Fat Head

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So I just watched the documentary, and it was fascinating.

Now for the brilliant conclusion. To lower my risk of heart disease, lose weight, and improve my general health, I should eat less carbohydrate and more animal fats while balancing my energy budget.

Wow has my life been a lie! What do yall think?

If that's what the experts say with statistical backup data, it is, what it is. Then, again, moderation is very important: eat a little of everything, but less of it.

Everyone food splurges on these days:

1. Birthdays

2. New Year's Eve/New Year's Day

3. Memorial Day or the 4th of July (family gatherings: cookouts)

4. Labor Day (cookouts)

5. Thanksgiving, the big one

6. Christmas Day

if i relied on so-called 'experts' to determine what i put in to my body for the sake of mere physical health, i would be a mental basket case and there would be a massive void in my soul.... the keyword when it comes to health on a holistic level is BALANCE....

good with the bad, sweet with the salty, chocolate with the cheese, water with the wine.... but i'm sure that whoever created this hogwash of a film appreciates that you are helping put their children through college....

I couldn't agree with you more.....you hit the target!

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The film makes complete sense to me though. I mean, I could see myself making the same arguments in the same film. Besides, I believe in evolution. Why would grains be a major portion of our diet if we only recently started farming? What he said about teeth is true too: vigorous chewing keeps them quite healthy.
How am I helping to put his kids through college? I didn't pay for anything. I watched it on my brother's netflix account.

the ancient peruvians actually lived on the grain quinoa.... it's so chock full of nutrients, a person can actually live their entire life on nothing but quinoa and water.... in modern western civilization, what makes grains so hard to digest (and thereby making us fat when eaten in excess) is the fact that we bleach and refine them to make them more aesthetically pleasing and easier to store.... instead of cutting out carbs altogether, you may want to try switching to whole, unbleached grains in your breads, cereals and pasta.... if carbs on their own were an issue, then you would also have to stop eating potatoes, and many fruits and vegetables.... i suggest before turning carbohydrates themselves in to the issue, that you do some research on nutrition, digestion, and how combinations of foods can inhibit digesting them properly.... the human body needs carbs for energy and the production of sugars in the body.... it might just be the way you consume them that's the issue....

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Who said I wanted or believed in cutting carbohydrates out altogether. Not even the host of Fat Head believes that. His "Saturated fat" diet includes "lots of fruits and vegetables". What I absorbed from his argument is that grains are often detrimental to the human body (in terms of inflammation for example). Cutting either carbs or meats out completely is also detrimental to the human body. If you look back to our evolution, one thing is clear: meat was a necessity. The brain is the hungriest organ in the body. Therefore, when our brain doubled in size, our appetites saw a similar change. Without meat, it was extremely difficult for Homo Habilis and Homo Erectus (the ones who saw this drastic change) to feed themselves on fruits and vegetables alone. What makes the increase in brain size more manageable was introducing meat into the diet. In fact, the current hypothesis is that the introduction of meat accompanied our brain size development. This is why I can believe that animals fats could play key roles in other parts of our health. The last time our species lived on a diet without meat was about 2 million years ago. Even then, grains were not a major portion of our diets because they just were not accessible enough. Genetically speaking, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and poultry are what our bodies are accustomed to digesting and using. Another thing to note, is that the body absorbs fruits and vegetables differently whether they are cooked or raw (their chemistry changes). To better understand what is healthy and what is not, we have to understand how the body feeds itself to keep itself healthy. What actually goes into our mouths is only half the story.

I also really like this movie in terms of other common myths he busts. For example, being thin does not equate health and vice versa. Did you only look at the ancient Peruvians to conclude that grains are healthy?

ahh.... you must be talking about people with things like fibromyalgia and celiac's disease.... i'm actually working closely with a friend of mine who was recently diagnosed with both these things along with a gazillion other food allergies, and we're trying to create a diet for her because right now she's scared to eat and everything she eats isn't all that good.... this 'fat head' film as you describe it seems to take the notion of grains in the human body to an extreme, and i personally don't buy in to the extremist eating thing.... if that were the case, i probably wouldn't eat eggs, chocolate, several types of tree nuts, grains, etc.... again: BALANCE is the keyword.... otherwize, you could take messages from these kinds of films and create psychosomatic conditions for yourself that will control how eating makes you feel.... be careful about that....

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I honestly have no idea what you are talking about, the movie seems to present pretty damn balanced diet ideas to me. His argument is that because grains cause an increase in a specific type of cholesterol which causes inflammation, grains can be connected to heart disease. He then argues the direct and strong connection between inflammation and heart disease. On top of that, he states the type of cholesterol animal fats increase in the blood vessels work against inflammation. All of this information is stated on film by scientists before he explains it in simpler language. How the hell is that extreme and how is it at all related to those diseases you present?

interesting..... i can see what you're saying about developing certain conditions if one is not balancing grains with other things, but there are foods which counteract the ill-effects of grains such as garlic, apple cider vinegar, even coffee.... celiac's disease is a condition where a person literally doesn't have the means of digesting gluten that comes from a lot of grains.... fibromyalgia is a condition which can cause extreme inflammation of the blood vessels.... gluten is like poison in both these cases, but it's just like how anyone may have allergies to certain nuts, oils, fruit enzymes, etc.... with a balanced diet in people who don't have these conditions, the ill effects of grains are not felt and we are able to extract proper nutrition from them.... what i'm saying here is probably the reason why i don't have food allergies, and can eat whatever i want without any repercussions such as weight gain or digestive problems.... it's all about BALANCE..... well, that and educating myself on the effects of the foods i eat on my body and how i can balance those effects with other complimentary foods....

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Well, in that case I don't see why you would insist on calling your approach "better" than the approach presented in "Fat Head". Your insistence on calling it "extreme" is futile; he limits his intake of grains to 100 grams a day in the diet. There is no "cutting carbs out completely" as you say. If you prefer to maintain your grain intake, and supplement that with ingredients which counteract it's inflammation effects thats fine. Just know that this does not give you the right to disrespect a different approach, which limits grains in-take (NOT fruits and vegetables) to a reasonable amount in favor of other nutrients instead. You are free to have your opinion of it, but please respect the difference in opinion.

On a somewhat un-related side-note. I DESPISE coffee with a passion. I muchly prefer tea. I do not drink it on a regular basis though. Perhaps I should start doing that to get myself to read more; connect the two behaviors. Hhhhhmmmmmm....

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I haven't seen the film, but it sounds similar to ideas in many types of eating plans, like South Beach, or the Flat Belly Solution. I am totally on board with cutting down on processed grains, like bread, cereal, biscuits, baked goods, pasta, and even a lot of rice available today. The problem with processed grains is 1) the germ is removed thus most of the nutrient, and 2) many people consume way more than they should...cereal or toast with breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, pasta and bread for dinner, etc.

Excess grain is converted to sugar, essentially, and it is the high amount of bood sugar that is a problem for a long, healthful life...especially if it is consistently high to be stored as over 30 pounds of fat and continues into diabetes, atherosclerosis, arthritis, etc.

"Excess grain is converted to sugar, essentially, and it is the high amount of bood sugar that is a problem for a long, healthful life...especially if it is consistently high to be stored as over 30 pounds of fat and continues into diabetes, atherosclerosis, arthritis, etc."

this part i agree with and disagree with.... yes, people consume WAY too many carbs.... they're simply too accessible, and a lot of people tend to base their meals around carbs like in the case of things like pasta and sandwiches.... but one thing also contributing to the high blood sugar and ensuing disease that occurs as a result is the fact that people don't exert enough physical activity to burn off the sugar.... in the age of office monkeys and couch potatoes, people are consuming all these carbs and then just sitting around.... the carbs and the sugars they produce are meant to be fuel for when we exert ourselves physically, and if we don't get off the couch or from our desks then all that sugar just becomes fat.... 50 years ago, the amount of carbs we consumed wouldn't have been such a big deal because people actually engaged in physical activity like walking places and working in more labourous jobs, but we're not like that now.... i figure if folks want to be couch potatoes, they should lay off the chips and go for some nuts or fresh fruits and vegetables instead.... one's diet should compliment their physical lifestyle, but as stated: those carbs are just way too accessible....

When I clicked on this thread, I thought there would be pictures of a penis with a large glans (a "fat head"). Misleading title...at least for me, haha.

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That combined with the fact that I am 1/4 French Canadian and 1/4 Finish means grains are not really in my genes. The ground freezes in these places over the winter, so people switched to meat during these times periods for thousands of years. Grains are in the genes of people who live in places on the equator, where the ground does not freeze and crops can grow year round.