Meet Damon Gameau, director of the upcoming That Sugar Film, a man who vowed to follow a strict diet of "healthy," low-fat food with high sugar content for 60 straight days...
Gameau, once a beacon of health, began turning moody and sluggish within the first three weeks of his project, so he went to see a doctor who told him that he was beginning to develop fatty liver disease, the most severe outcome of which is liver failure. At this point, he had already added four inches to his waistline and was on the fast track to obesity.
My words of wisdom to Mr. Gameau had I known him at that time would have been, "You know that can't ever be undone, right? Stop this nonsense immediately!" However, this man just kept right on messing himself up, the end result of which can be seen in Australian movie theaters in February 2015.
Though I certainly wish him well on this endeavor, as I do everyone on theirs, I can tell you right now that I won't be among those watching his documentary for two reasons.
First, I really hate seeing people, especially soon-to-be fathers like Gameau, doing dumb things to themselves and their bodies just for what I feel is their 15 minutes of fame. You have a child on the way, and your silliness might have just cost that child an added number of years with his father. Our actions always have repercussions -- if not immediately, then somewhere down the road. And secondly, do we really need a film to tell us that eating 40 teaspoons of sugar daily, which is what Gameau was consuming during this period, is bad for a person? No, we all pretty much already know that! After all, the American Heart Association's recommended daily amount for men is 9 teaspoons. There's a reason for that.
Before I continue, let me just state that the reason I wanted to post this blog wasn't to chastise Mr. Gameau or put him down in any way. On the contrary, his intentions seem like they are those of a very kind man wanting to make a difference in this world. In his own words: "The last meal was for all the people out there, especially parents, who are led to believe they are doing the right and healthy thing for their children. They are making an effort, yet are horribly let down by the lack of integrity in marketing and packaging strategies."
Rather, I just wanted to add to the narrative of this whole experiment by saying that we don't need any more men or women directing this type of movie, going out there and risking their own health to prove a point we all already know. We all knew McDonald's was bad, the same way we know sugar has very few upsides to it besides taste.
For future reference, eating solely one thing for a month or two -- no matter what that thing is(!) -- will always be bad for your body. That's why it is recommended that we always "balance" our diet, not binge on any one thing. Now if it's something that's typically bad for you anyway, like "junk food" from McDonald's or sugar which gets people wired on a daily basis and eventually causes their body to crash, the damage will easily be doubled or tripled.
Stop being foolish and risking your health to prove a point that's already been made multiple times by things such as the food pyramid, recommended consumption dosages and dieting books. The fame you might garner from it is just not worth it to your body. That said, now that the damage to Mr. Gameau's body has been done, may he at least get whatever he hoped to ascertain from all of this. I wish you well, Damon, but I refuse to be an enabler (any further than my writing this blog post). Good luck to you, sir!
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