{"id":2999,"date":"2011-05-28T12:56:02","date_gmt":"2011-05-28T18:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/?p=2999"},"modified":"2011-05-28T12:59:44","modified_gmt":"2011-05-28T18:59:44","slug":"this-is-why-we-do-what-we-do-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/2011\/05\/28\/this-is-why-we-do-what-we-do-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is Why We Do What We Do (Part Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I received one of those <\/em>hate mails this week, full of the usual brilliant observations:\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Your film was obviously paid for by McDonald\u2019s \u2026 Super Size Me was awesome and a really important film because it alerted people to the dangers of fast food \u2026 your on-camera experts must be beef-industry hacks if they say saturated fat isn\u2019t bad for you \u2026 you think you\u2019re funny but you\u2019re not, you\u2019re just really annoying \u2026 your film sucked so bad, I stopped watching before the end \u2026 etc., etc., etc<\/em>.<\/p>\n

People have asked me how I deal with those hate mails.\u00a0 The answer:\u00a0 I laugh them off, and find it increasingly easy to do so.\u00a0 Because while I know Morgan Spurlock has plenty of die-hard fans and admirers, I\u2019ll bet you dollars to donuts (and you can keep the donuts) he never received a letter along the lines of:<\/p>\n

————————————————————-<\/p>\n

Dear Morgan,<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for making Super Size Me.\u00a0 After watching it, I finally understood what\u2019s been wrong with my diet all these years.\u00a0 Like you, I was eating three huge meals at McDonald\u2019s every day, along with several desserts and a couple of milkshakes.\u00a0 It never occurred to me that eating this way could make me fat and sick, so I just kept doing it and getting bigger and bigger year after year.\u00a0 It was really frustrating.<\/p>\n

Then in your wonderful film, you explained to me that I\u2019m really, really fat and stupid, but it\u2019s not my fault because McDonald\u2019s should have taken more responsibility for my eating habits by not offering me so much food.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s hope.\u00a0 Thanks to your efforts, perhaps someday McDonald\u2019s will stop selling sodas, french fries, desserts and milkshakes, and then I\u2019ll be able to stop stuffing myself with them.\u00a0 In the meantime, I know my lousy diet isn\u2019t my fault — it\u2019s theirs.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how much better that makes me feel about myself.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d also like to thank you for explaining my post-meal puking problem.\u00a0 About 20 minutes after every meal, I puke violently.\u00a0 I thought it was some kind of serious medical condition.\u00a0 Then I saw how you puked after stuffing yourself at McDonald\u2019s and began to wonder if perhaps it\u2019s the food that\u2019s causing my puking.\u00a0 When you showed a close-up of your own puke with bits of french fries sticking out, I knew for sure it must be the food.\u00a0 It\u2019s a real comfort knowing I probably don\u2019t have stomach cancer or something like that, so the puking no longer worries me so much.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,
\nOne of the really fat and stupid people you care so much about<\/p>\n

————————————————————-<\/p>\n

Yeah, I\u2019m pretty sure that letter has never been sent.\u00a0 If Spurlock did receive a sincere fan letter, it would be something like:<\/p>\n

Dear Morgan,<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for confirming my cherished beliefs that McDonald\u2019s is evil and fat people are stupid.\u00a0 Now and then I feel a need to be reminded of my own superiority.\u00a0 Your film did the trick nicely.<\/em><\/p>\n

Around the same time I received the hate mail mentioned above, I also received this message from a gentleman named Cary:<\/p>\n

————————————————————-<\/p>\n

Dear Tom,<\/p>\n

Where do I even begin? I don\u2019t want this letter to turn into a novella so I will attempt to limit my typical long-windedness.\u00a0 I was always a guy with an average-looking build. I\u2019ve never been muscular and really never had the desire to be so. My frame was more typical of a lean, athletic basketball player. I was always fairly active until moving from Ohio to Georgia 12 years ago. After moving here, I became less and less active. That change to a sedentary lifestyle combined with my general poor eating habits quickly caught up with me in my early thirties.<\/p>\n

For the past seven or eight years I have struggled mightily with my weight, general mood, and energy level. I\u2019ve tried numerous diet plans and exercise routines with limited-to-no results. If anyone tried to categorize my frame of mind about this uninterrupted string of failures, the word \u201cfrustration\u201d would be an understatement. I have chided myself so many times because I couldn\u2019t lose weight or because I didn\u2019t have the energy to exercise.<\/p>\n

Basically, for the past 5 years I\u2019ve felt like a \u201cfat cow\u201d with no motivation or energy to do much of anything to change my situation. I mean, I limited my calories and ate lots of carbs (you know\u2026 \u201cyour body\u2019s fuel source\u201d according to the so-called \u201cnutrition experts\u201d). And yet I felt tired ALL THE TIME. It didn\u2019t matter how much sleep I got, I was ALWAYS exhausted upon waking. I went to see a sleep specialist because I thought I might have sleep apnea. Nope. I had my thyroid checked because of my weight gain. No problems there. I was at a complete loss as to why I went from an active 190 pound guy with tons of energy to a lazy 266 pound guy with no energy. For the past few years I\u2019ve been rationalizing to myself that it was simply a product of \u201cgetting older.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then in mid-April I was on the Netflix website looking over their recommendations for me and your documentary \u201cFat Head\u201d was listed. I read the brief description and it piqued my interest. I noticed that it was available through the Instant View so I added it to my queue and watched it later that week.<\/p>\n

Watching your film was one of those ultra-rare moments in a person\u2019s life when the vastness of the entire universe seems to scrunch together to form a lens of lucidity through which one can view the senselessness and mysteries of life with complete and life-altering clarity. Over and over again you and your interviewees made points and revealed facts and used human biology and physiology to explain things. Being a science geek, this caused me to become absolutely transfixed on your film. As more and more information was presented, a smile of empowerment and discovery kept involuntarily finding its way onto my face. I couldn\u2019t believe what I was seeing and hearing. This was way too good to be true. It\u2019s as if you made this documentary with me specifically in mind.<\/p>\n

After the film had ended I sat there on the couch with an overwhelming sense of hope and resolution for what seemed like an hour. THE VERY NEXT MORNING I changed my diet to match the one you practiced in the film \u2013 meats, cheeses, vegetables, lots of saturated fats, and hardly any sugars, carbs, starches or the like. I\u2019m eating meals that fill me up and that I ENJOY! No more disgusting \u201cdiet food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the first three days I noticed a serious change in my mood and energy level. Rather than feeling run down and tired I was feeling awake, alive, alert, focused, and energetic. I began exercising to get rid of the excess energy I had\u2026 and I\u2019ve been exercising four or five days a week for 60-90 minutes each session ever since! And that still doesn\u2019t tire me out! I am overflowing with energy now. I never wake up tired any more. I feel full between meals instead of feeling hungry all the time. I used to snore\u2026 not anymore! I\u2019ve had an embarrassing facial skin \u201ccondition\u201d for the past six or seven years\u2026 it\u2019s almost completely GONE! And in the first month of this lifestyle change I\u2019ve lost 20 pounds! If anyone had told me 6 weeks ago that something like this could happen, I\u2019d have told them they were certifiably crazy.<\/p>\n

Tom, I don\u2019t know how else to say this except to say that YOU HAVE GIVEN ME MY LIFE BACK. I can\u2019t begin to put a price on what you have done for me. I\u2019ve been sharing your worldview-changing documentary with everyone who will listen to me. I\u2019m eagerly awaiting the continued transformation of my body and mind back to what it was before I started doing what the \u201cexperts\u201d told me to do.<\/p>\n

Tom, from the deepest depths of my mind and soul\u2026 THANK YOU!<\/p>\n

Cary<\/p>\n

————————————————————-<\/p>\n

Maybe it was Cary’s obvious sincerity, maybe it\u2019s that I have my own clear memories of feeling like a frustrated “fat cow,” or maybe I just happened to read this one at the right moment, but by the time I read the last line, I had a lump in my throat.<\/p>\n

This is why we do what we do<\/em> \u2026 and it\u2019s why anyone who thinks he\u2019s going to wound my ego with a snarky little hate mail is dreaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I received one of those hate mails this week, full of the usual brilliant observations:\u00a0 Your film was obviously paid for by McDonald\u2019s \u2026 Super Size Me was awesome and… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-reviews","category-random-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3008,"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions\/3008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}