Some questions on the information presented in this documentary

I did a little research after watching the film that relates pretty close to your questions. From my other thread here's some info worth noting:

In his diatribe against the standard "high cholesterol causes heart disease", he brought up a researcher by the name of Kilmer McCully who worked out of Harvard Medical School in the early 80's (this appears around the 1 hour 9 minute mark of the movie). The Fat Head Document correctly points out that McCully had been advocating his own research that showed that homocysteine was the casual factor in heart disease not necessarily cholesterol. This line of thinking and research has re-arisen the past couple decades after being initially shunned (this shunning was shown in the documentary as well to strengthen the viewers belief that the national health organizations like the CDC and NIH aren't reliable sources). Homocysteine centers around the idea that reduced levels of B12, B6, and folic acid (also having kidney disease and cigarette smoking) will allow for the homocysteine process to damage circulatory system and resulting heart disease.

Here's a perfect example of why I didn't like the movie, and more specifically wanted to punch the main guy in the face (I also couldn't take his obvious sarcasm and pompous attitude).

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/10/magazine/the-fall-and-rise-of-kilmer-mccully.html?pagewanted=11&src=pm

This New York Times article detailed the rise and fall of McCully, in it you will also see that McCully never advocated that eating a high cholesterol diet would be good for a person. In fact, if you read this section quoted from that article:


"What, then, is the diet most likely to lead to heart disease, according to the homocysteine theory? One high in animal protein and low in B-vitamins, which occur in many foods but are very easily destroyed by processing -- a diet of meat, cheese, milk, white flour and foods that are canned, boxed, refined, processed or preserved. The American diet, in other words."

With regards to your specific questions:

1.) Here are a group of links from NIH, CDC, and a Mayo Clinic one that support or suggest the benefits of olive oil use (more so it's use within the "Mediterranean diet"): http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_113254.html

http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/fat/unsaturatedfat.html

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-and-nutrition/AN01037

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19093267

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11905662

One thing I do know is that you can throw out many of olive oil's benefits (and any other cooking oil) when you use it to fry foods, or more specifically raise it's temperature above low-moderate heat, it breaks down quickly and I believe raises the carcinogen impact on the food as well (cancer causing stuff you want to avoid). Here's a link to a guide about cooking with oils and temperatures.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/why-olive-oil-is-bad-for-your-stir-fry-580576

2.) Well, your rice question depends in part on which type of rice you are talking about. Brown or Wild rice is usually considered to be healthier (though this is not fully conclusive) than White rice. Some problems with white rice are an increased chance of type II diabetes if eating white rice five or more servings in a week or more, per this NIH report:

http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/aug2010/capsule1

These two links give good advice about carb consumption:

http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/carbs.html
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/food/pdfs/hhs_facts_carbohydrates.pdf

This abstract indicates that the Asian diet used to include more brown rice and similar grains prior to 1950, and that Asian incidence of type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease has been on the rise since that time along with the use of more refined rices (white rice).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21790614

I'd gather from all this that white rice is a better carb alternative than say eating white bread with a meal (particularly the ultra refined kind), has nutritional value, but should not be over eaten. (if you are going to eat alot of white rice, then I'd expect cutting down other simple carbs like white bread, sugary items like cookies, etc. would be a necessary move).

3.) Whole Grains are not bad in moderation. In fact they are good for you.

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It's not as simple as good and bad. It's a matter of portion. The problem with the easily digested carbohydrates like corn flakes and potatoes is people will each large portions of them and then skimp on the meats because those are "bad" for you. You also find most snack food is totally composed of these carbohydrates.

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1. Yes, olive oil is considered a healthy oil. Fish oil and flax seed oil are also very healthy, but you don't cook with them. Most fats and oils are fine, as long as they are not hydrogenated (trans fats). As long as you read the labels you'll be fine.

Know Your Fats : The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol by Mary G. Enig

Here's a good reference for cooking oils.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_oil

2. From a low-carb standpoint, rice is a starch and considered high in carbs, about 52 net carbs per cup. Rice milk is about 23 carbs per cup. Compare that with an unsweetened almond milk which is about 1 carb per cup. Remember, he was limiting his carbs to about 100 per day. Also, remember what carbs do to insulin.

3. Again, it's the carbs that get converted to glucose (sugar) that affects your insulin. You might want to take a look at the book, "Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis (2011)".

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