Super Size Me

[Brad]

Just been to see this film! I'm sure you'll have heard of it. It's a documentary about a man who voluntarily eats nothing but McDonalds for a whole month to see the impact on his body.

View the trailer!

Three rules:
1) No options: he could only eat what was available over the counter (water included!)
2) No supersizing unless offered
3) No excuses: he had to eat every item on the menu at least once

All in all a very enjoyable film. But I expected him to look physically worse at the end than he did. His annoucement that in one month he had eaten in fast food what the average nutritionalist says you should eat in 8 years comes as a shock! Morgan Spurlock comes across as an agreeable, humourous presenter in a film very much in the Michael Moor genre.

Interestingly, here's what McDonalds main website has to say:
"This movie is all about one individual’s decision to act irresponsibly by consuming more than 5,000 calories a day - - twice the recommended level for adult males - - and by purposely limiting his physical activity. That’s why this movie makes no contribution to the important dialogue taking place today on nutrition and balanced lifestyles. "

True, we don't see him walk far, although he travels the US by car. He's asked if he would like to 'super size' 5 times in Texas alone. And 85 branches of McDonalds in Manhatten alone?! :O
No wonder he's warned by his GP to stop the diet or risk his liver packing in with a week to go! And if you don't want to watch a stomach shrinking operation... avoid this film. Oh yes, and Spurlock pukes quite spectacularily at one point!!

More McSpin...
"Customers in the U.S. can get comprehensive nutrition information through in-store brochures, McDonald’s website or a customer toll-free number."
Not from what we saw. Barely any branches had this information at all. One had it on the wall behind a display and another proudly on the wall... in the basement!

McDonalds even put out a disclaimer at the beginning of the film asking people to visit this website to read the truth.

From my experiences, I have found the fries less salty lately. That's if I have them at all, I often go for the side salad instead. And the chicken nuggets now contain '100% breast meat'. So what the hell was in them before? Chicken gonads?!
Be warned though, the chicken salad contains more fat than Big Mac!

[Bail]

Watched it again last night. I think its good, but it'll be fantastic if people take what he says on-board and stop eating.

[Brad]

Well, I went in on an empty stomach (it was the 12.45pm showing) and I sat craving burgers throughout!!!

[noelfirl]

And the chicken nuggets now contain '100% breast meat'. So what the hell was in them before? Chicken gonads?!

This thread from back yonder may give you the information you need to know. *Queasy*

[Big Brother]

Just been to see this film! I'm sure you'll have heard of it. It's a documentary about a man who voluntarily eats nothing but McDonalds for a whole month to see the impact on his body.

View the trailer!

Three rules:
1) No options: he could only eat what was available over the counter (water included!)
2) No supersizing unless offered
3) No excuses: he had to eat every item on the menu at least once

All in all a very enjoyable film. But I expected him to look physically worse at the end than he did. His annoucement that in one month he had eaten in fast food what the average nutritionalist says you should eat in 8 years comes as a shock! Morgan Spurlock comes across as an agreeable, humourous presenter in a film very much in the Michael Moor genre.

Interestingly, here's what McDonalds main website has to say:
"This movie is all about one individual’s decision to act irresponsibly by consuming more than 5,000 calories a day - - twice the recommended level for adult males - - and by purposely limiting his physical activity. That’s why this movie makes no contribution to the important dialogue taking place today on nutrition and balanced lifestyles. "

True, we don't see him walk far, although he travels the US by car. He's asked if he would like to 'super size' 5 times in Texas alone. And 85 branches of McDonalds in Manhatten alone?! :O
No wonder he's warned by his GP to stop the diet or risk his liver packing in with a week to go! And if you don't want to watch a stomach shrinking operation... avoid this film. Oh yes, and Spurlock pukes quite spectacularily at one point!!

More McSpin...
"Customers in the U.S. can get comprehensive nutrition information through in-store brochures, McDonald’s website or a customer toll-free number."
Not from what we saw. Barely any branches had this information at all. One had it on the wall behind a display and another proudly on the wall... in the basement!

McDonalds even put out a disclaimer at the beginning of the film asking people to visit this website to read the truth.

From my experiences, I have found the fries less salty lately. That's if I have them at all, I often go for the side salad instead. And the chicken nuggets now contain '100% breast meat'. So what the hell was in them before? Chicken gonads?!
Be warned though, the chicken salad contains more fat than Big Mac!

Fries at McDonalds have (I think) 75% less salt than they did before as some fancy gadget now salts the fries with the exact amount of salt.

The Chicken Nuggets, just like you get from the supermarket were made up of various pieces of chicken etc. They are now 100% breast meat with less salt if any.

As to the salad comment. The most fattening of the salad's is the Cripsy Ranch Salad with dressing, WHICH in actual fact has just slightly more calories than 1 Big Mac. HOWEVER eating one of these salads is in actual fact a meal. When you buy a Big Mac meal you also get your fries and drink which overall totals way more in calories than the salad on it's own.

From checking the Cripsy Ranch has 501 Calories per meal. A Big Mac on it's own has 493. However as a meal with the fries has 786 calories. (Neither includes a drink - however a Milkshake is most common drink with a Mac and Water or Diet Coke is most common with salads)

The Grill Caeser without any dressing or with the dressing comes well under this.

Another contributing factor to why people think the food is too salty is that the meat used on burgers were also salted. HOWEVER this has also changed and the meat is now salted and peppered, pepper being in a far greater amount than the salt.

The film I think is slightly rediculous. I'm not just saying this because I work for the fab McDonalds, but I'm sorry anyone with a grain of common sense would not eat at McDonalds 3 times a day - every day. I've worked at McDonalds for over 3 years now working on average 3 or 4 times a week. While on shift I can get a free meal for my break. I always do. I normally buy a breakfast in the morning and occasionally something before I leave. For the purpose here I'll say I eat at McDonalds 9-12 times over 3-4 days at the most. Quite frankly I'm as skinny as a twig. I'm perfectly healthy and I exercise regulary... walking the 2 miles there and back and college etc. I walk at least 4 miles everyday.

Supersize has now been abandoned in many McDs and Sweet manufacturers are now doing the same.

McDonalds have had profit increases since the healthier options came into practice - there are more on the way.

On a final note, nobody forces you to eat at McDonalds or Burger King or KFC. It's your choice. As the film shows the guy becomes "addicted" in a sense to the food. If he was to eat 3 Mars bars a day he'd be addicted. Just like an alcoholic is addicted to alcohol he became addicted to McDs. However he didn't become addicted to McDonalds directly - he became addicted to the ingrediants within it's food which are nothing more than ingrediants found elsewhere in the food chain and your local Tesco.

Edit : One highlighted area is that McDs Breakfast Menu doesn't have any healthy option. However there are new products launching soon and some McDonalds stores already sell these new items or Porridge, Baegals and Fruit Toast with some other added bits and bobs.

[Jamez]

I'm always one to buck the trend, and I shall be going through the McDonalds 'Drive Thru', a little later on for my McChicken sandwich and mineral water (can't stand fizzy drinks).

[Brad]

The only fizzy drink I tolerate is mineral water. Odd that. I just don't like anything flavoured. Though I see on TV tonight now we don't have to drink as much water as we were previously led to believe!

[Big Brother]

lol you don't need to drink as much as they said because you find water in food and various other drinks. It all adds up in the end.

[DJGM]

IMO, it does you absolutely no harm whatsoever to eat fast food from the likes of Maccy D's and
others, but in moderation. Obviously, if you're going to have two or more average size servings
of fast food every single day, it will eventually take it's toll on you and your health in general.

Places like McDonalds, KFC, Burger King and the like, are fine if you want to have the occasional
treat every now and then. Sometime, if I'm in the centre of Bury, Bolton or Manchester, and I
have a spare pound coin in my pocket, I'll pop into the nearest Maccy D's, and buy a cheese-
burger, or something from one of those limited editon, 99p per item, McChoice type menus.

As for that film, I think it might just attract more people into the fast food establishments, as
opposed to persuading people to steer clear of them. (But then, I haven't seen the film yet!)

[nwtv2003]

Well it was released on DVD today and yours truly bought a copy of it and I have to say it was a very interesting film. Though it was more than just him eating Maccies everyday, he went to schools and saw how the average American ate and that was very interesting. Granted there are huge differences between McDonalds in the UK and the US, with the US having larger portions and even fattier products on their menus such as a 'Double Quarter Pounder' apparently. It was also interesting to see how bad it affected his health, he didn't come out that fat, but he was ill, out of breath constantly and he was sick. (You even see the vomit!)

I was shocked at the bit with the guy who was going into Hospital to get his stomach reduced and how he explained how much Coke he had per day, which on average was the same size as 2 Super Size Cups would be. (Or thereabouts) Also interesting that Texas was the state which had the most Obese Americans and the state where he was offered Super Size portions when ordering.

It makes me think twice about going into Maccies now, though I'm more of a Subway person these days!

[cat]

I once made the mistake of ordering a 'large orange juice' in a McDonald's in the US.

I was greeted with a litre of... god, I don't even know what it was. It was sort of like sugar, water, colouring, and ice.

I think most American food - be it fast or otherwise - tastes worse than its European version.