Giantrobo

I think that's one scene that sticks in people's mind but shit, if you gorged on celery and carrots nonstop I'm sure you'd eventually puke that too.


MODERATION......

movielib

Old post of mine:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....ck#post8341506


At least four people proved that with a sensible diet (relatively speaking, since eating everything at one place is not entirely sensible), a limited time period and possibly some sensible exercise, an exclusively McDonald's diet is not going to be harmful. All lost weight and some had reductions in cholesterol and/or a reduction in blood pressure. Spurlock made it harmful to himself with a stupid diet no one in the real world would ever eat just so he could bash McDonald's (in particular and fast food in general). I'm amazed so many people fell for it.

http://www.nationalreview.com/interr...0506230747.asp

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8916080/

http://spurlockwatch.typepad.com/fro...es_sawyer.html

http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/new...sue_detail.asp

Brack

I don't know about McDonald's, but fast food and other horribly processed foods, yes, actually probably MORE than 3 meals a day. 2/3 of the US is overweight, and 1/3 is obese. you get that way by eating junk and not being physically active. there's some genetics, but it seems no one really wants to admit that they're a fat ass because they eat terribly, or they just don't care.

Brack

I don't know too many obese people who got that way gorging celery and carrots. if you know of any, please, do share.

Giantrobo

The point is he concentrated his binge over a short period of time. BTW, since he was a previously healthy eater I'll call what he did for the film binging. He did this in the movie for about a month, for that scene what, an hour of binging? Of course he's going to get extreme results. Hell, If you know of any obese people who sit in their car binging til they vomit, please, do share.


Actually, those suffering from Bulimia may do it but they have a whole different set of issues...

Giantrobo

Yeah his GF is a either a Vegan or Vegetarian chef and you're right about him still eating meat. I saw him on Conan talking about this a few years ago.

Brack

I know plenty. they may not puke, but they surely eat just as much, and look like they might.

but really, what are you trying to prove? that this movie is invalid for some reason?

it's attitudes like these and others that ENABLE fat asses to continue to be fat asses.

james2025a

I found it not a bad documentary and entertaining to some extent. The only problem i have with it is that it was too concise in what it was targeting. Simply aiming at McDonalds didn't prove much in my books that people didn't already know. I am sure that 99.9% of people realize that if they eat those meals 3 times a day their life expectancy will be short. But the same can be said for most fast food eateries and resteraunts. I think too much blame was being placed on the heads of the corporations and not enough addressing the issues of parenting skills and teaching your child to eat well and have a balanced diet. Companies like Mickey D's may aim their advertising campaigns at children, but at the end of the day it is the parents that pay for thier meals. The responsibility lays at the feet of these reposnsible adults who do not look after their children they way they should. And as for people taking these companies to court....i find it ludicrous. They are not accepting any responsibility for raising their own children and are trying to place the blame elsewhere. I child can be prevented from being morbidly obese by simply monitoring what it eats and controlling. Any adult that allows their child to get into that state in the first place should be the one being arrested.

Clockwork

Yes, they call it 4 years of College. You should look into it.

paradicelost

alright, good for you.
While I'll agree it isn't the healthiest food out there for one to eat but for people who do choose to eat there, do they really deserve your disgust.

Back on subject, i know when i saw it my exact words after it was over was "I'm a bad daddy", since we would eat there a few times a week. And it was for no other reason than plain laziness. We always had plenty of food in the house but after work it was usually easier to stop there after picking the kids up from daycare than to go home and make dinner. So after that we stopped going almost altogether. Now we go maybe a few times a month, if that. And we always knew that it wasn't the healthy thing to do it was just easier, and the film basically helped see what we were basically already thinking to begin with.

Groucho

Not true. They still have it. What they did do is stop pushing it.

We've been through this entire discussion 1000x before, but I think the documentary is more objective than some people care to admit. I also think the strongest segment was the one about school lunches and physical education -- and it's the part nobody ever wants to discuss.

Charlie Goose

If you saw what was going on anywhere food is prepared for the public, you'd eat nothing but fallen leaves.

fumanstan

I haven't seen it at any McDonalds near me for a couple years now.

fumanstan

Sounds like he's just saying the movie is an extreme example of over-eating fast foods and not really indicative of how people eat. That's how I see it too. Using what happens to Morgan as an example of anything doesn't make sense to me.

What does that have to do with enabling fat asses to continue to be fat asses? No one's cheering on people to eat as much fast food as they want.

Giles

fumanstan

I also watched some of those eating contests on FOX I'm a horrible horrible person!

Giles

or my other favourite pic:

GreenMonkey

Absolutely. But people stop at the McD's for a month thing and the discussion seems to rarely get farther.

BTW: My wife's parents ate nothing but fast food for years. There was almost no food at their house and that was the status quo when I saw it before she moved out. Her parents would eat McDs all three meals of the day. Definitely always for breakfast unless they were busy (they did have cornflakes around), and either McDs or Fazoli's for lunch/dinner or once in a rare while some other fast food place.

As per my wife, his logic goes like this: only well-off people can afford to eat out a lot. If you have money you don't need to cook, you can afford to eat out all the time! So it is a sign that you are affluent and successful.

Now that they just got divorced, the stepmom still doesn't seem to remember how to cook or be able to shake the pattern - she still keeps buying fast food, and sometimes microwave stuff for at home, despite having a lot of money problems now (and health problems).

Spurlock talks about this - the so called heavy users.

movielib

I admit I have never seen the film and have heard little about this part of it. I do think I've read enough about the McDonald's part to fairly comment on it. Maybe it's worth seeing for the other part?

Giantrobo

With all due respect, I call bullshit on that.

I'm just saying that while he makes good points about healthy eating and going overboard with bad eating habits, his methods for the film were extreme and over the top.


Calm the hell down. I'm not defending McD's or bad eating. Anyone can tell there's a problem with Healthy eating here in America and I don't need him binging and purging on camera to tell me that.

Groucho

I would characterize the "eating at McDonald's for 30 days" as a stunt used to help publicize the movie and get people to come see it. The real "meat" of the documentary is everything else.

movielib

For me it worked opposite. It made me stay away.

GreenMonkey

The part about the school lunch programs is the strongest part of the film by far. He makes a lot of good points about how it only costs a little bit more to be feeding kids good, healthy lunches instead of the lowest-cost crap. Fast-food companies providing lunches, discussion of the pop and snack machines in the hallways because they raise money for the school...l

Lots of good stuff about school lunch programs.

Vipper II

Exactly. The important parts of Super Size Me, at least in my opinion, were when he went to various schools across the country and explored their lunch programs. It clearly indicated that the problem with unhealthy eating isn't limited to, or even rooted in, fast food.

Trigger

If you saw what birds and bugs to to leaves, you wouldn't be so quick to suggest such a thing.

I've worked in the food industry and I definitely know what goes on in some places... I still think eating at Mcdonalds is worse.