If We Controlled Your Remote… 7/25/17

Have you ever been at a loss as to what to watch? Too many shows to pick from? We’re here to give you our opinions on what we feel is worth watching. Check it out and then let us know in the comments below what you’re choosing for tonight!

Phoebe’s Choice

Last week on Adam Ruins Everything, the comedian turned comedic/annoying educator took on weight loss as his topic du jour. As he does every week, host Adam Conway tackled common misconceptions about an everyday subject. I’ve been trying to lose a few pounds for two years, so this one really pulled me in. It opened with an exercising man named Sam doing an aerobic workout while watching a satirical version of The Biggest Loser called Fatty Melt. During a commercial break, he went to the fridge for a low-fat snack and instead found Adam, who had been hiding in there overnight.

Adam immediately started picking apart and refuting everything poor Sam thought he knew about what makes us gain weight in the first place. We quickly learned that the idea that “low-fat” food keeps weight off or helps lose weight is all based on cherry-picked data published by physiologist Ancel Keys. The sugar industry was paying for such erroneous data to be spread to obfuscate the fact that obesity and heart disease are linked to sugar consumption, not fat consumption. The sugar lobby was so successful in duping the world that by 1980, the USDA was recommending a fat-free diet as a way to stay healthy. Logically, obesity increased.

Next Adam started to pick apart the concept of counting calories. For one thing, everyone’s body is different, so there can be no standard count that is correct for all humans. Secondly, the median value they came up with — 2350 calories a day — was rounded down, because it is presumably easier to recall the number 2000 than it is to remember 2350? This is clearly not science. It’s propaganda. Further confusing this issue was the fact that the FDA found that the calorie count on labels varies by as much as 20%. No two Fig Newtons have the exact amount of calories in them. The entire calorie counting method is literally junk science. Fitness bracelets, which people use to count the calories they burn, are neither scientifically accurate nor medical devices, according to their own disclaimers!

Adam then used his magical television host powers to teleport himself and Sam onto the set of the aforementioned Fatty Melt game show, where contestants were trying to win by losing the most weight. He exposed the scams weight-loss game shows use: They have contestants gain extra weight before starting on the show, & they use dehydration to create artificial temporary weight loss occasionally. After exposing those points, Adam sat down to talk to an expert who spent six years studying the after-the-show statistics of former contestants on The Biggest Loser. He disclosed that 80% regain the weight they lost on the show. The only way to keep the weight off is to maintain the diet and exercise rates that lost the weight in the first place. Also, quick weight loss is harder to keep off. Basically only 1% of all dieters are able to keep the weight off, and this is done by completely changing their lifestyle.

In the final scene, Adam teleported Sam to the high school reunion pool party that motivated him to try to lose weight. He met his high school crush, Marcy, and she was enamored despite his slightly chubby tummy. Adam pointed out that you could be obese and still healthy and that essentially “weight is just a number.”

On tonight’s episode, “Adam Ruins the Hospital,” Adam explains that inflated hospital costs have created a system that’s unaffordable and unfair. Plus, reckless prescription of antibiotics is making them worthless, and you might not need a mammogram. [Note from Jenny: Always do your own research, check with your doctor, etc etc, about things like mammograms. Don’t just take even Adam on blind faith!]

Don’t miss Adam’s take on hospitals and health care tonight on TruTV at 10/9c.