Supersize Me

AMAZING MOVIE - definitely motivating.  Anyone who counts calories or has a weakness for fast food should really see it.

I know I am a little late - it came out a couple of years ago, but it really informed me about things I did not know!

just felt like sharing!:)

Phoebe.

A friend of mine who is a physcian was very surprised at the blood tests showing liver problems.  He said he never would have thought that. 

It's an eye opener all right

Really does anyone think that eating 4500 to 5000 calories of fatty food everyday is good for them before seeing the movie???

I love that movie. I figured going in, he would gain weight and blow his blood sugar and cholesterol/tryglycerides out of the water,but I was really suprised at what it did to his liver.

You need to watch the dvd and all the extras. those fries are freaking scary if you ask me. I refuse to eat something that doesn't rot, it just isnt' normal.

I knew all that fast food wasn't good, but many people are in denail, why else would they eat that kind of stuff 1 - 2 times a day, several days a week. I used to be one of those users. Now the thought of eating that way usually makes me naussoud. though I get the ocassional passing craving. (kind of like an ex smoker, junkie or alcholic I imagine).

Has anybody here read his book or the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schossler. I have them both comming from Amazon. The food industry has become scary and perverse.  The whole system is so messed up.

Before seeing the documentary I said to myself...'really is there anyone out there that would eat that much fast food?'  I eat fast food sometimes but the idea of eating it three times a day is sickening.

I know people who are almost that bad, up to 10 visits a week easy and they don't understand why I won't go in one of those places. Of course they weigh over 200 and make at least two of me.  The brain washing of america, everything has to be fast and right now, slow down people and enjoy your food made at home.

I'm just glad they are trying to place more health-conscious food items on their menu.  Since I've redirected my eating/health lifestyle, I don't frequent fast food.  However, one of my clubs had a breakfast meeting there, and I was glad to have a cup of ice water and the fruit walnut salad for a total of 210 calories.  If I ever have to eat there for lunch or dinner, I'll only get a salad without the dressing.

I got to see Morgan Spurlock speak about his movie a few months after it came out, and it was frustrating to listen to him. Though the documentary was spurred from the obesity lawsuit, it became a vegan soap box. I'm sure the movie wouldn't have been nearly as powerful without citing all the awful direct and indirect facts of the fast food industry (the amount of trash from the USA alone was horrifying). However, in the movie and in talking about the movie, Spurlock doesn't seem to have a conclusion that is both economically and nutritionally sound for a "fast food nation". While fast food corporations have made a half-hearted effort to spice up the menu, the bad stuff is all still there. And I'm not sure it should even be gone; if we take away a person's choice to be fat, well, that opens a whole new can of worms. I just think the movie left off in a nearsighted sort of way. I did like it a lot though.

is that why we have fast food? 

because we have the right to choose to be fat?

it has nothing to do with the corporate directive to cut costs regardless of delivering an inferior product and advertise said products relentlessly so as to maximize profits?

It really is a supply and demand thing... or in the case of Rotten Ronnie's, a demand and supply thing.

When is the last time you saw a McPuker's go out of business... close its doors... and fire its staff in a short rendition of General Motors?

The reality is that consumers love Big Macs. The food tastes reasonably good, it fills you up AND you can feed a family of four for about twenty dollars AND you can have grown-up time while the kids race around the Playplace. Try pulling that one off at the K-Mart lunch bar.

You know that you can step on a plane in Idaho, come to Victoria (where I live), take a jet to Paris and you will not only find McD's, you will be able to order two all-beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun - and the ONLY difference between the cities is that in Paris you can order a beer with your meal. (That and the clown looks a little different.) Even if your French is a little rusty, thanks to the ads on TV, most of us can mime or use sign language to order a Big Mac and fries - and (Gawd help me) Coke is universally understood. Consumers can see the world, experience new cultures and bring back little knicknacks like Anne of Green Gable dolls and Austrian crystal cut in the shape of the Swiss Alps without ever changing their diet.

I was in Prague when the first Golden Arches opened (about 1991, if I recall) - and the lines wrapped around the street. There were no protests from the former communist officials that the country that was undergoing inflation rates of 150% that the people might benefit from a slightly healthier addition to the economy, but then, I can't recall anyone here in Victoria protesting the addition of ANY new McCrap "restaurant." Our economy is pretty decent.

So, demand and supply. If you want to diversify your portfolio, hop on board the McD shareholder's train. For every potential downswing "problem" the directors have a solution. (Your kids won't sit still to eat? They bring in a play place. You want healthy? They bring salad.)

Unlike the economics of the 80's where corporations released a product and then marketed it at you until you realized you needed it, consumers today shout about need until someone creates the product to fill it. Current demand says we love to eat hundreds of calories wrapped in coated paper and The House of the Evil Clown is more than happy to deliver that.

Every buck's a vote.