Super Size Me Documentary Summery By Ashley Hood

It’s readily available, time saving, easily accessible, and affordable; it’s a perfect solution for an average American on the go… or is it? Two overweight teenage girls blamed McDonald’s for their weight problems. They hired a lawyer to defend their case in accusing McDonald’s for their weight gain and health problems. The lawyers for McDonald’s stated the dangers of its food are commonly known and that the girls couldn’t show that their weight gain and health problems were caused by their McDiets. The judge declared that if the lawyers could prove that

McDonald’s intends for the customer to consume McDonald’s for every meal of every day, and that it would be dangerous for the then the girls accusation against McDonald’s could be taken seriously and they could make a valid claim. After six months the judge dismissed the lawsuit against McDonald’s because the girls’ lawyers could not show evidence proving that consumption of McDonald’s food was a direct link to their weight gain – they lost their case.

A man heard of the girls’ situation and had the guts (figuratively) to take on the challenge to prove they were right in their indictments against America’s beloved company – McDonald’s. was that man and he created a documentary called

Super Size Me. In this documentary, Morgan consumed McDonald’s food for all three meals in a

30 day time frame, eating solely off the McDonald’s menu. In doing so, he wanted to answer the question: ‘Is there a direct link to the effects fast foods has on altering or changing the human body, and can it be proven?’

Prior to the journey Morgan was embarking upon, he recruited the assistance from three doctors: Dr. Steven Siegel a cardiologist, Dr. Lisa Ganjhu a gastroenterologist, and Dr.

Daryl Isaacs a general physician. The doctors asked him a series of health questions, took his

vitals, and drew blood for testing. Morgan was in superb health, on paper, and the doctor’s predictions were that his triglycerides, cholesterol, and weight would increase during the next

30 days. Overall, the doctors believed that his body would adapt and overcome any serious ailments, if any occurred. Morgan also met with a registered dietician for an assessment and to track his progress for the next 30 days. He also obtained a baseline for where his cardiovascular system, muscular strength, and flexibility – which he excelled in for his age group.

Along with the fast food challenge he decided to limit himself to 5,000 steps a day, because that is what the average office working American accomplishes in their day. He also kept a log of all the food he consumed every day. Morgan had a few rules to play by. First, he could only his meal if the cashier asked him too. Second, he can only eat food from

McDonald’s menu served over the counter, water included (if they didn’t sell it he couldn’t consume it). Third, he has to eat everything on the menu at least once over the 30 day diet.

Lastly, he had to consume at least three meals a day at McDonald’s.

While on this McDonald’s expedition, the second day, his body was beginning to reject the foreign food – he vomited during lunch. On day seven, Morgan shared an abnormal symptom with the camera he had been experiencing; he was feeling pressure in his chest. On day nine he felt symptoms of depression and exhaustion and believed it was related to the food he was consuming.

After two weeks, Morgan visited the Dr. Isaacs; he ran some test on his blood. His cholesterol was high and his liver enzymes went up. Morgan’s liver was getting sick. Dr. Isaacs compared Morgan’s liver to an alcoholics damaged liver; only the difference was his source of damage, which was a high fat diet. Dr. Isaacs doctor told Morgan that he was on track to having

a fatty liver. On paper, Morgan was getting sick. The doctor’s advice was to stop the 30 day

McDonald’s’ diet because it was hurting his body.

On the 21st day at 2:00 am, Morgan woke up and had difficulty breathing; he was hot and was experiencing rapid heart palpitations. So he walked around the house to try and get his breath back. Dr. Isaacs asked Morgan if he would start taking aspirin because he believed that his diet was causing his chest pain, Morgan responded that he would have to think about it since it wasn’t on the McDonald’s menu. All three doctors advised Morgan to stop the diet immediately.

During the documentary, Morgan mentioned that in the lawsuit against McDonald’s, the company stated, in their defense, that it is common knowledge that any processing their foods go through will make them more harmful than unprocessed foods. For example, the chicken nuggets are made from chickens with unusually large breasts. They are processed the following way: first ground up, then combined with stabilizers and preservatives, pressed into nugget shapes, deep fried, freeze dried, and then served at your local McDonald’s.

In Massachusetts, several randomly selected first grade students were shown a series of pictures. When shown George Washington, most children could identify him, however when shown a picture of Jesus Christ none of the children could identify him. When shown a picture of the Wendy’s mascot a few children could identify who she was but when shown Ronald

McDonald all the students knew who he was and most shared a story of where they had seen him and how much they enjoyed McDonald’s food. In 2001, McDonald’s spent 1.4 billion dollars in advertising, spending more that year than Pepsi, Hersey foods, and the Five a Day fruit and vegetable campaigns.

So why share all this with you? I’ll proceed - Morgan conversed with a man named John

F. Banzhaf III, a Law Professor at the George Washington University. Banzhaf is spearheading the fight against fast food chains, specifically McDonald’s, one of many reasons is because of the corporations tactics of targeting children by creating an environment that is safe, friendly, and entertaining (ex: clown, toys, playgrounds, ext). In Morgan’s documentary he playfully stated that when he has kid’s he is going to punch them in the face every time they pass a

McDonald’s so that they won’t have good memories of the fast food chain and won’t desire to go there!

After 30 days Morgan had his final weigh in. He gained 24.5 pounds, weighing a total of

210 pounds. His liver had become a fatty one. His cholesterol level went up 65 points. His body fat percent shot up from 11% to 18%. He doubled his risk of coronary heart disease and heart failure. He was depressed and exhausted the majority of the time, while his mood swings heightened and his sex drive declined. He had massive cravings for McDonald’s food and would get immense headaches when he wasn’t eating it.

Morgan consumed 30 pounds of sugar and 12 pounds of fat during the 30 day diet. One doctor suggested that Morgan not eat fast food for an entire year after his 30 day binge of

McDonald’s food was over, so that his body could stabilize. Morgan went on a vegan detox after the McDonald’s diet and his cholesterol and liver function went back to normal in 8 weeks and it took him 5 months to lose 20 pounds and another 9 months to lose the last 4 ½ pounds.

Six weeks after the documentary was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,

McDonald’s announced that they were eliminating the supersized options, but claimed that the choice had nothing to do with Morgan’s documentary. McDonald’s began advertising that they

were health conscious by promoting a variety of new salads, but at the same time they created their fattest sandwich to date – the McGriddle. In 2004, Congress passed a law that fast food companies could not be sued for making people obese.

In one month Morgan had eaten as much fast food as most nutritionists would suggest eating over eight years time. What he found along his journey was that fast food is not only taxing on one’s physical wellbeing but it is also wearing on ones mental and social wellness.

Resources:

All data was collected from the documentary “Super Size Me” by Morgan Spurlock

Downloaded pictures from:

- torrentdownloads.net

- http://www.megateamblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/McDonald’s-meal.jpg;

- http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_RkGu1qZVOao/SwLiB3DrX7I/AAAAAAAAHPs/WYg-

D3utr8Q/s1600/chubby-ronald-mcdonald.jpg

- http://vivirlatino.com/i/2008/07/McDonald’s-kid.jpg

- http://www.cnet.co.uk/i/c/blg/cat/digitalmusic/McDonald’s.jpg