Game Changers - the documentary

[AJS914]

Have you all seen this yet? It came out in 2017 but just hit Netflix and is getting more buzz now.

For those that having seen this, it's about athletic performance and plant based nutrition (vegan). There are many compelling stories.

Personally, I'm vegan curious. It doesn't stem from ethical issues but just wanting to feel good, age well, and perform well on the bike. At 53, more and more, I notice how foods affect me. In my twenties I lived on burritos, pizza, burgers, and bbq. Eating that kind of food now at 53 makes me feel comatose for the evening. It seems clear that that kind of food is not going to fuel a ride well.

My diet over the decades has gotten cleaner and cleaner. We eat lots of vegetables. I cut out 95% of my dairy consumption last year because it made me feel better. I cut out all low quality PUFA oils and lost some belly fat and achieved some body remodeling. I still eat a lot of beef, chicken, eggs, and salmon. Most dinners are planned around a protein portion.

[AJS914]

https://gamechangersmovie.com/

The points I found interesting:

Dotsie Bausch story. She switched to plant based a bit before the 2012 Olympics (silver medal at 39 years old). A cyclist, the stories of her quicker recovery, being able to do harder workouts than ever, and doubling her leg sled weight are very compelling.

"Complete protein" - they were saying that the idea you cannot get all the essential amino acids from plants has been proven incorrect.

B12 issue - vegans often need to supplement with B12. I thought it was interesting that B12 is actually produced by bacteria in soils and that pesticides and modern farming practices are killing those bacteria.

Experiment looking at fat in the blood. That was interesting. But wouldn't you get fat in your blood from eating an avocado?

[AJS914]

I wish there was more science in the documentary. They eluded to improved epithelial function as the key to better performance.

[robertbb]

Will re-post the sentiments when I wrote about this on another forum.

I switched off when they spoke to Carl Lewis. You know, the guy that got done for doping... twice.

But hey he was a vegan....

May as well have interviewed Lance Armstrong and Jobe Watson.

[AJS914]

Well, Lewis was in the documentary for like 3 minutes. That said, there was too much anecdotal information and not enough science for my tastes. I was more interested in the before and after stories rather than the "see, that great atlete was vegan" stories.

[ichobi]

Have a read

https://perfectketo.com/game-changers-movie-fact-check/

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[desperado95219]

[quote=robertbb post_id=1528569 time=1572996545 user_id=12651]
Will re-post the sentiments when I wrote about this on another forum.

I switched off when they spoke to Carl Lewis. You know, the guy that got done for doping... twice.

But hey he was a vegan....

May as well have interviewed Lance Armstrong and Jobe Watson.
[/quote]

I think you may have Carl Lewis mixed up with Ben Johnson (Canadian)...same era. I don't know of Carl Lewis ever testing positive for anything. His is a well respected track coach now at the University of Houston.

[mentok]

Have a read

https://perfectketo.com/game-changers-movie-fact-check/

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Oof, when you're picking on the documentary because of how much peanut butter goes on a peanut butter sandwich you're really struggling.

Also, "perfect keto"? I don't think so...

[Nefarious86]

When the only thing you can pick apart from that site is the peanut butter...

I've watched it, it's heavily biased and makes little effort to hide the fact.

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[ichobi]

If that's the only thing you get from the article.... Also doesn't make his other argument invalid. In fact that peanut butter argument was raised up because how ridiculous the comparison the movie trying to make. I have no dog in this fight but one should always look at both side, especially for a documentary that being selective and disingenuous in picking out and reframing evidence to support it's claim.

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[Nefarious86]

Sorry I wasnt aware that we had hit the low point in society where 2h of thinky veiled self promotion was considered a documentary. But you're right, 5tbs of peanut butter is a normal serving...

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[Jugi]

The main point I took away from the film was that an athlete should plan their meals and diet around carbs or vegetables, and not protein. However I found the generalization of "plant based diet" and "meat based diet" a bit weird, almost as if the word "vegan" was banned during the film. Are those common definitions in the US? I guess it's easier to see differences when looking at it just as "black or white", but there are a lot of grey variables between them.

I don't think athletes or people in general should it eat so "meat based" as in Conor McGregor's example, as he mentioned eating one or two 200-400g steaks per day for a week before an important fight. It doesn't sound very healthy, even for an athlete who could be able to burn all the fat included. The old-school ethos of "eating steak gives you bull's strength" is definetly worth thinking again, but that doesn't mean going full vegan is the best approach for everybody either.

The latest Trainerroad podcast discussed endurance athlete's diet. They basicly concluded that energy consumption during training shouldn't be underestimated, hard efforts should always be fuelled correctly and the easiest way to fuel in endurance sports is to consume lots of carbs. Those automatically take away space from protein on a dinner plate, so diet becomes less "meat based". For the average Joe, eating similar volumes of carbs would be way too much.

[jlok]

https://www.pezcyclingnews.com/toolbox/ ... esolution/
we need moar butter!

[ichobi]

Sorry I wasnt aware that we had hit the low point in society where 2h of thinky veiled self promotion was considered a documentary. But you're right, 5tbs of peanut butter is a normal serving...

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Comment was directed at the reply above yours so dont get me wrong. We are on the same page here.

The most disingenous thing going on in this movie is using the word plant based diet in place of basically...carbohydrate in many points it presented. It creates a false dichotomy that you have to pick one type of diet or the other. As a pile of argument it doesn't hold up to any close scrutiny, veiled by nice visual and narrative but those are about the only merits it has going for.

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[AJS914]

First - I totally understand that this documentary is a heavily biased towards vegan/plant based or whatever you want to call it. I have no religious affilation with meat or plants. I don't have enough ethical concerns about animal farming to go stone cold vegan on the spot. I wear leather. Personally, I've long recognized that I probably don't eat enough plants and fiber and often rely on a big hunk of meat to create a meal.

My interest in this movie is purely sports performance based as well as health and longevity based.

Vegan vs. Plant Based - my understanding is that the plant based moniker refers to a whole food plant based diet. One could eat white bread, sugar, donuts and french fries and still be vegan. A plant based eater might eat some meat and they might wear leather shoes without animal ethical concerns.

Thanks for the Pez article. He sounds, at least, not biased. The article on the Keto site sounds like they feel threatened. Like I said, food is not a religion for me. It was curious that the article on the Pez site uses some of the exact same language as that on the Keto site.

I think I'm going to start digging through some of the studies mentioned in the film. I'm curious about the comments on epithelial function and the biochemical reactions with animal proteins mentioned in the film.