It's time for Game Changers to be debunked. The movie is a heinous, cherry picked attack on the healthiest food in the world.
At its core, it's a corrupt assault on masculinity.
It's complete propaganda masquerading as science.
And now, I will debunk each of its main claims. Read on.
Claim #1: Eating Meat Isn't Manly
Arnold and crew in the Game Changers make the claim that you've been manipulated into thinking meat is manly.
According to Arnold, "There’s no one that can relate to it better than I do because I’ve lived in that world," the seven-time Mr. Olympia champion says. "'Steak is for men'
TRUTH: Vegan and Low Fat Diets are Associated with Lower Sperm Count and Testosterone Levels
Disturbingly, the original explicit goal of veganism from the Seventh Day Adventists was to curb libido. It's really Arnold who's been misled by the marketing...not the meat eaters. He's been convinced that veganism is a noble cause to improve health and the environment.
When in reality, the truth is much more sordid and wouldn’t be out of place in a Dan Brown novel.
Veganism was initially pushed by a religious group to curb sexual promiscuity. And it has worked.
This study below shows that vegetable based food intake decreased sperm quality.
Additionally, this study found that low-fat diets were associated with a lower serum testosterone level.
Lastly, this study found that organ meat intake was associated with a 52% higher sperm count, even amongst red meat-eaters. This is one of the reasons I eat beef liver weekly.
Eat meat. Be a man.
CLAIM #2: Plant Protein is As Effective for Building Muscle as Animal Protein
The Game Changers is littered with footage of men exerting their strength. With the implication being, "plant based diets did this."
The documentary claims that vegetarian athletes get adequate protein and enough essential amino acids.
TRUTH: Some vegetables have as many total grams of protein. But they have much lower protein quality.
Protein is comprised of amino acids. Without the intake of essential amino acids that your body cannot synthesize, your muscle growth will be suboptimal. Plants do contain every essential amino acid, but in suboptimal amounts for muscle gain.
Therefore to gain muscle with plants you need to consume more calories or use vegetable based powders that may be deleterious in other ways.
According to a study published in the AHA journal:
“ Although plant proteins form a large part of the human diet, most are deficient in 1 or more essential amino acids and are therefore regarded as incomplete proteins.” <*>
Animals concentrate amino acids, therefore have more of every single one than plant foods. This graphic below from Chris Kresser exhibits the differences.
Additionally, this study shows that protein bioavailability differs too. Because of antinutrients and digestibility factors, your body isn't able to use all of the protein food sources contains.
According to this study, for every 21 grams of beef your body can use 14g of the protein. Whereas for every 22 grams of beans, your body can only use 5 grams (graphic from Peter Ballerstedt). Good luck keeping your significant other if you try to eat enough beans to satisfy your protein requirements.
Lastly, this study even showed that vegetarians LOST muscle mass when working out <*>. That's like going to school, working your butt off and getting dumber...
Sure, it may be possible to gain muscle loading yourself with soy. But there are a number of potential dangers of eating too much:
- Phytic acid reduces nutrient absorption
- Trypsin inhibitors block protein digestion
- Phytoestrogens cause infertility, destroy thyroid and promote breast cancer
- Increases Vitamin D and B12 needs
- High levels of aluminum - Processing releases carcinogens
Additionally, some studies show that lean mass gain is greater with whey protein than with soy protein. This double blind clinical trial showed that those consuming whey protein increased their weight by 1.8kg while dropping 2.3kg of fat. Those using soy based protein saw no difference in body mass <*>.
This may be due to the differences in leucine content.
CLAIM #3: Gladiators, the strongest men, didn't eat meat
Gladiators were very fed high carb diets and were considered some of the strongest men. They fought lion's for god's sake. So the Game Changers claims that if you want to be a big strong man, you should mimic the Gladiators (maybe, minus being essentially enslaved).
TRUTH: Gladiators ate a high carb diet because they were treated like slaves and because they wanted to fatten up for protection.
Gladiators were not fed a high carb diet by choice. They tried to fatten up to give themselves "body armor" in battle.
Unless you need a coat of fatty body armor, I suggest not doing the same. The Gladiators were treated terribly. This is like finding the strongest guy in prison and trying to copy his diet.
CLAIM: Strong pro athletes don't eat red meat
The Game Changers documentary points out a number of pro athletes who've recently given up meat. They then go on to attribute their success to this decision.
For instance, Conor Mcgregor, a meat aficionado lost a fight to Nate Diaz, a recent "vegan".
TRUTH: The only reason pro athletes went pro in the first place is because they and their mother ate meat their whole life.
If you still trusted the integrity of the movie producers, this is where you may lose all hope. If cherry picking was a sport, Game Changers would have a gold medal.
Game Changers used this one fight between McGregor and Diaz almost as if it was a holy war of veganism vs meat eating. But there are far too many confounders to attribute the outcome solely to diet.
For one, McGregor fought Diaz 15 pounds lighter than him because the opponent he was supposed to be fighting got injured. Even so, the two met up again 5 months later and McGregor won.
And if you doubt the power of meat, rewatch the recent McGregor fight where he took out the Cowboy Cerrone in 45 seconds.
I will not mince my words. None of the pro athletes that went vegan would have been pro in the first place if they and their mother didn't eat meat.
Even Nate Diaz, for instance, said he eats eggs and seafood
Across the board, when professional athletes have tried to cut out animal products, they quit or get hurt.
CLAIM #4: Cows are just the middlemen...You Should Go Straight to the Source
According to the documentary, livestock are the biggest source of habitat destruction. This is because they need a tremendous amount of land to produce protein.
As a result, the Game Changers suggests going straight to the source instead.
TRUTH: That's like saying planes are just middlemen. You can't get many places without them.
Both the land use and functional claims are misleading.
The Game Changers claims that feeding cows is an inefficient use of food because we could just eat it instead. But 86% of the food that ruminants eat is inedible to humans <*>.
Given some of the odd byproducts that vegans eat -- like vegetable oils and kale -- I wouldn't be surprised to see them eating grass next. But you cannot simply claim that cows are just middlemen.
Cows transform human inedible, fibrous plants into highly nutritious protein dense food for humans.
Cows turn grass into ribeye. That is magic if you ask me.
They're able to take 0.8g of nutrient deficient protein and turn it into 1g of the most nutritious beef protein.
In fact, through their ruminant digestion process, they're ADDING nutrients to the human food supply. So if you're really concerned about "sustainability" you should be praising them.
And no, beef isn't sucking up the entire world's water supply.
Most of the water is from rainfall. The best estimates suggest beef uses 50 to 100 gallons of new water whereas rice and almonds use over 400.
CLAIM #5: Plants Have Beneficial Antioxidants
One of the purported benefits of plants are the antioxidants they have. Things like polyphenols and sulforaphane, which hypothetically upregulate antioxidant pathways.
Ostensibly this would reduce free radical damage and improve health.
TRUTH: The Phytochemicals in plants are actually toxins that irritate you.
Several epidemiological — i.e. astrological — studies have shown that high intakes of fruits and vegetables are associated with lower oxidation and cancer rates. Many people have attributed this to hormesis.
Hormesis is the idea that a small amount of something negative can lead to a positive response. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. For instance, this applies in the case of exercise. Stressing your muscles ends up making them stronger.
During the co-evolution between plants and animals, plants developed chemicals to fight off predators. Things like lectins, saponins, flavonoids, and alkaloids are all defense mechanisms to dissuade animals from eating them.
The hypothesis is that these phytochemicals in plants can actually strengthen your immune system as it is mobilized to fight off the chemicals . This ultimately results in stronger antioxidant defenses.
Some studies in vitro have shown that sulforaphane — one of these plant components — can activate the nrf2 antioxidant pathway. This pathway functions by upregulating antioxidant enzymes like glutathione, mentioned above.
But like other nutritional guidance, the studies do not hold up when scrutinized. Tests in petri dishes don’t always translate to the real world.
Dr. Georgia Ede looked at all 726 studies regarding vegetables on PubMed and none have shown conclusively positive benefits on health <*>, independent of other lifestyle and carbohydrate factors.
Additionally, sulforaphane in high doses is goitrogenic and can damage your thyroid.
Additionally, scientists have tried to replicate the epidemiological results with controlled, intervention trials — real studies — and have not been able to.
These two studies below confirm that vegetables have no antioxidant benefit.
Additionally, your body produces more POTENT antioxidants than anything you can find in food. Things like
Superoxide Dismutase
CoQ10
Glutathione
All of these increase on the ketogenic diet <*>.
If you really want antioxidants, go keto.
Lastly, a big reason the carnivore diet works so well is because it cuts out all these supposedly beneficial phytochemicals, which are really toxic and damaging people. They are toxins that POISON the predators that eat them.
If you're interested in trying the carnivore diet, sign up below for a 30 day guide.
CLAIM #6: Vegetables are nutrient dense superfoods and the foundation of a healthy diet
The Game Changers and vegans believe that vegetables are the foundation of a healthy diet. Like most people, they've been led to believe that vegetables and health are synonymous.
But these claims do not stack up to reality.
TRUTH: Meat has more of every single nutrient than plants, other than vitamin c. A vegan diet is absent or deficient in many nutrients.
A vegan diet is one of the least healthy things you can do. You are willfully depriving your body and brain of critical nutrients it needs. Some include:
- B12
- Retinol
- Heme iron
- Zinc
- DHA
- Taurine
- Choline
- Glycine
- K2
Even in the circumstances where plants have a comparable amount of a nutrient, it's often less absorbable. For instance, in the cases where plants and animals have two different forms of the same nutrient, the animal form is ALWAYS the one you need:
- Retinol vs carotene
- D3 vs D2
- Heme iron vs non heme
- Pyridoxal vs Pyridoxine
Spinach, a food that most people think is the pinnacle of health, has less of almost every nutrient than beef liver. If you want to eat a healthy diet, animal products needs to be the foundation.
CLAIM #7: Eating meat didn't make us human
Game Changers claims that humans adapted to eat vegetables.
TRUTH: Eating fat and meat made us human
More science continues to emerge that human brain size didn't explode until we started eating fat, marrow and brains.
In fact, our vegan ancestors are still in the trees throwing poop at each other.
The distinguishing factor between humans and our primate ancestors is our brain size.
(Although not all of us were blessed with this adaptation…)
Between 6 million and 2.5 million years ago, our brain size was fairly consistent. Since then, it has quadrupled in size. <*>
Anthropological evidence dating back 2 million years ago finds that Homo Habilis — the earliest Homo — used stone tools to obtain food <*>.
When predators killed animals, they conveniently left behind bones and skulls that they were unable to extract food from. Fossil evidence shows that the Homo Habilis would fracture the skulls and bones for brain and marrow — two fat sources.
The meat and fat provided a complete nutrient, protein and fatty acid profile, which allowed the hominids more time for other activities. Increasingly, evidence suggests that this symbiotic relationship between tools, fat, humans and cooperation made us who we are today.
This was only possible because we discovered a highly energy dense form of energy: animal fat. Plant foods require a large colon to ferment and digest fiber into energy. This is precisely why herbivores like Gorillas have a large beer belly looking gut.
But fat can be mobilized for energy directly from the small intestine and used more efficiently for fuel.
Some other evidence that animal products made us human include:
- Have a small colon, like other meat eaters
- Have an acidic stomach to digest scavenged food
- Need the nutrients in animal food for brain growth
- Have fat cells similar to other carnivores
- Have shoulders adapted to spear throwing
CLAIM #8: Meat Causes Chronic Disease
Game Changers is not alone is pushing the notion that meat causes disease. Just about everyone believes it. According to the Game Changers, meat causes disease and vegetables are the only way to cure it.
TRUTH: Meat does not cause chronic disease and may be able to reverse it
Ancel Keys and the government brainwashed you into fearing saturated fat and cholesterol. Poor pseudoscience convinced you that you’re as good as dead if you eat red meat.
Ancel Keys swayed the world to replace animal fats with seed oils and carbohydrates. The result? Skyrocketing chronic disease.
Yet proponents of the vegan diet continue to rely on these debunked studies. They still claim that red meat will kill you — a claim faker than beyond meat.
However, there’s no evidence that animal products are bad for you. And now many studies confirm this claim. There are now over 40 studies (RCTs) that debunk claims that red meat causes disease <*>.
In fact, one of the biggest studies trying to confirm Keys’ hypothesis showed the opposite. What happened?
Subjects in the Minnesota Coronary Experiment lowered their cholesterol levels by removing animal fats. But the reduction in cholesterol increased death rate.
So what’s the truth?
People aren’t dying from eating steak. They’re dying because they are eating processed junk and plant foods (remember, wheat and carbohydrates are plants).
Tens of thousands of carnivores have reversed recalcitrant health issues with a meat based diet.
Now insulin resistance and chronic disease is plaguing the world. And the vegan diet is going to ensure the momentum continues downhill.
It’s time to wake up.
CLAIM #9: Eating meat destroys the environment
One of the most pervasive claims of vegan advocates is that eating meat destroys the environment.
TRUTH: Animal Based Agriculture is Beneficial for the Environment
“Cow farts are destroying the environment.” “Animal based diets will boil the oceans.” This is nonsense.
First off, you know that an argument is on its last stand when it’s erratic. At first meat was bad because it caused heart disease. Then it was bad because it caused colon cancer. And now it’s bad because it destroys the environment
It’s not surprising: this is a lie too.
Yes, animal based agriculture produces 4% of greenhouse grasses. But plant based agriculture generates even more. Plant based agriculture generates 5% of greenhouse gasses <*>.
Regenerative agriculture can also REDUCE the carbon in the atmosphere. Whereas monocrop agriculture decimates soil.
This study below from White Oak Pastures demonstrated that their cattle increased the carbon carrying capacity of the soil.
Additionally one of the biggest environmental catastrophes is the chronic disease crisis. Chronic diseases damage the environment more than any way of eating.
The pharmaceutical industry damages the environment more than all agriculture and as we've seen from many carnivore diet anecdotes, diets high in protein can erase chronic disease. Chronic disease that supports the entire pharmaceutical industry.
Ruminant agriculture is pivotal for the future of the human race.
The propaganda has fooled people into avoiding the healthiest food in the world.
This is just the latest attempt. Don’t let them fool you.
CLAIM #10: Eating meat is unethical
The last core tenet of veganism is that eating meat is unethical. Vegan advocates will plaster photos and videos of the animals you eat all over and terrify you into avoid animals.
TRUTH: 25 times more animals die to produce an equal weight of wheat protein and beef protein <*>
A naive assumption of the vegan diet is that it saves the world from animal cruelty.
This is wrong and only making things worse. It turns out that a plant from a grocery store is less vegan than a local grass fed cow.
But the second order consequences are hard for most people to grasp. Because an animal with big, cute eyes isn’t killed, many assume that it’s more ethical.
The titanic sum of animals killed to preserve a nutrient deficient, vegan lifestyle is gruesome.
How do you think farmers defend crops for the green smoothies, salad and avocado toast?
First, the soil tilling process is like a tsunami, destroying all life in its path. Next, farmers spray fields with pesticides to kill off even more insects. To make matters worse, many farmers shoot predators sight on seen.
According to Mike Archer, a Professor at the University of NSW, 25 times more animals die to produce an equal weight of wheat protein and beef protein.
This recent article, for instance, points out that 50 BILLION bees died for last year's almond production <*>. But because they're not cuddly and cute like a cow, I guess vegans don't care about them.
All in all, billions of animals die for the vegan lifestyle. Whereas carnivores can live off of 1-2 cows a year. And those cows are curing their chronic disease.
We can’t forget that humans are animals too. The most important animals in the world.
Our health needs to be the most important part of the equation. Yet over 60% of the US has diabetes or pre-diabetes. 88% of American’s are metabolically unhealthy. Only 12% of Americans are metabolically healthy. And the treatment of chronic diseases costs over $1.7tn in the US. The picture is despicable.
Conclusion
The Game Changers is profit driven propaganda. It is not a scientific piece, do not treat it as such.
I cannot believe people put up with it.
They cherry pick misleading studies
They withhold relevant information
They LIE about athletes diets
Getting diet information from Game Changers is no different than basing your life off of Winnie the Pooh.