Fat Head's Fantasy Island

When I was a teenager, I had quite the lucrative babysitting business.  On Saturday nights, before cable and VCR's and DVR's there was Love Boat and Fantasy Island (then SNL and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert <- anyone remember that?).  Given that The Love Boat was aboard a cruise ship, and Fat Head weighs in with a tale that seems more fantasy than reality, I chose to title this post with Fantasy Island.

Four days after the 5th Annual LC Cruise docked back in Galveston, Tom Naughton, aka Fat Head, weighs in with:  The Cruise (and Kruse) Report.  Now I wouldn't bother sharing this with you were it not for Fat Head's irresponsible blogging here.  I mean this was posted on May 17th -- long past when anyone with a computer and 6 neurons would have concluded that, whatever went down on the Carnival Magic vis a vis Dr. Jack Kruse, wasn't Jack's version.  Ahhh but we get new details from Tom:

Now, about that Jack Kruse incident … a couple of hours after we’d all boarded the ship, I bumped into Jimmy Moore, who told me Dr. Kruse had been questioned and removed from the ship by agents from the FBI and Homeland Security. At the time, nobody knew what had actually happened. We picked up bits and pieces throughout the day, and late in the evening I read the full story online. Here are some quotes from an online news article.
Anything sound off there to you?  They picked up bits and pieces throughout the day ... that would be Sunday May 6, and late in the evening he read the full story online?  Jack didn't go to the media with this until Monday.  Perhaps that's what Tom meant, right?  Or was Fat Head someone Jack reached out to online?    Fat Head cites the USA Today report of Wednesday May 9, though he doesn't say that's the report he read, I'd like to see a news article from 5/6.  Nah, but Fat Head uses this as an opportunity to rant about "haters" :
So some hater got Dr. Kruse bumped. I can’t imagine what goes through some people’s deranged minds. Sure, Dr. Kruse is controversial, but if you disagree with the guy then the proper response is to cite your evidence and prove him wrong. But as Jimmy Moore and others have learned, some wackos out there in cyberspace believe that if you disagree with them about diet and health, you’re now some kind of mortal enemy who deserves any vicious attack they can dream up.
What does this have to do with Jimmy's whining?  But:
Jimmy has received vile emails calling him all kinds of names and accusing him of being evil … yes, evil.   Jimmy Moore, one of the most kind-hearted and generous human beings I know, is evil to some people because they don’t agree with his views on the benefits of a low-carb diet. Amazing. 
Who is sending these emails?  Surely not any of the "wackos" Fat Head wants you to think sent them!  Tom ends his rant with:
Anyway, I hope the FBI finds the nutcase who did this to Dr. Kruse. I also hope the nutcase gets a nice, long opportunity to continue hating Dr. Kruse from the comfort of a prison cell.
Funny how a former stand-up comedian can't see past some rose tint on his glasses, or whatever, to see that the ShitKruseSays twitter account was a parody.  Parody Fat Head!  Oh the irony!!  I could see if he'd gone off like this on Thursday May 10, when sheet was flying left and right about the net.  But it is pretty inexcusable to write this nonsense on Thursday May 17.  Not after just about everyone in the blogosphere knew Kruse was full of it by Sunday May 13.  Yeah but far be it for Fat Head to miss an opportunity to demonize those who disagree with LC Dogma and do use science evidence-based arguments against it (the dogma and bad science, not the utility of carb restriction).  Lump all critics in with (fictitious?) haters sending (fictitious?) vile emails to poor poor Jimmy Moore.  Funny thing, and perhaps poetic justice at its finest, had Jack not gone overboard with his accusations and claims and threats (my NY attorney has deposed Lance), this whole saga would have ended up hugely in his favor.  After all, Fat Head's post here would have riled followers in Jack's defense.  But he overplayed his hand (couldn't help himself?) and now Fat Head can take his place in line with the others who fell for his nonsense looking to get a little of that lost face back.

This last part has nothing to do with Jack, but since I read this entire post, I couldn't help but get a bit disgusted over Tom's recanting of his airport ventures on the way home.  Taking a page out of Andreas Eenfeldt's book, in comments, Fat Head talks about his meal at the airport:
We were at George Bush International airport. There was a place called Real Food where we found ribs, chicken, brisket, kielbasa, etc. We all ordered a couple of meats and double vegetables for our two sides. The (obese and diabetic) counter clerk asked someone why we were all ordering these meat-and-vegetable combos with no bread or starches and got a mini-lesson in nutrition from Dr. Childers. Let’s hope the clerk makes good on her threat to read up … she could use a change in her diet.
So Fat Head sees an obese counter clerk (Did she have an "I'm a diabetic" T-shirt on or something? Or was someone rude enough to ask her?) and thinks she could use a change in her diet.  To what?  Just meat and maybe some veggies at the barbeque?  How's that working out for your friends Tom?  You know if you saw any of the following LC'ers behind that counter you'd be judging them on their obesity:   Andrew DiMino, Laura Dolson, Amy Dungan, Kim Eidson, Jimmy Moore.  When I point this out, I'm mean.  What are you?   Smug and nasty!    I mean the diet is working so well for the CarbSmart owner!  The pictures above are of Andrew DiMino and his lunch at the bbq before the cruise.  I notice that Tom's accounting of the presentations skipped right on over the CarbSmart (cruise sponsor) Team presenting Success Stories.  Thankfully Georgene & Howard Harkness provided a chronological recanting of events.  Juxtaposed with another face shot of Andrew we read:
The afternoon session started with several success stories from low carbers. This session was sponsored by Andrew Dimino, the owner of CarbSmart.com. Andrew went first, with his own weight loss and health gains. Next up was Dana Carpender (HoldTheToast.com), a lady who wrote one of the low-carb books (How I Gave up my Low-Fat Diet & Lost 40 Pounds) which I found very influential back when I was first starting my own low-carb lifestyle. Dana has lost another 20 pounds since she wrote that book. Following Dana, Amy Dungan (HealthyLowCarbLiving.com) related her success story, and was in turn followed by Vanessa Romero (HealthyLivingHowTo.com), Kim Eidson, Susan Winkler, and Kent Altena (AtkinsDietGeek.com).
These people have no shame.  Amy Dungan related her success story?  WHAT success story?  Just two weeks prior to sailing Amy was blogging yet another mea culpa on how she was again near her high weight, some 25+ lbs or so heavier than her initial "before" weight I might add.   And DiMino?  I won't comment on the rest.  Your server at Real Food would have been right at home on stage there.  So perhaps you shouldn't  ridicule obese people who don't eat like you, Tom .... One of these days your obese friends are going to look in the mirror and wonder what you really think of them.  :-(   That should not be confused with the criticism I've posted here on this blog.  If you read what I write, part of the focus is on how LC has no better track record for sustained substantial weight loss than the so-called "failed" low fat or calorie counting or WW points or whatever traditional approach.  Neither the studies nor the real life examples in your LC community demonstrate an advantage of the VLC diets you promote.  That CarbSmart (owned by DiMino, edited by Carpender, webmaster Dungan) is now going to be disseminating unbiased (cough) news and information on the low carb diets and perpetuate the myth that carbs made them fat is sickening to me and likely most people reading this.  And I'm willing to bet that if Jillian Michaels & Richard Simmons looked like Amy and Andrew you'd be slamming them in far harsher tones than I've ever used here for ripping people off.

For the record, I have NEVER mocked or ridiculed any of these people for their weight.  I have mocked Jimmy for his apparently delusional clinging to "calories don't have anything to do with it".  I've also interacted enough with the man to tell you that he's not always very nice and all the rest of the glowing praise of one side of his persona.  I've pointed out, and will continue to do so, this disgusting practice of obese people making money from other desperate obese people promoting a lifestyle that is clearly not working for them.   It is the low carbers like Andreas and Tom who ridicule obese people.  I'm sure this hurts your obese friends in their quiet moments.  Something you might want to think about before the next time you snap pictures at airports or relate stories about people you meet in passing and say what you really think out loud.  That could be what a person who remains lean on 30 bananas a day thinks of many of your low carb friends.   

Lastly, if at this point you can't have a few good laughs over a guy like Jack instead of using this debacle to trash non-believers -- with all he's put so many people through with his lies, accusations and threats --  then you have no business calling yourself a comedian!  

Comments

I am not bothered by noting someone is obese, if they are. I called myself morbidly obese and obese and fat and whatever as appropriate. I'm still fat. Close to obese, frankly.

And the counter person might have mentioned being diabetic to FatHead, in conversation, so perhaps that explained the parenthetical description.

I do think that noting one's companions are also maybe obese and maybe diabetic who eat low-carb would be honest and laudable. Just cause someone is eating bread and starches doesn't mean they will be fat and diabetic (look at all those skinny-butt vegans and vegetarians and fruitarians and "clean-eating, grain-eating" folks out there!) Some of us definitely do better reducing carbs. Some seem fine with a lot of carbs. I think the "know thyself" bit comes in handy here.

I do think that pointing out obesity or fat in someone who is a starch eater, while NOT pointing it out in one's companions who are not starch-eaters does cut into one's...aura of up-frontedness. :D

I did leave a comment at FatHead's blog. I read it. I enjoy his humor. I avoid wheat (and make no apologie for it, as hubby and I feel better without it). But if the counter person had been thin, and eating bread, would this have been pointed out at all? I notice in Dr. A.E.'s linked article that not everyone is obese and the counter person looked normal weight. I guess some folks an handle the yogurt and fruit drinks. :D
Oh, and I did point out in my comment that HE of all folks, a comedian who uses parody/satire/exaggeration to point out what he sees as scientific and dietetic fallacies and stupid utterances and dumb studies, should "get" what shitkrusesays was doing. It's no different in type of satirical jabbing/spotlighting, just a different object of jabbing/spotlighting.
LeonRover said…
J'adore le stand-up.

It is one of the freedoms that Daniel Cohn Bendit called for in 1968 - freedom to satirise - do not confuse with satyrise

When a student heckling in debates could be an art in some. Many went on to become actors, politicians, even judges. But ya gorra mak' people LAFF - being strait-laced does not do it.

We would all applaud should you become a Latter-Day Leonora (Lenny) Bruce.

I think the Jo Brand style would be in order - she take no shoot from anyone.
LeonRover said…
PS Correction - I would applaud, and hope that others of artful discrimination would, as well. (I so dislike the notion that use of "we" imlplies - that "you" are part of "us", or if not, "ought" to be.)
MM said…
I find this ironic coming from FatHead. I watched his FatHead movie and the special features. Apparently he originally intended to make how horribly fat people are treated in America a focus in his movie. He sort of got sidetracked by low carb along the way. Now if he sees a fat person he acts like if they just sucked it up and got on a low carb diet they would be thin. I think it's really a hypocritical attitude considering not only that Naughton hasn't become thin by eating low carb, but as you pointed out a lot of the presenters on the cruise haven't either.
CarbSane said…
I did leave a comment at FatHead's blog. I read it. I enjoy his humor.

I won't hold that against you ;) As most here know, I never really read or watched much of anything by this guy until after the whole mentally unstable stalker crap nonsense from him. So it's a little tough to enjoy his humor -- I can think of comedians with similar delivery that I enjoy, but somehow it just grates on my nerves.

I'm with you on calling someone obese, it is what it is. (I note the URL of Andreas' post uses the word *fat* so somewhere in there he changed the title to obese but the original title stuck in the URL.) But you pretty much hit on what bugged me about this story. And nothing says that better than Andrew DiMino lunching on at least 2 lbs of fatty meat/sausage and being truly, chronically, obese. I just cannot get over the word success story there!

When I first lost the weight this time, before finding the online LC community, I often felt like I should share this with obese people I saw. I actually did once and it wasn't pretty. Lesson learned, never again. It's none of my business and I doubt the woman (if she even asked or identified as a diabetic) really wanted the mini-nutrition lesson (lecture) from Childers, and likely her "threat" to read up was more like a "yeah, yeah, get outta my face already!".
Janey said…
Actually, Mr. Naughton looks rather slim in the recent cruise pics. Can't say the same for the others. I have recently been comparing the low carb luminaries with their plant-based counterparts...Caldwell Esselstyn, John Robbins, Joel Fuhrman. Hmmm.
Janey said…
My comment, above, should have been a reply to "MM". Sorry.