Fat Head (Director’s Cut) DVD is now available from Gravitas Ventures and can be purchased on Amazon.
Click here to purchase FAT HEAD at Amazon.com
The Corona Bed-Wetters song is available on iTunes.
Oldies but goodies … Tom’s songs (with friends) on iTunes.
Tom, I just saw Fat Head and after also reading this post, and most of the comments, I had to share my huge revelation.
DAVEY JONES IS DEAD????
I am upset.
Seriously. I had no idea.
I also want to agree with Richard Nikoley that you are indeed benevolent when it comes to responding to comments. You are surely more benevolent than Richard Nikoley. I imagine that you care that someday your daughters will likely google you. Good for you :o)
And. I want to make sure I am not the only one who caught the Monkey’s song reference/pun when ‘tinydrop . .’ said ‘sorry i am not a believer’
Lastly, I loved Fat Head and I am sharing it with abandon. I will email you before and after pics when I lose 100 pounds. Thanks!
Thank you. I hadn’t thought about my daughters Googling me someday. I respond to comments when I can because I like to keep the conversation going and I’m grateful for readers who take the time to post them.
Sorry about Davey Jones.
> You are surely more benevolent than Richard
Oh because THAT was a hard mark for Tom to meet… heh
Hey Tom. I’ve always been a fan of a paleolithic diet, and watching your documentary convinced me even more of its validity. I mean it just makes sense. We’ve been eating this stuff for millions of years. Why just stop?
Anyways, I have a few questions and hoping that you can answer them. I’m a broke college student, and this kind of diet is quite expensive. My favorite meal I make is an omelette with ground beef, cheese, deli ham, and jalapenos. Love it. cheap, tastes great, and starts my day off great. I was wondering if you had any ideas for this kind of diet that is more on the financially conservative side. Some cheap ingredients, recipes, any suggestion really.
I also have a question about your thoughts on dairy products. The paleo diet says to stay away from it, but I just love my chocolate milk too much. I usually drink it after a workout for a nice refreshment. I would just like to know your thoughts and maybe some studies about it.
Thanks for your time and especially thanks to your documentary. Your hard work and comedic relief really sheds some light. (especially the “heart attack scene)
Dairy depends on your tolerance of it. Some people have problems with casein. I don’t, so I include full-fat dairy in my diet.
You can usually find cheap protein at the big-box stores. Tuna, chicken thigh-and-leg combinations, ground beef, pork parts, etc. My wife tells me those usually go on sale on Wednesdays. She’s found a lot of meat for around $1 per pound by shopping on Wednesdays.
Like many of us who have dealt with difficulty losing weight and maintaining normal weight, who’ve bought into the low fat band wagon, I have a “fat phobia”. In my search for “truth” and the optimal diet I was a vegetarian for 20 yrs. Like they say “The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions.” So now at age 59 I am on 3 different blood pressure meds, Type 2 Diabetes and 70 lbs over weight. My issue is, although I will now eat beef, chicken and fish I am not a fan of eating too much meat. My taste runs to more vegetarian. My shout out is can someone help me get into ketosis, lose weight, and stop the carb cravings with less meat protein?
Hi Mindy. Something you might consider is taking a look at the slow carb diet. I was introduced to it through Tim Ferriss’s book and it’s what I’m eating right now to lose some weight. It always works for me. I can usually expect to lose an average of 3 lbs a week, and that’s with minimal exercise (I’m a technical writer and have the luxury of sitting and staring at a computer screen all day loooonng).
Basically, you are able to incorporate plenty of legumes and beans into your diet. This should help with the cravings. But, let’s be honest, you really need to include those animal proteins and fats in there as well. You would be shocked at the amount of food I eat to consume 1500 calories daily. It’s a lot, and I stay full and satiated. It took about 5 to 7 hard days to break my addiction to empty carbs (bread, rice, potatoes, etc). Also, I start the day off with a massive amount of protein (40+ grams) and fats (20+ grams) to get going. My blood pressure looks great for my age.
Hope this helps a little. I’m not an expert by any means, but this I know: what I’m doing works. I feel fuller, better, more energetic, and think more clearly now.
Hi Mindy,
I work worth a Doctor who has 25 yrs of clinical experience under his belt and is a Naturopath MD. He views the body on a wholistic approach and uses clinically verified, scientifically proven, medical nutrition that supports and promotes the function of the body. I would gladly send you the info you are looking for that will turn your life around and put you back on the track to perfect health!
If getting into ketosis is what you want, then go with the ketogenic diet. You’ll only be consuming low-moderate protein, your carbs will be largely made up of vegetables with small amounts of nuts, seeds and fruits and the majority of calories in your diet will come from fats. Trust me on this, I used to be a vegetarian too and I ended up with systemic candida and a bunch of other issues because of it. Adjusting to fat as most of your calories can be a bit tricky at first but I end up beyond satiated and full of energy even on 1200-1500 calories some days. I make semi-homemade high fat/low carb dressings, dips, sauces and other condiments to go with my meals and keep fatty plant foods such as olives and avocados around practically at all times.
Hello. In the movie’s bonus interview with Sally Fallon she says that there is a lawsuit going on against statin promoters for targeting women. So that would have been in 2007? I cannot find information anywhere on the outcome of that lawsuit. Can you provide me any direction? Thank you.
I haven’t heard if that one went anywhere.
Saw the documentary today. Not bad. I wish it was less political and more “sciency” and/or consistent (e.g. nobody is forcing you to eat a vegetable-based diet; don’t belittle the word “expert” as there are indeed experts who are correct with their conclusions).
Being anti-government does resonate well with much of the american right. However, they may get turned off with any mention of “millions of years of human biology” as repubs are largely anti-evolution. So I wonder if that segment of the population will simply ignore that part of the documentary. Anyway….
I’ve been skeptical (on the surface without much investigation) of the paleo diet (or low-carb diet). But your results surprised me and I want to pursue such a diet. So I thank you for that.
Most Republicans are anti Evolution? This is silly on its face. I wont get into why, which should be obvious, but suffice to say it is your pro nanny state bias undoubtedly causing you to make such fatuous and self serving statements.
I can’t speak for most Republicans, but the ones I know aren’t anti-evolution or anti-science. That’s a stereotype the left loves to toss around so they can convince themselves that conservatives are conservatives because they’re stupid.
We live in one of the most conservative counties in the U.S., and evolution is taught in schools here with nobody protesting about it.
There are extremists on both sides who are so loud, they tend to drown out the majority of the reasonable, intelligent people there. Also, it’s a lot more headline-grabby to have a Sarah Palin saying that the President’s the head of a martian invasion and a Pamela Anderson saying that eating meat will make you kersplode.
I’m a liberal, but I don’t go around burning my bra. I wear it, sometimes on my head.
Addressing the pernicious idea of the fabled middle way:
“The only things that are ‘middle of the road’- yellow lines and dead armadillos” It is quite tempting to believe that one doesn’t have to choose sides. Soccer Moms are famous for not taking a stand unless it is really popular first. The dietary recommendations here are NOT middle of the road AT ALL! But it is a principled stance to stake out a position and see what happens. See for yourself, take a chance… you all know the drill. Stuff here sounds mighty interesting.
Let’s get real. Right wingers are predominately conservative Christians, who by their religious beliefs are anti evolution and science when it does not support their literal interpretation of the Bible and of course their love of dogma. What is the Republican platform built on? Preserving our Puritan founders moral obsession. Abortion, gay marriage, immigration, war on drugs, birth control, conforming, nationalistic patriotism, Xenophobia, etc. If you really believe in financial conservatism, then you must be Libertarian, not Republican.
You seem to believe all Christians interpret the Bible literally and therefore don’t believe in evolution. That simply isn’t true. I live in one of the reliably conservative counties in the country (Williamson County, TN). Evolution is taught in our local schools, and there are plenty of conservative Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, etc., around here — faiths that all accept evolution as science. (I attended Catholic schools and was taught that evolution is part of God’s plan.)
If you don’t believe liberals try to impose their version of morality on others, you are seriously deluded. Every time a liberal cries “That’s not faaiiiirrrrr!!” and demands a law to outlaw the unfairness, that’s imposing morality. The concept of “fair” is based entirely on moral beliefs. Same goes for rules about “hate speech” all the other politically correct nonsense. It’s nothing more than an attempt to impose a liberal vision of moral and acceptable behavior.
I’m a libertarian myself, but the main difference I see between conservatives imposing their morals and liberals imposing their morals is that the conservatives don’t seem to believe they’re entitled to reach into my pocket to fund their version of morality.
Wrong again, most republicans, even Christians believe in natural evolution and that we were designed to evolve to our environments. we just don’t believe in a total evolution into another species.
I’m a Republican and I think it’s healthy to be critical of government and any establishment organization. A republican is not an extremist we just simply believe in being left alone to live as we wish and not having Government involved in 100% of our lives. in other words, we want to be free.
Do you have easily accessible sources for these claims? Thanks.
Easily accessible? No. There are links in the sidebars and links in quite a few of my posts over the years. Some of the no-bologna facts come from books.
Well, you should definitely cite your sources (whether they are online or offline) if you’re going to make statements that you consider to be “facts”. Otherwise it looks unsubstantiated. Also, there may be conflicting sources that people would like to research.
There are sources linked in many, many posts, as well as in the Recommended Reading links.
Hi Tom!
Can you recommend supplements to go along a low carb diet?
Thanks!
The supplements I take are the those I’d take regardless of diet: multi-vitamin, D3, CoQ10.
Thank you for spreading the truth! I am a believer because I have seen the positive effects of a low carb diet in my own life and I have seen the inconsistencies of cholesterol levels related to stroke in my own practice as a neuro nurse. My problem is trying to find a doctor that doesn’t continue to preach the whole cholesterol BS! Do you have any suggestions or a link to a physician data base for those doctors that do not push statin drugs on everything that walks through the door?
No, sorry, I don’t have a list like that.
I don’t know about doctors who specifically won’t push statins, but here is a list of low-carb friendly doctors. Scroll down a bit, then look in the Right margin. Find your state, and hopefully you will see some names of doctors in a city near you. You can click on the names for more info. Good luck!
http://lowcarbdoctors.blogspot.com/
The Institute Of Functional Medicine has a location search by zip code and mile radius.
There is probably an Integrative Medicine Institute as well.
You could search using those key words, your county, or zip and get a list of website options.
I found an east/west MD off the Functional website and he’s on Dr. William Davis’s “page”, so to speak. Real doctoring, imho.
My daughter is on a “ketosis” diet…and has lost 15 lbs in 1 month…. 25 carbs a day & no sugar. http://www.dietdoctor.com/lose-weight-by-achieving-optimal-ketosis I have learned a lot!
OK this is disturbing me. Can Tom explain…? The poor performance on glucose tolerance tests taken by low carbers is well known and is called the Randle effect which allegedly normalises after 3-4 days of ‘normal’ carb eating. I have been curious about this. I am a fit and thin 54yo woman but a year ago thought I’d give low carbing a go for general health and to lower a slightly high (5.5) fbg. I now notice that I have become extremely carb intolerant and despite introducing more in the way of rice, fruit, yogurt to eliminate the Randle effect I remain more carb intolerant than I was before going low carb. My food choices are more restricted now – has my body ‘forgotten’ how to deal with carbs altogether and how much harm are the high blood sugars seen after say having plain yogurt and fruit doing? Could it me that in my case (and studies only seem to focus on a certain physiology) a high carb diet has done me no favours at all?
I started having a high-carb Saturday night after reading about that. Seems to do the trick.
Richard Nikoley has been writing a whole lot about adding resistant starch to the diet. RS doesn’t raise blood sugar but does seem to lower fbg. I’m going to give it a try myself soon. In the meantime, go to his freetheanimal.com site and read up. It may be what you’re looking for.
Many thanks for that. I will.
Hi, I think that what you are talking about happens if you go from very low to very high and stay there for a while. You have not permanently “forgotten” how to deal with carbs. On the contrary, you have given the Beta cells in your pancreas, the ones that make insulin, a well deserved rest.
When I wanted to stop losing weight and stay at a stable weight, I started to introduce more carbs into my diet. My blood sugar did initially shoot up, but it came down fairly rapidly as well.
You might try going more slowly, to give your body a chance to adjust– for example, having about 15 mgs of extra carb/meal, rather than an all or none approach, and having more complex carbs (like legumes and sweet potatoes), vs more simple sugars( like rice, white potatoes, and yogurt). The lower glycemic load allows your body to adjust more easily.
This has worked very well for me without completely throwing me out of ketosis, and I’m still mostly eating a Low-Carb High-Fat (LCHF on line) diet. BTW, I just had my bloodwork done for the first time since I started keto about 8 months ago. My cholesterol is about the same, triglycerides are WAY down (good), Low-Density Lipoprotein is also way down (good), and High-density Lipoprotein is way up.
My MD asked me what was I doing so that she could recommend it to other patients. Ha ha. When I told her how much easier keto was than other “fad” diets, and how I was never hungry on it, and much less crabby, she said, “Well not everyone has your discipline.” This after more than 50 years of unsuccessfully trying lots of other ways to lose weight unsuccessfully. I don’t think that my “discipline” has changed any. BTW, I am a physician myself, with type 1.5 Diabetes, and have gone off two medications thanks to keto.
So what do you make of people like me, who eat 300 g carbs per day with no ill effects or weight gain? I maintain my weight on about 2,000 cals per day, which is quite high for a 57-year-old woman. I exercise about 3 hours per week. I have (knock on wood) no health symptoms of any kind. Whenever I tried to reduce my carbs (just to see what the fuss was about) I felt physically and psychologically unsatisfied.
GB
Carb tolerance is individual. My wife and son can both eat whatever, in pretty much any amount, and never gain weight.
Do you have stats for individual’s high, medium low carb tolerance? How would the individual know which?
Best way to figure that out is to buy a glucose meter and check your glucose an hour after eating. Ideally, you’d stay below 140. Some docs say below 125 is best. If you find you’re up there in the 200 range, definitely start cutting back.
Not at all carbs are created equal in that regard, either. Wheat and white potatoes push my glucose much higher than sweet potatoes or squash, even at the same carb count. So it’s an matter of experimenting.
It is widely documented that the first 5-10 days of restricted carbs can leave you feeling less than your normal self, and for some people, headache, flu symptoms. I can say from experience that after those first few days, I feel amazing. Tons of energy, no cravings, little to no hunger between meals — which when I am keto-adapted is usually only 2 meals/day. You can’t do anything new for a couple days and give a fair assement, whether it is your diet, an exercise routine or new skin care products.
Hi Tom,
You have a great website and you have a lot of knowledge.
I have a question: About six months ago I started a low carb diet. I’ve gone from 210 to 173 lb. with a target weight of 165. Not only has my weight dropped, my lipid levels have in improved dramatically – 201 TC, 74 HDL, 55 Trig, BP 120/80.
The beauty of it is that it’s been fairly effortless. Never hungry, actually sometimes a bit overstuffed from my LC meals.
This is my issue – the main staple of my diet has been cheese. I love cheese and it sits well with me when I eat it. It makes up 65-70% of my diet.
The trouble is that I’ve read in some forums that cheese is not supposed to be eaten or lightly eaten in LC. Am I a disaster waiting to happen? Will something happen to me because I eat a lot of cheese? Should I reduce/eliminate it?
Thanks!
Cheese is supposed to eating lightly because dairy protein can raise insulin and stall weight loss. There’s also the constipation issue with too much cheese. If you’re not experiencing those problems, I say enjoy.
Cheese has a rather unbalanced mineral profile. Healthy and appropriate in moderation, but getting that much you could be getting more calcium than your body knows what to do with, and by relying on it to the exclusion of other protein foods you are likely to be short in iron and zinc.
Also, eating huge amounts of dairy every day could (according to some theories) lead you to develop allergies. Keep a lot of variety in your species (have some sheep and goat and buffalo) and make a point of being dairy-free for several days a month.
Hi Tom, I’m on a LCHF diet and wish to start interval training, consisting of three 20 seconds sprints – with a 2 minute recovery period between sprints – three times a week.
Do I need to take a post workout shake with carbohydrates to replenish glycogen?
Thanks!
For a total of 60 seconds of sprinting, I wouldn’t think so.
Hi, Tom! I have been sharing your documentary and teaching what it has taught me for the past few years. I have one question- when you started watching your carbohydrates, what was the basis for your decision to limit them to 100? Was it based on your own personal height and weight or did you just choose that number? I ask because I am wondering if 100 carbs is an okay limit with my own 1500 calorie diet.
100 grams seemed do-able on a fast-food diet. Getting down to that level also helps a lot of people lose weight more easily by lowering insulin levels. Some people aim for nearly zero, while some people (including Dr. Paul Jaminet, author of “The Perfect Health Diet”) say it’s better to get around 20% of calories from carbohydrates, which is still low, but not super-low. Jaminet believes forcing your body to produce all the glucose it needs by converting protein isn’t healthy in the long term.
He wouldn’t recommend getting those carbs from wheat buns or french fries, however.
The problem with all of this is that there are black swans on both sides of the argument (more on the low fat guys IMO than on the low carb). Low carb uses the french etc.., low fat uses Japanese etc..
The low carb guys point to how the low fat/veginazi’s try to explain away the french with wine, or cooking or whatever.
The low carb guys try to make the argument the Japanese diet really isn’t ‘low fat’.
It is, and I know from first hand experience. Fish and rice, miso soup, and lots of pickled veggies (tsukemono). My own opinion is the diet is a very poor one, and isn’t anything I would adopt willingly. They are significantly shorter (news flash) to the point that at 5’10” tall there are many places I have to duck to not hit my head on a doorway.
However, once you add meat to the diet, they get much taller. My niece is a head taller than her parents, and has always preferred meat to fish, and her case is not uncommon. So, you want to stunt your kids growth, by all means make them eat low fat diets and restrict calories.
What’s been bugging me until recently is how to reconcile their long lifespans with such a poor diet, especially considering they smoke, drink, and work long hours. Stress relief might be part of what is going on, but the amount of alcohol consumed after work on a regular basis can’t be good.
Where I’m going with this is it also points to the issue that trying to use diet studies to prove anything has been anything but easy.
It’s because you can’t control the variables, and even when you think you can they are not independent.
This is the real black swan – the underlying assumption that any of the variables in the diet/health studies are independent, when all the results are always tainted by confounding variables.
You want me to believe cholesterol, or LDL particle size matters?
Then you need to produce a graph like fig. 2 on this page:
http://www.ccjm.org/content/75/6/424.full
Doesn’t matter what risk factor you pick, exercise has the same effect, even on smoking! This is what an independent variable looks like. Best of all this is MEASURED.
I’m sure the graph of smoking vs. risk factors is similar, but I couldn’t find one.
If diet mattered and was truly an independent risk factor you should be able to produce a chart like that one. If cholesterol really mattered we’d see the same thing, but as you’ve already pointed out, we don’t.
Back to the Japanese. The one thing that is true with them is they walk, and they walk a lot. You take the train (because driving is impossible), which means walking/biking to the station, walking up and down stairs to change platforms, and walking to your office from the station, 2x a day or more. I know, I lived it.
The thing is it fits very, very well with the chart I linked to. Their physical activity is enough to offset smoking and drinking and poor diet. I believe it because I’ve got good confidence exercise has this effect regardless of the risk factor being looked at.
The bottom line is, diet doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t help much compared to exercise.
Also, anybody depriving themselves of a good bacon double cheeseburger in favor of raw vegetables…well no wonder you’re pissed off all the time and trolling.
After watching Fathead I had an aha moment. I figuired I would give the low carb diet a try. As a child I was always sickly and anemic and even as an adult my blood sugar levels was horrible always making me feel tired and ill. At the suggestion of my doctor, I went on a strict diet and reduced my protein intake and replaced it with grains and starches no fats (butter, olive oil etc)
Forget about eating bacon and eggs for breakfast. I felt so sick, I would get migraines. I could barely get out of bed in the morning and my boyfriend commented on how grumpy I was. lol. I even developed bad digestive issues that caused me to have to take medications.
Its only been a week but I find that after trying the low carb diet, I am less hungry so I don’t snack on high sugar foods. In fact I was a chocoholic but haven’t even had any cravings for it. In addition I loss 2.5 pounds in only a few weeks of starting your diet and I feel better than I have ever felt in my life and I am in my 40’s. I am telling everyone I know about your diet even my mother who is diabetic. My only regret is that I didn’t find your video and website sooner.
P.S. I also went vegetarian for a few years thinking it was the meat and animal fats that were making me sick. Big Mistake! I gained weight and felt worse than I ever did and I was only in my 20’s when I did it.
Tom, after reading your excellent review of the Perfect Health Diet, I have a question:
Dr. Jaminet recommends a diet consisting of 15% protein calories and 25% carbohydrate calories and the rest healthy fats. Are these strict percentages for protein and carbohydrates or could they be switched to 15% carbohydrate and 25% protein or any other percentage as long as 40% of my calories are a combined protein and carbs?
Thanks!
His recommended range for carbohydrates is 20% to 30%, but he also states it as 100 to 150 grams per day. I think that’s easier to track.
Tom,
Number 6 above states, “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.”
While I have no reason not to believe it, I’ve searched in vain to find any scientific references to support it. I’m trying to convince my in-laws to quit feeding my kids crap when I’m not around and some science here will help. Can you point me to any references on this? Thanks!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20329590
https://www.onnit.com/academy/mct-fats-found-in-coconut-oil-boost-brain-function/
http://www.drperlmutter.com/can-good-fats-improve-brain-function/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11724460
hey tom quick question…any plans for future documentary’s? would love more of your work.
Chareva and I are working on a book for kids (and parents) that will include a companion DVD. That will more or less be the next documentary.
What about inflammation and the consumption of red meats and other animal products such as dairy. Hasn’t inflammation been linked to heart disease and hence the ingestion of foods that cause inflammation can then be linked to heart disease?
I like eating eating meat and dairy but with heart disease in my family, mentally its tough to eat animal products because of inflammation.
Inflammation can be a problem for people who have allergies to dairy, but sugars and vegetable oils are far more inflammatory for most people.
Hi Tom.
Last night I enjoyed watching Fathead and celebrated by eating at Mcdonalds after my gym workout.
I have always kept a strict eye on my diet, following what was published in the public arena about eating cereals and vegetable oil just as you explain in your doc.
However I was impressed with the research of Professor T. Colin Campbell on animal protein and it´s links with cancer and heart disease a couple of years ago.
With the infinite amount of research and support on all types of diet available one can quite easily create a web page and support it with links and find rebuttals for any argument.
If you have the time I would be interested in your opinion on this article.(link below) The main point in your film is about saturated fats but you only briefly touched on protein in your explanation of how cholesterol is transported in the body.
How do I know whether this is another professor just waiting for his government grant or sound scientific advice?
Right now I am on the fence and it seems quite a different outcome which way I go.
Many thanks and good luck with your future projects.
IAN
http://nutritionstudies.org/fallacious-faulty-foolish-discussion-about-saturated-fat/
Campbell fed an isolated dairy protein to rats and induced cancer. (Rats don’t milk cows, and they sure a shootin’ don’t isolate the casein fraction of the protein.) From this, he concluded that protein causes cancer, ignoring the fact that rats fed whey protein (another dairy fraction) had lower rates of cancer, not higher.
He’s like most of the vegetarian zealots out there: he cherry-picks to make a case that meat will ruin your health. Not because it will, but because he thinks eating meat is immoral and he’s therefore willing to promote bad science to persuade people to give up meat. Here’s a nice summary of the many flaws in his studies:
http://www.westonaprice.org/blogs/cmasterjohn/the-curious-case-of-campbells-rats-does-protein-deficiency-prevent-cancer/
Enjoy your steak.
Tom,
That´s exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks for your great work. I will definitely enjoy that steak.
Cheers.
Ian.
Tom, how do you repair a broken metabolism? How long does it take?
Keep in mind you may never return to your previous metabolic state. But if you eliminate all sugars, grains and processed vegetable oils, you can undo much of the damage.
I’m mostly vegan ( occasional dairy product ) due to moral and ethical beliefs, so eating meat or lots of dairy is a no go for me regardless of health benefits. What kind of foods would be ideal to eat for a vegan? I do consume avocado and a variety of nuts almost daily for their fats.
If you don’t have blood-sugar issues, it’s a matter of focusing on real foods, unprocessed or minimally processed. It’s difficult to go low-carb with no meat, eggs or fish as protein sources.
Dream on.
The science is in and has been for a long time.
Plant based diet is the natural diet.
Dr Michael Greger, MD discusses diabetes and the dangers of low carb diets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es4PFR5GZTY
Low Carb vs. Plant-Based Diet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95fpzu38r44
http://nutritionfacts.org/
Best Speech You Will Ever Hear – Gary Yourofsky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4
Wow, thanks! This is all new stuff! No vegetrollians have ever made those arguments to me before, and now I see the error of my ways! Hallelujah!!
Oh, wait … turns the vegetrollians have made those weak-ass arguments before. Same ones, over and over and over, all submitted by zealots who don’t know diddly about basic science. In fact, I got tired of dealing wit the same pea-brained arguments over and over, I wrote this for y’all.
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2010/08/24/to-the-vegetarian-evangelists/
Here’s even more science:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/death-as-a-foodborne-illness-curable-by-veganism/
The dairy industry is the number one feminist issue facing our modern society.
You have to appreciate these people for their amusement value if nothing else.
Tom,
What are your thoughts on the Mediteranean diet?
Better than a standard American diet, but skip the “heart healthy” whole grains.
Have you caught the third Cereal Killers film, The Big Fat Fix? It discusses what people living on the Mediterranean actually eat, and while they do eat a bit of pasta now and then, not nearly so much as Americans typically assume.
I’ve seen the first two, but not the third.
I just wanted to give my condolences on the passing of your father. Also was sad to hear of the passing of Dr. Mary Enig. Try to have a great Christmas considering and I hope your family has a great new years.
Tom, in the Doc you share with us your weight loss and blood work numbers. Since then have you stayed eating this way? If so what are your current numbers? Thanks
Side note, my mom remembers when the Doctors used to say your cholesterol should be 240 then they went to 220 and now 200. I wonder who is behind this? hint hint… statin companies.
I’m still on a relatively low-carb diet, but without the fast food. More of a paleo-primal diet. My numbers are still good.
Hi,
My name is Yamit and i am a high school biology teacher in Israel/ I teach 9-12 grade students/
Before I made my shift to science education, I studied biochemisty on my B.A. and I did my M.A. in biology. In Israel, we are required to teach many lessons about the meaning of ” a healthy life”
I too heard about the movie “supersizeme” and saw it. I too was convinced by it and wanted to show it to my students.But then… I read about the movie on Wikipedia and there you showed up…So i googled the name of your movie and sat until 2 AM to see it/
Your movie is a true masterpiece. I really want to show your movie to my students – but the need hebrew subtitles in order to understand…
Can you help me whis this? Do you have any recommended links for teenager health education?
Thanks,
Yamit
I don’t have any way of adding Hebrew subtitles myself, but I know Fat Head was shown on TV in Israel a few years back.
Very informative. Thanks for sharing. I totally agree! Fat isn’t the heart-clogging poison the media would have us believe. I recently ran across this article that talks about fat facts http://anti-aging-today.us/fat-facts/ let me just share it to you. Just so you know. Thanks!
Tom Naughton,
I believe the No-Bologna Facts, but I want to read more details about them. Can you please post or email to me the references of scientific journals you got the information from, so I use that information in essays for college?
Thanks.
Hi, Mandy —
Back in those days, I printed the articles I found on the internet and kept them in a folder. For good sources of journal articles, I’d suggest:
1) a copy of “Good Calories, Bad Calories” — a hundred or so pages of references in the back.
2) a copy of “The Big Fat Surprise” for the same reason.
3) this site: http://healthydietsandscience.blogspot.com/
Bologna? “excess fat in the diet can also drive up blood glucose. The cells get gummed up with fat and the insulin can’t get in . Look up DR. Neal Barnard”
This was on a youtube video comment – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms2BHiv1erE
I did look up Dr. Neal Barnard and checked his published studies, but could find no concrete information on this claim. Ever heard this one Tom?
That’s a new one on me. I would take everything Bernard says with a very large grain of salt.
Hello, your documentary does not take cancer into account.
red meat is a risk factor, saturated fats are a risk factor for colorectal cancer.
Isn’t it a bit irresponsible to ignore the whole cancer problem and just say yeah eat as much meat as you like?
Perhaps you should read the blog now and then:
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2015/03/31/to-the-vegetarian-evangelists-updated/
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2015/04/02/studies-conclude-that-meat-will-kill-you-and-save-your-life/
Thank you for this Blog, I have been on the Paleo diet now for about 3 months and I have seen many changes in my body that have been very positive and I’m 60 years old. here is the list of changes that I have seen so far. 1 My Blood sugar level has dropped down so much, my doctor told me i no longer need to check my sugar levels, no more poking my finger, 2 weight loss, 20 pounds so far. 3 The biggest problem that made me try Paleo is I has serious joint inflammation problems and had to walk with a cane, today no joint pain and my cane sits in a corner collecting dust. 3 blood pressure checked last week, Doctor says my level are of a man half my age. thank you.
These attempts to scare people away from a paleo diet won’t work for exactly that reason. There are too many people like you who have experienced amazing results. Nobody is going to give a hoot what happens to mice fed a crap diet.
He’s right in the fact that most of the links between saturated fat and health problems are statistically weak. But then he goes on pretending that saturated fat can cure ADD and epilepsy in a statistically strong way. And that sugar causes cancer in a statistically strong way. Neither are true.
The truth is, most “links” between diet and health are weak and meaningless. All we can really prove is that the human body needs the right amount of calories, protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. Within that, we need a certain amount of essential fatty acids (omega-6 and omega-3) and essential amino acids.
We need to stop demonizing nutrients like saturated fat, sugar, gluten, etc. All that matters is getting the right amount of macro- and micro-nutrients.
There have been controlled experiments in which a high-fat ketogenic diet reduced or eliminated epileptic seizures. That’s not a statistical link from an observational study.
Hi Tom
My best mate got me into watching your film and I find that it’s been quite an experience besides the sarcasm and humour, we english love such comedic style.
I appreciate how you summarized the important points above. I have been eating whole food meat like chicken leaving skin on and grilled on low in oven til fat is rendered and skin is crispy. I have understood based on the film how saturated fat is good for us and cholesterol is not harmful to us. My question is, does it mean it’s ok to eat lots of saturated fat (animal based) and it’s still ok? how much is too much?
HDL & LDL should be of equal amount since too little of any one would tipple the balance, so what food do we eat for LDL?
Also exposing cholesterol to high heat is not good for us, so how high is a heat considered too high?
these are my only questions to finally perfect my understanding of my heart health.
I don’t worry about LDL. My triglycerides are low (usually around 75) and my HDL is high (usually above 60), which means my body is likely producing fluffy LDL.
One caveat: there is some evidence that saturated fats can become a problem if the diet also includes refined carbs. So skip the refined carbs, eat natural fats, and let the numbers take care of themselves.
the only carbs i take are oats and mung beans. i know oats are complex carbs, i also know that taking moderate amount is good for us to reduce blood sugar and triglyceride…so is it safe for me to say mung beans (legume) are not refined carbs too? there has been varying opinions online by atkins and then the general advices. i am pretty confused as there are always two schools going against the other’s opinions.
My test is this: does the food exist in Nature? Or does it only exist because of industrial processing? If a human living in the wild wouldn’t or couldn’t eat it without processing, it doesn’t belong on your plate.
Does processing include cooking. Cooking _is_ part of our evolution.
Depends on whose definition you use. To me, cooking is just cooking.
oh i forgot to add, i eat about 1000-1100 kcal a day i am 164cm and 87kg. am i eating too little? i dread to think i am going into that mode where body is storing everything i am eating and not losing weight after all the effort to eat less. i am 38 this year and i hope u can advise me if my BMR is really 1600 because to eat 1600kcal a day just to keep body functions sound a bit too high? Im pretty sedentary as i work in an office in front of a laptop all day
If you starve yourself, you can slow your metabolism, so I wouldn’t focus too much on cutting calories. I’d focus more on getting plenty of protein (which raises metabolism) and good nutrients from fresh vegetables, and limit the carbs to whole foods like squash, sweet potatoes, etc.
So this is not coming from a gloating point. I don’t wish ill will on anyone. But today the news came out that Prince passed away at the age of 57. I know a few of his songs, but im not a fan of his music. And so I dont know much about his personal life. But I heard he was batting the flu and wondered if it was a sign of a heart attack instead. So then the thought came in my head, I bet he was a vegetarian and so I googled it and found out he indeed was a vegan. So I guess I will not be surprised if that ends up being the case.
Being a vegan may not have been the cause, but it certainly didn’t make him bulletproof.
hi Tom
I need to lose weight and being 164cm and 87kg, and not seeing weightloss after cutting carbs off my meals, I am frustrated. I am sedentary, so if you are me, how much calories would you eat exactly given that there’s not much activity, please help give me a straight answer as I’m at my tether’s end.
Hard to say. Everyone’s metabolism is different. I wouldn’t go much below 1600 per day.
thank you
Hi I remember u mentioned abt this “there is some evidence that saturated fats can become a problem if the diet also includes refined carbs.”
does that mean having carbs and sat fat together over the course of a day or throughout for the long haul? Is it ok if I go one day purely sat fat, then the next I have a meal that has refined carbs but following day back to sat fat.. would that be bad?
by the way i did finally manage to step out of my fear for fats and upped my daily intake to 1600 and have more butter and protein with fats on.. i did start to lose weight, and so far its been 3 days and i have lost 1kg. no workout was done in these 3 days yet. just purely healthy eggs with yolks and chicken with skin on and vegetables
The problem is in combining them regularly and over the long haul, at least according to research Denise Minger quoted. I skip refined carbs pretty much entirely, but do a high-carb night on Saturday.
at the rate im losing (currently 2kg in three full days) would the body start to detect the loss and to order to self preserve, stop the fat burning?
That will depend on how much fat your body thinks it needs. Keep in mind, some people lose 150 pounds this way.
i dont recall cheese as an option in the film as a source of fat to eat… is it ok to eat cheese? i googled gruyere cheese nutritional value and carbs is at most 0.1g per 100g.. is it ok to eat cheese? i cant decide if its processed..
Cheese is fine, but dairy products do cause some people to stall on the weight loss.
hi Tom, quick question does this high fat low carb diet cause constipation? on the 4th day i had constipation til now and weight climbed back (i had mung beans and oats to help with fibre intake)
do u mind telling me if below diet is too much protein/fat to cause constipation (total approx. 1600kal)
breakfast 4 fried eggs in butter
lunch chicken grilled
snack 23 almonds
pre dinner chicken grilled
dinner 4 eggs in butter
what do u eat in a normal day
I don’t go quite that low carb, and I get more fiber in my diet. Lots of vegetables, often a small dish of tiger nuts. You can also take a magnesium citrate supplement and drink salty broths.
so u think my diet is fine just need to eat more veg?
I would try that first. Also more water, and try some salty broth.
whats a salty broth? i do make broth from pork bones and cook with white radish (white radish for anti inflammation), or i boil water with knorr chicken stock cubes in… are both salty broth?
You’d have to check the label on the chicken stock. You can always make broth and add salt or sea salt.
This page (No-bologna facts) will be gone soon. I’m re-arranging the blog.
thank you for everything, and putting up with my many endless questions
No worries. Happy to help when I can.
Hello, Tom!
Thanks for the informations!
My husband doesn’t follow a low carb diet, and he has headaches frequently.
What should he stop eating first?
Tks!
Probably grains.
The Fat Head movie sold on Amazon lists Gravitas. If I purchase it now from Amazon will you get a cut now? If yes, why not link to it on this web page? I wanted to see it on YouTube but the legit site had so many Google hoops to jump thru, I just decided to try and o be y it instead. 2 questions : 1) is there a less complicated free YouTube or online video of the movie ? 2) Do you get reimbursed if I buy the dvd thru Amazon here ? >>
https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Head-Tom-Naughton/dp/B005KGPZZO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532893059&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=fat+head+and+gravitas&dpPl=1&dpID=411MDXwLoFL&ref=plSrch
That’s a link to rent or download to purchase through Amazon Prime, not to purchase a DVD. Yes, Gravitas is our digital distributor and they pay us every quarter. Good folks. We’ll be distributing Fat Head Kids through them as well.
Does BizarroWorld include your Facebook group? I thought it was a group of humor loving people and did my best to post funny stuff there.
Stewart Mclean has been deleting my posts and booted me from Fat Head for posting humorous stuff, is that not allowed any more or just only when it’s from you?
Is Stewart showing the same dictatorial tendencies exhibited by the power mad mayors and governors that are exploiting the FAKE PANDEMIC situation to become mini Mussolini’s overcontrolling and usurping the people’s rights or is there just not a single funny bone anywhere in Stewarts curmudgeonly old body?
No humor allowed in a humor site? Now THAT’S Bizarro!
Have to admit, I don’t spend much time in the Facebook group. What kind of humorous stuff did you post?