"Fed Up" Documentary, thoughts?

[Geoloop]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381335

"An examination of America's obesity epidemic and the food industry's role in aggravating it."

Just started watching it-

Come on rahs, it has our favorite nut experts lol

[LollyLifts2015]

I could swear someone just posted about this very subject in Nutrition...


My advice is to turn it off immediately; unless you're looking to watch a comedy.

[ErikTheElectric]

Just like food inc, super-size me, etc.. it's just another propaganda piece. No thanks jeff.

[bigthug87]

Just like food inc, super-size me, etc.. it's just another propaganda piece. No thanks jeff.

Super size me was an extreme, I found food inc quite eye opening

Just started watching this atm. Feel bad for that fat kid who wants to be thinner but his family have terrible diet

[ErikTheElectric]

Super size me was an extreme, I found food inc quite eye opening

Just started watching this atm. Feel bad for that fat kid who wants to be thinner but his family have terrible diet

They are both propaganda films. Entertaining, but pointless in my opinion.

[Caezar07]

This is probably the best food documentary I've seen.

This documentary does not write off calories in/calories out as a solution to weight loss, it writes it off as a solution to the obesity epidemic. For a child, or parent working a 9-5, or even a young professional like myself working 8-6, counting macros isn't realistic long-term and so I think the documentary is justified in not seeing this as a viable solution. I don't really believe in counting calories or macros unless you are specifically trying to gain or lose weight. You can't really find an energy balance if you aren't measuring your calorie intake, and if you aren't counting macros, it is very difficult to not gain weight eating the junk food plastered in front of our faces everyday. You'd have to do tons of intense cardio every week to burn off all of the junk food we'd eat if we succumbed to all of the temptations that is put in front of us.

The documentary says that the problem with "eat less, exercise more" (i.e., calories in/calories out) is that the food industry has blurred what it means to eat less, and thereby made it impossible to exercise enough to burn off all of the calories that one is eating. Artificial sweeteners increase appetite, salads are covered in oils and dressings, fat free ice cream is full of sugar and so on. I bet people are inclined to eat even more, when they think they're eating less.

As a solution, the documentary says that not eating added sugars, and eating whole foods instead is the advice that should be given to help solve the obesity epidemic and I agree wholeheartedly with this. Some personal responsibility and education play a part, but with the way society, business, and the system are rigged, I'm not going to blame fat people for being fat, in the same way that I wouldn't blame a young girl who feels like she isn't pretty enough because she's constantly having super models put in front of her face. Anyone who blames people for not having self control, or for not taking personal responsibility and such are under an illusion of control in regard to how we are constantly influenced and nudged in different directions by media, advertising, government, culture, and social pressures.

[alan aragon]

Diet documentaries in general are a rich source of sh!tty information.

[Mrpb]

I said this in the other thread too: I find it interesting when people start blaming the food industry for making food that tastes well.

[Caezar07]

I said this in the other thread too: I find it interesting when people start blaming the food industry for making food that tastes well.

Nothing's binary.

If there's a child in an inner city school who isn't doing well, who do you blame, the school system, the child, or the parent? As a third party who cares to see a situation better, you can only blame the government and industry, because it's the only thing you can really try and control, and so if you refuse to try and influence the govt., and by extension the industry, then you're effectively giving up on the issue and calling these kids a lost cause (unless you work in this industry and can do something yourself). Yes they all play a part of the problem, but the fundamental issue is way more systematic than we realize. We are not all robots walking through life, making decisions independent of the influences around us.

In general I believe the govt. needs to stop advocating and do a better job at regulating large companies. Better regulation is not equivalent to more regulation, because at a certain point, when regulation becomes excessive, you're basically advocating a certain position. When the govt. tells you what to do, it doesn't always turn out well, but we still need govt. to tell large companies what not to do.

Rand Paul 2020

The financial crisis was an example of the govt. advocating (buy a home), the coming student loan debacle is an example of the govt. advocating (go to college), and the obesity epidemic is an example of a sponsored govt. advocating bad nutrition advice (eat less fat and cholesterol, and then play frisbee on the weekend and you'll be OK).

Yes we need to educate home buyers so they don't buy a house they can't afford, and yes we need to educate students and parents so we don't have kids graduating college with $80k in debt for a liberal arts degree, and yes we need to educate children, parents, and people about proper nutrition, but are we to ignore the fact that banks are predatory lenders, and food companies are the equivalent to our diets, and all for activities that the govt. is advocating one to do? If you rely on education in a system that does not provide it because it's hijacked by special interests, then what's the point?

Analogies are never perfect examples, but I'm just making a point.

[Geoloop]

Diet documentaries in general are a rich source of sh!tty information.

The master has spoken.

No more need for small talk, you filthy peasants.


not srs, thanks for the comments brahs, i already watched (unfortunately...) brb they got the whole carbphobic team, Lustig, Lyman, Taubes lol

[Domicron]

i watched the first half of Food Inc on my sisters strong recommendation (i didn't want to but she made me) and was put off by the blatant fear mongering. when did documentaries stop being unbiased, informative films? i'll stick with Planet Earth and other nature docs...

plus they're the least processed whole foods available...

I said this in the other thread too: I find it interesting when people start blaming the food industry for making food that tastes well. good

FTFY. well is an adverb, and thus would modify the verb 'taste' implying that food has a sense of taste and does so particularly well. in this instance you want to use the adjective 'good,' which would modify the noun 'food.' a common mistake, nothing to feel badly about.

just ****ing with you sorry.

[Cass40]

I am first to admit that I love sugary foods, and I am a pretty gluttonous person with binge eating tendencies...yet watching that "documentary" makes me just wonder that who in their right mind would eat like that???...or have that stuff in their house when you have kids???

How do you let your kids eat that without being held accountable? I would never let my kids eat like that even if had to isolate them from the rest of the world. Groce. Unless the film really is just propaganda and a joke.

And then act like the government (or food industry?) is to blame for you getting fat

[LollyLifts2015]

I am first to admit that I love sugary foods, and I am a pretty gluttonous person with binge eating tendencies...yet watching that "documentary" makes me just wonder that who in their right mind would eat like that???...or have that stuff in their house when you have kids???

How do you let your kids eat that without being held accountable? I would never let my kids eat like that even if had to isolate them from the rest of the world. Groce. Unless the film really is just propaganda and a joke.

And then act like the government (or food industry?) is to blame for you getting fat

I don't think it's so simple when it comes to kids & nutrition. I'm sure there are loads of parents whom have started out feeding their children balanced, nutritious meals. But, let's face it: kids like crap. They like highly-processed sugary crap because it tastes good to them. If they're not exposed to it at home, then they can go to school and get exposed to it there. When parents try feeding kids "healthy" choice meals, and the kids don't eat it, I think some parents would rather them eat junk, than to not eat at all. But, that also creates a cycle of problems as well. Plus, when you're already eating junk as a parent, you're more likely to feed your children the same diet.

I think the point of the crapumentary was rather to say food companies are to blame for a rise in obesity by false-advertising and giving people false hope in products like "low fat/fat free." But, they put in people to represent the movie who are so freakin' biased and cut it in a way as to make the food industry look like a body-composition-ruining-Hitler.

[Caezar07]

I don't think it's so simple when it comes to kids & nutrition. I'm sure there are loads of parents whom have started out feeding their children balanced, nutritious meals. But, let's face it: kids like crap. They like highly-processed sugary crap because it tastes good to them. If they're not exposed to it at home, then they can go to school and get exposed to it there. When parents try feeding kids "healthy" choice meals, and the kids don't eat it, I think some parents would rather them eat junk, than to not eat at all. But, that also creates a cycle of problems as well. Plus, when you're already eating junk as a parent, you're more likely to feed your children the same diet.

I think the point of the crapumentary was rather to say food companies are to blame for a rise in obesity by false-advertising and giving people false hope in products like "low fat/fat free." But, they put in people to represent the movie who are so freakin' biased and cut it in a way as to make the food industry look like a body-composition-ruining-Hitler.

Good points.

For the typical American who doesn't exercise regularly, many of these processed, calorie dense foods are in fact "body-composition-ruining". Yes, the argument remains that people should get more serious about physical activity, but we're a modern society, and outside of playing a couple pick-up games of basketball twice a week, or a couple sessions on the treadmill per week, I don't necessarily believe exercise alone is the best solution.

For the typical person on this forum who exercises regularly, counts macros, and is carrying more calorie burning muscle mass than the average american, processed foods aren't evil, and can even be helpful when trying to get enough calories in to hit your TDEE.

You can't exactly go and tell a 12 year old to drop 25 carbs from their intake per day if they hit a plateau trying to lose weight. You tell them to eat healthier, and since the average person doesn't really know what "healthy" is, it's no surprise that they eat double the "Satisfries" from Burger King thinking that they are healthy because they're "lower calorie" when they are neither healthy nor low calorie. A nutrition illiterate person would equate anything "healthy" to being low calorie and therefore safe to indulge in. Enter the Chipotle burrito.

Think about this...nearly 1 out of 3 Americans don't know who the vice president is. During election time, I'm willing to bet that outside of the President, the majority of people have their vote bought through a couple well placed TV spots that demonize the other candidate. Is it really that hard to believe that a television ad, or some silly company slogan is heavily influencing what the typical person's idea of "healthy" is.

Something needs to change and I'm not 100% sure what, but I enjoy the discussion. My point is just that if nothing is done, you end up with this kind of chit hitting the airwaves:

[Cass40]

I don't buy that "the average person doesn't know what's healthy". I mean seriously...everybody knows that whole foods are healthy...vegetables, fruits, oatmeal etc.
Now, the average person doesn't know specifics about macros etc. obviously but everybody should know to eat whole, unprocessed foods.
Like I said before, I love sugar, eat way too much "crap" but never do I not know it's bad. I already knew it as a kid. If you don't know, then it's on you.
Now if you're a kid, and they have that horrible crap in schools, then you really have no option. Why would parents be okay with it?

[Caezar07]

I don't buy that "the average person doesn't know what's healthy".

"healthy" is an ambiguous word and could lead to a whole 'nother discussion. The point I mean to make is that many people might eat something like a granola bar, which in reality is just a glorified candy bar, and they'll think the granola bar is somehow better for them, or might not cause weight gain.

Hate to use her as an example but I was at my mom's place, who is trying to lose weight, and I asked her why she bought this expensive wheat bread that ran like $4 a loaf (which is really like 2/3 a loaf when it comes to these fancy wheat breads). She responded that she was trying to lose weight and thought that the bread she bought was "healthier". I explained calories in/calories out and showed her how her bread had more calories in it per slice than the bread she would otherwise be buying. Now, I don't know whether to blame the govt., the bread company, or my mom. Blame is really pointless since I personally don't have control over those three things. All I can do is try to educate the people around me, but that still leaves all of the other people in the world who don't have someone around who knows a bit about nutrition.

I had a very similar discussion with a sister of mine a couple years ago and had to explain that nutella has just as many or more calories in it than ice cream frosting.

[Mrpb]

If there's a child in an inner city school who isn't doing well, who do you blame, the school system, the child, or the parent?

This analogy introduces so many differences that I don't see a point answering the question.

Coming back to the original point, no I don't think it's the manufacturers responsibility to make healthy products.

If Nutella wants to sell a spread loaded with sugar I think that's fine. As long as they're not breaking the laws of course.

I do agree their advertisement is misleading. But if American law allows this, then IMO it's really the law that is at fault.

[Cass40]

"healthy" is an ambiguous word and could lead to a whole 'nother discussion. The point I mean to make is that many people might eat something like a granola bar, which in reality is just a glorified candy bar, and they'll think the granola bar is somehow better for them, or might not cause weight gain.

Hate to use her as an example but I was at my mom's place, who is trying to lose weight, and I asked her why she bought this expensive wheat bread that ran like $4 a loaf (which is really like 2/3 a loaf when it comes to these fancy wheat breads). She responded that she was trying to lose weight and thought that the bread she bought was "healthier". I explained calories in/calories out and showed her how her bread had more calories in it per slice than the bread she would otherwise be buying. Now, I don't know whether to blame the govt., the bread company, or my mom. Blame is really pointless since I personally don't have control over those three things. All I can do is try to educate the people around me, but that still leaves all of the other people in the world who don't have someone around who knows a bit about nutrition.

I had a very similar discussion with a sister of mine a couple years ago and had to explain that nutella has just as many or more calories in it than ice cream frosting.

I understand what you're saying. I'm like your mom. I might buy expensive wheat bread if it says 100% whole grain, high fiber (maybe dr. Oz said it was good). People don't know specifics, and there's a lot of contradicting information out there what is "healthy" sometimes eggs are good, sometimes they are bad, sometimes fat is bad, no it's margarine, high fructose corn syrup, gluten etc etc...
What I meant that in general everyone knows they should eat vegetables, fruits, unprocessed foods. If they don't know this, then I don't know how it's possible.
Now, if you lie to yourself, that's another story. I lie to myself and make excuses because I'd rather eat that bread that has added sugars than plain oatmeal.
I know that you can get fat eating too much anything even if it's whole foods, and I'm not talking about that or trying to demonize junk food.
My point is that ALL the food they showed in that film was crap, not one single vegetable was found anywhere. And then they had some sickly looking fat people crying while eating bags of chips. It seemed a little "dramatic".

[AdamWW]

OP this video has since been debunked because I have a new secret way to be lean and ripped. Doctors and personal trainers HATE ME for knowing it, but it's just because it's SO good.

[PDFOUR]

I don't buy that "the average person doesn't know what's healthy". I mean seriously...everybody knows that whole foods are healthy...vegetables, fruits, oatmeal etc.
Now, the average person doesn't know specifics about macros etc. obviously but everybody should know to eat whole, unprocessed foods.
Like I said before, I love sugar, eat way too much "crap" but never do I not know it's bad. I already knew it as a kid. If you don't know, then it's on you.
Now if you're a kid, and they have that horrible crap in schools, then you really have no option. Why would parents be okay with it?

There are plenty of foods that are marketed as healthy. For example, look at those "Nutri-Grain" bars people eat at work or the high sugar Dannon yogurt with "whole grain" granola on top. Then there is the whole wheat bagel or "Bran" muffin. I can go on and on.

This documentary attacks the calories in vs calories out idea. There are plenty of Americans who watch their calorie intake and yet they are still fat. No one really bothers to address why that is. Instead we are told if someone is still fat it's because they are eating too many calories which is bull**** if you ask me.

[Cass40]

This documentary attacks the calories in vs calories out idea. There are plenty of Americans who watch their calorie intake and yet they are still fat. No one really bothers to address why that is. Instead we are told if someone is still fat it's because they are eating too many calories which is bull**** if you ask me.

They are still fat because they eat too many calories. Or are you saying these fat people measure every single bite that goes in their mouths using food scales, are in calorie deficit, but won't lose weight?

[Caezar07]

There are plenty of Americans who watch their calorie intake and yet they are still fat.

Not true, if you watch your calories and lower them as you plateau, you will lose weight, period. The documentary is wrong to attack calorie in/calorie out because on an individual basis, calorie in/calorie out works.

The documentary is right to attack calorie in/calorie out with regard to the fact that an entire obesity epidemic can't be prevented by people starting to count calories. When you have an epidemic or crisis on your hands, it's usually something happening systematically that is encouraging the issue to snowball. You can't exactly go and tell your 9 year old child to start counting calories. What the documentary is saying IMO is that counting calories or just "moving more" is not a realistic long-term solution for the typical American, and especially children, because combined, the caloric density and intense food cravings that sugar provides will hinder little jimmy's weight loss progress even if he's playing softball 3 times a week.

The documentary probably missed an opportunity to spread the criticism to processed fats found in fried foods, but I think this is implied in that they promoted whole foods, and because many processed carbs are already paired with processed fats.

What I think most of these "fat" people are doing is not watching their calorie intake, but instead they are trying to "eat healthy" and they are still fat, because all of the foods you just mentioned, like the nutri-grain bar (glorified candy bar), bran muffin (glorified cupcake), yogurt w/granola (glorified vanilla pudding) are high in calorie.

And then on the flip side, even if someone does try to track their calories, all of the low-fat or low-calorie foods are stuffed full of sugar or artificial sweeteners, increasing cravings and encouraging you to break your diet.

[ZMan45]

I don't see how on earth energy balance can still be debated. The evidence is overwhelming.

[PAU1]

I don't see how on earth energy balance can still be debated. The evidence is overwhelming.

An abundance of evidence does not stifle debate.

As stated, the documentary acknowledges that calorie counting works but asserts that the obesity epidemic solution needs a cultural component. Seems like a fair point.

[geniash]

What threw me off about this movie is one sided coverage. The authors only show what THEY want you to see, not an unbiased view that is backed up with scientific evidence. Most "experts" being shown are politicians who are far away from being the experts in the nutrition subject. In our minds a documentary is based on a truth so most will blindly believe what they are being fed up (pardon the colorful word play). What the movie fails to mention is that there are countries in the world with the same obesity problem that consume less sugars per capita when compared to US. Unfortunately the majority need something or someone to be the blame and the movie gives them that.

[LollyLifts2015]

What threw me off about this movie is one sided coverage

Welcome to Documentaries and media in general...?

[FAPnWhey2Much]

Started watching and within minutes they completely try to discredit calories in v calories out....left rustled

[ZMan45]

An abundance of evidence does not stifle debate.

As stated, the documentary acknowledges that calorie counting works but asserts that the obesity epidemic solution needs a cultural component. Seems like a fair point.

I agree with that. Can't expect everyone to sit down and count. It's tough to change peoples minds or educate them.

[foodandfitness]

It's tough to change peoples minds or educate them.

It's tough to stop eating piles of convenient, inexpensive, and delicious food.

[Cass40]

I agree with that. Can't expect everyone to sit down and count. It's tough to change peoples minds or educate them.

Mmmm...why not? It takes literally like five minutes out of your day, and there are tons of FREE calorie calculators online.