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 Brought up in a South Indian household, with eating out often a luxury and indulgence, I did not quite understand all the hoopla about fast food,... | Brought up in a South Indian household, with eating out often a luxury and indulgence, I did not quite understand all the hoopla about fast food, unhealthy food choices etc. That was until I stepped away from the confines of my protected existence with my mom cooking and ensuring we have 3 square meals on the table everyday. When you live alone (in a dorm with a mess or an apartment), the motivation to cook for just yourself is awfully low and one often takes shortcuts, which in most cases is eating out. The economically viable (and faster) option of course is FAST FOOD - the ilk of McDs, BK, Subway etc. While there are healthier fast food (does that sound like an oxymoron?) options available like Subway, lets be honest - how many of us would voluntarily go to Subway and eat a plain sandwich everyday, when more enticing options like burgers and french fries are available :)
Super Size Me does exactly that - Morgan Spurlock, the protoganist if you will, is on a mission to eat ONLY McDonald's food for a month (30 days to be precise), exercise like an average American and find out how this change in food habit affects him. The conditions that governed the McMonth for Spurlock:
* Must eat only McD food, no outside food consumption
* Must fully eat three McDonald's meals per day
* Must sample every item on the McDonald's menu
* Must "Super Size" his meal whenever, and only when, the option is offered
* Will walk about as much as a typical American, which was 5,000 steps per day
Spurlock has a support staff of 5 personnel - 3 doctors, 1 nutritionist and 1 trainer who track the effects of this month on him. Through the course of the documentary, we get a glimpse of the physical and emotional changes that Spurlock goes through over this period. His rapid weight gain (10 lbs in the first 5 days), declining physical strength & endurance, the damage caused to his internal organs makes one sit up and take note of his documentary. In addition to all these physiological effects, he faces bouts of depression assuaged only by eating McD meals, termed as addiction by one of his doctors, declining energy levels and sex drive. In the middle of the experiment, one of his doctors advises him stop this experiment as he is afraid that it might cause irrepairable damage to his body. Without paying heed, he continues and completes the 30 days successsfully (?).
Being a vegetarian, my options @ McDonalds are very limited but a look at their menu tells me how unhealthy it can be. The food here is loaded with saturated fat and sodium, not to mention the high-carb content. Although the fact that Spurlock only ate at McDonalds is a little extreme, it is probably not very uncommon for people to eat atleast one meal a day at McDonalds (or a similar fast food chain). By having a kids' play area and clowns, McDonalds seem to follow the "catch them young" philosophy. And this can cause a huge deal of damage, in more ways than one can probably fathom. Hence, it is the responsibility of us as individuals to figure out what and how we should eat, and be conscientious of what we feed our body.
There are definitely arguments both for and against Spurlock - no person with a sane mind will eat 3 meals a day at McDonalds :) Also, one can argue that if you eat 5,000 calories a day with little or no exercise, you are bound to mess up your body. But think about it - isn't that exactly is what these big corporate fast food chains are promoting? Would they stop you from eating every meal at their place, if they had an option? On the contrary, they would probably want you to "Super Size" your meal (which incidentally happened 9 times in the course of the McMonth). Is there a statutory warning that says "eating all meals here without any exercise can be injurious to health"?
My only gripe with this documentary was that Spurlock shouldn't have targetted a single chain - after all, McDonalds is not the solitary source of problem. But that said, I can understand his reasoning and logic that it will be far easier to isolate and identify the cause of the problems, if it were just one chain and the most popular and ubiquitous one at that - the passing of the buck will stop right there. Stop it did in a way, as McDonalds was forced to take out their super size options from their menu (not sure, if it has creeped back in now). McDonalds even hired nutritionist to recommend what a healthy 3 Mcmeal would be - which was less in terms of calories but astonishingly high in saturated fat and sodium, than the daily recommendation. Whatever McDonalds logic can be, I still approach it with a healthy disregard (thanks no less to this documentary) and hence, all I have eaten there, believe it or not, is a small hot chocolate :) |
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