Fat Fiction
This 2020 documentary debunks myths about saturated fat and shows how food guidelines — such as the food pyramid — have led our American diet astray. Obesity and type 2 diabetes are financially crushing Americans, for treatment and management are expensive and not a long-term fix. As our country gets fatter and sicker, doctors prescribe more drugs, but drugs cannot fix these nutritional diseases. Fat Fiction illustrates how food can help reverse diabetes and heal our physically and mentally ailing population.
For years, Americans were told to eat whole grains and avoid saturated fats, but the American guidelines are so wrong. This documentary shows how humans are supposed to eat fat and that our bodies thrive on traditional fats. In the 1950s, President Eisenhower had a heart attack, and this caused the American Heart Association to go into a frenzy. The people wanted to know what caused this heart attack, and doctors (like Ancel Keys) blamed saturated fat. In reality, things like smoking, sugar, industrial seed oils, and processed carbohydrates raise inflammation and lead to disease. And so, the myth that saturated fat causes heart disease was written into existence.
Fat is the preferred source of fuel; fat is a steady source of energy whereas sugar and carbs burn quickly and inefficiently. Throughout this documentary, people tell their stories of how diet changed their lives and reversed their diabetes. As people return to traditional animal fats, their bodies heal and become less reliant on drugs. Curing diabetes with food is not only cost-effective, but it reconnects humans with their ancestral way of eating. Although guidelines are slowly changing to lift the restrictions on fats, doctors continue to blame saturated fat for diabetes despite there being no evidence against saturated fat. Fat Fiction tries to educate the public about this misinformation in the hopes of changing dietary guidelines and people’s lives.
At the Eastern Shore Food Lab, we embrace traditional fats and restrict sugar and refined carbs — the things that are making us sick. We encourage people to eat animal fats and learn about how their ancestors revered and sought out these nutritious fats.
Watch Fat Fiction online for free.