[besson3c]

Just saw this documentary last night, it made a powerful impact on me.

Can the statements made in this film be debunked, or is all of this accurate? (I know never little about nutrition)

It is pretty alarming that obesity will soon be the leading cause of preventable deaths. Do you think the public needs to be better educated about this? Do you think that restaurants like McDonalds need to be more forthcoming in providing nutritional information? Do you think that even if they did, the public would take the time to relate this in a meaningful way to their own diets? Where do you stand on where the responsibility lies (the people vs. the fast food franchises?). Do you think that Spurlock did a fair job of approaching this issue?

Any other thoughts about this documentary?

[OogaBooga]

All I know is that I lived in Houston for 7 years, and boy were there a lot of obese people.

Since moving to Austin 2 months ago, I've only seen maybe 5 (that's right, five) total, and 3 of them were in the same immediate family.


Eating healthy is a tough mental game here in the U.S.

[funkboy]

I'd say it is unfortunately accurate, though who really will eat that much fast food?

It encouraged me to stay away from the bad food and watch my diet even better, though. (and I'm not vegan)

[iLikebeer]

A lot depends on the person's age and metabolism, but he was eating insane amounts of food. Every meal he ate was huge. I lived off burger king twice a day for a few months several years ago and I still had perfect blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight. Most people probably would get sick if they ate like him all the time. But there was absolutely no moderation in how he set up his diet. Wasn't he drinking more than a gallon of coke a day? That by itself would make me sick.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by iLikebeer

A lot depends on the person's age and metabolism, but he was eating insane amounts of food. Every meal he ate was huge. I lived off burger king twice a day for a few months several years ago and I still had perfect blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight. Most people probably would get sick if they ate like him all the time. But there was absolutely no moderation in how he set up his diet. Wasn't he drinking more than a gallon of coke a day? That by itself would make me sick.

Right, but at the end of the movie he made a point that while his diet was an extreme version of even the biggest fast food frequenters, there are still people who eat fast food pretty frequently within a week. If a month of this diet caused all of these noticeable differences for him, what would a year of eating fast food 5-10 times a week do (like I'm sure many people do)?

[iLikebeer]

Originally Posted by besson3c

Right, but at the end of the movie he made a point that while his diet was an extreme version of even the biggest fast food frequenters, there are still people who eat fast food pretty frequently within a week. If a month of this diet caused all of these noticeable differences for him, what would a year of eating fast food 5-10 times a week do (like I'm sure many people do)?

Probably gain a few pounds, but not much else for most people depending on their lifestyle. His extreme diet is like getting a year's worth of rain in a few days. The local area can't deal with all the water and floods. Just like he flooded his body with crap, and his body couldn't process all the fat, preservatives, excess calories, and lack of nutrients his body would need to cleanse. He was probably dehydrated with all the soda and junk he was eating too, which couldn't have made things any better for getting rid of all that.

[DeathMan]

I think he made it clear that you can eat too much McDonalds. While I don't believe that if A LOT of something is bad, a little is also bad, I think there is enough to hate about fast food that I try to stay away for the most part. That said(!) I do eat too much pizza, and that should count, because I'm not sure there is much redeeming about Little Caesar's Hot and Readies (except the delicious price).

[besson3c]

So, is there a relationship between fast food and obesity? How do you view this problem?

[nredman]

there is a relationship if you eat it too much and are a lazy ass sitting in front of the tv all day

[Kevin]

Eat something really healthy over and over again daily without getting other nutrients and you are gonna get sick as well.

[ManOfSteal]

[iLikebeer]

Ha, you finally convinced me. I was about to go to In-N-Out for a 4X4, but that looks mighty tasty. In-N-Out'll have to wait till midnight hunger.

If it's no good, I'm holding you responsible.

[kiwibabe]

Originally Posted by iLikebeer

Probably gain a few pounds, but not much else for most people depending on their lifestyle. His extreme diet is like getting a year's worth of rain in a few days. The local area can't deal with all the water and floods. Just like he flooded his body with crap, and his body couldn't process all the fat, preservatives, excess calories, and lack of nutrients his body would need to cleanse. He was probably dehydrated with all the soda and junk he was eating too, which couldn't have made things any better for getting rid of all that.

Yeah but if you add up the number of years eating it 5 - 10 times per week, putting on some pounds per month you can see exactly why people are getting overweight. People need an extreme shock in order for them to think what they are doing to themselves. Poison is poison no matter how fast or slow you take it.

Personally I eat burger king maybe once a month and then it reminds me how unhealthy it is and not crave it for a while. Anyway I prefer sushi.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by kiwibabe

Yeah but if you add up the number of years eating it 5 - 10 times per week, putting on some pounds per month you can see exactly why people are getting overweight. People need an extreme shock in order for them to think what they are doing to themselves. Poison is poison no matter how fast or slow you take it.

Personally I eat burger king maybe once a month and then it reminds me how unhealthy it is and not crave it for a while. Anyway I prefer sushi.

Yeah, I think the point of this was not to illustrate what happens when you eat nothing but McDonalds (although that was interesting), but to make people think about eating it 5 - 10 times a week like you said.

[paul w]

I went without McDonalds for years and had some a while back. I honestly fealt sick. It was pretty tasty, but my body just didn't know what hit it.

Definitely the thing that got me was how thirsty I was. The soda hardly helped at all. I just fealt awful for a while, had a really smelly poo and that was that.

Anyway, one of my favorite parts is the bonus bit, where he has all the various burgers and fries in jars for days, weeks, months. I never, ever intend to eat those French fries after watching that. Scary stuff...

[mitchell_pgh]

Everything in moderation... including moderation.

I found it interesting about the portions... why DO we need a monster drink like that? It's nearly 3 to 5 servings!

[iLikebeer]

Originally Posted by kiwibabe

Yeah but if you add up the number of years eating it 5 - 10 times per week, putting on some pounds per month you can see exactly why people are getting overweight. People need an extreme shock in order for them to think what they are doing to themselves. Poison is poison no matter how fast or slow you take it.

Personally I eat burger king maybe once a month and then it reminds me how unhealthy it is and not crave it for a while. Anyway I prefer sushi.

Not to be rude, but if people can't realize they're getting fat because they eat too much and don't exercise enough, too bad for them. It's not that people don't understand the fact, most are just too lazy or plain don't care. Poison is poison and the human body is built to get rid of any as long as we don't go to excess. Our bodies create all kinds of poison like lactic acid, CO2, and all kinds of stuff with hydrogen ions; that's what kidneys are for. I don't stay away from vegetables because some vegetarians have health problems from eating no meat.

I bet he would have had the same results with any kind of food he wasn't used to at the level of calories he was eating. His body must have been in shock from the drastic change. He also made himself eat when he felt sick or was already completely stuffed. I agree it has shock value, but it's not the kind of movie that Joe Sixpack will likely go out of his way to rent. He had a target audience, and it wasn't people that eat at McDonalds.

On a side note: ManOfSteal, you are my hero. While they don't look the same as the pic, Chicken Fries are yummy!

[ManOfSteal]

Originally Posted by iLikebeer

On a side note: ManOfSteal, you are my hero. While they don't look the same as the pic, Chicken Fries are yummy!

Hell yes!

[ShotgunEd]

If i were into my fast food I'd be ordering chicken fries in place of regular fries as a side to my Half pound burger, not in place of the burger.

If you ate nothing but oranges for a month i'm pretty sure you'd do more damage than a month of McDs would do.

Bad analogy but I can't be bothered backspacing.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by ShotgunEd

If you ate nothing but tofu for a month i'm pretty sure you'd do more damage than a month of McDs would do.

Bad analogy but I can't be bothered backspacing.

I fixed it for you.