Fat Head [DVD] [2009] [US Import]

"Fat Head" is simultaneously a send-up of Morgan Spurlock's "Supersize Me" and an expose' on the state of nutrition "science". Using humor and Pythonesque cartoons, Tom Naughton does a good job of tipping many sacred cows on the topic of nutrition, showing how the government, media, and special interests combined to yield the current situation: people are eating what's supposedly "healthy", yet are developing metabolic diseases like diabetes at an alarming and increasing rate.

The core premise of the movie is to revisit "Supersize Me", where Spurlock supposedly showed the evils of fast food by eating nothing but McDonald's for a month. Spurlock gained 25 pounds, was issued a variety of dire health warnings by his doctor, etc. Naughton turns this idea on it's head: he also ate only fast food for a month, but used his "functioning brain". Rather than just blindly eating whatever was available, he avoided those foods which science has shown contribute to metabolic problems like obesity, including sodas, french fries, too much bread, etc. The result? Eating nothing but double Big Macs and the like, he lost over 12 pounds in 28 days and his cholesterol went down. The expression on his doctor's face alone is worth the price of the DVD.

"Fat Head" is very funny and discusses the science of fat gain and loss in an manner which is easily understood. My kids (8 and 4) watched it with me, and they "got it". Get a copy and share it with your friends and family.

This movie is funny and entertaining and amazingly informative. It has so many pieces of useful advice that it's hard to catch them all. Furthermore, it passes along this information in a way that got my wife's attention in a way that I hadn't been able to.

A year and a half ago I was 35 pounds overweight. I ate like the standard American. I finally decided to do something about it so I did some research on the Internet, trying to focus on the science-based research. Following the advice that I found, I lost that weight in 4 months and have kept it off ever since by continuing to follow the advice. This movie captured the basic idea of all that research: low fat is bad for you, low cholesterol is worse than high cholesterol for most people, don't eat high carb food.

He does the best job I've ever seen at disproving the lipid hypothesis which nearly every doctor and media outlet promote: 1) Eating high fat foods give you high cholesterol. 2) High cholesterol leads to heart disease. Well, he makes it really clear that both of these statements are false. It's shocking to anyone who has been fed these lines (lies) for year. He explains all of this in a simplified manner that is within reach of everyone.

The other points that he make extremely well relate to what it is that actually does cause heart disease and what we should do and eat in order to minimize our risk of getting it. Again, he's funny and informative. It's hard to believe that this combination can exist when talking about nutrition, but he does it.

I added this to my library so that I can heartily recommend it to my family and friends. I read (and loved) "Protein Power" by Eades & Eades, "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Taubes, and the "Great Cholesterol Con" by Kendrick but not everyone is going to spend the time and effort to get through these books. However, this movie presents the highlights of these books in 100 easy-to-watch minutes. If you are intrigued after watching this movie, then I highly recommend those books. And if you were not intrigued, then you weren't paying attention. ;)

I've been an avid follower of the low-fat diet craze ever since I started yo-yo dieting in college. After having my son 2 years ago, I was over 215lbs, so I turned to cutting calories and, in August 2008, I started Nutrisystem.

I've lost over 73lbs so far, but after seeing "Fat Head", I'm finally seeing the facts of low-carb diets and I'm off the Nutrisystem wagon. "Fat Head" is a funny and immensely informational documentary that goes into the "bologna" of the low-fat diet craze. Like many people in the US, we're told that fat (especially animal fat) is bad and should be avoided at all costs. Instead, have a piece of bread or a bowl of Special K. "Bologna" says Tom and I believe him!

My father died a few years ago from a heart attack at 55. He went on Atkins about 5 years prior and I remember comments afterwards like "there's no telling what that diet did to his system." Since I can remember though, my father also liked his large share of carbs and battled his love of food and his desire to lose that last stubborn 30lbs. After seeing "Fat Head", I can only now assume that all of those carbs he loved so much were the real culprit behind his heart disease- not the fact that he was on Atkins for 6 months.

Thank you Tom for making me see the light at 29, while I still have time to start making changes that will help insure I see 56.