"What the Health" Netflix film - thoughts?

The simpletons who say "A calorie is a calorie" or "just eat less, exercise more", need to watch this, and stop judging people who are struggling with their health:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3oI104STzs

Obesity is NOT the cause of diabetes, it is a symptom of the underlying metabolic disease.

Alactic wrote:

Obesity is NOT the cause of diabetes, it is a symptom of the underlying metabolic disease.

Metabolic disease is caused by weight gain. The media is full of diabetes ja metabolic disease stuff because people in the US have gotten so incredibly fat. If you are a fit runner that stuff has little to do with you. The good old elevated cholesterol can still kill you though. Those metabolic disease people are walking(or not even walking) health disasters. They have many other problems in addition to high cholesterol.

Mooiiiisssttt wrote:

Meh. Humans have a long evolutionary history as omnivores. We are blessed with the flexibility to eat a varied diet. I have no issue with vegetarians in their different permutations, except for their sometimes moralizing and patronizing attitudes and behavior. I have gone through periods of eating that way but have never committed to it. I see it like I see running. I love running, which may or may not be keeping me healthier and happier than I would otherwise be, and which may or may not add or delete years from my life. Those who eat plant-based diets should do it because they love it and not assume it will add years to their lives, nor that it makes them somehow more virtuous than the rest of us.

Totally agree. I've always been an omnivore with a taste for salads, steak, chicken, broccoli, salmon, granola, yogurt, fried catfish, the occasional BBQ, granola. Last time I blew out a disc and was forced to stop running, I gained 5 pounds in 5 weeks.

This time, I resolved not to do that. About a month ago--one week before blowing out my disc for a second time--I spent four days on an organic farm in Ontario, teaching at a music workshop. We ate mostly vegan. Lots of beans, salads, tahini. No meat for four days. I enjoyed every minute, never missed meat, felt great, came home, and said, "Time to cook some new things." I got a copy of "Forks Over Knives," the magazine that was an outgrowth of the film. I started cooking stuff, starting with a lentil vinaigrette salad that I've always loved when I found it in airport grab-and-go places.

Then I f--ked up my disc, on vacation. So I came home and really went to town on plant-based recipes.

I've lost a pound and a half in the past three weeks, eating mostly vegetarian/vegan. I've made that lentil salad, green Thai chickpea curry, a quinioa/black-bean thing from Matt Fitzgerald's running-based cookbook (a must-read), two kinds of hummus that I found online (just google whatever you're hoping to find and you'll find crowdsourced recipes that everybody swears by), three-bean chili (too much tomato & tomato paste, so I modified it in various ways).

I refuse to make food a focus of fundamentalist energies. It's not, and shouldn't be, a religion. Moist is right: we have a long prehistory and history as omnivores. I ate fried catfish on Sunday and had a strip of bacon this morning--because my wife left it for me. But I haven't had steak, or salmon, or much chicken (just a little)--in the past month. I've eaten a lot more beans. I've had--cooked!--quinoa for the first time, and learned how to pronounce it.

And it's all good. I've also started buying organic produce, whenever available, but I don't waste a millisecond obsessing about my virtue when organic produce is NOT available. I've just decided to walk on the wild side.

And I've lost weight, runner boys, not gained it, and while NOT running because of injury. Age 59. That is worth thinking about. I'm just saying.

Forks over knives. Plant-based, with some fried catfish around the edges.

Alactic wrote:

stop judging people who are struggling with their health:

Why? Everything else is judged too: ugly people are judged, unemployed are judged, old people are judged, poor people are judged, etc.

If some fat ass millionaire comes and judges me as a poor person for example, I will definitely judge him back as an unhealthy and ugly person. :)

Curiouser and Curiouser wrote:

2/3 of U.S. fat consumption is from vegetable oils. Saturated fat consumption is way down, while obesity and diabetes has skyrocketed. All since government recommendations to cut fat:

And Americans' overalll fat consumption went up. Breaking news: we don't pay any attention to government dietary recommendations.

You haven't watched the link. Enjoy your ignorance.

dietss wrote:

Alactic wrote:

Obesity is NOT the cause of diabetes, it is a symptom of the underlying metabolic disease.

If you are a fit runner that stuff has little to do with you.

Your head is firmly under the sand.

You are absolutely wrong. I was pre-diabetic a few years ago until I reversed course on my diet. One of the top masters runners in the country just posted here the other day that he is pre-diabetic. This despite being the skinniest of his life, avoiding fats, etc.. His situation will be happening more and more: extremely fit older athletes with diabetes. Dr. Mark Cucuzzella was top masters runner in the same boat, but adopted a low-carb/high fat diet and reversed the problem.

Metabolic disease is brought on by carbohydrates, especially processed like grains, and by processed vegetable and seed oils. Compromised gut flora (due to antibiotics and other factors) play a major role as well. Fortunately the house of cards built by big business and government around this issue is collapsing with every new, genuinely scientific study.

And cholesterol is essential for life, too little will kill you.

Based on purely anecdotal evidence, many female vegans I know are skinny fat. I am a female and I love red meat for its iron and protein. I won't give it up. I also drink tons of milk, 2% or whole. I'm pretty lean with a BMI of 19.

Caster-ation Nation wrote:

You forgot this one:

https://images.nature.com/full/nature-assets/nature/journal/v482/n7383/images/482027a-i2.0.jpg

ntsa wrote:

Diet in world (bluer is higher % carbs):

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cof07HmUAAAlWAt.jpg

Obesity in world (bluer is less obesity):

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/22/24F07BA800000578-2920219-Graphic_shows_an_epidemic_of_obesity_across_most_of_the_U_S_Euro-a-18_1421927991256.jpg

Why the hell is south Africa so fat

I call this SVG (Seattle Vegan Gut)Young women bouncing between hot yoga and Whole Foods with their (100% organic) beer guts. All the grains they scarf make abdominal fat instead of a more flattering subcutaneous layer.

Runtowin2018 wrote:

Based on purely anecdotal evidence, many female vegans I know are skinny fat. I am a female and I love red meat for its iron and protein. I won't give it up. I also drink tons of milk, 2% or whole. I'm pretty lean with a BMI of 19.

Somebody here said he had prediabetes based on one fasting glucose measurement that was under 6.

1. Prediabetes is not a disease, only a sign of possible future problems.

2. With fasting glucose under 6, it is not even clear he had prediabetes.

3. There is no need to avoid good fats if you are thin.

There is no such thing as too little cholesterol. :)

Nobody is claiming refined sugar is a health food. I can make you fat and has empty calories.

Most of the correlations between animal products and disease are just that, correlations.

When accounting for other lifestyle factors there is no statistical correlation.

The China Myth wrote:

https://deniseminger.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac/

Most of the correlations between animal products and disease are just that, correlations.

When accounting for other lifestyle factors there is no statistical correlation.

Correlations do not really prove anything. Luckily in science we have methods that can prove causal effects.

dietss wrote:Correlations do not really prove anything. Luckily in science we have methods that can prove causal effects.

Please post the proof that animal protein = bad.

dietss wrote:

Correlations do not really prove anything.

Or disprove. :)

The China Myth wrote:

dietss wrote:Correlations do not really prove anything. Luckily in science we have methods that can prove causal effects.

Please post the proof that animal protein = bad.

I am not going to go to that discussion. More important is the animal fat discussion.

But I do avoid eating a high animal protein diet myself based on what I have studied. :)

dietss wrote:

dietss wrote:

Correlations do not really prove anything.

Or disprove. :)

While this is true, with randomization and isolation of other factors, if something isn't correlated we can say that there is no causation either.

dietss wrote:

The China Myth wrote:

Please post the proof that animal protein = bad.

I am not going to go to that discussion. More important is the animal fat discussion.

But I do avoid eating a high animal protein diet myself based on what I have studied. :)

Mainly because no convincing proof is out there.

Please post the animal fat proof then.