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McDonalds the movie: "Supersize Me"

fresco

By fresco
in Food Media & Arts

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LEdlund

LEdlund

Posted
Posted
If he changed the McDonalds diet to 8 Big Macs , hold the bun, 4 cheeseburger hold the bun, and 20 chicken nuggets a day, he'd lose weight instead.

How many calories is that?

Practice Random Acts of Toasting

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JPW

JPW

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Posted
MRX's post above has inspired me to quit fast food as well. I am now on day 4, so wish me well! :)

Now off to my lunch of "leftover duck". :biggrin:

Good luck.

For a minor medical reason, I too have been forced to reevaluate parts of my lifestyle. A former 2-3 times a week fast food junkie (Wendy's and Taco Hell), I haven't had fast food since January 9. I looked at their nutrition guides online and a meal at either place provided pretty much 100% of daily needed calories, fat, sodium, and colesterol, if not more. In addition to doing more cardio work at the gym this change has helped me to lose 8 pounds already.

Lunch has become a trip to Safeway for a sandwich and some fruit. I still do pizza once a week, cook whatever I want for dinner, and enjoy my beer and wine.

If someone writes a book about restaurants and nobody reads it, will it produce a 10 page thread?

Joe W

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gus_tatory

gus_tatory

Posted
Posted
MRX's post above has inspired me to quit fast food as well. I am now on day 4, so wish me well! :)

good luck, bleachboy! :smile:

i too have quit fast food (we should start a thread called this perhaps?) since jan 11. it's hard though--there's a McD's and a KFC *directly* outside my workplace.

but i walk *around* them, go to the Vietnamese market, and get some yummy veggies, spring rolls, etc., instead!

"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the ocean."

--Isak Dinesen

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Jensen

Jensen

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"Within days, he was vomiting up his burgers and battling with headaches and depression".

Huh? Come on, now...

If he was accustomed to eating a fairly low-fat diet, then all the fat in the McD's food could easily have caused vomiting. It would be akin to eating a whole lot of really rich food.

Jen Jensen

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LEdlund

LEdlund

Posted
Posted
If he changed the McDonalds diet to 8 Big Macs , hold the bun, 4 cheeseburger hold the bun, and 20 chicken nuggets a day, he'd lose weight instead.

How many calories is that?

who cares. its the carbs that count right?

Actually it's 4600 calories. I don't think it matters if it's carbs or not, you'll still gain weight eating 4600 calories a day, unless you are burning off a lot in exercise.

But you're joking anyway, right? :blink:

Practice Random Acts of Toasting

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  • 2 months later...
uberleet

uberleet

Posted
Posted
Soso Waley dines at McDonald's for a month, slams Spurlock's method, and LOSES weight.  Andrew Stuttaford, the article's author, points out what went wrong with Spurlock.

http://www.nationalreview.com/stuttaford/s...00404290832.asp

National Review Online? From the "article:"

Blaming "Big Food" for America's big people is merely the Left's latest big lie.

Whatever. Not exactly substantive.

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Lyle

Lyle

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Not sure why you put the word article in quotes as it is by every definition an article.

Yes I wrestled whether to post it or not due to the fact that a few bits are political in nature. However the crux is that one can now consistantly eat a balanced and nutritious diet at McDonalds, and most everywhere else, if one chooses. Along those same lines, one can gain massive amounts of weight at McDonalds, and most everywhere else, if one so chooses.

Edit: Spurlock used a method to gain weight and got the results he was after.

Edited by Lyle (log)

Rice pie is nice.

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Emily Kaiser

Emily Kaiser

Posted
Posted
and most everywhere else, if one so chooses.

This is the part that troubles me about the movie. You eat 3 meals a day at any restaurant and order their biggest dishes on the menu each time, your health is going to go down the tubes.

Did anyone see the editorial cartoon a week or so ago, about McDonald's new adult happy meal, with the water, salad, and pedometer? A guy is sampling it and says to the clerk, "well, the pedometer needs salt."

Cheers, Emily

Emily Kaiser

www.emilykaiser.com

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Saydee

Saydee

Posted
Posted (edited)

Yeah, I'm not really sure what the point of "Supersize Me" was. Of course if you eat burgers and fries three meals a day for a month you're going to pack on the pounds! I know the filmaker said he was doing this because he said McDonald's said something to the effect of "our food isn't bad for you" (paraphrasing here) after the New York class-action lawsuit. That poor guy ruined his health for nothing! McDonald's didn't claim its food was healthful - it just said that it had health information available for consumers to make choices. And ultimately, it's the consumer that's forking over the cash and chowing down the food. Ol' Ronald isn't holding a gun to anyone's head!

Edited by Saydee (log)
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Lyle

Lyle

Posted
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That poor guy ruined his health for nothing!

Except for long futures on a good chunk of change and priceless recognition in the film industry.

Edit: And there's nothing wrong with that.

Edited by Lyle (log)

Rice pie is nice.

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Callipygos

Callipygos

Posted
Posted
Yeah, I'm not really sure what the point of "Supersize Me" was. Of course if you eat burgers and fries three meals a day for a month you're going to pack on the pounds! I know the filmaker said he was doing this because he said McDonald's said something to the effect of "our food isn't bad for you" (paraphrasing here) after the New York class-action lawsuit. That poor guy ruined his health for nothing! McDonald's didn't claim its food was healthful - it just said that it had health information available for consumers to make choices.

It is true that healthy choices are present, and that so is health info, but "present" is different from "encouraged." Each and every time I went to a McDonalds before the film came out, I was invited to "supersize" my order -- the difference between him and me is that he just always said yes when they asked him. As for the health information being "available", it's usually posted way over in the corner in small print, or only available upon request. I'm reminded of a crack from THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY: "I found it at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, in a dis-used lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the leopard.'"

Not that I'm saying the public shouldn't be held responsible for not taking the initiative themselves to request this information, or to make healthier choices. I just feel that the ultimate point of SUPERSIZE ME was to point out that the public's health was not McDonald's ultimate interest -- their interest was in selling as many burgers and fries as they could, and that they were subtly encouraging us to buy as many burgers and fries as we could.

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clothier

clothier

Posted
Posted
. I just feel that the ultimate point of SUPERSIZE ME was to point out that the public's health was not McDonald's ultimate interest -- their interest was in selling as many burgers and fries as they could, and that they were subtly encouraging us to buy as many burgers and fries as we could.

I thought the point of the movie was the same as the point of "fastfood nation":

Make the author/film star more famous and wealthy.

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Lyle

Lyle

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Posted
.  I just feel that the ultimate point of SUPERSIZE ME was to point out that the public's health was not McDonald's ultimate interest -- their interest was in selling as many burgers and fries as they could, and that they were subtly encouraging us to buy as many burgers and fries as we could.

I thought the point of the movie was the same as the point of "fastfood nation":

Make the author/film star more famous and wealthy.

And I can promise you that shareholders of McDonalds couldn't care less whether the stores are selling burgers and fries or salads and water as long as they are making as large a profit as possible. I would think the margin would actually be higher for salads than burgers, but I could be wrong.

Rice pie is nice.

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clothier

clothier

Posted
Posted
.  I just feel that the ultimate point of SUPERSIZE ME was to point out that the public's health was not McDonald's ultimate interest -- their interest was in selling as many burgers and fries as they could, and that they were subtly encouraging us to buy as many burgers and fries as we could.

I thought the point of the movie was the same as the point of "fastfood nation":

Make the author/film star more famous and wealthy.

And I can promise you that shareholders of McDonalds couldn't care less whether the stores are selling burgers and fries or salads and water as long as they are making as large a profit as possible. I would think the margin would actually be higher for salads than burgers, but I could be wrong.

No arguement there.

But (and you knew there was a "but" coming) The gentlemen from "FFN" and 'Super-me" both seem to have that shame on you for making money attitude, while making plenty of money themselves.

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TPO

TPO

Posted
Posted
.  I just feel that the ultimate point of SUPERSIZE ME was to point out that the public's health was not McDonald's ultimate interest -- their interest was in selling as many burgers and fries as they could, and that they were subtly encouraging us to buy as many burgers and fries as we could.

I thought the point of the movie was the same as the point of "fastfood nation":

Make the author/film star more famous and wealthy.

And I can promise you that shareholders of McDonalds couldn't care less whether the stores are selling burgers and fries or salads and water as long as they are making as large a profit as possible. I would think the margin would actually be higher for salads than burgers, but I could be wrong.

I would think that the margin for burgers would be higher simply because the components are kept frozen, whereas the salads are perishable.

Unfortunately, what this filmmaker did is not that unusual. There are people in this country that will only eat at McDonald's or Burger King. I have known more than one set of parents to buy fast food for their child seven nights a week for fear the kids would starve to death otherwise (as they refused to eat anything else), and my brother even had coworkers bring McDonald's to the company holiday party because they refused to eat the caterer's food (or anything else for that matter).

The filmmaker took eating at McDonald's to the extreme to make a point, and I think he managed to make his point. Knowing McDonald's food is bad for you and not eating it because it is bad for you are two different things.

TPO (Tammy) 

The Practical Pantry

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Chad

Chad

Posted
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Another industry funded "watchdog" group is taking on "Supersize Me." Tech Central Station has a new website devoted to the movie.

According to Tech Central Station Host and nationally syndicated columnist, James K. Glassman, “Super Size Me is not a serious look at a real health problem. It is, instead, an outrageously dishonest and dangerous piece of self-promotion. Through his antics, Spurlock sends precisely the wrong message. He absolves us of responsibility for our own fitness. We aren't to blame for being fat; big corporations are!”

Chad

Chad Ward

An Edge in the Kitchen

William Morrow Cookbooks

www.chadwrites.com

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Chad

Chad

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And, in a pretty damn funny article, Chicago Herald writer Dave Orrick actually tries the "Supersize Me" diet.

After 13 days, I had lost three pounds, including a pound of fat.

This prompted the majority of women I told to issue the following statement, separately but in a clearly coordinated campaign: "I hate you." My reminders that they live longer and are better equipped to survive the famine that Americans appear to be stocking up for didn't earn me any points.

Chad

Chad Ward

An Edge in the Kitchen

William Morrow Cookbooks

www.chadwrites.com

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