{"id":2651,"date":"2015-07-17T18:27:29","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T18:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/07\/17\/damon-gameau-talks-about-eating-40-teaspoons-of-sugar-a-day-for-his-new-doc-that-sugar-film\/"},"modified":"2015-07-17T18:27:29","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T18:27:29","slug":"damon-gameau-talks-about-eating-40-teaspoons-of-sugar-a-day-for-his-new-doc-that-sugar-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/07\/17\/damon-gameau-talks-about-eating-40-teaspoons-of-sugar-a-day-for-his-new-doc-that-sugar-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Damon Gameau talks about eating 40 teaspoons of sugar a day for his new doc, That Sugar Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

REBECCA TUCKER \/ NATIONAL POST<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2013, Damon Gameau set out to eat 40 teaspoons of sugar every day for 60 days. Thirteen days in, he developed fatty liver disease. Two years later, he admits he had no idea what he was getting into.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tell by the fact that I wanted it to go to 60 days, kind of shows my naivet\u00e9,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u00a0felt so exhausted. I\u00a0was just cranky. I knew how differently I felt, and the different person I\u00a0was when I\u00a0was eating proper foods. I\u00a0didn\u2019t like who I\u00a0had become.\u201d<\/p>\n

The results of Gameau\u2019s experiment \u2014 transitioning from basically zero processed foods and added sugars to a diet that mimicked the average sugar intake in his native Australia \u2014 is That Sugar Film. It\u2019s a documentary chronicling the potentially detrimental health impacts of our high-sugar diets, which opened in Australia late last year and in Toronto this\u00a0week. The film has already received stamps of approval from nutritionists and food activists alike; Jamie Oliver is among its outspoken supporters.<\/p>\n

Gameau is not a nutritionist, physician or an activist \u2014 he\u2019s an actor, and That Sugar Film is often more light-hearted than grave in its message-delivering methodology. Nevertheless, the documentary fits well into a lineage of similarly minded films to hit theatres of late \u2014 such as Food Inc., Forks over Knives and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead \u2014 that aim to change our conventional thinking about what we eat.<\/p>\n

But the most apt comparison, and one Gameau has received innumerable times since That Sugar Film\u2019s theatrical release in Australia, is to Super Size Me, the 2004 documentary that saw filmmaker Morgan Spurlock subsist on a diet of McDonald\u2019s for an entire month. Like Spurlock, Gameau\u2019s progress is closely monitored by physicians throughout the experiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike me, they didn\u2019t know what they were going to get,\u201d Gameau says, noting that nobody expected liver disease in under three weeks. He admits that the severe changes his body went through after reintroducing sugar \u2014 weight gain (particularly around his belly), lethargy, skin breakouts, headaches and nausea \u2014 were perhaps highlighted by the fact that, before the experiment, he was a remarkably healthy eater. \u201cI think there is an element of (the story)\u00a0that any time you change your diet that drastically, you\u2019re going to get symptoms,\u201d he says. \u201cBut\u00a0even though it\u2019s the study of one person, there\u2019s enough evidence to show that it\u2019s a bad thing.<\/p>\n

Aside from the warnings of his physicians, Gameau received one major criticism at the outset of his project: focusing on a single ingredient wasn\u2019t likely to yield significant results.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were saying, \u2018Nutrition doesn\u2019t work like that,\u2019 \u201d Gameau recalls,\u00a0\u201cAnd I wasn\u2019t having any kind of junk foods, so even I didn\u2019t know whether we\u2019d get any results at all. But you don\u2019t find other substances pervading through the food supply like sugar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, in That Sugar Film,\u00a0Gameau didn\u2019t fill his sugar quota by drinking soda, eating candy bars or gorging on ice creams, but rather by consuming what he described as \u201cperceived health foods\u201d \u2014 cereal, boxed juice, low-fat yogurts \u2014 that are packed with added sugars. Sugar, Gameau learns, is insidious: one early shot in the film shows how many grocery items would remain on shelves if those containing added amounts of the sweet stuff were removed. Only about 20% of packaged foods make the cut.<\/p>\n

That fact, Gameau says, resonates particularly loudly with him as a parent \u2014 he and girlfriend Zoe Truckwell-Smith welcomed a baby daughter, Velvet, near the end of the documentary\u2019s filming. \u201cIf I\u00a0went out and drank Coke and ate donuts and Mars bars, everyone\u00a0would know that I\u2019d get sick,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cBut most parents give these other things to their kids believing they\u2019re doing the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gameau says the aspect of the doc he\u2019s most excited about is its educational component, a tookkit consisting of the movie, as well as factsheets and study guides for school-aged children that can be purchased by teachers in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who need to see\u00a0it are teenagers,\u201d Gameau says, \u201cwho are not caring about what they\u2019re putting in their bodies and developing bad habits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gameau is hopeful that the educational materials \u2014 or at least That Sugar Film\u2019s message \u2014 will reach other shores, too, particularly North America\u2019s. He spent some time filming the documentary in the United States, and says he was surprised by access to food that wasn\u2019t fast or processed. One scene in the film sees him driving along a freeway pointing out the inaccuracy of rest-stop exit signs: \u201cThey all say \u2018exit here for food,\u2019 \u201d Gameau sighs as he drives past McDonald\u2019s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King.<\/p>\n

Eating better, Gameau says, isn\u2019t just a matter of knowledge. It\u2019s also about access. \u201cNorth America\u2019s very different,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky in Australia. As you saw in the film, it was impossible to get something fresh in Middle America. We\u2019re at the start of a tricky conversation. Good food should be a basic human right. I\u00a0hope that, like with tobacco, we\u2019re having a different conversation in 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Sugar Film screens Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday at Cineplex Yonge Dundas in Toronto; visit\u00a0thatsugarfilm.com<\/a> for more info.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REBECCA TUCKER \/ NATIONAL POST In 2013, Damon Gameau set out to eat 40 teaspoons of sugar every day for 60 days. Thirteen days in, he developed fatty liver disease. 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