Questions About "Supersize me"

Cafe Society
21

The point of the movie was not McDonalds at all but about the prepared/processed food industry as a whole and how you can’t rely on that industry to give you proper nutrition. The McDonalds stunt was just an illustration of what happens if you completely give yourself up to that industry. The lack of exercise was also a part of it (he limited his exercise to that of the “average American”) but part of it was also allowing himself to be led by what McD’s was trying to push on him. He only ate three meals a day, not four, by the way, and he only got the supersizes if they were offered to him. The idea was to put himself in the hands of McD’s, take no personal responsibility (which most American don’t) and see what happened.

The message of the movie was not “McDonalds is bad” (which is something anyone over 4 years old already knows), but “take responsibility.”

There was a lot more to the movie than the McDonalds stunt, like the infiltration of the fast food industry into schools, for instance. It’s a good, informative film.

22

If he was not anti-Mcdonald’s in the first place, and if the goal of the film was not to show how bad it is for you, he wouldn’t have eaten four meals plus snacks there every day. Showing McD’s is OK in moderation would have sold how many movie tickets and made him how rich? None, and not rich at all. How many people do you know who eat at McDonald’s three times a day every day? None. So what does the movie prove- that if you eat fattening high calorie foods all day every day you’ll get sick and gain weight? Did we need a movie to tells us something that obvious? Do you need a movie to show you if you stick your hand in a wood chipper bad things will happen?

23

Where do you get this shit? Did you even see the movie? Direct question. Please answer.

The McDonald’s experiment was one of several “subplots,” used only to illustrate what WOULD happen if you ate “rapidly prepared food” as your only diet.

Seriously, did you actually watch the movie?

24

I read it; did ya? I’m not sure ya read it thoroughly; perhaps ya should go back and have another look, because it says no such thing.

25

That’s the film I saw, where the filmmaker wanted a pre-determined result and skewed his “study” as to get it. :wink:

26

You haven’t seen it, have you?

He didn’t eat “four meals a day plus snacks.” You are misinformed.

And there may not be people who eat three meals a day at McDonalds but there are people who do the equivalent by only eating prepared or processed foods. Hot Pockets and frozen pizzas are no better than Big Macs.

27

lissener, did I have my attention fully on the TV screen the entire time the DVD was on? No. Did I get the gist of it? Yes. The IMDB summary is extremely similar to my personal summation- where am I and the summary wrong? Am I missing out on some subplots? I’m sure, it was a long film. My comments were specifically on the eating McDonalds all day every day for 30 days plot, not other subplots. IMDB summary below:

“Why are Americans so fat? Two words: fast food. What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for an entire month? Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock does just that and embarks on the most perilous journey of his life. The rules? For 30 days he can’t eat or drink anything that isn’t on McDonald’s menu; he must wolf three squares a day; he must consume everything on the menu at least once and supersize his meal if asked. Spurlock treks across the country interviewing a host of experts on fast food and an equal number of regular folk while chowing down at the Golden Arches. Spurlock’s grueling drive-through diet spirals him into a physical and emotional metamorphosis that will make you think twice about picking up another Big Mac.”

So I say again- what is the point? First of all, who does this? One person in 10,000? Why bother with something so obvious?

28

That’s not the film I saw. You must be thinking of something else.

29

The “four meals a day plus snacks” was my exaggeration, I know he ate three meals, not four, but IIRC he had to eat “everything on the menu”. I call pies and cookies snacks, you may call them desserts if it changes anything.

30

You havr to change “fast food” to the entirety of the prepared food industry and you’ll have your real thesis. Objecting that people don’t really eat all their meals at McDonalds is a red herring.

31

Yeah, you’re right. I’m thinking about this movie. Even though the one you’re describing sounds a lot like it… it just depends, I’m pretty sure, what you’re looking for. :wink:

32

From my Wiki cite: "Various similar experiments were made in response to Super Size Me, in an effort to provide alternative scenarios and/or refute the impressions made by the film. These experiments, however, were mainly balanced diets and healthy eating programs, capable of demonstrating that it is possible to eat from the McDonald’s menu without upsetting one’s health, but hardly capable of illustrating the healthiness of a typical McDonald’s consumer’s choice (the quintessential “burger, Coke and fries” meal). What these alternate studies do not address is the frightening alterations that occurred to Spurlock’s blood chemistry and related body functions from a fast-food diet.

In the Netherlands Wim Meij, a reporter with the Algemeen Dagblad (a Dutch newspaper), performed another experiment. He too limited himself to eating at McDonald’s, but instead of choosing just any meal from the menu, he chose carefully, with an emphasis on salads. However, as with Scott Caswell below, these salads were not available during Super Size Me’s filming. He came out at least as healthy as he was before he started his 30-day experiment and lost 6.5 kg (14 lb) in the process[citation needed].

In New Jersey, USA, documentary filmmaker Scott Caswell also performed a similar experiment. The results of his diet can be seen in his movie, which is titled Bowling for Morgan. It can be seen for free at BowlingForMorgan.com. Like Spurlock, Caswell consumed only McDonald’s food, but generally opted for the healthier choices and did not gorge himself – a fact that Caswell oftens compares to the overeating done by Spurlock, who was often seen forcing himself to eat when he wasn’t hungry. Over the course of the experiment, he lost 19 pounds and his cholesterol fell sharply. It should be pointed out, however, that Caswell’s film depicted him eating many Premium Salads from McDonald’s that were not available during the making of Super Size Me. Caswell never itemizes his meals, spells out nutritional information on any of his choices, says how much he is eating a day, or reveals any other details of his experiment.

Soso Whaley, of Kensington, New Hampshire, made her own film about dieting at McDonald’s, called Me and Mickey D. The film follows Whaley as she spends three 30-day periods on the diet. She dropped from 175 to 139 pounds, eating 2,000 calories a day at McDonald’s. The film was funded by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (Whaley holds a C.E.I. fellowship).

Raleigh, North Carolina resident Merab Morgan went on a 90-day diet in which she ate at McDonald’s exclusively, but she limited her intake to 1,400 calories (5,900 kilojoules) per day. She lost 37 pounds in the process.

San Antonio, Texas resident Deshan Woods went on a 90-day diet in which he lost nearly 14 pounds. He documented the entire experiment on his website [[[4]]]. His overall health improved while sticking to a diet mainly in burgers and fries. He stayed away from sugary drinks and stuck to non-caloric beverages instead. His average caloric intake was 2,500 a day, which included 130 grams of fat. His cholesterol dropped from 204 to around 160."

That’s five.

33

Btw, Dio, didja not see this thread? It probably could’ve used a dissenting opinion, and it’s relatively recent enough (Oct. 4th) that posting to it isn’t raising the dead (threads).

34

Ok, the enitre prepared food industry- eating a Red Baron pizza and Doritos is worse for you than a Wonder Bread, deli turkey, swiss & lettuce sandwich- again, that’s not really a newsflash, is it? Maybe to Forest Gump, but not to anyone over 12 with a three digit IQ.

35

What’s he gonna do for an encore, shoot heroin for 30 days, and then have doctors “marvel” at how his health has suddenly taken a turn for the worse?

36

Well, as i said, the whole thing was contrived; Spurlock was eating in excess of 5000 calories a day-more than twice what his nutritional needs were. As i said, I can’t imagine that anybody could eat at McDonalds without interupption-you just get sick of hamburgers after a while. Which leads me to suspect that the high-sugar drinks and desserts are the main culprits. The examples cited are in line with what the late Dr. Atkins published: a high fat, high protein diet 9with low carbs0 can actually cause you to lose weight.
So i guess the lesson is; if you eat at McD’s, skip the drinks and desserts.

37

Naw, he’s gonna smoke 3 packs of Pal Mal unfiltereds to show why grandad was stupid for doing so.

38

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that Supersize Me was produced solely to slander McDonalds and/or the prepared food industry. IMO, it was really more of a push-it-to-the-wall *Jackass-*style stunt that was a skeleton to hang some pro- and anti-fast-food information from. Nobody is going to eat everything on a McDonalds menu – with supersized fries – straight for 30 days, and IIRC Spurlock never said they did; he did that merely as an attention-getter, so that people who do eat a lot at McDs would see what happens on the far end of the scale if you don’t watch what you’re eating.

As others have pointed out, Spurlock didn’t tilt the movie entirely as a McDonalds-bashing piece – the segment with the guy who eats Big Macs every day and is hale and hearty was a perfect example. I also don’t recall Spurlock ending Supersize Me with any sort of anti-McDonalds rant, which he could have easily done if he wanted to bludgeon such a point.

So what was the point of the movie? Simple: Morgan Spurlock got your attention with his 30-days-eating-at-McDonalds stunt, then as you’re watching him go through his suffering, you got exposed to different facets of the fast-food industry along the way. I still eat at McDonalds about once a week, but I have no delusions that it’s health food. For the folks out there who do have this misconception, though, maybe Spurlock gave them pause to consider varying their habits a bit.

39

What about all the folks out there – including those captured on film – who do eat at fast-food places on a daily basis?

40

Re: McD’s salads: They’re fine if you don’t add the dressing. The dressings have pretty high fat and sugar. Anything other than vegestables in the salad also needs to be considered. I’m amazed by how many diabetics I work with think that “salad is good” and don’t pay any attention to the salt, croutons, sugared cranberries, and sugarfat dressing they add to that salad.

And yes, there are people who eat every single meal at McD’s and it’s ilk. For some of them it doesn’t seem to pose a health risk, so more power to 'em. For those with health problems such as diabetes that could be addressed in part by dietary changes, Supersize is a great film to discuss and use to foster motivation for change.