Monday, April 11, 2005

Uh...I Think I'll Have a Salad?

This weekend, Jen and I rented some movies from Blockbuster in an attempt to quell the boredom that was beginning to surface as we settled in to a relaxing Friday night at home. One of the movies we rented was Super Size Me , which we rented out of sheer curiosity. Both of us had heard good things about it, and it was supposed to help people see the evils of fast food. Since we are both trying to maintain a more healthy diet as the summer time for swimsuits and shorts quickly approaches, we decided this movie could be beneficial.

We sat down on the couch and watched the movie, not sure what to expect, but sure to be somewhat entertained. Neither one of us had any intention of watching a cathartic movie with undertones of general good health and wellness, and I certainly did not think that the film would inspire me to make changes in the way I looked at food.

I was wrong.

The movie is basically a documentary about a guy who decides to eat nothing but McDonald's for a period of 30 days to see what will happen. He gets all sorts of physicals and tests and such at the start of the film, and then the next day he begins his 30 day fat triathalon. He eats Big Macs and cheese burgers and Chicken McNuggets. He eats the fries and the hot apple pies and the breakfast biscuits. He does it all, and we watch him as his journey through the world of McDonald's changes him.

Every week he goes back to the doctor to see what has transpired within his own body. Now, everybody who has enough intelligence to open a door before they walk through it knows that fast food is bad for you. However, I'm not sure that people know just HOW horrible it is for you, and that it actually effects your body in very measurable and negative ways.

For example, during the month of his new McDonald's diet, Morgan Spurlock gained around 25 pounds. 25 friggin pounds, yo. He also ended up ingesting 30 pounds of sugar during that time. If you do the math, you will see that averages out to a POUND PER DAY. Also, during the course of this little adventure, Morgan found himself feeling bad and getting headaches for no reason whatsoever. He was lethargic and run-down, and most of the time he just looked sick. He also noticed that after a while, he would feel good only after he ate his McDonald's...as in, he was starting to get addicted to it. Addicted to McD's, man. Damn you, Ronald McDonald!

Basically, I'm not going to go through everything I learned while watching this movie, because that would take too long, and I have better things to do. I will say this, however: After watching what fast food did to this man's body, and his cholesterol, and his general health...I can honestly say that I will never eat fast food on a regular basis, ever again. To be honest, I don't think I'll ever eat the stuff period.

After the movie was over, Jen and I went into the kitchen; and during a moment of psychotic anti-fatty food rage, we proceeded to fill up an entire garbage bag with food that we felt was very much bad for us...and thus worthless. We went to the store the next day about bought healthy food and fruits and stocked our fridge with all sorts of good things. Now, to be honest we never ate that badly before...Certainly not enough to put us into the unhealthy side of the wellness spectrum. But now we eat better than we did before, and that's important.

So, anyway...I guess I just wanted to let y'all know that there is a movie out there that will scare you out of eating McDonald's ever again...and so if you think you eat fast food too much, or if you think you want to become a more healthy eater...I advise you to go out and rent Super Size Me and see if it does for you, what it did for me.

Please note: I am not a moron. I understand perfectly that while it's obvious that fast food is bad, it's not like any of us eat it as often as this guy did, for the movie. I know that most of the weight gain and health problems that arose from eating nothing but fast food were greatly magnified for the purpose of proving a point about obesity and fast food corporations for the film. I understand that most people do not eat fast food as often and Morgan did in the film, and that any health or wellness issues that arise from eating fast food must also be coupled with other factors, such as lack of exercise and genetics.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great flick, huh? I loved it and I don't even look at fast food the same way anymore as well. YUCK! I will have a salad too! ~Linds