Super Size Me
McDonald's Meal, photo by Jason Walsh
I just rewatched the movie Super Size Me with Jeremy last week who had never seen it before. I had forgotten what a good movie it is; it’s funny, educational, and inspirational. Morgan Spurlock decides to see what would happen if he ate nothing but McDonald’s for one month. He has a few rules during the movie, he has to finish his meals, if they ask if he wants to super size he says yes, and he eats three square meals every day. He is monitored by several doctors and a nutritionist throughout the month to keep an eye on his health. At the beginning when he sees the doctors none of them expect to see a signficant change in his health over the course of the month.
During the movie you learn little tidbits about America’s eating habits, you meet some funny fast food enthusiasts, see school lunches that are not much different than McDonald’s, and hear from Spurlock’s vegan chef girlfriend who is disgusted by the whole expirement (she later went on to write a book The Great American Detox Diet about the diet she put Spurlock on when the experiment was over). By the end of one month the changes in Spurlock’s health were so big that even the doctor’s were shocked. If you rent the DVD of this movie, also check out the extra portion called The Smoking Fry, in which he sees how long it takes McDonald’s foods to break down, it’s pretty funny and disturbing.
This DVD made me not only feel good about my current diet, but gives me extra motivation to steer clear of fast food all of the time. I am also going to look at our local schools’ lunches to investigate how bad they are, for when Jacob gets a little older. You can watch the whole movie online for free on Hulu.com.
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 9:35 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
That is such a good movie. And truly disturbing. I will always love McDonalds - but I’ve cut down my fast food intake so much over the years. I would be curious to know what you find out about school lunches. I remember reading about school lunches at some point and it was pretty crazy.
April 16th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Lyndsey - Ha, ha, yes I know the episode you are talking about, that is really funny. There french fries are delicious and I also haven’t had McDonald’s in a couple of years, I was trying to remember the last time and I think it was at an airport on vacation.
Bione - I never really like McDonald’s that much for a couple of reasons, I don’t like ketchup and my mom would never let me order the burgers without ketchup, and once when I was about 5 or 6 I got a chicken mcnugget that was still partially frozen inside and it was mushy and disgusting. When we were kids we had to eat there sometimes on vacation and I always hated it. Now, Taco Bell I have a soft spot for and have eaten it way too much in my life! I’ve been doing better since I moved here because it takes like 20 min to get to the nearest one. And school lunches, I was thinking back to what I used to eat in high school, it was usually two chocolate chip cookies and a chocolate milk and that was it, and sometimes a bag of french fries, pretty disturbing!
April 17th, 2009 at 7:30 am
I was just as bad with school lunches! I agree though, since moving to Colorado, fast food is definitely less accessible and I find myself eating less and less. For me, it is amazing that I have only had Taco Bell twice in about a year. Now I don’t think I could ever go back to my once a week habit!!
April 20th, 2009 at 8:27 am
That is really funny you were just as bad with school lunches. Angie and I were talking about it this weekend and she also ate a lot of chocolate chip cookies for lunch in high school. I know, Taco Bell every week seems really bad now, but I probably used to have it or Taco Bueno, or Taco Cabana at least once a week when I lived in Dallas!
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:05 pm
You might check out http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/. Our course facilitator brought this school up as an example of community outreach programs designed to educate children on gowing and preparing healthy foods.
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Thanks Amanda, I checked out Boulder's school lunches (not very thoroughly) but it looked better than what they used to serve in Edmond at least. Still Pizza and French Fries once a week but i think their French Fries were baked and not fried, so I guess that is a little better.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
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