The thing is, I don't really think that I fully grasped his stated
premise.  Was he talking about general obesity trends in America,
pointing fingers at the fast food industry or just arguing against
overeating.  There is a lot of information presented in this film (some
of which, I'm not sure is 100% accurate based on some of the
reviews/reports that I've read about the film), it just didn't seem to
fit well together -- the weird music, his vomiting stints, the
interviews with his doctors.

I do agree with you in the sense that its a lot of fun to watch --
Spurlock is, to say the least, very charismatic.

cpalmer-ssm doesn't teach you anything you don't know already. The key
to any healthy lifestyle is watching your portions, which this lamo did
not practice-to say the least.

First off Tom, I don't mean to be critical-but it doesn't seem good
natured to discuss why others may be dealt a rough hand with diseases.
As we well know, diet is an important aspect to a healthy body-but it
by no means is a precursor to whether or not you'll get cancer.
Genetics has quite a bit to do with it as well. And as someone who's
had two close family relatives who have done everything right
(healthwise) and still were faced with these types of challenges, I had
to say something.

As for the previous statements on ssm:

logically.

I have to disagree-what is logical about what this man did? And what
was the profound premise that he was trying to gain. The film had me
laughing in several scenes-but logical is not how I would describe this
man's state.

Folks, this rant may seem self-centered at first glance, but its real
message is that even at our age we can change our habits to improve our QOL,
and often our life span, significantly. For example, guess what age group
responds most quickly and dramatically to increased exercise. Yup . . . OLD
people. Like 80s and 90s. So here goes.

Sorry, Tom, but I've researched and written about health issues for many
years. It's not just some "health guru"; just about every major university
and hospital medical center and research study on the planet agrees that
exercise and something like the Mediterranean diet -- including that wine in
moderation -- make a significant difference in our physical and mental QOL
and lifespan. Athletes in their 20s ask me often how they might match my
muscles and endurance, and I've never "worked out" in my life except for
occasional Bowflex sessions when my play time is hampered by weather and I'm
not building some dang yard thing or another. Stress EKG? "Jeez, guy, these
charts say you could play college football."

The other thing people comment on VERY often is the variety and quantity of
food I eat. When they're eating a dinky little bowl of cereal or frying up
some greasy breakfast stuff, I'm scarfing down a dinner plate heaped high
with layers of chicken enchiladas, beans, low-fat cheeses, salsa, peppers,
and low fat sour cream. Then we go out and play, and I outlast them
literally 3 to 1 . . . and many of them are 1/2 to 1/3 my age. Lunch?
They're eating bags of greasy manufactured crap from the 7-11 plus some
fried chicken WITH THE DAMN SKIN ON IT, while I'm eating barbecued jalapeno
beans, peanut butter on whole grain bread, fruit, a skinless chicken breast
slathered with raspberry chipotle sauce, and a big homemade lemon blueberry
walnut raisin muffin. Then they are exhausted by 5-6 PM -- usually HOURS
sooner -- and start grilling a slab of red meat with which to line their
arteries. I keep playing until it's too dark to play any more, often 5-6
hours past their endurance wall, then dive into that pile of blueberry
pancakes I mentioned and polish it off with a double-fisted chocolate bran
walnut raisin honey muffin. God, I'm starving just thinking about it . . .
and I don't even miss those 32-oz steaks I ate for decades before wising up.
Now I eat red meat maybe once a week, but only the leanest cuts and with a
pound or more of brightly colored vegetables.

Now . . . what are these tasty foods I've "given up"? OK, pizza, but only
because when I do eat one, I literally eat one. A whole, medium to large
one, with thick cheese-filled crust and ham and pineapple and chicken and
sweet peppers all over it. Damn; it's been months now. It's time.

Moderation is highly advisable in most aspects of our lives, but it doesn't
satisfy me. I pick activities and foods I really like and go whole hog,
which raises my QOL graph off the chart much of the time -- with risks. I
get away with it because I like burning off those calories even more than I
do putting them down. "Restricted diet"? I don't think sat fat and trans
fat, or unburned calories in general, are much to give up, not when it helps
avert a list of deadly diseases that would fill a paragraph. Type II
diabetes? Usually self-inflicted, voluntary, and reversible. Scores of
thousands of heart attacks and strokes? Self-inflicted and voluntary. Many
cancers? Promoted by bad diet and enabled by bad genes. Crushed knees and
ankles and hips due to obesity? Self-inflicted and to some degree
reversible. 10-20-30 years of crappy health and low QOL -- very often
self-inflicted and often reversible.

But when genes fail us, plus in my case 40 years of quantities you would not
believe of high-fat foods (example: a large thick-crust pizza with several
toppings plus two chocolate malts . . . for lunch, between normal breakfast
and supper), we get diseases. This PC brewed in my groin for a decade or
two, my doc says. He also says -- and his colleagues and he perform clinical
trials full time -- that so far there's no proven dietary link to PC's cause
or cures.

People here often comment on how important it is that we PC patients take
charge of our own PC care. Well, that also goes for the other aspects of our
health and vitality. Lots of exercise and a DELICIOUS, filling, wholesome
diet WILL add significantly to our lifespan and DRAMATICALLY to our QOL,
unless statistics and genes bite us in the a.s . . . or the crotch.

Rant off.

I.P.