First I’d like to thank The Older Brother for taking over the Fat Head chair while I was in Washington, D.C. (You’ll be hearing from him again in May when I’m on the low-carb cruise.) I received a record number of emails about Harvard’s latest “Meat Kills!” study just before I left town, so I was pleased The Older Brother gave it a worthy whack and pointed readers to Denise Minger’s slice-and-dice. Gary Taubes also took the study apart and made the remaining points I would have made (and then some), so I won’t bother weighing in on that one. Bottom line: it’s another worthless observational study. Enjoy your steak and burgers.
Now, about that speech I gave in Washington …
The good news is that I received some very positive feedback from the five people who saw it. The bad news is that five people saw it. (I’m not counting Dr. Richard Feinman or Dr. Wendy Pogozelski, who were presenters in our group.) So it wasn’t exactly my version of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
I spent hours writing the speech, more hours making slides, still more hours memorizing (I can’t stand reading a speech from a script), had myself all geared up to handle any hostile questions afterwards, flew 650 miles to do battle, and ended up talking mostly to empty chairs. It felt a bit like training for a fight and then stepping into the ring, only to find the opposing fighter’s corner empty.
Nonetheless, here’s the speech. In the first half-hour after I posted it to YouTube, more people had already seen it online than saw it in person.
The Office of Research Integrity conference (titled Quest for Research Excellence) wasn’t a nutrition conference; it was conference dealing with research issues in a number of disciplines, with multiple presentations being delivered simultaneously. Apparently nutrition wasn’t the hot topic among the attendees. Too bad. In Dr. Feinman’s presentations, he offered several examples of research that was definitely not excellent. Dr. Wendy Pogozelski, a colleague of Dr. Feinman’s at State University of New York, also gave an interesting presentation about childhood obesity and how the current dietary guidelines aren’t helping (to put it mildly).
Aside from their presentations, the second-most interesting part of the whole trip for me was standing in line at Reagan International airport in front of two older women with the thickest New Jersey accents I’ve ever heard. They had just dropped off a rental cah and were heading back to Joysey. Either one of them (going by voice, at least) could have been Bugs Bunny’s grandmother. I kept wanting to turn around and ask if they made a wrong toyn at Albukoyke.
The most interesting part of the trip was finding myself in a bit of mini-debate with Dr. Feinman over dinner on Thursday night. We’re both convinced people are getting sick and dying younger than necessary thanks to lousy dietary advice from the USDA and other organizations that promote the usual low-fat nonsense. He believes we need to focus on convincing the federal government to re-evaluate the science and, by extension, the dietary advice. I believe the USDA is basically a division of Monsanto, Cargill and ADM, and always will be. I don’t expect the federal government to ever stop promoting a high-carbohydrate diet based on wheat and other grains, so my goal is to convince people to stop listening to the USDA.
One of us is right. So perhaps the only logical strategy is to wage this war on both fronts. That was the point of going to Washington to pick a fight. I hope it’s more of a fight next time.
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Thank you so much for all of the information. I’m headed to Netflix to watch the movie right now!
I hope you like it.
Thanks, TonyNZ. I’ll see what I can figure out.
Thanks, TonyNZ. I’ll see what I can figure out.
Yes Tom, I understand awaiting approval.
I have submitted two comments and as soon as I hit the submit button, they are gone forever.
That’s strange. I did a quick check of the spam folder and didn’t see anything there with your name on it.
I used to check the spam folder all the time, but had to give it up after the site started drawing thousands of spam comments per week.
Even in The Netherlands you are being watched. Keep it up and make us healthy again.
I’m happy to hear that.
Chocolate milk IS a great way to refuel after a workout…if it consists of a high quality, chocolate flavored protein powder in any of the following liquids — water, whole milk, almond milk, cream…
I loved your speech and especially the part where you connected it to the wisdom of the crowd. You really took the edge of the “scary part” with “normal” people giving health advice.
Thank you for the time you put into preparing this.
Thank you for watching.
Aim the Fathead book at children and perhaps even the doctors (and even nutritionists) will understand.
Good point.
Yes Tom, I understand awaiting approval.
I have submitted two comments and as soon as I hit the submit button, they are gone forever.
That’s strange. I did a quick check of the spam folder and didn’t see anything there with your name on it.
I used to check the spam folder all the time, but had to give it up after the site started drawing thousands of spam comments per week.
Great video. Almost 5k views, so honestly your initial viewing audience does not matter any longer! You had me laughing out lout a few times. Keep up the fight.
The Crowd is working …
Even in The Netherlands you are being watched. Keep it up and make us healthy again.
I’m happy to hear that.
Chocolate milk IS a great way to refuel after a workout…if it consists of a high quality, chocolate flavored protein powder in any of the following liquids — water, whole milk, almond milk, cream…
I loved your speech and especially the part where you connected it to the wisdom of the crowd. You really took the edge of the “scary part” with “normal” people giving health advice.
Thank you for the time you put into preparing this.
Thank you for watching.
Aim the Fathead book at children and perhaps even the doctors (and even nutritionists) will understand.
Good point.
If it was a thick jersey accent, there were from the NYC, North Jersey is not New Jersey which have counties below the Mason-Dixon line.
I should have asked them, “Are youse originally from New Yowk?”
Great video. Almost 5k views, so honestly your initial viewing audience does not matter any longer! You had me laughing out lout a few times. Keep up the fight.
The Crowd is working …
If it was a thick jersey accent, there were from the NYC, North Jersey is not New Jersey which have counties below the Mason-Dixon line.
I should have asked them, “Are youse originally from New Yowk?”
Thank you.
Thank you.
Great speech! I know a few medical professionals that must watch this because they think they know everything about nutrition because they studied it in school. Well I study nutrition blogs everyday, and I know much more than they do!
If you read a couple of books on the topic, you’ve learned more than most doctors.
Great speech! I know a few medical professionals that must watch this because they think they know everything about nutrition because they studied it in school. Well I study nutrition blogs everyday, and I know much more than they do!
If you read a couple of books on the topic, you’ve learned more than most doctors.
Great speech! Too bad more people didn’t see it in person. Have you lost more weight? You’re looking trimmer.
I don’t own a scale, but I’m quite a bit leaner than when I finished making Fat Head.
Great speech! Too bad more people didn’t see it in person. Have you lost more weight? You’re looking trimmer.
I don’t own a scale, but I’m quite a bit leaner than when I finished making Fat Head.
Great speech, Tom. You did an awesome job. It is too bad that you didn’t have a larger crowd to hear it. Thanks for sharing it.
I consider myself lucky, because my doctor is completely supportive of low carb/high fat. I recently had bloodwork done and my C-reactive protein was .4 (it used to be between 5.0 and 6.0, when I was eating a lot of carbs).
We need more doctors like that.
Great speech, Tom. You did an awesome job. It is too bad that you didn’t have a larger crowd to hear it. Thanks for sharing it.
I consider myself lucky, because my doctor is completely supportive of low carb/high fat. I recently had bloodwork done and my C-reactive protein was .4 (it used to be between 5.0 and 6.0, when I was eating a lot of carbs).
We need more doctors like that.
Loved the video! It doesn’t matter if it was only five people in the room. If the message gets to the right ONE it can make all the difference in the world.
PS – I think you should give The Older Brother his own login ID so he can quit using yours.
I’ve tried without success to figure out that second login thing. I don’t much like fussing with WordPress.
Loved the video! It doesn’t matter if it was only five people in the room. If the message gets to the right ONE it can make all the difference in the world.
PS – I think you should give The Older Brother his own login ID so he can quit using yours.
I’ve tried without success to figure out that second login thing. I don’t much like fussing with WordPress.
I would have felt so disheartened by only seeing five people in the room, but the youtube video is sure getting a lot of hits. Thanks for making it easy for us in the crowd to share information!
We’re up to 8,000 views already and counting, so it certainly wasn’t a wasted effort.
I would have felt so disheartened by only seeing five people in the room, but the youtube video is sure getting a lot of hits. Thanks for making it easy for us in the crowd to share information!
We’re up to 8,000 views already and counting, so it certainly wasn’t a wasted effort.
You may not be aware of it but people are reading your posts and listening to you enthusiastically in FRANCE. Thank you Tom, for being so informative AND funny!
I’m delighted to hear that, thanks.
You may not be aware of it but people are reading your posts and listening to you enthusiastically in FRANCE. Thank you Tom, for being so informative AND funny!
I’m delighted to hear that, thanks.
Quote: “Received some very positive feedback from the five people who saw it. The bad news is that five people saw it. So it wasn’t exactly my version of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
O’ Man – Tom, that is just brutal. I laughed so hard at your “Can you say Moose & Squirrel?” joke in the movie Fat Head my eyes watered up. And now I read about you walking out to a group of five people and once again my eyes water up thinking about how difficult that must have been.
You’re an interesting man Tom. I am so enjoying reading your blog and learning about you and your life.
Regards: john
Life can be frustrating, but it’s rarely dull.
Quote: “Received some very positive feedback from the five people who saw it. The bad news is that five people saw it. So it wasn’t exactly my version of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
O’ Man – Tom, that is just brutal. I laughed so hard at your “Can you say Moose & Squirrel?” joke in the movie Fat Head my eyes watered up. And now I read about you walking out to a group of five people and once again my eyes water up thinking about how difficult that must have been.
You’re an interesting man Tom. I am so enjoying reading your blog and learning about you and your life.
Regards: john
Life can be frustrating, but it’s rarely dull.