I have now seen “SuperSize Me” many times and I think it is a great film to watch, especially for this Nutrition course.  It demonstrates how fast food and a person’s diet in can have profound effects on a person’s physical, mental and social health.  A fit person, who has a normal BMI and is physically fit, can completely wreck their healthy lifestyle by consuming large amounts of fast foods. It shows how a person can greatly increase their chances of becoming obese, and ultimately increase their risk of diet just by changing their diet and exercise patterns, like seen with Jarred who is the spokesperson for Subway.  This is due to how big the sizes are.  Furthermore, in France, the small in America, is the large in France, and now we have sizes, like Supersize, which can pack over 600 calories for a Supersized fry order, which is the amount of, if not more, calories in a meal!  I also like how it incorporates facts throughout the video, which are very impactful to the audience.  For example, I am always surprised to hear the amount of McDonalds in Manhattan trumps all over places in the world, containing about 83 locations, which is approximately 4 per square mile.  And because there are so many and they are cheap, people go to them, especially if they are kids.  McDonalds lures kids in by their birthday parties, their “kids” meals with toys, and their indoor playgrounds.  It is frightening to see how well kids are familiar with the variety of fast food restaurant’s symbols and characters because the restaurants spend over 200 million dollars on their advertising; furthermore, fast food places advertise to the most vulnerable population, kids, which have made the obesity rates of children double, increasing their risk for asthma, impaired fertility, diabetes, asthma, and many more health issues.  This shows how the most advertised foods are the ones consumed most.  One out of every 3 kids will develop diabetes if this trend continues, which is our future!  In addition to this, it is horrifying how McDonalds knows how bad their food is by stating, how it is “common knowledge that the processing their foods undergoes makes the food even more harmful…”  In conjunction with this statement, I would not consider any of the foods “healthy,” since they were composed of saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, and high amounts of sodium.

 

          Opposing the video was an article about how a science teacher lost weight by eating various McDonald’s items.  If a person were to just see the headline of this story, they might think that consuming all items on the McDonald’s menu is healthy and okay to eat; moreover people may think that fast food items can make them lose weight.  However that is not the case.  It depends on exactly what a person eats and how much they are consuming.  The science teacher gave himself a calorie limit every day, and also met certain nutrient amounts, which helped him lose weight.  It is not as if he allowed himself to eat whatever he wanted, without limiting himself of fat and calories, but rather he was on a strict diet eating fast food.  Even though this sounds ironic to be on a “diet” filled with fast food, he was performing this experiment following strict nutritional limits that his students set for him, and by increasing his physical activity by walking for 45 minutes a day.

 

          The film and article highlights how people have to take control of their life, including their diet and exercise.  It is hard for the consumer to take control of their diet when they have to go to such fast food places, due to money and/or time, since many of the restaurants do not even have the nutritional information ubiquitous, and 1 in 4 fast food locations did not even have the nutrition information available for consumers to see to weigh and measure the items on the menu in order to choose which item was the “best” to consume.  However, eating healthier does cost more money due to the government subsidies of, for example, corns, rather than putting more money into nutrient-dense foods, like fruits and vegetables.  Instead of suing the fast food companies, people should not waster their time, energy, and money in investing in a lawyer, but they should simply not fund their success.  If the majority of people stopped going to fast food restaurants, I believe their great presence around the world would diminish.  In addition to taking control of their diet and exactly what and how much of things they are consuming, people should also take control of the amount of exercise they perform, just how certain schools have adopted programs to fund the children’s daily physical education and activity.  Yet it was upsetting to see how some kids only have gym 1 day a week for 45 minutes, highlighting the importance of people needing to take action and go to the school board and question why the children are not receiving more physical education, especially since the surgeon general says a person should exercise 30 minutes a day to maintain a healthy weight.  The article showed how just something as simple as walking every day can help maintain a healthy weight.

 

          The film also shows how chicken McNuggets are made by many things other than actual chicken; moreover, many of the ingredients they contain would not be used by a home cook.  In conclusion, people should cook at home as much as possible, and bring bagged lunches to school, since the products schools are serving kids are generally not nutritious, including frozen meals, Gatorade, chips, pizza, and cookies.  However, I do have to say that I enjoyed seeing certain schools changing the options available for kids that enjoy fresh, prepared foods that cost the same as other food programs.  I believe that all schools should adopt this food program and invest in America’s future, the health of children.