Yesterday night I watched ‘Super Size Me’ on DVD. This documentary won the Best Director Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
The director, who’s also the narrator and actor, lives on a McDonald diet (eating whatever is on the McDonald menu only) for one whole month to study the effect this has on his life. He also reduces the amount of exercise to match that of the average American.
The guy’s weight goes from 185.5 to 210 lbs in one month. Besides health problems, he faces emotional turmoil and his sex life goes down the drain.
I guess it did make an impact – McDonalds made several changes to its policies and menu in the US following this film’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
It certainly made me think about my unhealthy lifestyle.
I don’t visit fast food joints much and I have never liked McDonalds anyway. As an Ovo-lacto-vegetarian (which means I am a vegetarian who eats eggs and consumer milk products), my choice is limited.
What I really need is to get some regular exercise. Since I got my car, I practically drive everywhere and having a desk job doesn’t help much. In the past 3 years I have gained 3 inches on my waistline. That’s one inch for every year. Scary.
I have decided to reduce my junk food intake, no more snacking in between meals and ban carbonated sugary soft drinks from my diet. However, I still can’t do without coffee. Maybe I should go back to drinking tea. At least it’s a milder form of caffeine.
The most interesting part was under the Bonus parts in the DVD – ‘Smoking Fry’. An experiment carried out by the director. Without giving anything away, I have to tell you it was disgusting.
BTW, its rated PG in the US.
Watch it and don’t blame me it turns you away from burgers and fries forever.
11 comments:
Leading a married life can also increase your waist line. For me it has gone up by 5 inches.
I wish it's easy to get my hands on good DVDs here in Sabah.
i've been thru the phase where i ate mcd 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner)... was a poor student in a foreign land & there was a mcd right across the road from where my then-bf lived.
plus, there were like 12 mcd outlets along 3-4 streets around my uni. & given the conversion rate, mcd was still the cheapest thing around to eat.
& yes, i did put on quite a bit of weight from all those fast food meals... it didnt help that their idea of "small" was infact something like "medium" in malaysia.
even the happy meal was huge. no wonder mat salleh kids r so big sized.
:)
Sounds like an interesting movie... about coffee, how about taking it just black? as in no milk, no sugar... I like it...
I go to McD's only when necessary (it's convenient, fast). It's not exactly very cheap either.
My idea of healthy food is economy rice! Quick and cheap. In less than 15 minutes u can walk out of the restaurant already.
Yeah, loving it when i was young and dangerous. Heheh, now working adult oredy only go there to meet people and consume a cup of coke...
I watched this on DVD two years back when my brother brought it back. It was fun to know that McD does play a part in our life. It's not surprising how this mushrooming fast-food joints made it more accessible to us, just like a quick bite in Mamak stalls.
From the documentary-like movie, Supersize Me does help me to reflect on my unhealthy diet. But I can't help but munch on McD sometimes, for the heck of it.
Comparing the best fries among our fast-food joints, most of my friends prefer McD for its distinctive taste and the "value-added" it gave in comparison to others. I think that's what make McD so addictive.
Also, going through next year Guiness Book of Record, I still find the record holder for most McD burgers consumed is still the guy featured in this movie (don't remember the guys name though). Amazing!
i think it still depends on which type of tea you pick :)
I am glad to know that this movie is interesting because this movie is one of my choices for extra credit for my class. I am glad it won't be misery!
Lrong: I still have several pouches of 3 different types of coffee mixes to finish.
Lainie: I am trying out several. I guess black tea with less sugar would be the ideal.
Thanks for your comments guys.
hi Adam,
i just posted my long-overdue 2-sen worth about Super Size Me (SSM) on my own site.
i think SSM had a valid message but the "experiment" conducted was kinda flawed, and it really demonised McD when there are so many other factors also at play, the most important one being us humans and our akal and capacity for independant thought and decision making....
but hey, whatever it takes to get us all to eat a bit healthier, eh?
:-)
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