Hundreds of extras in "Leatherheads" gathered for the movie's premier
Well, I made it!
After anxiously and excitedly waiting for over a year to see if my once-in-a-lifetime experience working on the set of the new Hollywood movie Leatherheads, starring George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, and John Krasinski which hit theaters nationwide on Friday, actually resulted in face time in the movie, I'm thrilled and honored to announce I'm IN the movie!!! WOO HOO!!! Sweeeeet! Can you tell I'm stoked?!
Christine and I couldn't wait to visit our local movie theater here in Spartanburg, South Carolina just after noon for the first showing of Leatherheads to see if my scene as The Doorman opposite Clooney himself ended up in the final version. I was pretty confident that it would since this was the ONLY thing we worked on for an entire Sunday filming about 30-45 seconds worth of a scene. I was looking for it and within 15 minutes of watching the flick on the silver screen, there it was:
That big tall guy on the left standing there looking down with a condescending face at Clooney's character coming off of his motorcycle--THAT'S ME (CLICK HERE to see a blown-up version of this still shot)! In all, this scene was about 8 seconds long total and I was on screen for about 5 seconds. It wasn't much screen time when you think about a two-hour movie, but I felt extremely fortunate to have gotten that much time. Many of the hundreds of extras either got a flash-in-the-pan blip on the screen or nothing at all. I was indeed lucky and appreciated the opportunity to be a part of something so special.
Now, Christine on the other hand was as giddy as a schoolgirl when she saw me standing there and couldn't keep quiet. As soon as she realized that was me standing at attention next to George Clooney on that spittin'-and-sputterin' motorcycle in front of the hotel, I thought they were gonna throw her out of the theater for causing such a ruckus. She started whoopin' and hollerin' pointing her finger up at the screen saying, "Oh my God, there you are, oh my God, there you are!" I tried to get her to put her hand down and lower her voice as people were starting to stare. She was proud and happy to see her man in a real live movie. What a neat moment I'll always treasure for the rest of my life.
Just a couple of hours after the matinee showing of Leatherheads at our local theater, Christine and I got all dressed up in our formal attire and headed down the road a few miles to Greenville, South Carolina where a group of several hundred extras got together to watch the movie together and to reminisce about our time on the set of a Hollywood film. It was neat meeting up with many of the extras who I shared hours upon hours of waiting and waiting and waiting with last year just so we could make it to this moment of glory. Everyone was grateful this time had come and we even got the royal treatment from the local press, too.
They rolled out the Red Carpet for us and had local television personality Jack Roper from CBS affiliate WSPA Newschannel 7 on hand to announce our names as people gathered along both sides of the carpet cheering for us and taking our pictures as we entered the movie theater (when he introduced me and Christine, Jack said, "Next up we have Jimmy Moore and his friend." Uh, yeah, she's my friend known as my WIFE, Jack! I quickly corrected him to stay out of the doghouse). Okay, now that was weird! But I liked it and ate it up, baby! How often do you get a chance to do something that this, right? :D
As the movie was getting close to the end, I leaned over to Christine and said that we should leave early (since we had already seen the film once that day) to beat the crowd over to the BMW Zentrum where the after-party would be taking place. She agreed and we headed out the door. Three seconds later we heard this loud explosion as a bright light filled the stormy sky--a transformer had blown from the major thunderstorm that was moving through the area and the entire block immediately went black. Boy, that was great timing! It turns out the movie had JUST ended and the closing credits were showing, so nobody missed any of the movie itself.
At the earlier showing, we stayed all the way through the ending credits to see if my name would be there as "The Doorman." It wasn't. I guess they only put your name in there if you had a speaking part and I did not have one--although it was VERY close to happening. Interestingly, even if I did end up having that speaking role in the scene I was in, it would have been cut. They chopped off the last 5 seconds of that scene where the line was scheduled to happen and went right to the next scene where Clooney's character clashes with Zellweger's character inside the hotel. Oh well!
All in all, this romantic comedy set in the 1920s about the birth of professional football is a fun movie to watch and I was humbled to be able to play even a teeny tiny little role in it. I'm thankful for the memories that I have from this experience and if given another chance to be an extra in a Hollywood film, I'm there! Actually, there is supposed to be another movie being shot down the road in Columbia, South Carolina real soon and I'm seriously thinking of pursuing it, too. I've got the itch now that's just gotta be scratched. :P
At the after-party, I was interviewed by a reporter from The Greenville News and they quoted me first in their story. It was an unbelievable experience that will give me something to talk about besides livin' la vida low-carb for the rest of my life. If you haven't seen Leatherheads yet, then do yourself a favor and GO SEE IT! It's a great film that just about anyone will love and enjoy.
Here's the trailer in case you've missed it:
You can read all of my blog posts and see lots of pictures I took while on the set of Leatherheads at my "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Links" blog. Special THANKS to Jim Fair who created the extras web site TheLeatherheads.com and organized the Red Carpet Gala for us to treasure this moment. It's one I won't soon forget! And I can't wait to buy the DVD this Fall!
"Leatherheads" is FINALLY coming to theaters on Friday, April 4, 2008
The wait is almost over and I can hardly contain myself waiting for this Friday when the romantic comedy vintage football film Leatherheads hits movie theaters across America. It was just a little more than one year ago that I was given an incredible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to appear in this major Hollywood motion picture starring two of the hottest stars in Tinseltown today--George Clooney and Renee Zellweger. The experience of being on set for what will surely be one of the top films of 2008 is one I'll not soon forget and the anticipation leading up to this Friday to see if any of my scenes actually made it on the silver screen is killing me right now. I WANNA KNOW!!! :D
For my newer readers, it all started back in December 2006 when a local call for football players in the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC market was put out across the media and my ears perked up. Was it because I had the big strapping body of a football player because of my tremendous prowess in my younger years? HA! Yeah right, that's a good one! Remember, I was the fat kid growing up and actually I played in the band in high school.
And yet there I was waiting in line with over 1,000 other guys who were vying for their chance to be in a big-time movie. That alone was a neat experience and my story very well could have ended there. But then I got a call at the end of February 2007 from the casting director wanting to know if I still wanted to be in the Clooney flick. Uhhhh, lemme think about it--YES YES YES (and did I mention YES?!)!!! In fact, I thought I would be a football-playing extra in the film, but...
It turns out they needed me to play the role of The Doorman for the "Emerson House Hotel" (thus, the EHH on my hat) because of my height and slender body type. Uh, okay...whatever it takes to be in this movie, I'll do it. You can read all about how that glorious all-day Sunday event went in my first experience on the set of Leatherheads in downtown Greenville, South Carolina by clicking here.
I'll never forget the amazing job the wardrobe department did to make that hat work on my big head. Everything about the costume fit perfectly EXCEPT for the hat. My enlarged forehead (gee, thanks Dad!) wouldn't even allow it to come close to fitting. So they ripped the back of the hat out and put in some stretchy material so it would wrap around my head. Never mind the fact my brains felt like they were gonna squeeze out of my ears that day it was so tight! But at least it was on my head! ;)
That wasn't even the most memorable part of my story of being The Doorman, though. It turns out, this role was an integral part of the 30-second scene we were shooting because Clooney's character (Dodge Connolly) rides in on an old-timey 1920's motorcycle in front of my hotel where I am standing guard and parks it right there while swaggering his way off of it looking at me stating sarcastically, "Keep it close now, will ya?" The director instructed me to give him the dirtiest look I could and then shut the door behind Clooney after he enters the building. I'm almost 100% sure this scene will be in the final version of the film (did I say HOPING?!). The camera was just a few feet from where Clooney and I were standing during the scene and we did a bazillion takes of just this scene all day long. It's GOTTA be there!
In fact, George and Renee were in town this past week thanking our area for their hospitality during the filming and promoting the movie. Uh, yeah, I think we'll sell out a few theaters in this area just with all the extras and their families alone! But this Friday will be quite an eventful one for me and Christine because we will be participating in a special Red Carpet Gala just for the extras who were in Leatherheads. I'm getting dressed up in a tuxedo and Christine will wear her favorite black evening dress for the opening night festivities. The press will be there interviewing us about what it was like being on the set, so we'll get our few minutes of glamour and glitz!
But I've already told Christine that I wanna go see the movie earlier in the day around noon on Friday to see if my Doorman scene made it. I was also a fan in the stands for several of the football scenes that were shot in Traveler's Rest, SC and Charlotte, NC, but you'll never be able to make out the faces of the extras in those scenes. I'll be zeroing in on The Doorman scene when I'm watching the movie. It's so exciting and I'll be sure to let you know if I made the film or not (cross your fingers for me!).
Be sure to check out all my Leatherheads posts which include lots of pictures from the set, including exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of Clooney and co-star John Krasinski in action. If you happen to go see this movie, then watch for The Doorman giving George Clooney a "dirty look." That'd be me! Is it Friday yet?!
4-4-08 UPDATE: I'm in the movie!!! Christine and I went to see Leatherheads for the matinee showing at 12:30pm and there was my brief glimpse of cinematic glory about 10-15 minutes into the film. Clooney drives up on his motorcycle in front of the hotel and there I am (all 6'3" of me!) standing at attention in my green doorman outfit. They cut the scene short, but Christine about had a hissy fit seeing me in the movie. :D I'll be blogging more about this after our big Red Carpet Gala event tonight. GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!! :)
"Hairspray" star Nikki Blonsky stars in "Queen Sized"
Psssst! Come in closer because I've gotta big secret I'm just dying to share with you today. It will probably make me the laughingstock of the entire male population, but I can't hold it in any longer. This is something I have been meaning to talk about for quite a few years and now I'm ready to reveal it at last to the entire world right here right now at my blog. What is it? (GULP!) I'm a HUGE fan of the movies on the cable network channel Lifetime.
Yep, you can call me a head-over-heels, super-excited metrosexual man because I absolutely adore the quality of the content found among the Lifetime network films. I think they do an amazing job bringing greater awareness to important societal issues that primarily concern women, but also have real application in the lives of men, too. Such is the case with one of the latest movies on Lifetime released in 2008 that my wife Christine and I watched on our date night last Friday night called "Queen Sized."
I was flipping through the Charter On Demand movie selection on Channel 999 and decided to take a peek at what was available from Lifetime On Demand. When I saw the title of this movie, it intrigued me immediately since it sounded like it might deal with the obesity issue. And sure enough, the preview explained that it was about an obese teenager who gets nominated to be homecoming queen at her school as she deals with teasing about her weight from her fellow classmates. I looked over at Christine and said, "We gotta watch this!" And so we did.
What a truly outstanding movie and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is concerned about issues of weight, health, emotional distress, fear, dieting, and peer pressure. All of these and more are tackled and addressed in an incredible way through "Queen Sized." By the time the movie was finished, I got that warm fuzzy feeling that you're supposed to get after watching a Lifetime movie. It was well worth reliving some painful moments in my own life to remind me why I never want to go back there again.
Starring Nikki Blonsky, whose breakout role came when she was cast in the lead role of the movie version of the Broadway musical "Hairspray" starring John Travolta (in drag, no less!), Queen Latifah (who she calls "my sister") and Michelle Pfeiffer, and veteran actress Annie Potts (best known for her role on the television show "Designing Women" opposite Delta Burke), "Queen Sized" centers around the character of Maggie Baker (Blonsky) who is an overweight high school senior just trying to survive until graduation (sound familiar anyone?). In the midst of dealing with the agony of not being like everyone else at school and simply trying to be invisible, some of the "pretty" girls decide to nominate Maggie to be homecoming queen as a joke.
But instead of allowing it to upset her as it was supposed to, Maggie decided to turn the tables on those who wished harm to her and remained on the ballot to represent all those who rebel against the same people getting chosen year after year. This quickly endeared Maggie to many of her classmates who felt a connection to her candidacy and they decided to vote for her. I won't spoil what happens next, but "Queen Sized" pulls the curtain back on some biting issues that all overweight and obese young people (and adults too!) have to deal with if they are going to survive this thing called life.
Here are a couple of interview clips featuring Blonsky and Potts, who plays two characters--"real" mom and "imaginary" mom--as they talk about their roles in the Lifetime Movie Network film "Queen Sized":
I think the most intriguing role in this movie had to be the mother played by Potts. WOW! On the one hand, you've got the "real" mother constantly reassuring Maggie that she is beautiful and that everything in her life is gonna be okay while encouraging her to get her weight and health under control. Meanwhile, the "imaginary" mother that only Maggie sees (contrived in her mind following the sudden death of her father to diabetes complications) is rude, condescending, and discouraging at every turn. Physically seeing this image of a mean mother personifying all the negative thoughts that fat people have to deal with sent shivers down my spine because it is so true.
When you weigh a whole lot more than everyone else around you, it's funny how your brain will play tricks on you and some extremely negative and vile thoughts consume you throughout the day. These demons inside your head will mock and taunt you relentlessly telling you how worthless you are, damaging your psyche, and preventing you from becoming that person you were always meant to be. I remember those days in my own life when I weighed 400+ pounds and feeling like it was my destiny to be that way for the rest of my life. Lemme tell you, it's no fun at all. But I overcame it and now try to live my life helping others beat it in their own lives.
"Queen Sized" is one of those movies where a large person is given a lead role with a positive message and we need to see more of that kind of thing showing up on the silver screen as well as on television. I'm very proud of Nikki Blonsky for being brave enough to take on this role and lend a voice to the millions of girls (and even boys!) who feel trapped inside their bodies wanting so desperately to lose weight but are simply left hopeless and helpless to do anything about it.
If you have Charter On Demand, then this movie is currently available for free until March 2008 to watch anytime. Otherwise, you can access and download "Queen Sized" for only $3.99 on iTunes (just type in "Queen Sized" in the iTunes store search box in the upper right-hand corner and you'll easily find it). It will be well worth your time to watch this movie and share it with parents of overweight teens as well as obese kids who think nobody understands what they are going through. Who knows, this may exactly what you need to open the door of opportunity to talk about the root causes of obesity in your own family and start the healing process so everyone can choose to start living healthier. That would be an AWESOME thing!
Be sure to tell Lifetime how much you appreciated this kind of programming by filling out this feedback form about "Queen Sized." Tell them as an advocate of overweight and obese people getting the help they need, you are grateful to them for adding depth to the obesity debate by taking on the various aspects of this difficult subject directly. It's hard to do it tactfully, but they pulled it off very well.
Have you seen "Queen Sized" and want to weigh in on how it impacted you? Feel free to share your reaction to it in the comments section below. Did you love it as much as I did? Or was there anything about it that you felt was inaccurate or lacking? Share your thoughts and let's talk about it. Feel free to post your feedback with Lifetime here as well so everyone can see how much this movie has meant to you, too.
"Fat Head" movie obliterates the low-fat lie with humor-filled facts
I recently shared with you about two amazing new documentaries on the subject of diet and obesity that are coming out soon and today I have an interview with one of those filmmakers to talk about his movie designed to be a direct response to Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me. Tom Naughton was kind enough to send me a special advance release of his new movie Fat Head to review and I was blown away by how well done it was with all the professional quality of Spurlock's documentary, but with the truth on his side.
Naughton says Morgan Spurlock fed us all "a load of bologna"
Currently, Naughton is seeking distribution for Fat Head and would like to expose it to as wide an audience as possible because of the potential lifechanging impact it could have on so many people who have never heard the facts he shares in this film. It's an eye-opening experience to learn why fat isn't so bad for you and carbohydrates are.
Watch this trailer for Fat Head posted at YouTube and then read my exclusive interview with the filmmaker Tom Naughton afterwards to find out more about this new movie and how you can help spread the word to others about it:
1. I’m so stoked to share with you an interview today with one of the most hilarious people you will ever meet in your entire life. His name is Tom Naughton and he’s a stand-up comedian who is on a personal mission to prove Morgan Spurlock was dead wrong for blaming McDonald’s and the fast food industry for obesity in his hit documentary film Super Size Me. He’s doing that through a very funny documentary of his own called Fat Head which I have been privileged to watch from start to finish.
Welcome, Tom, and tell us why you felt it was necessary to challenge Spurlock’s conclusions regarding obesity. Was it the cause-effect factor he promoted that got you the most or was Spurlock simply missing a key element in his analysis of the problem?
The cause-effect factor had a lot to do with it. There’s that famous H.L. Mencken quote that for every complex problem there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong. Blaming McDonald’s for the so-called obesity epidemic is the clear, simple, and wrong explanation. You can’t solve a problem by pointing a finger at the wrong cause.
2. Of course, Super Size Me was one of the most critically acclaimed documentaries on nutrition in the history of filmmaking. Spurlock was given high praises by those who approved of the message of his film and it indeed forced the corporate executives at McDonald’s to make certain changes to their business model to deal with the public relations fallout from the movie’s message.
But what you share in Fat Head is that much of what Spurlock spouts in his finger pointing flick is “a load of bologna!” Tell us about some of the things what he got wrong in Super Size Me and why the truth about those things is important to know.
For one, Spurlock swallowed-–hook, line and sinker-–the CDC’s assertion that there is an obesity “epidemic.” There isn’t. Since 1970, we’ve gained an average of eight pounds per person. We’re also nearly 10 years older on average, so an extra eight pounds is hardly a shocking gain. And much of the overall weight gain is concentrated in a small fraction of the population. In other words, a few folks have gotten very, very fat. The rest of us gained a bit of weight.
I’ve been hearing for years that a third of American adults are obese, that three-quarters of us are overweight, and that always struck me as suspicious. When I look around in public, I do see more fat people than I did 20 or 30 years ago, but it’s not a majority by any means. My research confirmed my suspicion. The obesity “epidemic” was wildly exaggerated by the CDC, because they were established to fight epidemics, and so they need on-going epidemics to justify their budgets. Remember when we were all told there were 2 million homeless people in America, and later we found it was never more than 200,000 and probably even fewer? Same thing is happening with the obesity figures.
For another, Spurlock promoted the idea that people are getting fat on fast food because not every McDonald’s had a nutrition menu available when he went looking. You know, we didn’t have a so-called obesity epidemic when I was growing up, and in those days, not a single restaurant had nutrition information available, anywhere. Most people recognize high-calorie meals when they see them.
When you get down to it, Spurlock is proposing that people are stupid, that they don’t know big orders of fries and huge cups of soda are fattening unless McDonald’s holds a nutrition menu up to their noses. That’s just silly and, when you think about, elitist and snobbish to boot.
Finally, Spurlock blamed–-or at least his doctor blamed-–a high-fat diet for causing the fatty liver he developed. Where did his doctor go to med school? I know a fatty liver is caused by gorging on simple carbohydrates, and I’m not a doctor. So that was just plain wrong information.
3. Your documentary Fat Head actually started out as a means for shining a light on the enormous fat prejudice that exists in our society today. In fact, the movie begins and ends with this point asking why we have become so obsessed with fat people. What was the impetus for wanting to share this message in a documentary? How did the message of your film shift from the prejudice as the primary focus to Spurlock’s interpretation of the perceived obesity problem?
I actually started this project intending for it to be a humorous video essay of sorts that would deal with what I think is a ridiculous prejudice against fat people in our society. Not everyone cares about being skinny, and if some folks prefer to go through life eating whatever they like and gaining weight as a consequence, that’s their business and we should stop trying to shame them into eating the way the rest of think they should.
In fact, as Dr. Eric Oliver explained to me, and details in his book Fat Politics, equating being thin with being virtuous is an attitude left over from our Puritan heritage. Anything involving sensuality made the Puritans uncomfortable, to put it mildly, and that included enjoying your food. In many, many cultures, being fat is either no big deal or even embraced as a sign of wealth and success.
I rented Super Size Me as research for that project--otherwise I never would’ve seen it. When I did see it, I was so annoyed with the overall message and the twisted logic Spurlock used to promote it, I felt compelled to create a reply. So the focus of my project changed. And of course it changed again when I discovered how much of the nutritional advice we’ve been fed over the years is a load of bologna.
4. The most compelling argument against the message of Super Size Me in your documentary is when you cry foul on the nutritionist who told Morgan Spurlock he was consuming over 5,000 calories a day on his McDiet. Since you were unable to have access to any of his menus, it was impossible to determine exactly how many calories he consumed in the 30 days he ate at McDonald’s. But by using deductive reasoning assuming what Spurlock ate, you did the math and it just didn’t add up especially in light of the fact that he was only asked to Super Size a total of nine times.
What did you discover his actual calorie counts to be? Do you think he purposely lied about the calories to sensationalize and hyperbolize the point of his movie even further?
Yes, I think he fudged on his rules to make sure his weight gain would be dramatic and impressive. I don’t know how many calories he actually consumed; we just know it was more than 5,000 per day. But that fact, all by itself, creates a little calculation problem for Mr. Spurlock.
When I’m not doing standup comedy, I’m a computer programmer, so math and logic are part of my daily existence. When Spurlock’s nutritionist told him he was consuming more than 5,000 calories per day, alarm bells went off in my math-loving brain. I’ve eaten at McDonald’s while on a diet, so I already had a rough idea of the calories in their meals, and I knew immediately something didn’t add up.
According to his rules, he would eat three meals per day and only super-size if they asked him. But he was only asked to super-size nine times in 30 days--that’s twice per week. You simply can’t consume 5,000 calories per day at McDonald’s unless you’re super-sizing, or eating more than three meals per day, or piling on extra sandwiches and desserts, or drinking a lot of milkshakes, or some combination of the above.
And remember, between weeks three and four, he actually lost a pound, which means he managed to gain more than eight pounds in each of the other three weeks. Again, that just doesn’t add up, not if you’re following his supposed rules. He won’t show anyone his food log, which to me means it’s almost certain that he gorged himself like a madman.
But he can’t let us know that, because that would undermine the message of his film, which is that we’re becoming obese simply by eating ordinary meals at McDonald’s. That just isn’t true. He absolutely stuffed himself. I could do the same thing at his girlfriend’s favorite vegan restaurant and gain just as much weight.
5. So basically Fat Head is a direct response to the distortions presented in Super Size Me. And might I add that your film is every bit as hilarious and truly educational as Spurlock’s film. You got a lot of outstanding health and nutrition experts to help you out with this film that my readers will likely recognize, including Eric Oliver, Drs. Michael & Mary Dan Eades, Dr. Al Sears, Dr. Mary Enig, Sally Fallon, and others.
Why did you choose these people to discuss the points of your film as opposed to people like Dr. Dean Ornish or representatives of the American Heart Association, USDA, or FDA, for example? Was there an overriding message you felt has been missing in the discussion of diet and weight loss?
I chose the people I believe are offering the correct advice, even though it’s not the advice that’s accepted by the nutritional establishment.
My own experience with low-fat diets has ranged ranged from ineffective to disastrous. I didn’t lose weight unless I also severely restricted my calories, and by the time I did that, I felt listless or even depressed. I never--and I mean never--get depressed, so if a diet does that to me, it’s a bad diet in my book.
The first relatively low-carb diet I tried was The Zone Diet by Dr. Barry Sears. To get to that 40/30/30 ratio, I cut my carbs and ate more animal fat than I had in years, and yet my cholesterol ratio improved. Since then, I’ve never accepted the low-fat diet dogma.
Naturally, I was delighted that so many outstanding nutrition experts agreed to be part of my film. I’m a complete unknown, a first-time filmmaker, and yet all the people you mentioned took several hours of their time to let me interview them. I think that underscores how dedicated they are to overturning what they consider to be load of bologna when it comes to dietary advice.
6. On your FatHead-Movie.com web site, you have a wonderful list of “No-Bologna Facts,” such as “there's never been a single study that proves saturated fat causes heart disease,” “half of all heart-attack victims have normal or low cholesterol,” and “being fat is not, in and of itself, bad for your health,” just to name a few. Why are these such obvious dietary truths not common knowledge and how do you hope your movie will help change that ignorance in our society?
Scientists are--I hate to say this, but it’s true--more or less just employees of their funding sources, and you don’t anger the boss by telling him he’s wrong. The scientists who disagreed with the cholesterol-is-a-killer theory, like Dr. Kilmer McCully, were effectively silenced. They were blackballed, denied tenure, denied grants, denied publication in the prestigious journals. That’s one of the reasons I’m against the federal government setting an official nutrition policy. What they decide goes, and if they get it wrong--which they did--we all pay the price.
Obviously I hope my film changes some minds, but the truth is, I wish a film weren’t necessary to accomplish that. I didn’t discover anything new here; as X-Files fans would say, the truth is out there, in dozens of excellent books. But like it or not, more people watch TV and films than read books, so maybe a film can be an important part of the discussion.
7. To challenge the conclusions made in Super Size Me, you wanted to put yourself on a fast-food diet for a month to show that it is possible to eat healthy, lose weight, and live to tell about it despite the hyperbole that Spurlock felt he needed to engage in to make his points. Prior to beginning this project, you went to see your doctor for some baseline readings. I could tell by your high (above 50) HDL “good” cholesterol and very low (under 100) triglycerides that you are livin’ la vida low-carb!
But what did your doctor think about this little experiment BEFORE you began? And judging by the reaction he gave you at the end of the 28 days, he seemed to be rather shocked by what he found. What was his explanation for what happened to your weight and health?
I didn’t tell my doctor what I was going to eat, so of course he counseled me to choose the grilled chicken and the salads and the other low-fat foods. When he saw afterwards that my fast-food diet was 55 percent fat and 23 percent saturated fat, he proclaimed it a “widow-maker” diet. Then he started checking the lab work. Yes, he was definitely shocked. I’m sure you saw it in his face. He ultimately decided that I’d escaped the “widow-maker” effects of a fatty diet because I had also exercised more during the 28 days.
8. Unlike Spurlock, you were more than happy to post your four-week menu eating at only fast food restaurants right there on your web site for all the world to see. I enjoyed reading what you ate and I was imagining what I would choose if I had to be forced to eat in fast food restaurants exclusively for a month. EEEK! But you did it, lost weight and even lowered your cholesterol. How can this possibly be? Were you slipping in diet pills off camera or something? Your results couldn’t possibly be due solely to your food choices, would it?
No diet pills for me, thanks. It was a combination of things. I kept my daily average around 2,000 calories, I walked six nights per week instead of my usual three, and I kept my carb intake at around 100 grams per day. That’s not down to Atkins levels, but it’s relatively low.
I believe that by keeping the carbs down, I kept my insulin down too, and that’s why I didn’t experience any of the ill effects Spurlock did. He was consuming a pound of sugar per day, which will pretty much ruin anyone’s health. And that’s really the point I was trying to make. You can eat fast food and still be healthy and keep your weight down if you just make some reasonable choices.
ith a biting sense of humor and a brief trip down memory lane, you lay it all out for people to see just how quickly we devolved from a nation of people with rational nutrition down to a politically-correct, agricultural-loving dietary red tape society that is now more confused than ever about what “healthy” really means. How much longer is the low-fat lie gonna last before the gig is up? How is your film going to help re-educate people that they need to be more concerned with the excessive carbohydrates they are consuming than fat?
I sincerely hope that by working so hard to make this film entertaining, with all the Monty-Python style animations and the Super Size Me parody scenes, we can get thousands and thousands of people to see it and then learn something even as they’re laughing. One of the most gratifying experiences for me was showing a draft of this film to some friends who really liked Super Size Me.
They still don’t agree with me, and probably never will, that when people overeat in fast food restaurants, it’s their own fault, not Ronald McDonald’s. But when they saw how the cholesterol theory was basically made up and then forced down the public’s throat, they were stunned. They loved that part of the film. So perhaps even people who tend towards a blame-McDonald’s mentality will get something out of this.
I’m an optimist, but I don’t expect the low-fat dogma to disappear anytime soon. Too many careers have been built on it. Literally thousands of doctors and researchers and bureaucrats and health writers would have to admit they were wrong.
10. We appreciate you visiting with us to discuss Fat Head today, Tom! As a strong supporter of the low-carb way of life, I wish you well as you seek movie distribution in the United States. Surely there is enough interest in a film like this that challenges all that we’ve ever been taught about diet, health and nutrition and questions whether it’s all true or not.
I consider your film a cinematic version of Gary Taubes’ book Good Calories, Bad Calories because it shares the same basic message. If you were in control of how this film is shared with the public, tell us what your dream would be. Do you feel Fat Head will be given a fair shake at getting a similar amount of publicity that Super Size Me did? How can people who support your film help you right now?
I’m flattered by the comparison, but of course Gary’s book is way more detailed than my film--a 96-minute film can maybe cover a tenth of what a 500-page book covers. So please, don’t anyone watch this film and think you can skip reading Gary’s book.
That being said, my dream would be some kind of major release. That could mean a theatrical release, or getting it placed with a major cable network. It’s an uphill battle because the mentality that informs Super Size Me-–you know, people are innocent, zombie-like victims of large, evil corporations--is rampant in Hollywood. A film like mine isn’t as likely to appeal to the Sundance Film Festival crowd.
Your readers can help just by spreading the word. Visit our web site, encourage your friends to visit the web site. Information can spread so rapidly in the digital age, it’ll only be a matter of time before word gets around to the people who can make that big release happen.
Jimmy, thanks for having me today and for all the good work you do to help people make smarter choices.
THANK YOU Tom! It was such a pleasure watching your film and I know it CAN make a real difference in the lives of many if given the attention it deserves. Please visit FatHead-Movie.com for more information about this amazing film that challenges the low-fat dogma and tall tales that Morgan Spurlock shared in Super Size Me. Or, as Tom calls it, "a load of bologna!"
"Leatherheads" starring Clooney and Krasinski coming April 4, 2008
Pinch me because now that it's getting closer for the theatrical release of a movie I got to be an extra in, it kinda feels like a dream. But this is no dream and the Universal Pictures film Leatherheads starring George Clooney, Renée Zellweger, and John Krasinski is officially set to come out on April 4, 2008. I CAN'T WAIT!
As regular readers of my blog know, it was almost one year ago to the day that I stood in line for several hours for a chance to be a part of the movie magic trying out to be a football player in this period movie set in the 1920's when professional football was born. When I didn't hear anything for the entire month of January and most of February, I just assumed they wouldn't need me.
But then on February 27th I got a call from the casting company for the movie asking me if I still wanted to be an extra. Uh, duh! I originally thought they wanted me to be a football-playing extra for Leatherheads, but they had something special in mind for me instead--a hotel doorman?
I got to play a special role as the doorman in "Leatherheads"
Yep, like that episode of "The Brady Bunch" where the record producer picked Greg to be a solo artist because he "fit the suit," that's how I got chosen to be the doorman. My 6'3" height and "thin body frame" (I LOVED hearing that!) got me the gig. But I almost lost the role because that cap wouldn't fit on my head. The wardrobe department had to cut a slit in the back of it and add some stretchy material to it would go on my noggin!
It was so neat with my first experience in a Hollywood movie standing in front of a makeshift hotel in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. That was a memorable day in my life because she shot a 30-45 second scene over and over about 50 times, but the neatest part was George Clooney's character speaking a line to my extra character. Sweet!
Thinking that day was going to be it for me as an extra, I was surprised to receive another phone call about a month later from the casting department again wanting me to be an extra in some football scenes as a fan in the stands. The filming was to take place in Traveler's Rest, South Carolina--about 45 minutes from my house--over several days. "Can you make it?" they asked. "Oh yeah, I'll be there!"
This time around I took lots and lots of pictures so I could have pictorial memories of this once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was such a blast and all of us extras were so enamored by the way a movie like this gets shot. They don't call it movie magic for nothing!
In fact, one of the extras named Jim Fair created a Leatherheads extras web site for people who want to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of this movie and the memories of those of us chosen to be an extra. TheLeatherheads.com gives you all the latest information on the movie now set for release on April 4, 2008.
I noticed a trailer for Leatherheads is now available at YouTube:
Here's the direct link to the video if you'd like to share it with your friends to tell them about Leatherheads. This is expected to be a summer blockbuster movie because of the powerhouse Hollywood stars in it and in anticipation of the 2008 football season. When the movie comes out in theaters, don't you know I'll be looking for that scene with me as the doorman giving Clooney's character a dirty look. It's GOTTA be in there!
I'll update you more on the movie as we get closer to April 4, 2008!
Two Different Diet Documentaries, One Unified Low-Carb Message
The lingering aftershocks of the September 2007 release of Gary Taubes' blockbuster book Good Calories, Bad Calories has only just begun. Over the next year, there will be at least two major pro-low-carb documentary films to be released that will share the positive message of livin' la vida low-carb with the masses unlike anything that has ever hit movie theaters before. The truth will be laid out for all the world to see and quite frankly I am waiting with pins and needles to see these films do their thing.
Complementing the work of Steve Yu's INSPIRED: The Movie, which has more of a motivational message in mind for viewers who want to make essential changes in their lifestyle to transform their entire outlook on life, there are two other projects underway and likely to release sometime in 2008 that are geared more towards the actual dietary changes that are needed to bring about meaningful results for people struggling with diabetes, obesity, and related diseases.
The first documentary is CJ Hunt's In Search Of The Perfect Human Diet. I've shared with you about this incredible journey to find the best possible diet for humans to live on by a man who once died at the age of 24 and was given a new lease on life. Hunt is now using his skills as a professional filmmaker to illuminate the lessons he has learned about healthy living.
You'll recall this blog post from a few months ago when he asked the readers of my blog whether livin' la vida low-carb was just another diet you've tried to lose weight or if it is something more than that. Most of you know how much low-carb changed my life for the better, so it is MUCH more to me than just a simple weight loss diet. Telling everyone I know about the miracle of low-carb is the very mission of my life right now and I wouldn't have it any other way.
CJ Hunt is also on a mission with his movie and has finally revealed a little taste of what he's been working on for everyone to enjoy. Here's a little snippet of In Search Of The Perfect Human Diet he posted today at YouTube. Be sure to leave a comment about the video, give it a 5-star rating if you liked it, and add it to your favorites. Sign up for updates from CJ Hunt about this exciting film, including more clips and news about the forthcoming release.
The second documentary is one that I only recently learned about. It's billed as the "anti-SuperSize Me Movie" because the filmmaker couldn't stand how Morgan Spurlock perverted the numbers in his breakout documentary a few years back to force culpability for obesity on McDonald's and the fast food industry. While they are certainly not completely blameless in this epidemic, ignoring the role of the individual and what they are putting in their mouths is irresponsible.
That's why comedian Tom Naughton has created a new documentary called Fat Head. Right now there is not a working web site, but Naughton has secured the URL FatHead-Movie.com when there is content to be displayed. Keep checking back at that location for more information about this film.
There is a brief, but very pointed 2 1/2 minute video from Naughton featuring a sneak peek at Fat Head that has YouTube all abuzz right now. Check it out:
Go to the direct link to the video on YouTube and leave comments, rate the video, and make it one of your favorites. Did you see what he wrote in the "About This Video" section for this clip? WHOA!
"Guess what? Fat and cholesterol don't cause heart disease. The theory was based on bogus science from the very beginning."
YEAH BABY, that's what I'm talking about!!! Tom Naughton is sharing pure unadulterated dietary truths and that has to make people who still buy into the low-fat lie absolutely shaking in their boots. Ornish, Fuhrman, McDougall, Oz...EAT YOUR HEART OUT!!!
I have a feeling this movie is gonna get a LOT of attention, especially when Naughton nails down a major movie distributor willing to give Fat Head the spotlight it deserves. Just you wait and see! In the meantime, sign up for updates on Fat Head and take a look at his other clips "Blaming Fast Food," (why McDonald's isn't to blame for making you fat) "Spurlockian Bologna," (how Morgan Spurlock fudged the calorie numbers in SuperSize Me and "The Guy From CSPI" (a hilarious spoof of Michael Jacobsen from the Center for Science in the Public Interest).
My favorite clip is "The McGovern Report" where a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet was created because of politics and not any scientific evidence. The USDA followed suit and decided to create low-fat dietary guidelines based on overzealous bureaucracy rather than solid sound data. Dr. Mary Dan Eades and Mary Enig, noted low-carb supporters, appear in this video.
I will be watching an advance copy of this documentary soon and blogging more about it as it gets closer to being available for public release. Also, Tom Naughton has agreed to an interview here at my blog, so I'll be bringing that to you soon as well.
Let's show our support for these two different documentaries with one unified low-carb message. With success will come accessibility to the masses and the furthering of the uplifting, encouraging, and inspiring theme that low-carb living is indeed a viable long-term and permanent solution to the weight and health problems modern society faces. Now more than ever we can grab this bull by the horns and run with it!
Thanks to CJ Hunt and Tom Naughton, that's EXACTLY what we're about to do!
11-29-07 UPDATE: A reader named Richard asked some interesting questions regarding Tom Naughton's upcoming anti-SuperSize Me movie in the comments section of this blog post. I wanted to give Tom an opportunity to respond and here's what he wrote:
Hi, Jimmy -
Sure, I'd be happy to answer the comments:
First off, as a former journalist and voracious reader (40-50 books per year, plus magazines, online articles, etc.) I would never suggest - and didn't - that anyone consider watching my film as a substitute for reading Gary Taubes' book. I began this project over a year ago, before I'd ever heard of his book, and I plowed through a dozen books and more articles than I'd care to count as part of my research. Read, people! Read, read, read!
I haven't read "Good Calories, Bad Calories" yet because my wife informed me there will soon be a copy under our Christmas tree, so I can't honestly tell you where Taubes and I would agree or disagree. But I will offer my take on your questions.
Exercise is not the only key to losing weight - there is no single key - but it's an important component. Our diets have changed for the worse in the past several decades, but our activity level has changed even more. When my brother was constructing pools for a living, he was, by his own admission, an eating machine. He was also muscled and cut like a wide receiver. Later, when he became a disk jockey, he ballooned up even though he was eating less.
The honest low-carb proponents, like Dr. Mike Eades, state specifically in their books that to lose weight you must create a calorie deficit. Exercise can and should be part of that deficit. Exercise also increases your output of human growth hormone, which helps to burn fat, and builds your muscles, which also helps to burn fat. And if you don't exercise at all, I don't care how thin you are - you're not healthy.
If you think research funded by government is somehow less biased than other research, you haven't been paying attention. The grain-based, low-fat diet theory is specifically endorsed by our government, and they use federal funding - or fear of losing it - to bludgeon researchers into supporting the theory. I recently spoke with Dr. Kilmer McCulley - who was fired from Harvard for disagreeing with the lipid hypothesis - and he told me the university bigwigs were afraid they'd lose their government funding if they kept him around. That's your government at work. I'm sure we would all love to see honest government funding of health research, but to date, government involvement has been more of a problem than a solution.
As for my approach being mean, well, that's a rather strong statement to make without having seen the film! In the film, I recount my own history of becoming fat as a teenager and then spending much of my adult life trying to lose weight. If anyone has sympathy for fat people, it's me.
But accepting fat people for who they are - including their right to choose pleasure over long-term health - isn't mean. Trying to convince them they should all prefer to be thin - which is a white, upper-class attitude left over from our Puritan heritage - well, that is mean. That's trying to impose someone else's value system on them.
The desire to be thin is hardly universal. In fact, as Dr. Oliver explains in his book, in many cultures being fat is considered a sign of beauty and success. My wife worked in Africa for two years and was surprised to learn that when girls approach marrying age, their parents try to fatten them up to make them more appealing to men. Among African-Americans, describing a woman as "thick" is a compliment. In an episode of my favorite sitcom ("Scrubs"), a white doctor about to go on his first-ever date with a black woman asks a black doctor for advice. "Oh, it's just like dating a white girl," his black friend answers, "But if she asks, 'Does this dress make my butt look big?' you better answer 'Hell, yeah!'"
As for diabetes and obesity, of course there's an association; where you see one, you often see the other. There's also an association between tobacco-stained teeth and lung cancer, but no one thinks brown spots on teeth cause lung cancer. They're both caused by smoking.
Loading up on sugar and starch can make you fat, and can also lead to diabetes. My point is that being fat does not cause diabetes. According to the government, I am (or was when I started filming) obese, and yet my triglycerides were only 70. Meanwhile, my rail-thin father-in-law developed Type II diabetes at age 60. He loves sugar and starch. I don't.
Thanks for you questions, and thanks, Jimmy, for the chance to address them.
THANK YOU for providing feedback, Tom! I'll be interviewing Tom Naughton about his film very soon, so keep reading to see that in the near future. THANKS for the questions, Richard!
Earlier this year I told you about a brand new obesity documentary from a filmmaker named C.J. Hunt who is In Search Of The Perfect Human Diet. He's traveling all across the country meeting with some of the most prominent researchers, doctors, nutritionists, and health experts to figure out the answer to that rather daunting undertaking.
But now C.J. Hunt wants to hear from arguably the most well-informed, enthusiastic, and compelling experts yet--YOU!
That's right, he believes that the bread (low-carb, of course!) and butter of his documentary will come from the REAL LIFE stories and examples of REAL people who have made livin' la vida low-carb their permanent and healthy way to eat. You, me, and everyone who has implemented a controlled-carb, nutrient-dense lifestyle change can help shape the direction of this movie, so keep reading to find out how.
Here's a question that I want you to think about:
Is low-carb just your diet or is it now your personal mission?
In other words, are you actively involved in sharing the low-carb lifestyle with those people in your sphere of influence? Have you committed yourself to giving back to others--paying it forward, as such--for the tremendous benefits you have received from livin' la vida low-carb?
For me personally, I think most of you know the answer to that question. It is INDEED my personally mission to help educate, encourage, and inspire others to begin their own journey on the low-carb lifestyle for the sake of their weight and health. That's why I created so many different avenues for sharing that message, including through my blog, book, podcast, YouTube videos, and my new forum.
With such a miraculous and radical turnaround in my weight and health because of this healthy nutritional approach, I can't help but shout it from the mountaintops and continue to carry on the torch that the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins started some three decades ago. And I'm not alone either with literally a new low-carber popping up seemingly every minute of every day. Look at all the blogs and web sites!!!
What about YOU, though? Is low-carb just a personal dieting tool to you? Or has it become something bigger than a simple diet plan to you? If you believe livin' la vida low-carb is something special that merits an investment of your time, energy, and resources, then what kinds of actions are you doing to try to advance it?
Perhaps you know low-carb is the way that most people should be eating to manage their weight and health since obesity and diabetes have gotten completely out of control in this world of low-fat, low-calorie, portion controlled diets, but you just don't have the time nor do you care to get involved in actively promoting low-carb in the mainstream. Why is that and what is REALLY holding you back?
I know I'm getting a little deep and somewhat personal here, but this is something C.J. is sincerely interested in as an angle for his film and he will be monitoring your responses in the comments section below.
I'll assume since you visit my blog that you have some inkling of a vested interest in seeing the low-carb message actively promoted (after all, it's what I try to do on a daily basis and have been for the past 2 1/2 years). So, if you already are or could be involved in furthering the mission, then how would you do it?
How much time do you devote to sharing low-carb with others? Do you have any special talents that could be used to market the low-carb message? What about tapping into some personal contacts who could help in this effort within your sphere of influence? Finally, are you actively supporting through financial contributions those who are on the front lines of communicating the low-carb agenda?
This is a lot to take in, but it all leads to this question:
How can we all collaborate our efforts into one?
It's the big picture focus and one that I've thought about quite a bit since I began blogging here in early 2005. One of the reasons I got involved so actively was because the pro-low-carb voice was being quashed and its active defenders were few and far between.
After Dr. Atkins died, it was as if all the most ardent supporters went into hiding. What's up with that? Be bold, be strong, and trust that you have the right message for such a time as this. I've personally seen a turnaround in my life because of the Atkins diet and I'll be danged if anyone dares to tell me I can't talk about it!
Get excited and motivated because that revolution that began so many years ago is headed for a fresh new revival in a big way. With the new Gary Taubes book coming out next Tuesday and some truly remarkable research about the healthiness of saturated fat coming very soon, the positive message of livin' la vida low-carb is primed for public consumption. That's something C.J. Hunt is attempting to tap into.
One final thought about In Search Of The Perfect Human Diet is this question:
How do you think this film can help you?
If you could communicate ANYTHING in this documentary about the low-carb life, then what would you want the message to be? How do you think a film like this could or should influence the public's perception of livin' la vida low-carb and of the importance of eating in the way we have evolved to eat?
I realize I've just plopped enough questions in your lap that many of you could write a dissertation about it. But this is YOUR chance to make an impression on a movie that could be a part of the driving force to share the genuine low-carb lifestyle to an audience of people who have probably never heard it before.
Submit your comments below or you can e-mail the filmmaker C.J. Hunt directly at cjhunt3@perfecthumandiet.com. This oughta be REALLY good! I can't wait to read what you have to share.
By the way, you can invest in this upcoming documentary if you believe in the mission of what C.J. is trying to accomplish with it by becoming a Film Angel. You can even sign up NOW to get on the DVD Mailing List which you will want to do since EVERYONE who is reading this will want a copy of this movie to share with their friends and family, right? :D
THANK YOU for getting involved and feel free to get as detailed as you would like in your responses. Feel free to take a few days to think about this if you'd like, but something tells me most of you are already locked and loaded on this one!
9-21-07 UPDATE: Well, not everyone is happy with my assertion that people like me are carrying on the torch of the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins because there were defenders of low-carb living PRIOR to him. Here's what was shared in an e-mail:
Err, Jimmy - given what you yourself have posted about the work of William Banting, amongst others - could we please stop the Atkins Deification? I grant you he popularised it LATELY - but he was hardly the first. Or best.
No offense intended, but it's grating, to me, at least, and it makes it hard to take the rest of your posts seriously...
I've never stated that Dr. Atkins was the first or the best defender of livin' la vida low-carb (and I've not deified, only admired the man for his great work). But you have to admit he is the most famous name associated with this way of eating. Plus, I lost my weight and improved my health on the ATKINS diet, so naturally I'm going to give credit to him for MY experience.
Here was my e-mail response:
THANKS for your opinion, but most people are more aware of Dr. Atkins than they are William Banting. But I agree with you that livin' la vida low-carb goes back much further. And even further than Banting, too. THANKS for reading!
If this kinda petty thing irritates somebody that they think it is "hard to take the rest of your posts seriously," then I have questions about their commitment to the message of livin' la vida low-carb in the first place. But that's just me!
I appreciate all the responses so far, so keep 'em coming! :)
"How YOU doin'?" Is THIS the way we want the obese portrayed?
In Episode 78 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," I take a closer look at the movies that have come out of Hollywood in the past few years to see how they are characterizing fat people on the silver screen. It's mostly stereotypical, but there are signs of improvement. Listen in today to hear all about it:
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 78 [16:00m]: Play in Popup | Download
My wife and I enjoy watching movies together and have seen our fair share of all kinds of films, including ones that feature overweight and obese people in them. In this podcast show today, I take a look at many of these fat flicks, including Eddie Murphy's Norbit, Ryan Reynolds' Just Friends, Gwyneth Paltrow's Shallow Hal, and Mo'Nique's Phat Girlz, just to name a few. These movies offer a mixed bag of good and bad which I highlighted in Episode 78.
Wanna getcha low-carb groove on? Get on with it when you want by:
Are you happy with the way Hollywood depicts the overweight and obese in movies? Or do characters like Eddie Murphy's Rasputia in Norbit merely set back all the progress that has been made to break down the stereotypes? Also, would you go to see a movie with an obese person as a positive featured character in a film?
Share your thoughts about this and tell us what you favorite "fat" movies of all time are. I'm sure I've missed a few, so let me hear from you.
THANK YOU for listening to "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" and please come back again on Monday for yet another episode of the Internet's #1 podcast about the amazingly healthy low-carb lifestyle!
Now here's something just too juicy to pass up if you are a fan of those outstanding and decadent sugar-free, low-carb chocolate bars I just happen to think are the best on the planet--CHOCOPERFECTION! Yes, they are one of my top sponsors, but I genuinely LOVE these bars (especially the dark chocolate!).
I heard from ChocoPerfection founder and president Mary Jo Kringas today about an upcoming documentary being shot about low-carb living called Today's Family. Mary Jo was recently contacted and interviewed THREE TIMES about the story behind her amazing chocolate bars and now they want to speak with REAL people who have implemented ChocoPerfection bars into their successful low-carb lifestyle.
Are you a fan of ChocoPerfection bars and have lost and/or maintained your weight while eating them? Then send your story to Mary Jo Kringas directly at mjkringas@lowcarbspecialties.com.
For those of you who know Mary Jo personally as I do, there's no doubting her passion and zeal for making livin' la vida low-carb as enjoyable and exciting as possible and that fact shines through brightly when you talk to her. Is that your experience using her ChocoPerfection bars as part of your healthy low-carb diet? If so, then make your voice heard and you might just be in a movie! COOL!
I hadn't heard about this film before now, but apparently the filmmaker wants to show how families can implement the principles of low-carb living to start eating more healthy than they ever have before. I don't know anything more about who is producing this documentary, but I'll be sure to share the full details with you if and when I come across them.
Today's Family is still in pre-production with filming to begin shortly.
Again, send an e-mail to Mary Jo Kringas with your positive ChocoPerfection stories at mjkringas@lowcarbspecialties.com. I may just have to send my testimony about these bars because I'm a BIG FAN of ChocoPerfection.
Haven't tried these bars yet? Try some ChocoPerfection for yourself and you'll become a full-fledged believer, too! :D
Jimmy Moore with INSPIRED: The Movie director Steve Yu
The debate over what the best diet for weight loss and health rages on, but one independent filmmaker is going deeper in his quest to help those two out of every three Americans who are currently overweight or obese in the United States today.
His name is Steve Yu and his upcoming film is entitled INSPIRED: The Movie. You can watch the trailer for this movie RIGHT NOW (you'll notice somebody familiar in it!):
I've been teasing you about this film over the past few weeks since Steve was in my hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina to interview me for his movie.
Steve and his filming crew were top-notch professionals
What an honor and a thrill it was even to be asked to be a part of something like this! With such well-known and highly-respected diet, health and fitness experts like "The Gazelle" creator Tony Little, former pro wrester Diamond Dallas Page, Dr. Jeff Levine from The Biggest Loser: Season 2, Mindless Eating author Dr. Brian Wansink, Harvard University nutritionists, and many others already on board in support of this project, I have no doubt in my mind this will be a HUGE hit when it releases in 2008.
I talked about my blog and podcast show during the interview
You can check out the official blog for INSPIRED: The Movie for special messages directly from the heart of the director as he has taken this journey over the past two years to give people the hope they have been craving so much. This isn't just another movie about obesity. I sincerely believe this film will impact tens of thousands to become inspired enough to begin their own personal weight loss journey, too. I know that's what Steve would like to see happen.
Posing with Steve and his lovely wife Mariah after the interview
You see, Steve and his beautiful bride Mariah are also inspirational regarding the power of a changed life as both of them have transformed their bodies from slightly flabby blobs of flesh into lean mean muscle machines that look absolutely fantastic! When I saw their before pictures, I was floored! They are an impressive duo.
I shared what was on my heart during the interview
While I was sharing my low-carb weight loss success story with Steve, he became quite intrigued by my brother Kevin who at the time I thought had given up on losing weight. In fact, he captured precisely what I was feeling at the moment about Kevin in this brief video clip from INSPIRED: The Movie. Be sure to subscribe to their YouTube page for more video clips.
Following the interview with me, Steve asked if I thought Kevin would be interested in being in the movie, too. I told him I would ask Kevin and see--not surprisingly, Kevin said YES! But I was also surprised to learn Kevin is now losing weight. Perhaps this experience being filmed in a couple of weeks will be the impetus he needs to FINALLY lose the weight for good. We can hope and pray!
Director Steve Yu listens intently during the interview
While there is creative freedom in making a documentary like this, one of the real challenges is raising the funds to cover the expenses of such an undertaking. INSPIRED: The Movie is no different. If you are as passionate about seeing this movie exposed to the audience that needs to hear it, then consider donating through PayPal or sending a check made payable to INSPIRED: The Movie, 1281 Aalto Main NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30318. A donation of ANY size will be GREATLY appreciated!
Filming my interview for INSPIRED: The Movie in my living room
This is an historic opportunity to be a part of something worthwhile that's bigger and more meaningful than simply going through the motions of life. It's about changing lives, helping people, sharing hope, and, more than anything, giving that despondent dieter a chance to be INSPIRED! What more could you ask for?
At Long Last, My Brother Kevin Is Finally Getting Serious About His Morbid Obesity
It now appears my brother Kevin is ready to deal with his weight
It's been a little while since I gave you an update on my brother Kevin and his ongoing battle to lose weight, get healthy, and quite literally save his life.
Ever since I first blogged about Kevin, interest in him has ranged from the curious to the concerned and has even brought out a few crazies (One memorable e-mailer wrote, "Why is your brother so fat if you've figured out the cure to obesity is low-carb? It must not work too well if your own brother can't even get his weight under control.").
So I've tried to give periodic updates on his weight and health for those of you who are praying for him. I've even used his story as an example to make a point in blog posts about livin' la vida low-carb pouring out my heart and expressing the pain that comes from my brother who just doesn't seem to get it yet.
You can read some of my previous posts to see exactly what I was feeling at the time about this deep, dark pit of hopeless despair Kevin had put himself in by clicking here, here, here, here, here and here.
My emotions about this issue with my brother have run the gamut--sadness, frustration, anger, bitterness, disappointment, fear, disgust, concern--sometimes many of these all at once! Never knowing if today's the day your only full-blooded brother is going to die is no way to live.
After suffering three straight heart attacks in the span of one week in 1999 that nearly killed him, Kevin has been living on heart medications with a mere 15 percent of his heart's capacity left. He's been in and out of the hospital with chest pains and middle-of-the-night scares so much in the past few years while his weight has not come down that I thought he had given up all hope for weight loss forever.
Although his doctors have told him to lose weight or die, nothing seemed to get through to Kevin. That is, until something that happened in April this year.
The filmmaker was so moved by my heartfelt cry for help on behalf of Kevin that he said he would like to travel to Florida to include him in the documentary, too. So I told the director I'd have to ask Kevin if he'd be interested first. After all, it's a touchy subject talking about being fat with a morbidly obese man--AND ON CAMERA!
But Kevin is not shy in the least (in fact, I'm the shy one between us if that tells you how outgoing my brother is!), so it wasn't surprising when I approached him with this that he was all-too-eager to do it. GREAT! We are planning on driving down to Florida in July for a taped conversation about Kevin's weight. This will hopefully be enlightening and inspiring...to me, Kevin, and anyone struggling with how to help an obese friend or relative. More about that later!
While I was talking to Kevin about the film, I could hear in his voice he had something to tell me. "Guess what, little bro?" he said to me in his own distinctive vernacular. "I'm losing weight now."
WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!
After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I just had to confirm what I heard Kevin say. Yep, it was true! He said he was tired of always feeling bad and going to the hospital that he started eating better (yep, that means less carbs--WOO HOO!) and getting as much exercise as his weak heart can handle. All I could say was WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Praise God for answering prayers!
I was curious what made him begin this new journey and he said it happened when our Memaw died a couple of months ago. She was the last grandparent we had and her death was partially brought on by heart disease from eating poorly (although she lived to be 77 years old).
This shook Kevin to the core and woke him up!
Just a few months earlier when I asked Kevin why he doesn't get serious about shedding the pounds, he had told me "I don't know, I'm lazy I guess." Now he had found the impetus for getting serious about his morbid obesity.
HALLELUJAH!!!
He says his weight is under 400 pounds right now, but he doesn't really know for sure since most bathroom scales only register up to about 350. But the good news is he cares, the weight is moving down at about 10 pounds a month, and he seems committed to this.
I'm not gonna assume Kevin's gonna stick with it because he never has before. Right now, though, his mind is on this goal to lose weight and I will support him the best way I know how. Love him, encourage him, and respect his courage to do what he has to do to climb this Mt. Everest in his life.
At the end of our conversation, Kevin shocked me one more time when he said "Jimmy, I'm proud of you for helping so many people with their weight loss stuff. You're doing a good job!" When he said that to me, I nearly choked up trying to hold back the tears. It was as if he said I GET IT, JIMMY, I FINALLY GET IT!
Finally, the message has sunk in. Now the real work has only just begun.
"The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore" Episode 60 [14:30m]: Play in Popup | Download
Dr. Richardson is a past president of ASBP, so he is obviously very passionate about the subject of diet and health. We discussed in the interview the various approaches currently being used to treat obesity, including the infamous Phen-Phen debacle all the way to the recently-released over-the-counter version of Xenical called Alli. He says people need to find what works for them and "stop the blame game" using their thyroid or other such excuses for not losing weight. AMEN!
Get more of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show" podcast by:
Dr. Richardson was quite open to the use of the low-carb lifestyle to help his patients who would do well on such a weight loss plan. But he even admits in my interview that the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins was quick to note that he eats carbs and the right diet method for long-term success is up to the individual to tailor according to their individual needs. Tell me what you think about Dr. Richardson and his approach to helping the obese.
Also, I shared in Episode 60 a little about my experience being filmed for the upcoming obesity documentary called INSPIRED: The Movie. Video clips and photos from the filming coming soon as well as an update on my brother Kevin who has begun to lose weight and will be appearing in the movie with me, too! EXCITING STUFF!
She agreed to meet with me this weekend while visiting her son who lives in South Carolina to talk about what's going on with the magazine. We had a delightful time chit-chatting about what's going on in her life, where her heart is regarding the future of Low-Carb Luxury, and some rather shocking circumstances that she has been going through over the past year.
I will be publishing an interview at my blog with Lora Ruffner very soon and am working on a podcast interview with both Ruffner and her business and life partner Neil Beaty in the near future. You'll be pleased to know that Lora does not want Low-Carb Luxury to go away, but it's gonna take some changes to make that happen. More about that coming soon.
2. BEING FILMED FOR "INSPIRED: THE MOVIE"
I'm thrilled to tell you about an upcoming independent documentary film that I was asked to be a part of called "Inspired: The Movie". The film's director Steve Yu asked if he could come interview me about my 180-pound low-carb weight loss success, my popular low-carb blog and podcast show, and what I am doing to continue to inspire and motivate others to take this journey that I did.
It's a unique obesity movie because it is a snapshot of a bunch of people who come at the subject of weight loss from many different paths--Dr. Jeff from The Biggest Loser, Tony Little who's most famous for his Gazelle exercise equipment, Dr. Brian Wansink who wrote the book Mindless Eating, noted Harvard researchers Dr. Walter Willett and Dr. Frank Hu, and even professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page!
This movie is going to be phenomenal and I was privileged to be filmed for a couple of hours on Sunday telling my story to hopefully help others who watch this when it comes out. I was encouraged even by the personal health improvements that both Steve and his beautiful wife Mariah have been able to find as both have lost weight and are in fantastic shape.
Be looking for me to share more about this movie soon. Steve said he would send over some exclusive video clips from my interview with him today in the coming weeks. I can't wait to share more about this amazing new movie that is sure to inspire the masses. Special thanks to Steve, Mariah, and the crew who came to Spartanburg for a visit. It was so much fun and I wish you all GREAT success with this venture!
Needless to say, I am just plain pooped tonight. I need to get some rest so I can be ready to take on the new week that starts on Monday. THANKS for your support for my blog and I look forward to sharing more with you soon! SEE YA!
, Ryan Reynolds' 
