The Magic Pill - Netflix Doc

Interesting for those with conditions that may be improved by keto, but not for the general population as a panacea.

I have watched it!! What an eye opener

Netflix documentaries are entertainment. They bear no responsibility to give both sides of the story or be even vaguely accurate. It would be foolish to give one any serious consideration when trying to determine what to eat or how to be healthy or how to cure something. They are the "Aliens Abducted my Talking Dog" tabloids in the Netflix checkout line. Fine to kill the time and maybe get a chuckle, but not worth investing anything else in.

If you're curious what people here think about keto, you can use the search function (or just skim down the Recent posts list or the Debate forum) to see hundreds if not thousands of threads, and there is also a Low Carbers group that I'm sure has many more. I personally don't do keto because I thrive on carbs and would be miserable, and have yet to see any personally convincing data that it is worth working through that :drinker:

It really annoyed me that the documentary acted like the little girl with reduced seizures on the keto diet was some kind of medical miracle recovery. The keto diet was invented to control seizures in children!

It’s a bad movie. I recommend a Magic Pill/What the Health double feature if you want to know how easy it is to manipulate information.

ellie7187 wrote: »

I too like carbs WAY too much to give them up for a diet. Only “diet” that’s ever worked for me is CICO. This “doc” was just the first I’d heard of Keto for anything other than weight loss. Admittedly, I had no idea what it was about and started watching thinking it would be a doc about the weight loss pill market and propaganda therein, etc.

But given how polarizing the topic of Keto is on these message boards I was curious to see if anyone here following Keto is doing it for non-weight loss issues (as I’ve only seen weight loss discussed before).

For the record, I didn’t say I bought in to the doc. Just that it was interesting. Wanted to clear that up after all those woo’s haha.

Most of the purported benefits of doing keto are the same benefits that most people have when they move away from the SAD, lose weight, and maintain a healthy weight.

ETA: the only reason keto is polarizing is because you have ketoevangelist making all kinds of claims and that basically keto will cure everything under the sun, and if you're not keto, you mus be a sugar junky eating the SAD...that's really the only time it gets contentious.

As stated by the OP, it's an anecdotal film about people's positive experiences using a ketogenic diet. It's pro keto. The main reason to watch it would be to see the positives of a ketogenic diet - mainly the positive health effects, which are common enough in some cases to be accepted by the medical community:

There was an epileptic girl with autism. We know keto helps epilepsy and has shown therapeutic effects to some brain issues.

There was the T2D's. That's a no brainer. Cut carbs, insulin falls and so does BG - often within days.

There was a couple of women who used it to lose weight. One had a tonne of nutritional low convenience foods to get rid of and the other was liberated by being "allowed" to eat fat again.

And then there was the woman who reversed her cancer with diet alone... I wish they hadn't included her story. I don't doubt it was true but the majority of cancers will NOT be cured by a dietary change. That was a poor message to send, IMO.

The title refers to the fact that there is no magic pill. Change your diet from poor to healthier (in this case keto) and put in the work and you'll get healthier.

IDK. It was a keto film on the benefits of keto. It delivered exactly what I expected. It was interesting. Factual. It did not get into the negatives some experience, but bad breath doesn't make for exciting tv either.
It can be seen here:
http://u123movies.com/watch/bdr33QvN-the-magic-pill.html

After that I watched What the Health. It was exactly what I expected too. LOL

AnvilHead wrote: »

Not everybody thinks so highly of it: https://synapses.co.za/the-magic-pill-pete-evans-does-documentary/

Netflix "documentaries" are nothing but one-sided hack job propaganda pieces full of hype, fearmongering and pseudoscience. And this one is no exception.

I saw Pete Evens and immediately put it on my do not watch list.

I avoid anything by/promoted by the same "quack" who publishes recipes for paleo baby formula (which is actually harmful due to high levels of vitamin A in bone broth) and discourages the use of suncreen in a country with one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.

Okay rant over, feeling much better now

There is not just "some" data to support a ketogenic diet reducing or eliminating seizures in people with epilepsy. Prior to the intro of anti-seizure meds it was *the* protocol for epilepsy. It is still used today for those who do not respond to meds. It does not work for all but is far beyond a trial stage. Visit the Johns Hopkins sight or an Epilepsy site for additional info. Or the NIH sight, of course.

@ellie7187, I am a 64 year old female who was diagnosed with a neurological movement disorder 18 years ago. Cervical Dystonia aka Spasmodic Torticollis. Having learned (and researched) the effectiveness of ketogenic diets for epilepsy and knowing the preferred med (I no longer take it) for my dystonia is an anti seizure med, I trialed keto for 52 weeks in 2015-2016.

I gave it the good ol' college try but alas it was ineffective. I also did not experience any of the other health benefits often reported but I tend to be in really great health @ 64 except for the CD/ST.

I did definitely find high fat is quite satiating for me so have remained LCHF with no emphasis on being in a ketogenic state. I really struggled with hunger my 1st year or so of maintenance. My "keto trial" was beneficial in helping me determine a better macro split (for me) but nothing more really. No longer being hungry all the time is pleasing though.