Supersize Me… Or Not.
Background
The brave man who came up with the bright idea to eat McDonalds for each and every meal for an entire month is named Morgan Spurlock. Spurlock is an independent filmmaker from New York. Besides being a little bit crazy for wanting to eat McDonalds for a straight month, Spurlock is also a television producer, screenwriter and was the producer and star of the reality series, 30 Days. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from New York University.
Supersize Me was filmed in 2003, at the height of the “Would you like that supersized?” trend. Spurlock completed his month McDonalds feast from February 1st until March 2nd of that year. It was released in 2004 at the Sundance Film Festival and was later nominated for an Academy Award. It is estimated that Supersize Me has made over $20,000,000.
As mentioned previously, Spurlock’s desire was to showcase the physical and psychological effect of eating at fast food restaurants. In order to prove the effects, he created a plan to eat at McDonalds for three meals a day for thirty days. Each day he consumed almost 5,000 calories and by the end of the first five days, he had already gained nine and a half pounds. Spurlock also limited his exercise to that of what a typical American’s exercise regimen would look like, which is around 5,000 steps per day. Spurlock’s point is that obesity has been a problem in the United States for the last two decades and the epidemic isn’t slowing down. Supersize Me is one of the best documentaries that illustrates to the world that eating at fast food restaurants is dangerous for your body, your self-esteem, and your bank account.
Obesity was a problem in 2003 when this was filmed. It became an even bigger problem when the film was released in 2004. And now, eight years later, the problem has escalated faster than ever. According to the Center for Disease Control, today, more than one-third of U.S. adults are obese. And worse, childhood obesity has tripled in the past thirty years to one-third of the childhood population being obese. So yes, obesity is still relevant, more than ever.
Nutrition Concepts
Portion Sizes
One of the first things that gained my attention in this documentary was seeing the different serving sizes of fries served at McDonalds over the years. The supersize fry option at McDonalds contains over 600 calories and this doesn’t include the supersize drink or the double meat patty hamburger. Contemporary Nutrition states, concerning portion sizes, “Your hand provides an additional handy guide (for judging serving sizes)” (Contemporary Nutrition, pg. 58). Now if we could just get people to take a look at the size of their hand compared to the size of their meal. According to, the USDA and Choose My Plate, one of the easiest ways to decrease portion sizes is to, “Use as smaller plate, bowl or glass” (ChooseMyPlate.gov). As a whole, Americans’ portion sizes are way bigger than they should be. This leads to excess calories, which leads to excess weight, which leads to dangerous health problems and one unhealthy nation.
Problems Associated With Obesity
As we witnessed from watching this documentary, in the thirty days of this experiment, Spurlock encountered several of the health problems associated with obesity. Some of the problems he faced include; high blood pressure, high cholesterol, liver problems, sexual dysfunction, mood swings, bouts of depression, headaches, heart palpitations, and more. In our textbook, Contemporary Nutrition, a whole table is dedicated to how excess body fat affects the body. The list includes; surgical risk, pulmonary disease, sleep disorders, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, bone and joint disorders, gallstones, skin disorders, various cancers, shorter stature, pregnancy risks, reduced physical agility, menstrual irregularities, infertility, visual problems, premature death, infections, liver damage, and erectile dysfunction (Contemporary Nutrition, pg. 259). This not-so-short list is a dangerous path to walk down. And unfortunately, more and more people are walking down the path of obesity and few will return. Dramatic it may seem, but these health risks are real. And they like to come in pairs. Most people that are considered obese will suffer from more than one of the above listed complications; often people will have a handful of them. Perhaps my next point should be included in an entire new heading. The CDC reports that economic consequences is also a problem associated with obesity. The CDC indicates that in 2008 over 147 billion dollars were spent on medical costs directly related to obesity (CDC). So not only is the United States an obese and unhealthy nation, but a poor nation.
Exercise
In Spurlock’s experiment, he wasn’t able to exercise because he was trying to achieve the habits of most Americans. And as it turns out, most Americans don’t exercise. As Spurlock traveled through out the “obesity belt” he learned that most schools don’t require or offer physical education programs anymore. He found that Illinois was the only state that required its schools to offer a P.E. program. But upon further investigation, he found that though students in Illinois were required to take a P.E. class, they were only in that class once a week. Clearly, once a week is not enough. Our book mentions that “Regular physical activity is important for everyone, especially those trying to lose weight…” (Contemporary Nutrition, pg. 265). The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry provides an article online that says that especially children who are obese need to get in a routine of exercising regularly to decrease their risk of acquiring diabetes (Aacap.org).
What I Learned
As you well know by now, my wife is a health nut (but don’t tell her I said that); luckily for me however, she isn’t a vegan chef like Spurlock’s wife. Melissa is fascinated by public health and watches these kinds of documentaries for fun. Needless to say, she has seen Supersize Me before and was excited to find out that I had to watch it for class. And to her surprise, I didn’t hate every minute of it.
At first I didn’t see how eating three meals a day at McDonalds would be that bad. Yeah, he would probably gain weight but I didn’t think his health would decline that much in only a span of thirty days. And boy, was I wrong. He gained nine pounds in just five days of his plan. By the second weigh-in he had gained 20% of his body weight. And the doctors (end eventually his family) were concerned more and more for his health at each weigh-in.
Hearing his wife talk let me in on my wife’s thought process when she tries to encourage me to eat healthier or specifically, cut my soda intake. I didn’t realize it, but when I eat unhealthy, I get tired, irritable, groggy and unenergetic, much like Spurlock did. I guess I never realized that my wife is able to see that. And it’s definitely not fun to be someone like that, much less be around someone like that. If nothing else, that’s what changed my mind the most about eating fast food. I don’t want my wife to have a husband like that who is a couch potato, lazy, fat and unhealthy.
As a psychology major (at the moment), seeing how the fast food affected him emotionally and mentally was very interesting. There was a day towards the beginning that Spurlock admitted to just feeling depressed, for no reason at all. He even said that he was “having a good day,” but still feels down in the dumps. And like what his wife said, he didn’t have any energy, wasn’t interested in anything. He said that he often felt unhappy but when he got some French fries in his hand he suddenly felt better, which he attributed towards becoming addicted to the food. Also, he started to feel a little bit self-conscious about his body image after gaining so much weight so quickly.
Supersize Me was a fascinating show. While I was watching, I was actually eating my giant Café Rio burrito and while I can usually put down the whole burrito in a matter of minutes, I found myself slowing down and putting some of it in the fridge. We eat fast food (me way more than my wife) but I think hearing the effects that fast food has on your body and especially seeing the emotional aspects, is going to make me think twice about going through the drive thru, or at least thinking twice about what to order. I’ll pass on the super size for sure.
In order to solve the obesity epidemic, a lot needs to happen. The first step to solving that problem is obvious from watching this documentary. Decrease the amount of fast food consumed and stop eating at McDonalds.
References
"Adult Obesity Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html>.
"Causes and Consequences." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult/causes/index.html>.
"Decrease Portion Sizes." Decrease Portion Sizes. Choose My Plate, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://www.choosemyplate.gov/weight-management-calories/weight-management/better-choices/decrease-portions.html>.
"Morgan Spurlock." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1041597/>.
"Obesity In Children And Teens | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry." Obesity In Children And Teens | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. AACAP, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/obesity_in_children_and_teens>.
"Super Size Me." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/>.
Alexmagnate. "Supersize Me - Movie / Documentary - Full Length." YouTube. YouTube, 03 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-eRXuuH9AI>.
Wardlaw, Gordon M., Anne M. Smith, and Angela L. Collene. Contemporary Nutrition. 3rd ed. N.p.: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.
