Supersize Me

[Legend]

What percent of Amercian's even get those things you list though a non-fast food diet? Eating out of a box or a microwave like a large number of people do isn't any better. Hot dogs, mac & cheese, cold cut sandwiches, PB&J, ect. They have none of the items you list but people eat them as a staple of their diet day in and day out.

Edit: Seems they put folic acid in cereal now

I'd say folic acid and lutein, and perhaps omega 3 fats are the things they wouldn't get.

A simple cereal would fix the iron and B vitamins, zinc and potassium problem.

Heated tomato paste would give you lycopene.


Just because many Americans don't get enough folic acid doesn't mean not getting it is healthy. Health is not how fat you are (well that can be one of many factors).


http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/substances_view/1,1525,887,00.html

A moderate folic acid deficiency exhibits no symptoms, but it does increase vulnerability to heart disease. In women, a deficiency can increase the risk of bearing a child with birth defects. In rare cases, people can develop a severe deficiency, which may lead to a serious form of anemia called megaloblastic anemia, and to chronic diarrhea, a sore red tongue, and poor growth in children. Those most susceptible to a severe deficiency are alcoholics, people on certain types of medications (for epilepsy or cancer), and people with disorders that affect their ability to absorb nutrients, such as Crohn's disease or celiac sprue.

So you can live without getting enough. But it does damage. This is not healthy.


http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/90/100860.htm
http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/ofhc/news/Other/4260.asp


Lacking omega 3 fats does brain damage (especially lack of DHA during pregnancy, if the damage is done from that diet can only help so much). Again, not healthy.

 

[whattaguy]

You guys totally missed out one of the main points of the movie. First, I would agree with most people here that 1) "normal" people would not force feed themselves 3 times a day and 2) it's obvious that McD's is unhealthy.

But, it was based off the lawsuit ruling of the 2 obese girls trying to sue McDonald's for their obesity (which I think is totally ludicrous). The judge said something along the lines of "Unless you can prove that eating at McDonald's every day for 3 meals a day makes you fat, I'm going to throw this case out." Obviously the girls didn't prove that nor did they eat at McDonald's for 3 times a day, so the case was thrown out.

Morgan Spurlock (sp?) went out to test the judge's ruling knowing full well that the case will not be overturned. That's why he did what he did.

I think that it's obvious that the "average joe" knows that McDonald's is unhealthy; that force-feeding yourself will end up bad. But my twist on the movie was not only that people will sue for anything, but that the "law" must carefully choose their words wisely when coming to a conclusion such as what the judge did.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Originally posted by: Legend

For example, there's almost no omega 3 fats or monosaturated fats in any of the foods. Instead, transfats and saturated fats. That's not healthy.

Yes there is. There is no diffrence between McDonalds fruits and any other.

The Fruit & Walnut Salad meets the nutrition criteria for healthy foods from Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH), whose 5 A Day The Color Way program encourages Americans to eat a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables daily. The Salad also helps meet the daily requirements for a variety of beneficial nutrients, such as vitamins A and C, fiber, calcium, and omega-3 fatty acids.

McDonald's USA Ingredients Listing for Popular Menu Items

Things that have iron from McDonalds:

All Hamburgers
Chicken McNuggets
Butter Garlic Croutons
English Muffin
All Biscuits
Sausage Burrito
Deluxe Warm Cinnamon Roll
Hotcakes
McGriddles Cakes
McFlurry® with OREO® Cookies
All Baked Pies
All McDonaldland® Cookies
Ice Cream Cone

Looks like most of thier menu has iron in it. This is because, like most other places, they use enriched flower, a major source of iron.

I belive that everything on your list is on that webpage of nutritional infomation of McDonalds food. I find it boggleing that people believe that because it is servered by McDonalds it has less nutritional value somehow. I won't argue that McD's food have a ton of calories, and some of it is high in LDL, but so is MANY common foods in American cuisine.

 

[Legend]

How many walnut salads would you have to eat to get enough omega 3 fats?

Better be less than 1, because according to their site it contains 640 mg of vitamin C in a one of them. > 500 mg is when Vitamin C becomes an oxidant.

However, that's clearly not enough, as it's recommended that you get half of your fats from omega 3 fats. So 30-50 grams. A few walnuts doesn't cut it.

I belive that everything on your list is on that webpage of nutritional infomation of McDonalds food.

Enriched breads contain almost nothing. Look on the back of a loaf of bread. In order to sustain a healthy amount of nutrients, you'd have to eat more calories than you need and take in many saturated and trans fats. Thus, not healthy.

3 milks for calciums. A better choice, some broccoli (and it covers far more than calcium).

Iron and lutein? Spinach. Done. Versus how many hamburgers and hot cakes?


There's still no lycopene (you must cook tomatoes) or lutein. The food is still infested with transfats, which is probably one of the worst things you can eat.

 

[vi edit]

Enriched breads contain almost nothing. Look on the back of a loaf of bread. In order to sustain a healthy diet, you'd have to eat massive quantites of high calorie foods.

3 milks for calciums. A better choice, some broccoli (and it covers far more than calcium).

Iron and lutein? Spinach. Done. Versus how many hamburgers and hot cakes?

And again I say, there are far more people that DON'T eat spinach, broccoli or whole grain products and instead choose to eat potatos (chips, bakers, fries, ect), white-flour pasta, and white bread.

This isn't a problem with fast food. It's a problem with what people choose to eat ANYWHERE. White bread is $.50 a loaf. A quality whole grain product is over $2.00 a loaf. Instead of broccoli people throw some french fries or cottage cheese on a plate. Or potato salad, or maccaroni salad, or just a handful of potato chips.

Many people don't eat healthy AT ANY TIME. Fatty foods just flat out taste better.

 

[Zanix]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Zanix

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: bob4432
thw whole reason behind the documentary is becaue mcdonald's claim their food is not that bad for you. doing it straight for 30 days and only eating that is a bit excessive but it does show the realities of it.

there are many people that do eat fast food on a daily basis, it is pretty sad when there are more people in line at n-and-out or chick-fil-a than at the library on a daily basis

He super-sized every meal and ate well past his own point of satiation. He forced himself to finish each meal even when he was full and would have otherwise stopped eating. It doesn't matter what you eat, if you eat twice as much as your body tells you it can handle, you're going to have problems. I'm willing to bet that I could eat nothing but McDonalds for a month straight and be perfectly fine as long as I actually stop eating once I get full at each meal.

ZV

You need to see the movie before you comment on it. He only super-sized if he was asked, this happened twice in Texas during the entire month of the diet.

Sure, he supersized if they asked. But nobody held a gun to his head and told him to eat every last french fry. The average person without an eating disorder eats until they feel full. He went far beyond that, eating past full, into feeling sick and puking. That's where his experiment became junk science.

Exactly. He GORGED HIMSELF folks. He force fed himself when he wasn't hungry. He ate past the point of feeling full, or even "stuffed" to the point of feeling ill on a consistent basis.

Folks, if his symptoms were indicative of a NORMAL diet eaten mainly, or even solely at McDonald's, we would have an epidemic of liver failure LONG before we had an obesity epidemic. His liver damage is NOT indicative of a high fat NORMAL diet, it is indicative of a FORCE FED diet with consistent gorging.

So could a person live off the McDonalds menu? And be healthy, of course.

Actually, yes. Have you LOOKED at the entire McDonald's menu?

They have salads and most are offering fruit cups now. They also offer grilled chicken.

At any rate, anyone who ate ANYTHING at McDonald's every day, but only ate when hungry and stopped when full would be a LOT healthier than Spurlock was after force feeding himself on a daily basis 3-5 times his normal calorie intake for a month straight.

Haha!! Oh, then I'm lovin' it! :thumbsup:

 

[Legend]

And again I say, there are far more people that DON'T eat spinach, broccoli or whole grain products and instead choose to eat potatos (chips, bakers, fries, ect), white-flour pasta, and white bread.

This isn't a problem with fast food. It's a problem with what people choose to eat ANYWHERE. White bread is $.50 a loaf. A quality whole grain product is over $2.00 a loaf. Instead of broccoli people throw some french fries or cottage cheese on a plate. Or potato salad, or maccaroni salad, or just a handful of potato chips.

Many people don't eat healthy AT ANY TIME. Fatty foods just flat out taste better.

I'm having trouble understanding your point.

The premise was that if you eat at Mcdonalds all the time you can sustain good health. I disagreed with this.

I made food suggestions for certain nutrients. I understand I listed probably the healthiest, most efficient food for the nutrient and that most people don't eat these. However, look at cereal. It gives you plenty of folic acid, iron, and other nutrients. But not at Mcdonalds.

I'm still having trouble understanding the point. Health in America is terrible. Obesity is high, malnutrition is causing several problems like depression, high cholesterol, etc. Are you suggesting that because people that don't eat only mcdonald's can get by without the nutrients I listed that it's considered healthy? Because merely getting by is not healthy.

Edit: You seem to be saying this is a problem everywhere because of individual choices? Oh, ok then I think I agree. However, that wasn't the issue. If I went to walmart, I could shop to eat healthy. I could not do this at Mcdonalds.

 

[vi edit]

I'm still having trouble understanding the point. Health in America is terrible. Obesity is high, malnutrition is causing several problems like depression, high cholesterol, etc. Are you suggesting that because people that don't eat only mcdonald's can get by without the nutrients I listed that it's considered healthy?

My point is that people eat like crap regardless of where they buy it from or how they make it. It's not because of McDonalds, it's not because of fast in general. We've had it absolutely beat into our heads for 20 years now(and especially in the last 10) that gluttonous eating habits of nutrionally void foods combined with a life of lethargy are a recipe for disaster.

But we still continue to barrel head first into those habits in spite of a non-stop barrage of studies and reports from the medical community.

And the rest of the world is quickly falling into our footsteps and doing the same thing.

My "beef" (heh) with the movie was that he used it as a politcal platform and demonized a corporate entity. Any credibility he had was quickly washed away with the extremist nature of how he presented things. It was largely fear and propagand that was spread to smear the fast food industry.

We've known for years that eating an unbalanced diet is bad. We've known for years that eating highly refined foods is bad in mass quantities. We've known for years that gluttonous acts and eating excessive amounts of food is.

But for years, not enough people seem to give a damn.

McDonalds/fast food, when consumed in moderation will result in minimal, if any negative health side effects.

Beer & wine, when consumed in moderation, will result in minimal, if any negative side effects (with the exception of pregnant women).

Candy bars, when consumed in moderation, will result in minimal, if any negative side effects (with the exception of Diabetics or other people with various intolerences).

Carbs, when consumed in a balanced diet, will result in minimal, if any negative side effects (again assuming you aren't Diabetic).

Sodium, when consumed in moderation will....blah blah blah...assuming you don't have heart disease or hypertension.

Get my drift?

Moderation is a lost art. It isn't just eating. Look at consumer debt for a sickening statistic.

 

[Legend]

I understand what you're saying, and I agree with you for the most part (certain carbs have good effects, and other nitpicky disagreements).

But the whole thing I was saying was that eating mcdonalds all the time (not moderation) is not healthy.

 

[vi edit]

But the whole thing I was saying was that eating mcdonalds all the time (not moderation) is not healthy.

And all I'm saying to you is that the people that don't eat healthy at McDonalds aren't going to eat healthy at home/elsewhere. You can order a salad at McDonals or a grilled chicken sandwich and have a side of water or iced tea. Both of which are responsible choices. But most people aren't going there for those choices. They are going there for burgers and fries. Why? Simply because burgers and fries taste better to most people.

They have the option to choose otherwise, but most don't. I commend you for your convictions on eating healthy. Sadly it's a lost art to most people. Myself included.

 

[Zanix]

Originally posted by: EULA

The same people who don't realize peanut butter may contain peanuts

Wait a moment... are you trying to tell me that peanut butter might have peanuts in it?

OMG!

Lmao!!

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Chinese "fast food" >>>>>> McDonalds Even though it's not authentic Chinese food, it's still hotter and fresher, healthier, and contains more balance (vegetables, meat, grain, etc).

 

[Staples]

I have seen it. Quite uninteresting. Results were predictable.

The only funny thing was his wife who said he is having a hard time getting it up.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
Chinese "fast food" >>>>>> McDonalds Even though it's not authentic Chinese food, it's still hotter and fresher, healthier, and contains more balance (vegetables, meat, grain, etc).

You're kidding, right?

 

[0roo0roo]

no not really. much chinese food has atleast some vegies and stuff. and no iceberg letuce doesn't count, its one of the only nutrition free veggies out there.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Yeah, there's like brocolli, snow peas, green beans, mmmm....

 

[judasmachine]

read Fast Food Nation, it's much more realistic. i enjoyed Supersize me though it wasn't 100%.

 

[Jzero]

Plenty of other people made similar "studies" and did not get fat. Some even lost weight. It's trivial to construct rules and choose meals in a way that will produce an outcome that agrees with your premise.

Spurlock made a grave error in marketing his film. Instead of marketing it as a satirical assault on "Fast Food," he should have marketed it as a satirical assault on the idiotic eating habits so many people have.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: judasmachine
read Fast Food Nation, it's much more realistic. i enjoyed Supersize me though it wasn't 100%.

Fast Food Nation is a fruad as well. Save your money and read this first:

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/article_detail.cfm?article=157

 

[ucdbiendog]

OP, THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE, he said that he was taking it to an extreme. HE ADMITTED that NOBODY ATE IT THREE TIMES A DAY. The point of the movie was to show how bad the food is for your body. I worked for McD's for 6 weeks in highschool, and lemme tell ya, it was some diry sh!t. the fact is, and this movie proves it, that fast food is not good for you. so if taking it to an extreme got some fat-tards conscious of what they were doing to their body and they decided to not eat fast food anymore, GOOD. Youre probably just bitter about it because youre 300 lbs and you eat McD's daily, and you would hate to see that part of your life go.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: ucdbiendog
OP, THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE, he said that he was taking it to an extreme. HE ADMITTED that NOBODY ATE IT THREE TIMES A DAY. The point of the movie was to show how bad the food is for your body. I worked for McD's for 6 weeks in highschool, and lemme tell ya, it was some diry sh!t. the fact is, and this movie proves it, that fast food is not good for you. so if taking it to an extreme got some fat-tards conscious of what they were doing to their body and they decided to not eat fast food anymore, GOOD. Youre probably just bitter about it because youre 300 lbs and you eat McD's daily, and you would hate to see that part of your life go.

It proves NOTHING other than force feeding and gorging yourself past the point of being full, past the point of feeling physically ill, and more than 3-5 times your normal calorie intake is bad for you.

EVERY single symptom he had was caused by gorging, and could be done with any food if you eat enough of it. What he did to himself is exactly what farmers do to geese to fatten them up and enlarge their livers to make Foie Gras.

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: judasmachine
read Fast Food Nation, it's much more realistic. i enjoyed Supersize me though it wasn't 100%.

Fast Food Nation is a fruad as well. Save your money and read this first:

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/article_detail.cfm?article=157

CCF = not worth the electrons it's printed on

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: judasmachine
read Fast Food Nation, it's much more realistic. i enjoyed Supersize me though it wasn't 100%.

Fast Food Nation is a fruad as well. Save your money and read this first:

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/article_detail.cfm?article=157

CCF = not worth the electrons it's printed on

Poisoning the wells is a fallacious argument. If you have trouble with the points they make, fine. But dismissing the entire argument simply because of the source is a cop-out and an instantly lost debate.

If you'd actually READ the article, you'd see that every point they make is valid, and easily checked for accuracy.

BTW, I could just as easily tell you YOUR source is an anti-capitalist, anti-corporate liberal left wing nanny-state supporting propaganda machine, but I wont.

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Ah - the point of the movie was that many Americans actually DO eat that much FF, except not for every meal, and for years on end. And many people really DO eat all the fries, etc.

He started feeling REALLY BAD (nautia, dehydration, inability to focus, anxiety, insomnia, lethargy) after eating McD's, which completely corresponds to my personal experience every time I eat fast food. Then again I'm very sensitive to bad food.

Towards the end of the month, he started actually CRAVING the crap, and feeling depressed until he ate it. Which makes complete sense. The cardiologist guy actually thought he might die because of all the fat intake. That frankly doesn't make sense to me - he was certainly putting his life at risk, but it's primarily the sugar, salt, and dehydration that will do you in. Certainly not the quantity of fat - now the quality of fat, long term, in the fries, will cause all kinds of health problems. That much hydrogenated crap, and think of how much it's heat-cycled - I know hydrogenation is supposed to let you heat-cycle the oil, but come on. Why not just drink used motor oil?

So anyway to the person who said you could do the same thing with tofu and sprouts, no. Uh-huh. Taking the same amount of fat in straight, fresh olive oil, for example, will be MUCH better for you than eating McDonald's every day, in and out. Your body can handle olive oil, and it has lots of enzymes which help you to actually digest properly.

Check out all the Wendy's and McDonald's ads at the bottom of the thread ?!? LOL

 

[xTYBALTx]

Thanks for taking this discussion 10 steps back, overheating.