Monday, February 1, 2010

Super Size Me

While this movie does focus on McDonalds for the experiment and was done basically because of the lawsuits filed by 2 women that wanted to blame the fast food industry for their health issues, it goes much further that that.

Every single fast food place does all of the things that McDonalds does...provides an avenue to addict your children, just as they may have addicted you as a child.

Growing up in the decades I did, there were no such thing as Wendys and the like on every street corner.  And I also grew up when there were maybe 4 different kinds of cereal, and all I got was Wheaties or Raisin Bran.  I got Burger King once a month when we would come into Houston to go to Ellington AFB to buy groceries at the commissary.  Now while I fought my weight in my childhood it wasnt because of the food issues so much but due to being a television kid and someone who didnt have a lot of friends anyway.  So therefore I was less active that much more....It wasnt until the summer before high school that I lost all the weight and became a different person in high school...

But because of all of that I have battled my weight all my life.  I think in the year after high school was where I was my heaviest, and then not again till 2003 when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism which is now being taken care of with meds.  However just that little scare with all the symptoms which included a lot of weight gain in a short period of time, I was freaking out about what I was eating.  I was always a gym rat, but this is when running entered my life...

I still drank a lot, I partied a lot, I smoked a lot.  Slowly but surely all of those things fell by the wayside...and slowly but surely my eating habits began to change as well.  The past couple of years though while I still managed to eat healthy quite a bit of the time, I was with someone that had less than stellar good food tolerance and it would be that everytime that things were good with us, I would gain weight.  Mexican food, chips and queso, Whataburger, spaghetti etc., just were not a well rounded diet...when we would break up, I would go back to eating my kind of food and would drop the weight more or less...not like this time though.  Of course, the stress of that relationship is gone, therefore my overall health is improved just because of that alone!

Even the other night when we went for Greek, we ordered one appetizer and ONE entree and still the 2 of us couldnt finish either dish between the 2 of us.  And I sat there, and as I do all the time now, I watched person after person walk by with these plates that were falling over with food, just for themselves.  I even found myself staring at some people sitting down while we were ordering thinking UGH...you dont need to eat THAT MUCH FOOD!!!

Just like in the video from the Today Show, a portion for one at an Italian restaurant of pasta is equal to like 16-18 pieces of white bread!?!??!  That is just plain disgusting.  I bet you wouldnt sit down and eat 16-18 pieces of bread at one time, or even over 2 meals!!!!

I know this seems harsh, but people are just overweight, epidemically so, and that very fact is being passed on to children.  Everyone goes for convenience and cheap and satisfy the addictions to these fast foods that so many have been marketed to for so many years.  If you havent watched Super Size Me, you need to...seriously, its just mind boggling and eye opening.

There were 3 times in this movie that stood out:
  1. When showing photographs to 1st graders of people, like George Washington etc., there was one picture they showed the kids that NOT ONE OF THEM knew who it was, but they knew who 'Wendy' and 'Ronald McDonald' were.....the person in the other picture?  Jesus.  Seriously?
  2. Trying to get people to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, which they had trouble, but ask them to sing a jingle from a McDonalds commercial and they knew ALL the words...
  3. And the story of the person that was smoking, and then got berated because of that, but yet when proposed to berate the overweight person for eating all that food that has the SAME killing effect of a person, no one would dare do that?
And I tell you after the first time I saw this when it first came out, oh how many years ago???  I have never had another chicken nugget since...it might not be 'fake' chicken but it sure is gross...

1 in 3 kids born in 2000 or later will have diabetes by adulthood.  Why is this OK?  And why are funds being cut off from requirements of more than once a week for gym in school and that Health Education is no longer a required subject in the majority of school districts????  Dont even get me started on the food selections in schools because of the savings and (revenue for the school), not to mention the pressure from these companies because they, in the end, make millions off of it all at the expense of the children....

There are addicting chemicals in all fast foods joints foods...why else do I crave Whataburger still to this day after almost 6 months and I only ate it sparingly, and if I should ever eat another one I can tell you it would be euphoric...Again watch the movie, you will see that after almost 3 weeks, Spurlock started feeling depressed and lethargic until he ate something from the fast food place.

I know that I am probably pissing some people off, but its not to berate anything other than people are killing themselves and honestly, yes I know its 'cheap' but there are ways to eat healthy without going off budget.  At least to some degree to start weaning yourself off all the 'foods' that are being ingested...

You know how you hear the cliche "its a vicious cycle"?  Until you make a change for yourself, or your family, you will continue to feel bad, and later on...they will feel badly as well...if you eat better (even if in just baby steps), you will feel more like being a bit more active, then you naturally want to eat better, your mood will improve, making you happier, and so forth and so on..this is NOT a vicious cycle...this is a step in the right direction!!!

Again, people all the time think its OK for someone who smokes, drinks or does drugs to be berated for 'slowly killing themselves'...but I have news...there are MORE people out there nailing nails in their own coffins every single time you put crap into your body...and if you think that processed food is the only thing out there processed...you have another thought coming...even your 'fresh' meats and produce are 'processed' to some degree...Just because its not in a can or a box; doesn't mean squat...

to be continued...

7 comments:

Mel said...

I've never seen the movie, I need to. Gotta put it on the "to do" list.

I've become a total food snob since I changed my lifestyle. And i'll admit, I do judge people in the grocery stores when I look in their carts. I do indulge occasional, but not on a daily basis like I used to.

There was one night when Dan and I were eating and seeing what he was eating started to seriously make me ill. I had to ignore him and the food it was eating. It was a cross between disgusting and upsetting. Love the guy to death, but if he eats anywhere but in our home, it's the worst crap he can find :-(

Junie B said...

Mel: Also get Fast Food Nation...more on that one later though...another post altogether!!! it was WORSE than SuperSize Me..a different spin on the addictive components and its aim towards kids and young adults, media/marketing and the beginning of 'conditions' to wit the main component, beef, is 'handled'....

TX Runner Mom said...

We watched FF Nation and Super Size Me in my grad school Ethics class. As someone who has both parents with Type II diabetes, I am somewhat anal about eating right. We do occasionally indulge in fast food, but for me it's typically the grilled chicken sandwich (with no mayo) or if I am really splurging, it's the kid's meal. But to be honest, I hate that god awful nasty feeling I get from eating that crap! Now if I could convince my kids that they don't need their occasional Happy Meals...don't even get me started on the hubby!

June said...

Wean those kids off of it! :o) your husband? he is done for ;o) There is a girl here at work, with a 2 year old and they are raising her as a vegetarian...which i think is AWESOME (but others dont think that and of course she has the challenges at day care but theyve worked those all out)...the mind set we have as children (learned from our parents) i believe are what fuel us in our adult years...to some degree anyway...you will NEVER convince me that that stuff is not addicting...i see too many people SCREAMING for Sonic, or chicfila or whatever...

TX Runner Mom said...

I hear ya...the little one is no problem - he eats everything (including his veggies), but my girl is so stinkin' picky. Not sure how that happened!

Bird said...

I gotta have me a fast food something every once in a while. Still I have discovered places like Chipotle that uses only fresh - never frozen - organic foods in their Mexican. So I try to go there when the fast food fit hits.

But I have discovered the joy of cooking fresher lately and booze in moderation is a good thing.

Maybe we just outgrew a lot of that, June. Maturity does often bring sense!

junie said...

oh leslie, we outgrew A LOT of things me thinks...i just cant explain how much better i FEEL now that i am off the bad stuff; i was never a hard core fast food place, but i am talking even the things in a chain supermarket!! its all CRAP! :)