Donal O'Neill's Cereal Killlers
Fat food champion Donal O’Neill has set his sights on the multi-billion sports drinks industry.
The Newry-born athlete, now based in South Africa, has accused the energy drink companies of a massive con job and has made a film to back up his case.
Cereal Killers II is the second time the 41-year-old has taken to celluloid to challenge the food industry.
In his last film Cereal Killers he set out to dispel the theory that a low fat diet is the only diet by gorging on high fat foods like red meat, eggs, nuts and cheese – all cooked in lashings of full fat butter!
He also ditched sugar and wheat and instead spent a month on a 70 per cent high fat diet.
His results were astounding – he not only lost weight despite eating twice his recommended daily amount of calories – but he also improved his health by reducing the chances of him following in his family’s genetic footsteps of heart disease and type-2 diabetes.
Now in Cereal Killers II – Run on Fat he said the notion that athletes must pre-load on carbohydrates and sugar to perform at their best is a fallacy.
And he accuses the sports energy drink industry for ‘mis-leading’ the world with what he says is false information.
“It is estimated that globally, the industry will be worth $52billion by 2016, so it’s not surprising some of the biggest companies have come up with their own sports science institutes where they produce so-called ‘evidence’ that their drinks can improve an athlete’s performance,” he said.
“The truth is for long distance endurance events it has been proven that high sugar energy drinks provide no benefits whatsoever.
“There is now plenty of evidence however that eating loads of sugar can lead not only to obesity but to series diseases like type-2 diabetes.”
Mayo county footballer, and All-Star, Andy Moran has not only turned his back on sugary sports energy drinks.
“Personally I’d like to see a warning on sports energy drinks, on sodas and colas so children and parents buying them understand the implications of putting sugar and the amount of sugar into their kids system,” he says.
The film features a host of elite athletes and team doctors and nutritionists who are now either using the high fat diet or are advocating it for their teams.
World Ironman Champion Sami Inkinen ditched his high-carb high-sugar diet for a 70 per cent high fat diet with incredible results.
He also only trains for half the time of his rivals because he’s adapted his body to run on fat.
“The switch in my diet first away from sugar, then away from processed carbohydrates to wholefoods and quite a high fat diet has really helped me perform well in long distance events,” says Sami.
And he should know what he’s talking about as an Ironman contest consists of swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles and then finishing off by running a marathon.
During the film Sami and his partner row from San Francisco to Hawaii – including 12 hour rowing shifts each day for 45 days while living on a high fat diet and with only water as their ‘energy’ drink.
Donal says many athletes have been using the high fat diet for years but don’t want to talk about it publicly because they don’t want their competitors to know what’s behind their success.
“Australian fast bowler Micthell Johnson changed to the high fat diet and his body shape has changed incredibly – he’s now built like a tank.
“The US skier Bode Miller has gone low-carb and he dropped 18lbs.”
The film and the science behind it will no doubt have it’s critics – not least from the multi-billion pound sport drink industry, and Donal has had to raise money through Crowdfunding to finance the project.
Check our Cereal Killers Movie on Facebook.