Fat Head (Movie)

Diet and Nutrition
1

For those of you who have seen FatHead (Fat Head – The Movie – Fat Head)
Netflix: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fat_Head/70115017?trkid=2361637#height1794

The documentary shows a man (tom naughton) adopting a fast food diet for a month while trying to lose weight, not gain weight (super size me). He limits his calorie intake and carb intake and ends up losing 12lbs, and improves his blood pressure and cholesterol. He loses 3% of his bodyfat.

He spends the first 30 minutes basically mocking super size me for blaming fast food for making people fat. Emphasizes personal control and responsibility. He can be condescending but its pretty funny.

Eventually he begins talking with scientists about the lipid hypothesis (high fat diets cause high cholesterol which cause heart disease) and how it is a scam. How high carb diets affect the body etc. I thought it was pretty interesting. It doesn’t exactly line up with mainstream beliefs within TNation but I thought it was good.

2

It brought up some interesting points, and was worth the watch in my opinion.

3

Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.

4

Yes, a very good movie. One of the better food docs I have seen.
You can watch the entire film for free on Hulu:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/196879/fat-head

5

The problem I have with either of the mentioned documentaries, or any controlled experiment involving food, is that the experiments can’t take into effect normal behaviors. For example, I’m sure a study could show that very small doses of cocaine are not extremely harmful to the body - but so what? People out in the real world dont stick to “small amounts of cocaine”, they do it to get high, and progressively need more and more.

Likewise, the majority of people eat until they feel full. Proving that you can eat fast food on a strict diet doesn’t mean much out in the real world where people are eating fast food without careful consideration of their calories/carb/fat/protein intake.

6

cappedandplanit- I agree it does have its faults. More people will take this as an excuse to hit mcdonalds than to watch their diets more closely. But it definitely tears apart a lot of the shit diets people try over and over again. I used it to convince my parents they should lower their carb intake.

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[quote]Petermus wrote:
cappedandplanit- I agree it does have its faults. More people will take this as an excuse to hit mcdonalds than to watch their diets more closely. [/quote]

Right, and that’s really important. It baffles me how people don’t see how important that is.

I’m taking a Concepts of Health and Fitness class and the teacher keeps saying pizza can count in the fruits/vegetable group (along with other groups) because of the sauce.

I wrote, on one lab, “Tomato sauce is not a vegetable any more than a wooden chair is still a ‘chair’ after being processed by a wood chipper.”

My problem, obviously, is that I know some fat student is going to eat a few slices of pizza thinking “Hey, my teacher said this counts as a vegetable!”

8

I think the most significant point made throughout the documentary is that our FDA approve diet is total shit. Skinny, fat, man , women…its shit for everyone. I was discussing the documentary with my parents (in their 60s) and they were saying as children…your parents told you not to eat to much bread, don’t drink all the milk (one glass for breakfast, one for dinner) and don’t eat between meals. It was a big deal to spoil your supper. So we were doing it right!

And then the government decided to take charge. People don’t like the “its the governments fault” pieces of this documentary but I think he makes valid points. Even the clip from the senate meeting shows a scientist pleading with them not to declare fat and cholesterol are related before the research is finished… They claimed that the senate believed the scientists were paid off by dairy and egg companies but they were all biased themselves. Now doctors are declaring everyone should take cholesterol drugs! Fucking pandering to the pharmaceutical industry when there is no proof, only proof against their conclusions. Which fucking pisses me off.

9

I watched the Fathead documentary and thought he was thought provoking. Tom talks about how Spulock didn’t provide a food log for what he ate each day, but I searched and haven’t been able to find Tom’s food log either… interesting!

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I just watched SuperSize Me and I couldn’t even watch all of it. He was purposely eating like shit and overdoing it and acting surprised that sitting around and eating about 4,000cals above maintenance led to him gaining about 20lbs of fat.

He was shoving DOUBLE quarterpounders down his throat and then throwing back up. If I eat something like that now (which is rare) I am eating it because I WANT the calories.

You can eat fucking salad at Mc Donald’s and not end up gaining 20lbs or more in a month.

11

[quote]bizeb02 wrote:
I watched the Fathead documentary and thought he was thought provoking. Tom talks about how Spulock didn’t provide a food log for what he ate each day, but I searched and haven’t been able to find Tom’s food log either… interesting! [/quote]

http://fathead-movie.com/content/MyFoodLog.htm

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[quote]Professor X wrote:
I just watched SuperSize Me and I couldn’t even watch all of it. He was purposely eating like shit and overdoing it and acting surprised that sitting around and eating about 4,000cals above maintenance led to him gaining about 20lbs of fat.

He was shoving DOUBLE quarterpounders down his throat and then throwing back up. If I eat something like that now (which is rare) I am eating it because I WANT the calories.

You can eat fucking salad at Mc Donald’s and not end up gaining 20lbs or more in a month.

[/quote]

And how many people that went and saw that movie do you think actually took note of that? Or isn’t it just easier to blame the fast-food?

Next up, I’m waiting for a documentary about some guy who eats nothing but organic meals from Whole Foods or something, but eats atrociously and fucks up his health, too. Now that would really fuck with everyone’s minds!..like my friends who think a pesto pizza is “healthy” because they ordered it from the “Natural Cafe” and it doesn’t have all that colon-rotting meat. Or my friend who literally believes that unhealthy items do not exist at Trader Joe’s.

13

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
I just watched SuperSize Me and I couldn’t even watch all of it. He was purposely eating like shit and overdoing it and acting surprised that sitting around and eating about 4,000cals above maintenance led to him gaining about 20lbs of fat.

He was shoving DOUBLE quarterpounders down his throat and then throwing back up. If I eat something like that now (which is rare) I am eating it because I WANT the calories.

You can eat fucking salad at Mc Donald’s and not end up gaining 20lbs or more in a month.

[/quote]

And how many people that went and saw that movie do you think actually took note of that? Or isn’t it just easier to blame the fast-food?

Next up, I’m waiting for a documentary about some guy who eats nothing but organic meals from Whole Foods or something, but eats atrociously and fucks up his health, too. Now that would really fuck with everyone’s minds!..like my friends who think a pesto pizza is “healthy” because they ordered it from the “Natural Cafe” and it doesn’t have all that colon-rotting meat. Or my friend who literally believes that unhealthy items do not exist at Trader Joe’s.
[/quote]

He purposely misrepresented that franchise in an effort to act like people are free of personal responsibility. They serve chicken breasts at Mc Donald’s. You can easily ask for them to leave the bread off a sandwhich or order it with no mayo. NO ONE in their right mind would go into Mc Donald’s and gorge themselves on high calorie food with no activity until they gain 20lbs or more in a month and then act like Mc Donald’s did it to them.

What sucks even more…is that he got rich from doing that.

There are very few places that are “fast food” where you can’t eat ANYTHING that is relatively low cal and low sat fat…which means if you gained 5 inches on your waist from Micky D’s…blame that guy who bought the food and fed it you.

He also kept hyping the food pyramid…which is grossly outdated.

I guess if the average viewer is some hugely fat person looking for someone to blame for why they can’t get up anymore, then this movie will satisfy you.

If it weren’t for NetFlix, I never would have seen this garbage.

14

What I hated most about SuperSize Me the most was all that vegan/vegetarian propaganda.

Then he makes some weird correlation between saturated fat consumption and sexual performance. Apparently a diet high in saturated fat will lead to erectile dysfunction.

15

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
I just watched SuperSize Me and I couldn’t even watch all of it. He was purposely eating like shit and overdoing it and acting surprised that sitting around and eating about 4,000cals above maintenance led to him gaining about 20lbs of fat.

He was shoving DOUBLE quarterpounders down his throat and then throwing back up. If I eat something like that now (which is rare) I am eating it because I WANT the calories.

You can eat fucking salad at Mc Donald’s and not end up gaining 20lbs or more in a month.

[/quote]

And how many people that went and saw that movie do you think actually took note of that? Or isn’t it just easier to blame the fast-food?

Next up, I’m waiting for a documentary about some guy who eats nothing but organic meals from Whole Foods or something, but eats atrociously and fucks up his health, too. Now that would really fuck with everyone’s minds!..like my friends who think a pesto pizza is “healthy” because they ordered it from the “Natural Cafe” and it doesn’t have all that colon-rotting meat. Or my friend who literally believes that unhealthy items do not exist at Trader Joe’s.
[/quote]

He purposely misrepresented that franchise in an effort to act like people are free of personal responsibility. They serve chicken breasts at Mc Donald’s. You can easily ask for them to leave the bread off a sandwhich or order it with no mayo. NO ONE in their right mind would go into Mc Donald’s and gorge themselves on high calorie food with no activity until they gain 20lbs or more in a month and then act like Mc Donald’s did it to them.

What sucks even more…is that he got rich from doing that.

There are very few places that are “fast food” where you can’t eat ANYTHING that is relatively low cal and low sat fat…which means if you gained 5 inches on your waist from Micky D’s…blame that guy who bought the food and fed it you.

He also kept hyping the food pyramid…which is grossly outdated.

I guess if the average viewer is some hugely fat person looking for someone to blame for why they can’t get up anymore, then this movie will satisfy you.

If it weren’t for NetFlix, I never would have seen this garbage.[/quote]

Gonna have to disagree with you here. Fast food is part of the problem (part, not whole).

You can beat the “personal responsibility” drum all you want, its never going to change the fact that the vast majority of any population is not going to strictly diet while passing up more desirable (but less healthy) foods.

Take a group of people from Europe, put them in America. Most gain weight. Take a group of people from America, to Europe. Most will lose weight. Its environmental - something fast food is a part of.

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[quote]therajraj wrote:
What I hated most about SuperSize Me the most was all that vegan/vegetarian propaganda.

Then he makes some weird correlation between saturated fat consumption and sexual performance. Apparently a diet high in saturated fat will lead to erectile dysfunction.[/quote]
Odd, saturated fats increase my libido…and i’m 20. That’s gotta count for something.

17

[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Gonna have to disagree with you here. Fast food is part of the problem (part, not whole).[/quote]

Except the message of “SuperSize Me” was NOT that fast food is merely PART of the problem. It was an exploitation film using scare tactic to make fast food seem like the primary culprit. What did that documentary really accomplish?

Did it take down McDonalds and smear its reputation for the better? Are less people eating there now? Hell no.

Did it teach how to intelligently and responsibly plan healthy meals in a variety of contexts, including when you’re “forced” to eat fast food. Absolutely not. He went out of his way to eat the worst things.

Did it entertain? Very cheaply at best. Like watching people eat bugs or pig’s testicles on “Fear Factor.”

So what was the point? What was the message? I don’t need to watch this disgusting shit for 100 min to know that eating like that WILL MAKE ANYBODY FATTER.

[quote]
You can beat the “personal responsibility” drum all you want, its never going to change the fact that the vast majority of any population is not going to strictly diet while passing up more desirable (but less healthy) foods. [/quote]

Exactly. So why make retarded ass documentary drilling this notion into the ground considering only the worst case scenario? Scare tactic is not going to change that fact either.

[quote]
Take a group of people from Europe, put them in America. Most gain weight. Take a group of people from America, to Europe. Most will lose weight. Its environmental - something fast food is a part of.[/quote]

I personally hate this argument, especially if coming from one who has never stepped foot in europe. Americans in european setting would also lose muscle, start smoking, and become malnourished and shorter on average. They are not better for it. One thing that’s lacking in both worst case scenarios is TAKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT YOU INGEST. BTW, Europe has McDonalds as well. So you’re argument falls short there.

18

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Gonna have to disagree with you here. Fast food is part of the problem (part, not whole).[/quote]

Except the message of “SuperSize Me” was NOT that fast food is merely PART of the problem. It was an exploitation film using scare tactic to make fast food seem like the primary culprit. What did that documentary really accomplish?

Did it take down McDonalds and smear its reputation for the better? Are less people eating there now? Hell no.

Did it teach how to intelligently and responsibly plan healthy meals in a variety of contexts, including when you’re “forced” to eat fast food. Absolutely not. He went out of his way to eat the worst things.

Did it entertain? Very cheaply at best. Like watching people eat bugs or pig’s testicles on “Fear Factor.”

So what was the point? What was the message? I don’t need to watch this disgusting shit for 100 min to know that eating like that WILL MAKE ANYBODY FATTER.

[quote]
You can beat the “personal responsibility” drum all you want, its never going to change the fact that the vast majority of any population is not going to strictly diet while passing up more desirable (but less healthy) foods. [/quote]

Exactly. So why make retarded ass documentary drilling this notion into the ground considering only the worst case scenario? Scare tactic is not going to change that fact either.

I never said Supersize Me was a good documentary. Yeah, it was over the top. Thats how it got attention.

Americans who move to europe get shorter? Ok, maybe they start smoking - but you’re aruging my point exactly, there… people tend to go with whatever is easier/“normal” in the environtment they’re in. I never said the displaced Americans “suddenly become much healthier in every way”, just that they lose weight.

Does Europe have McDonalds, Wendys, Taco Bell, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, etc, on every street? Is all the food in Europe packed to the balls with HFCS and hydrogenated oils? Didnt Europe ban trans fats?

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[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
I never said Supersize Me was a good documentary. Yeah, it was over the top. Thats how it got attention.

Americans who move to europe get shorter? Ok, maybe they start smoking - but you’re aruging my point exactly, there… people tend to go with whatever is easier/“normal” in the environtment they’re in. I never said the displaced Americans “suddenly become much healthier in every way”, just that they lose weight.

Does Europe have McDonalds, Wendys, Taco Bell, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, etc, on every street? Is all the food in Europe packed to the balls with HFCS and hydrogenated oils? Didnt Europe ban trans fats?[/quote]

Haha. No, I do not believe Americans will magically start shrinking. I meant over several generations due to the environment.

Europe does not have fast food on every street. And I believe they don’t have the items you listed. They do have mcdonalds, and at least through most of Europe, there are bakeries/cafes on every street. A documentary could be made just as easily on someone indulging in all the European goodies and sending their health to hell. The reason they are thinner, is because overeating is less culturally acceptable, so they eat less on average. Still doesn’t change the fact that they are malnourished. So yes, we’re agreeing on this point. Most people will follow everyone around them, so what do you personally recommend as a solution? You have already indicated you don’t think the “personal responsibility” card is valid.

20

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
I never said Supersize Me was a good documentary. Yeah, it was over the top. Thats how it got attention.

Americans who move to europe get shorter? Ok, maybe they start smoking - but you’re aruging my point exactly, there… people tend to go with whatever is easier/“normal” in the environtment they’re in. I never said the displaced Americans “suddenly become much healthier in every way”, just that they lose weight.

Does Europe have McDonalds, Wendys, Taco Bell, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, etc, on every street? Is all the food in Europe packed to the balls with HFCS and hydrogenated oils? Didnt Europe ban trans fats?[/quote]

Haha. No, I do not believe Americans will magically start shrinking. I meant over several generations due to the environment.

Europe does not have fast food on every street. And I believe they don’t have the items you listed. They do have mcdonalds, and at least through most of Europe, there are bakeries/cafes on every street. A documentary could be made just as easily on someone indulging in all the European goodies and sending their health to hell. The reason they are thinner, is because overeating is less culturally acceptable, so they eat less on average. Still doesn’t change the fact that they are malnourished. So yes, we’re agreeing on this point. Most people will follow everyone around them, so what do you personally recommend as a solution? You have already indicated you don’t think the “personal responsibility” card is valid. [/quote]

Raise food standards. Ban trans fats. Tax sugar, use the money to subsidize vegetables.

I know it wont happen, but one can dream, yeah?