report. Some quotes from a BBC news article:
Most people around the globe with high cholesterol are not getting the treatment they need, claims the largest ever study of 147 million people.
Notice how a completely unsubstantiated conclusion was just sort of sneaked in there: people with high cholesterol need treatment with statins.
The analysis found many at-risk people in middle-income and western countries alike are not on cheap and widely available statin drugs that would substantially cut their risk of heart attack and stroke.
Hmmm … the only thing wrong with that last sentence is that statins don’t substantially cut the risk of heart attack and stroke, especially among the countless people who have high cholesterol but no actual cardiovascular disease.
Experts stress that things may have moved on since the data was gathered. For example, England last year announced a mass program where every person aged 40 to 74 would be offered a cholesterol check by the GP in a bid to reach those that had previously been missed.
Apparently the National Health Service in England wants pretty much the entire population to go on statins. What’s that saying about mad dogs and Englishmen? Give it a few years and we may be unable to tell the difference.
Taxing ‘Unhealthy’ Food
As you know if you’ve seen Fat Head, some food-evangelist groups want governments to tax unhealthy foods so we’ll eat less of them. A recent study suggests those taxes might actually work:
Should unhealthy food be taxed like cigarettes and alcohol? New research suggests that a financial penalty may be the key to deterring the purchase of diet-busting food-even though other studies have found the opposite.
In a recent Dutch study, college students chose a hypothetical lunch from a menu three times. Each time, the prices of the high-calorie items increased-first by 25 percent, then 50 percent.
“Some subjects had a larger budgets than others, but almost everyone purchased food with fewer calories when the tax was introduced,” explains study author Janneke Giesen, Ph.D., professor at Maastricht University. “People reduced their hypothetical consumption by 100 to 300 calories.”
Just a couple of little problems here: first off, this was a “hypothetical” lunch in what sounds like a rather meaningless experiment. As the online article about the study noted, food taxes may not produce the same effects in reality:
Still, some research suggests taxes won’t do much-like a Duke study finding that people switch to other high calorie beverages when faced with a soda tax. Similarly, a recent University of Illinois review suggests that taxes may work in controlled experiments-but won’t make a dent in the “real world” since people will simply buy other unhealthy items. And a Queens College study of restaurants showed no significant relationship between calorie intake and menu prices.
And now for the bigger problem: even if the taxes worked in the real world, who’s going to define which “unhealthy” foods ought to be taxed? The USDA’s latest guidelines declare that saturated fat is bad, while whole grains are wonderful and “healthy diets are high in carbohydrates.” Do we really want these bozos deciding which foods to discourage through higher taxes?
Wal-Mart Made You Fat?
A couple of economists have concluded Wal-Mart is partly responsible for the rise in obesity. (I like reading books on economics, but these guys won’t be on my reading list anytime soon.) Why is Wal-Mart to blame? Why, by making food too cheap, of course:
We were able to show that Walmart Supercenters increase obesity after all. This is what we expected to find when we first started working on this paper in the summer of 2007: people eat more when food prices fall, eating more leads to weight gain, and Walmart Supercenters reduce food prices; therefore, Walmart Supercenters should increase obesity.
Well, there you have it. If food is too affordable, people get fatter. This of course explains why the well-to-do in America have such an obesity problem, while the poor are so much leaner and healthier. Oh, wait … isn’t it the other way around?
When I was in grade school 45 years ago and there were far fewer fat kids, I never heard anyone recount a conversation like this:
“Mommy, can I please have more food?”
“No, Johnny. We can’t afford it.”
What I did hear, however, were parents trying to guilt-trip their kids into finishing their dinners by telling them about the starving children in China.
As someone who is interested in both economics and nutrition, I want to throttle anyone who suggests we’d all be leaner and healthier if food cost more. I’ve heard from quite a few readers who say they understand low-carb diets are better for their health, but they’re on tight budgets and protein foods tend to be more expensive. That’s true. But guess what? Wal-Mart makes meat, eggs, fish and cheese more affordable for a lot of people. Blaming them for the rise in obesity is just stupid. Low food prices aren’t the problem; bad dietary advice is.
Food Packages Shrinking
So while the food evangelists and certain misguided economists were busy blaming cheaper food for making us fat, USA Today was busy complaining that food manufacturers are giving consumers less for their money by keeping prices the same while shrinking package sizes:
There’s a reason why the tub of ice cream you bought last week looks a tad smaller than ones you bought last summer. It is. Many major ice cream makers, hit by higher dairy costs, have shrunk their standard containers to 1.5 quarts from 1.75 quarts, about 1 cup less. The industry downsized from the traditional half-gallon (2 quarts) five years ago. In both cases, only the package shrank, not the price.
“Downsizing is nothing but a sneaky price increase,” says Edgar Dworsky, former Massachusetts assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection Division, now editor of Mouseprint.org, a consumer website. “I’m waiting to open a carton of eggs and see only 11.”
So if we get too much food for our money, it’ll make us fat. But if we get less for our money, it’s a consumer rip-off.
This reminds me of something I read in an economics books about the risks companies face when setting prices, depending on who’s running various government agencies: Charge more than other companies — prosecuted for monopoly pricing. Charge less than other companies — prosecuted for predatory pricing. Charge the same as other companies — prosecuted for colluding on prices.
After listing all kinds of food packages that have gotten smaller, USA Today informs us that consumers are getting angry about the shrinkage:
But some shoppers are getting savvy, and vocal. When they spot a product that’s downsized, they let the company know they don’t like it. That leaves executives responding to loyal-but-angry customers.
Here’s how the executives should respond: “Dear customers — Sorry about the smaller packages, but we don’t want to make you obese by giving you too much for your money.”
The Biggest Losers Lose More Than Weight
According to a recent study, the Biggest Losers who are horsewhipped by celebrity trainer (and thermodynamics expert) Jillian Michaels into starving themselves and exercising all day may be damaging their metabolisms:
In an abstract presented at the most recent Obesity Society Annual Scientific Assembly, Darcy Johannsen and friends reported that by week 6 participants had lost 13% of their body weight and by week 30, 39%. More interestingly they reported that by week 6 participants metabolisms had slowed by 244 more calories per day than would have been expected by their weight loss and by week 30, by 504 more calories.
And you wonder why the standard advice for losing weight doesn’t work very often? As the doctor who wrote a blog article about the study put it:
That’s basically a meal’s worth of calories a day that Biggest Loser contestants no longer burn as a consequence of their involvement. Effectively that means they’re eating an extra meal a day. How do you think you’d do at maintaining your weight if you ate an extra meal a day?
China Regulates Reincarnation
Yup, when they’re not too busy buying up our massive debts, the Chinese are apparently preparing to regulate reincarnation:
In one of history’s more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is “an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation.”
That’s what I love about governments: the unbridled confidence in their ability to effectively manage absolutely everything … you know, like farming and school-lunch menus and reincarnation. This could lead to a new twist on an old joke: What is a jackass? A horse reincarnated by a government committee.
I hope the Chinese think better of it. Our government managed to take previous generations of lean, healthy Americans and reincarnate them as obese diabetics.
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“We were able to show that Walmart Supercenters increase obesity after all. This is what we expected to find when we first started working on this paper in the summer of 2007.”
Does this guy know about confirmation bias?
Apparently, he believes reaching a conclusion before doing the research is a good thing.
Holy. Crap. I just saw this on NetFlix last night when I did a search for recent releases. I watched it last night. And then watched it again today!
Kudos for being so funny.
On Jan 1st I started a quest for the best “diet.”
Last month I was Vegan. It lasted until Feb 14th. I was so bloated from veggies/fruit/carbs. The straw that broke the camels back? Even though I weighed in at 134 at the start of the month, I was 137 (and this is keeping to 800-1,000 calories a day) on Feb 14th. I flipped out. Had bacon and eggs for brekkie. I’m a total bacon fan. Well, anything pig, actually.
It wasn’t all for naught though; I have recognized that (for myself) I will try to buy as much locally farm raised/hormone free meat as possible (veggies too).
This month, pretty much I’m going Paleo.
What I really learned from your movie (besides that your wife is a smart woman for NOT talking about her sex life) is to not believe just b/c the govt (or my doctor!) says it’s good for me, I should research as much as possible and make my own decisions.
Brava!!!
Your attempt at losing weight through a vegetarian diet sounds like my experience — except I did lose some weight by losing muscle.
Just caught Fat Head on Netflix last night. Really interesting information. Thanks for diving into it for us, and it’s definitely going to make me rethink “healthy!”
Thanks!
Thank you for watching.
What I find fascinating is how the audience vary depending on platform. When your doc was shown on Hulu you got praise but also a lote of hate, not as bad as on youtube, but still. On Netflix, I have the impression that it is much better, you’ve got mainly positive feedback (may be you threw away the hate mails but this wouldn’t be in line with what I’ve seen of you so far).
I of course have no control over the reviews posted at Hulu or Netflix. I’ve received some hate mail this week, but pitched it. I also heard from the tin-hat brigade last night, some complete loon who thought he had a special assignment for me, based on encoded information he found in the book of Genesis.
I have to wonder about another potential consequence of a junk food tax. IF (big if) it worked and people quit buying “junk food” there would be economic consequences. Companies would either have to completely rework their products to make them “healthier” (and likely charge more for the products) or close their doors. Ultimately the consumer still pays more for food or the job pool shrinks. Ah, the path of destruction left in the wake of well-intentioned government.
The law of unintended consequences at work.
When McDonalds says “Supersize Me”, they specifically mean that, for an extra charge, they will give you a larger portion of fries and soda. The maddening thing is that, from this, people conclude that you shouldn’t eat so much meat.
A Big Mac with a Supersized portion of Fries (no longer offered, BTW), and an Extra Large full-sugar soda, with no ice and a refill will contain well over 2,000 calories, but less than 1/10 of the calories come from the beef in the Big Mac.
Suppose you have a meal consisting of a Big Mac, 2 large orders of french fries, and a half gallon of full-sugar soda. Now, take away the meat. Is that a healthy meal? No. Replace the bun with whole wheat. Is it healthy yet? No. Replace the fat the potatoes are fried in with olive oil. Is it healthy now? Not even in the slightest. Replace all the corn syrup in the coke with organic, sustainable, locally produced honey from free-range bees. Still not healthy.
OTOH, suppose you take any recipe from the Skinny Bitch cookbook. Now add 3 ounces of lean beef. Does it become healthier? Absolutely. Even the desserts.
If there ever is a ‘fat tax’ imposed in the USA, look for corporations to find creative ways to dodge the tax. Coca Cola has a cool new product called “Coca Cola Freestyle”, a high-tech drink machine being tested in certain markets. The components of the drink are in cartridges, like the ink in an ink jet printer. The interface is a touch-screen computer. You can get over 100 different beverages from the machine, with real sweetener, artificial sweetener, or no sweetener at all. You can get carbonation or no carbonation, caffeine or no caffeine. You can even get electrolytes and vitamins added to your drink. You can even get plain water, if that’s your desire.
At the restaurant, when you order a drink, they hand you an empty cup. What you put in it is up to you. So a tax on soda might not do any good.
Similarly, if there’s a tax on salt, I’d expect the restaurants to add less salt and put salt in shakers on the table. Your fries are sodium free. Until you dump the shaker on top. If there’s a tax on fat grams, look for mayo and salad dressing to be in packets instead of directly added to the food.
Good points. What we noticed back when McDonald’s offered super-sized fries was that many couples ordered on super-sized meal, one sandwich only, then split the fries.
Glad someone made a response to ” Super Size Me.” Every time he gorged himself and threw up, I had to yell at the tv ” DON’T EAT IT THEN!!! WHO DOES THAT?? That’s an eatting disorder!!” I did see your doc on netflix. Entertaining. Interesting. Honestly though I was on a high sugar and fat diet, lost weight. I had a lot of exercise during it… I figure it must of been the high fat and exercise that evened out the extreme sugar I had. I was like that for about a year or more…
It depends on how insulin-resistant you are or aren’t. Recent clinical research is indicating that people who aren’t insulin-resistant lose weight on almost any kind of diet, while people who are insulin-resistant respond exceptionally well to cutting the carbs.
“We were able to show that Walmart Supercenters increase obesity after all. This is what we expected to find when we first started working on this paper in the summer of 2007.”
Does this guy know about confirmation bias?
Apparently, he believes reaching a conclusion before doing the research is a good thing.
First of all, how does one regulate incarnation???? power trip much? lol
statins prevent alzheimer’s??? umm noo i think they make it worse.
I believe statins are the reason my dad developed Alzheimer’s at a relatively young age.
Holy. Crap. I just saw this on NetFlix last night when I did a search for recent releases. I watched it last night. And then watched it again today!
Kudos for being so funny.
On Jan 1st I started a quest for the best “diet.”
Last month I was Vegan. It lasted until Feb 14th. I was so bloated from veggies/fruit/carbs. The straw that broke the camels back? Even though I weighed in at 134 at the start of the month, I was 137 (and this is keeping to 800-1,000 calories a day) on Feb 14th. I flipped out. Had bacon and eggs for brekkie. I’m a total bacon fan. Well, anything pig, actually.
It wasn’t all for naught though; I have recognized that (for myself) I will try to buy as much locally farm raised/hormone free meat as possible (veggies too).
This month, pretty much I’m going Paleo.
What I really learned from your movie (besides that your wife is a smart woman for NOT talking about her sex life) is to not believe just b/c the govt (or my doctor!) says it’s good for me, I should research as much as possible and make my own decisions.
Brava!!!
Your attempt at losing weight through a vegetarian diet sounds like my experience — except I did lose some weight by losing muscle.
I’ve also been hearing the Lipitor commercials on the radio and shake my head. “lipitor has 18 years of research behind it.” I’m sure that none of that “research” has eebn manipulated in favor of the pharmaceutical companies,right? No, no they would NEVER do that. They’re really acting in your best interest. LOL
What I find fascinating is how the audience vary depending on platform. When your doc was shown on Hulu you got praise but also a lote of hate, not as bad as on youtube, but still. On Netflix, I have the impression that it is much better, you’ve got mainly positive feedback (may be you threw away the hate mails but this wouldn’t be in line with what I’ve seen of you so far).
I of course have no control over the reviews posted at Hulu or Netflix. I’ve received some hate mail this week, but pitched it. I also heard from the tin-hat brigade last night, some complete loon who thought he had a special assignment for me, based on encoded information he found in the book of Genesis.
When McDonalds says “Supersize Me”, they specifically mean that, for an extra charge, they will give you a larger portion of fries and soda. The maddening thing is that, from this, people conclude that you shouldn’t eat so much meat.
A Big Mac with a Supersized portion of Fries (no longer offered, BTW), and an Extra Large full-sugar soda, with no ice and a refill will contain well over 2,000 calories, but less than 1/10 of the calories come from the beef in the Big Mac.
Suppose you have a meal consisting of a Big Mac, 2 large orders of french fries, and a half gallon of full-sugar soda. Now, take away the meat. Is that a healthy meal? No. Replace the bun with whole wheat. Is it healthy yet? No. Replace the fat the potatoes are fried in with olive oil. Is it healthy now? Not even in the slightest. Replace all the corn syrup in the coke with organic, sustainable, locally produced honey from free-range bees. Still not healthy.
OTOH, suppose you take any recipe from the Skinny Bitch cookbook. Now add 3 ounces of lean beef. Does it become healthier? Absolutely. Even the desserts.
If there ever is a ‘fat tax’ imposed in the USA, look for corporations to find creative ways to dodge the tax. Coca Cola has a cool new product called “Coca Cola Freestyle”, a high-tech drink machine being tested in certain markets. The components of the drink are in cartridges, like the ink in an ink jet printer. The interface is a touch-screen computer. You can get over 100 different beverages from the machine, with real sweetener, artificial sweetener, or no sweetener at all. You can get carbonation or no carbonation, caffeine or no caffeine. You can even get electrolytes and vitamins added to your drink. You can even get plain water, if that’s your desire.
At the restaurant, when you order a drink, they hand you an empty cup. What you put in it is up to you. So a tax on soda might not do any good.
Similarly, if there’s a tax on salt, I’d expect the restaurants to add less salt and put salt in shakers on the table. Your fries are sodium free. Until you dump the shaker on top. If there’s a tax on fat grams, look for mayo and salad dressing to be in packets instead of directly added to the food.
Good points. What we noticed back when McDonald’s offered super-sized fries was that many couples ordered on super-sized meal, one sandwich only, then split the fries.
First of all, how does one regulate incarnation???? power trip much? lol
statins prevent alzheimer’s??? umm noo i think they make it worse.
I believe statins are the reason my dad developed Alzheimer’s at a relatively young age.
I’ve also been hearing the Lipitor commercials on the radio and shake my head. “lipitor has 18 years of research behind it.” I’m sure that none of that “research” has eebn manipulated in favor of the pharmaceutical companies,right? No, no they would NEVER do that. They’re really acting in your best interest. LOL
Just watched the movie! Loved it, I’m going to watch it again with my husband tonight. I told my parents they had to watch it, and I’m trying to get the courage to tell my In-Laws to watch it (to whom SuperSize Me is the epitome of nutritional guidance). I can’t tell you how many times I have been told I have a addiction to fats and sugars.
MY family would order 1 supersized meal, share the fries and order 3 more sandwiches. But, if someone wants to have lots of fries they WILL buy extras, even if they are no longer selling supersized fries. I have been known to order extra hash browns with my breakfast meal. I guess next time I go, they will tell me, “I’m sorry but you have reached your allotment of hashbrowns for the day, you will have to get your next order of hash browns tomorrow.”
Thank you for making a much needed Documentary.
Thank you for watching.
Several years ago, California taxed candy, snack cakes, and chips. They quickly repealed the law when it was discovered that the only people that were really “suffering” from the law were the homeless, who no longer afford to buy anything with the money they could panhandle. And really… who decides what food is unhealthy anyway?
I’m still trying to talk my husband into giving up his statins. He’s watched part of the movie, but not all of it and I’m hoping to convince him that he’s just messing with the cholesterol that his body needs to function and risking some major side-effects. He’s never had a heart attack, has Type II, borderline hypertension, and slightly elevated cholesterol, though he didn’t ask the doctor for the number and his ratios or triglycerides.
I’d urge him to read Dr. Kendrick’s book “The Great Cholesterol Con.” Very readable, very well researched, and funny too. It’s listed on the Recommended Reading page.
Just watched the movie! Loved it, I’m going to watch it again with my husband tonight. I told my parents they had to watch it, and I’m trying to get the courage to tell my In-Laws to watch it (to whom SuperSize Me is the epitome of nutritional guidance). I can’t tell you how many times I have been told I have a addiction to fats and sugars.
MY family would order 1 supersized meal, share the fries and order 3 more sandwiches. But, if someone wants to have lots of fries they WILL buy extras, even if they are no longer selling supersized fries. I have been known to order extra hash browns with my breakfast meal. I guess next time I go, they will tell me, “I’m sorry but you have reached your allotment of hashbrowns for the day, you will have to get your next order of hash browns tomorrow.”
Thank you for making a much needed Documentary.
Thank you for watching.
Several years ago, California taxed candy, snack cakes, and chips. They quickly repealed the law when it was discovered that the only people that were really “suffering” from the law were the homeless, who no longer afford to buy anything with the money they could panhandle. And really… who decides what food is unhealthy anyway?
I’m still trying to talk my husband into giving up his statins. He’s watched part of the movie, but not all of it and I’m hoping to convince him that he’s just messing with the cholesterol that his body needs to function and risking some major side-effects. He’s never had a heart attack, has Type II, borderline hypertension, and slightly elevated cholesterol, though he didn’t ask the doctor for the number and his ratios or triglycerides.
I’d urge him to read Dr. Kendrick’s book “The Great Cholesterol Con.” Very readable, very well researched, and funny too. It’s listed on the Recommended Reading page.
Absolutely loved the tongue-in-cheek reference to Taubes’ and Michaels’ thermodynamics ‘debate’. Ha!
Absolutely loved the tongue-in-cheek reference to Taubes’ and Michaels’ thermodynamics ‘debate’. Ha!
Tom, sorry about your Grandmom. glad they served Ham at the funeral. thanks for sharing about that.
I LOVED Fat Head. orderd a few and they came already! yea, fast, thanks :0)
now I’m watching your homemade DVD, good stuff.
I have been on a mission to find the TRUTH about food, diets, and what a load of crap we’ve been told. so, my dear hubby has to listen to me rant and rave every night when he gets home. I get a bit excited. especially when I find the LIES. arggggg!
have you watched any of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution? it is awesome. I am all for making school lunches more healthy. and I am amazed to find people AGAINST that! what the heck?
follow the money – so very true. corruption even in school lunch programs. kick-backs etc.
thank you so much for your work. I’m a big fan. <3 kat
I haven’t seen Food Revolution yet. Glad you enjoyed the film, and thanks for ordering the DVD.
Tom, sorry about your Grandmom. glad they served Ham at the funeral. thanks for sharing about that.
I LOVED Fat Head. orderd a few and they came already! yea, fast, thanks :0)
now I’m watching your homemade DVD, good stuff.
I have been on a mission to find the TRUTH about food, diets, and what a load of crap we’ve been told. so, my dear hubby has to listen to me rant and rave every night when he gets home. I get a bit excited. especially when I find the LIES. arggggg!
have you watched any of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution? it is awesome. I am all for making school lunches more healthy. and I am amazed to find people AGAINST that! what the heck?
follow the money – so very true. corruption even in school lunch programs. kick-backs etc.
thank you so much for your work. I’m a big fan. <3 kat
I haven’t seen Food Revolution yet. Glad you enjoyed the film, and thanks for ordering the DVD.
I watched the documentary and have been on Weight Watchers for 6 weeks now. I’ve already lost 25 pounds and do not feel deprived in any way. Some days I have calories (points) left to spare.
I once attempted an Atkins-like diet and about 6 days in, I found myself scarfing down a dozen chocolate filled donuts almost mindlessly. I know you’ll say that everyone has a choice as to what they put into their mouth and people can say no the question “would you like fries with that”, but I would argue that a person addicted to food has the same ability to say no to some things than a heroine addict has to say no to the next fix. There is both a strong physical and psychological component to addiction.
So, I guess my questions is, if you are not a person who loves to eat a lot of meat and eggs at every meal, and furthermore, cannot imagine a life without carbs to be worth living, how are you to follow this? I thought a “diet” was supposed to be a way that one can live forever?
You provided the answer in your question. If you truly cannot imagine a life without carbs to be worth living, then enjoy your carbs and live as well as you can for as long as you can.
I watched the documentary and have been on Weight Watchers for 6 weeks now. I’ve already lost 25 pounds and do not feel deprived in any way. Some days I have calories (points) left to spare.
I once attempted an Atkins-like diet and about 6 days in, I found myself scarfing down a dozen chocolate filled donuts almost mindlessly. I know you’ll say that everyone has a choice as to what they put into their mouth and people can say no the question “would you like fries with that”, but I would argue that a person addicted to food has the same ability to say no to some things than a heroine addict has to say no to the next fix. There is both a strong physical and psychological component to addiction.
So, I guess my questions is, if you are not a person who loves to eat a lot of meat and eggs at every meal, and furthermore, cannot imagine a life without carbs to be worth living, how are you to follow this? I thought a “diet” was supposed to be a way that one can live forever?
You provided the answer in your question. If you truly cannot imagine a life without carbs to be worth living, then enjoy your carbs and live as well as you can for as long as you can.
Looks like a worthy successor to the MBA!
Looks like a worthy successor to the MBA!