Can't Stop Eating

8.33
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Ratings: 8.33/10 from 30 users.

Can't Stop EatingCan't Stop Eating is documentary film that follows the lives of several people with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS).

The film is set in Gretton House, near Kettering in England, which is a government-funded care home deliberately constructed to assist people with PWS.

Prader–Willi syndrome is a rare genetic disorder in which seven genes (or some subset thereof) on chromosome 15 (q 11-13) are deleted or unexpressed (chromosome 15q partial deletion) on the paternal chromosome.

The film focuses on a new resident, Joe Blackburn, who is 21 and begins the documentary weighing over 30 stone (190 kg, 420 lbs) and with fears for his health. The plot follows his struggle to integrate with existing members of the home.

The second resident that the documentary focuses on is Tamara Allwood, who was at one point close to death from overeating but by the time of filming has gained enough autonomy to gain the rights to visit her mother in London.

27-year-old Tamara has become estranged from her mother, who has never properly understood Tamara's illness, which was diagnosed relatively late in her life.

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34 Comments / User Reviews

  1. Brad

    This documentary no longer exists. Perhaps this page should be taken down? Or at least, an atempt should be made to find it using another youtube channnel or how ever it is you get the documentaries.

  2. Lucy

    is he okay now? what happend to him?

  3. prodigygirl

    it is a good documentary. It shows that we can cure deseases related to obesity.Then, it underlignes that everybody has a huge heart and we need love. found very sad to watch the part where Tamara is rejected by her mom while she did so many efforts to drop her weight. Fortunately she came back with her ex boyfriend.

  4. fitrim2

    I truly enjoyed this documentary. I love hearing Joe talk. He is a real character. I was so happy when the Tamara was reunited with her ex boyfriend. She really needed him especially after the rejection from her mother. I only wish there was some follow up even off camera as to why her mother did not want to see her. That was the sad part.

  5. EddieIssac

    Joe cracked me up, he's so cute, and have no commitment issues whatsoever i loved it when he proposed to Sara(couple of minutes after they first met) and after that he said " i don't mess about with my girls"(like a gangster)

    and when hes said to his mother on the phone "get stuffed" i was on the floor,
    i really want to hang with this guy.

  6. Monique Boulanger

    I'm sorry, but Joe reminds me of Eric Cartman, and his parents remind me of Cartman's parents. They enabled him.

  7. Tobi I

    can you say First World Problem?

    1. sick_of_stupid_people

      *****.. watch again and then explain how a genetic disorder is a first world problem..

  8. Mercenarry ForHire

    Make them move to Africa and see them change >:D

    1. Rachel

      Did you even watch the documentary? It's a genetic disorder. It's not because they chose to be this way.

    2. Mercenarry ForHire

      You're right. I Have no excuse. I can only try to have more patience.

  9. amandadavidson

    Aww fair play to everyone in this video...i hope you are all doing well.x

  10. maria vella

    laughing at their disabilities? hmm, very mature.

  11. Sean Patterson

    I have worked with PW in the past and yes "emotionally childish" is a bit of a misleading term. Learning disabilities go hand in hand with PW. I personally have never met an individual with PW that wasn't also mentally slow.

    1. His Forever

      Sean: Thank you for answering that question for me. I've known very smart people that were "emotionally childish" or "immature" so I don't like to use such terms if there is a mental disability involved. Perhaps both in this case of Prader-illi Syndrome.

  12. His Forever

    We have to "rope" the fridge shut to keep out the 2-year-old, but I can't imagine trying to stop a 15-year-old from raiding the snacks and everything else. Truly sad.

    Also: Why would no men with Prader-Willi have ever fathered a child and only 3 women? No desire? No ability? or not genetically viable? (just wondering).

    I wish there was a gene therapy to help cure this.

  13. leewebster

    wow totally shouldnt of written that this made me laugh...

  14. Brando Alberts

    yeah looks sad.

  15. Kerusso

    Terribly sad. For them, and their parents. I wish them well. Maybe there will be more help for them in some way. I'm not obese or even overweight, but hey, I know what it feels to be hungry. Doing a "medical" type fast today, and the food cravings that set in soon after beginning to deprive the body of food clearly make you very aware of how food is so important to humans in so many ways. Take the famine in Somalia for example and what those people must be going through. So many dying of starvation. If we have enough to eat healthy food, we are so blessed. Could famine ever happen in our country? I think it could happen anywhere given the right circumstances. A bit off topic maybe, but these docs are thought provoking, as intended.

    1. His Forever

      I wanted to cry for Tamara when she visted her mom that shut her out. She was 2 hours late, had a bag of sweets and a tv crew, yeah, but she's still your daughter!

    2. Violet77

      Her mohter shuting her out had nothing to do with her being late, tv crew etc but with the fact that her mother is a bitch. My mother is the same. Neither the fact that Tamara is her daughter makes any difference - a woman who is a bitch doesn't suddenly stop being one when she gives birth. A bitchy woman is going to be bitchy to everybody, especially to her children.

  16. KooKookaChoo

    @ leewebster:
    I have just finished watching this and I am not sure what you found so funny. perhaps you could elaborate as to what aspect of their personalities amused you - their tantrums, their immature emotional development, or maybe it was their life-and-death struggle with eating and obesity you found humorous? Your comments were not "insensitive" so much as they were just rude. I hope if anything happens in your life that is completely out of your control, no one will be on the sidelines pointing a finger and laughing at your "funny personality". shame on you.

  17. knowledgeizpower

    I had the impression from the name of the Doc that it would be about obese people that choose to eat unhealthy but thats not the case, these people are high level mentally disabled/retarded Individuals that suffer from Prader Willi Syndrome. I have worked as a caregiver for over 10 years also having a degree in another field. I have worked in group homes just as this and seen patients have similar behaviours as seen in this Doc and its serious. Its not funny or should be looked at as a joke they are mentally disabled.

    1. His Forever

      Iz: They all did seem "slow" didn't they? They said "emotionally childish" (or something like that) in the film, but "emotionally childish" and just plain re***ded are a bit different. Are there any PW's that are normal functional except for the desire to never stop eating?

    2. Brittney Burrow

      It is not common, but yes, there are some people with this syndrome that are of normal intelligence.

  18. leewebster

    LOL

    1. Guest

      Care to share the joke?
      az

    2. leewebster

      at the risk of sounding insensitive, this genuinely made me laugh. Most of the people had such funny personalities, i dont know why people have to pretend this stuff doesnt have a funny side, sure its sad, i realise that, but im not afraid to laugh when i find things funny.

    3. Guest

      I haven't watched the doc yet, i was looking to see if anything interesting was in the comments, yours was the only one. I wondered?
      We can laugh at all kinds of things until it touches us directly through a loved one. Apparently this is a sickness, i never heard of it.
      And in my mind not funny.
      az

    4. leewebster

      laughter is medicine ;)

    5. Earthwinger

      I probably shouldn't feed the trolls, but go on then, I'll bite...

      Laughing *with* people is therapeutic, however, laughing *at* them, really only hints at some sort of deficit on your part.

    6. leewebster

      im not a troll

    7. Guest

      Don't let it get you too down, everyone makes mistakes...And sometimes people really laugh out of nervousness or feeling uncomfortable, and not out of hostility or inhumanity.

    8. His Forever

      Leewebster: I luaghed several times myself (secret). Home for Easter and the swimming! Both of those were a bit much!