Documentary: FED UP

[Cam Adair]

Watched this last night, it was crazy. A lot of it I already knew but to see the case laid out was really interesting. My diet is already very low in sugar or any processed foods so that's good.

[Zane]

Thanks for bringing this up! I've never seen this documentary but it looks important. It reaffirms my desire to be healthy and fit

[Cam Adair]

Feel sorry for the kids wrapped up in their parent's bad habits for sure, but to blame the companies alone for this just screams of victim status for me.

?Definitely watch the doc. It's not only the companies fault, but the food lobby has done countless things that directly hurt the ability for people to get the information they need. For example, ever looked at a label and seen the % of recommended daily dose for different vitamins, fats, etc? Ever notice that sugar doesn't have a recommended daily %? That's because of the food lobby influencing the government (the gov't is at fault here too).

When you watch the doc, you'll get angry at parents for sure, they are terribly misinformed, but you'll also see that school lunches offer pizza, french fries and fried chicken, so what do you think the kids are going to eat? (Pizza is a "vegetable" by the way, lol.)

You managed to live that way during school because you were able to become informed about nutrition, which happened (I believe) after you quit gaming and picked up a new hobby of working out -> learning about nutrition.

That's great, but it's an outlier situation. It's no different than social skills. I learned them because I became aware enough that I needed help.

The difference with food, is most of these people THINK there is nothing wrong with their diet, because of misinformation, lack of education, spin and marketing by the food industry and government.

[Zane]

?Definitely watch the doc. It's not only the companies fault, but the food lobby has done countless things that directly hurt the ability for people to get the information they need. For example, ever looked at a label and seen the % of recommended daily dose for different vitamins, fats, etc? Ever notice that sugar doesn't have a recommended daily %? That's because of the food lobby influencing the government (the gov't is at fault here too).

When you watch the doc, you'll get angry at parents for sure, they are terribly misinformed, but you'll also see that school lunches offer pizza, french fries and fried chicken, so what do you think the kids are going to eat? (Pizza is a "vegetable" by the way, lol.)

You managed to live that way during school because you were able to become informed about nutrition, which happened (I believe) after you quit gaming and picked up a new hobby of working out -> learning about nutrition.

That's great, but it's an outlier situation. It's no different than social skills. I learned them because I became aware enough that I needed help.

The difference with food, is most of these people THINK there is nothing wrong with their diet, because of misinformation, lack of education, spin and marketing by the food industry and government.

?Well said Cam!! I would add myself, that many people do know that sugar is bad for them, in the same way that people know that video games are bad for them (in their lives), but due to the nature of the problem they are addicted and can't just stop what they're doing. Especially since the body needs sustenance even more than it needs challenges/ entertainment like video games.

[TechXao]

I have a mother and a father who are both overweight with diabetes (type 1 - mom; type 2 - dad). It is hard to get them to change their habits. I guess that goes to show - we cannot change others, only inform them AND live our own lives in accordance to what we believe. My goal is to stay in shape and eat healthy my entire life to hopefully help others realize they can too!

[Cam Adair]

I have a mother and a father who are both overweight with diabetes (type 1 - mom; type 2 - dad). It is hard to get them to change their habits. I guess that goes to show - we cannot change others, only inform them AND live our own lives in accordance to what we believe. My goal is to stay in shape and eat healthy my entire life to hopefully help others realize they can too!

Yep exactly. All you can do is be an example of what you stand for in the world and hope that example inspires others.

[magicalmerlinmark]

Have you seen this? It's a very similar message but from an ozzie's point of view. You can watch the full thing on youtube.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vntLlBjOEAU

If anyone can tell how to embed a video that would be great 

Edited February 16, 2017 by magicalmerlinmark
Embed

[Senescence]

I've seen "Fed Up" and "That Sugar Film" and a lot of other food documentaries by this group of people. These two were huge disappointments to me as a nutritional sciences student. So much time is spent on one single industry, vilifying it to the max, while so much else goes ignored. In the end, it doesn't educate people about how to eat optimally. It only reinforces a message that basically everyone already knows: sugar (without being part of a whole food) is bad.

Actually, it doesn't only do that, which is my main problem with these documentaries. They also exaggerate their claims and basically slip you a conspiracy theory at the center of their message. They tell you a few facts here and there, and then proceed to feed you an entire agenda: their alternative is eating more fat, and they don't even discriminate about which fats, which is absolutely critical. What these speakers have in common in general is they advocate a low-carb diet. They feed people a false narrative that "people have been eating more carbs and less fat than ever, and look at the obesity epidemic we have now, so obviously, eating fat is what we need to be doing instead!". It's a whole bunch of nonsense. For those people who are interested in this whole debacle and want to see the bigger picture, I recommend you read these excellent articles by a very well-known and respected scientist: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/study-saturated-fat-as-ba_b_5507184.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sugar-my-position-david-l-katz-md-mph-facpm-facp-faclm
 

Edited February 19, 2017 by Senescence

[lilX]

I've seen "Fed Up" and "That Sugar Film" and a lot of other food documentaries by this group of people. These two were huge disappointments to me as a nutritional sciences student. So much time is spent on one single industry, vilifying it to the max, while so much else goes ignored. In the end, it doesn't educate people about how to eat optimally. It only reinforces a message that basically everyone already knows: sugar (without being part of a whole food) is bad.

Actually, it doesn't only do that, which is my main problem with these documentaries. They also exaggerate their claims and basically slip you a conspiracy theory at the center of their message. They tell you a few facts here and there, and then proceed to feed you an entire agenda: their alternative is eating more fat, and they don't even discriminate about which fats, which is absolutely critical. What these speakers have in common in general is they advocate a low-carb diet. They feed people a false narrative that "people have been eating more carbs and less fat than ever, and look at the obesity epidemic we have now, so obviously, eating fat is what we need to be doing instead!". It's a whole bunch of nonsense. For those people who are interested in this whole debacle and want to see the bigger picture, I recommend you read these excellent articles by a very well-known and respected scientist: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/study-saturated-fat-as-ba_b_5507184.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sugar-my-position-david-l-katz-md-mph-facpm-facp-faclm
 

do you have recommendations for resources on what a healthy diet would look like?

[Senescence]

I've seen "Fed Up" and "That Sugar Film" and a lot of other food documentaries by this group of people. These two were huge disappointments to me as a nutritional sciences student. So much time is spent on one single industry, vilifying it to the max, while so much else goes ignored. In the end, it doesn't educate people about how to eat optimally. It only reinforces a message that basically everyone already knows: sugar (without being part of a whole food) is bad.

Actually, it doesn't only do that, which is my main problem with these documentaries. They also exaggerate their claims and basically slip you a conspiracy theory at the center of their message. They tell you a few facts here and there, and then proceed to feed you an entire agenda: their alternative is eating more fat, and they don't even discriminate about which fats, which is absolutely critical. What these speakers have in common in general is they advocate a low-carb diet. They feed people a false narrative that "people have been eating more carbs and less fat than ever, and look at the obesity epidemic we have now, so obviously, eating fat is what we need to be doing instead!". It's a whole bunch of nonsense. For those people who are interested in this whole debacle and want to see the bigger picture, I recommend you read these excellent articles by a very well-known and respected scientist: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/study-saturated-fat-as-ba_b_5507184.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sugar-my-position-david-l-katz-md-mph-facpm-facp-faclm
 

do you have recommendations for resources on what a healthy diet would look like?

Certainly. The number one place I would start with is the website http://NutritionFacts.org. It contains a wealth of information. You can even navigate it by topic here if you're interested in specifics: http://nutritionfacts.org/topics. (When I was very ill, I used this feature to find videos about my illness and to try to reverse it with diet.) The most important factor when you are searching for educational material is to find people who do not have a financial interest; who don't have something to sell you for personal gain. The web is full of websites giving conflicting information because the people behind them are usually bought by industry, poorly educated, or they have products to sell. NF.org is non-profit, run by a board-certified family doctor who specializes in clinical nutrition. The only thing the website sells is basically the culmunation of all the research on the website put into a book, and the proceeds are 100% donated to charity. The doctor who runs the site reviews all of the medical literature and gives you the best recommendations based on the best current scientific evidence, which you can review yourself because all links are provided under 'sources cited' for every video (I use sci hub in order to have access to the paid papers if I want to have a closer look).

For the basics: Eat a "plant-strong" diet. That means you want to eat whole plant foods, as much as you can manage. Minimize or completely avoid processed, refined foods, as well as animal products. You can look at what an optimal diet (and supplement regime) would look like according to the evidence here: http://nutritionfacts.org/2011/09/12/dr-gregers-2011-optimum-nutrition-recommendations/ . Note: It's important not to confuse this nutritional paradigm with veganism, as is often done. Veganism is an ethic that encompasses far more than just food. Plant-based eating is solely concerned with the science behind eating this way for health. Some people who eat this way are vegans, while others are not. It's generally accepted that according to the evidence we have right now, you might be able to have about 95% of your diet being whole plant foods while 5% isn't and still have the same benefits as those who take it to 100%. Again, this is for optimal health and longevity only. Some people don't care to add a couple years to their lives and so to those people I'd say, aim for at least 70%-80%.

I'd also recommend watching the documentary "Forks Over Knives". The website also has a lot of good articles, success stories, and recipes. https://www.forksoverknives.com/articles/
https://www.forksoverknives.com/category/success-stories/

Two other great doctors whose work I value a lot are Dr. Joel Furhman and Dr. Garth Davis. You can look up their videos on YouTube. Ray Cronise is also very much worth listening to, but he delves into a few more things like cold thermogenesis and fasting in order to maximize healthspan. This is pretty advanced stuff. http://hypothermics.com/

Edited March 9, 2017 by Senescence