1 STUDYGUIDE PENNIE STOYLES Super Size Me is a documentary that could serve as a springboard to discussion on fast food, nutrition, food advertising and obesity rates in children. It could also be a useful learning tool for encouraging students to examine their own eating habits and societal changes taking place with regard to food production and consumption and the roles and responsibilities of large fast food corporations.

The fi lm is suitable for teachers of adolescents are car- ItIt aallll aaddsdds uupp ttoo a ffatat middle to senior secondary students rying too much fat foodfood bbill,ill, hharrowingarrowing in English, Science (Biological sci- and two out of every visitsvisits ttoo tthehe ddoctor,octor, andand ences), Health and Physical Education three adults are over- compellingcompelling vviewingiewing fforor aany-ny- (Health of individuals and populations) weightweight oorr oobese.bese. IIss iitt ttheirheir ffaultault oneone wwho’sho’s eeverver wwonderedondered ifif manman and Studies of Society and Environ- for lacking self-control, or are the fast could live on fast food alone. ment and Media. food corporations to blame? The fi lm explores the horror of school Super Size Me Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock hit the lunch programs, declining health and road and interviewed experts in physical education classes, food ad- Why are westerners so fat? Find out in twenty US cities, including Houston, dictions and the extreme measures Super Size Me, a tongue-in-cheek and the ‘Fattest City’ in America. From people take to lose weight and regain burger-in-hand look at the legal, fi nan- Surgeon Generals to gym teachers, their health. cial and physical costs of America’s cooks to kids, lawmakers to legisla- hunger for fast food. tors, these authorities shared their Super Size Me takes a satirical jab research, opinions and ‘gut feelings’ at the billion-dollar fast food industry Disturbingly, thirty-seven on America’s ever-expanding girth. which has been besieged by doctors, per cent of Ameri- lawyers and nutritionists alike. ‘Would can children and During the journey, Spurlock you like fries with that?’ will never also put his own body on the sound the same again! line, living on nothing but McDonald’s for an entire www.supersizeme.com month with three simple rules: Before you watch the fi lm:

1 No options: he could 1 Ask friends and family about their only eat what was avail- fast food eating habits. able over the counter a What is fast food? (water included!); b Where do you buy fast food? 2 No supersizing un- c How often do you eat fast less offered; food? 3 No excuses: he had d How often do you think you to eat every item on should eat it? the menu at least e What is your favourite food once. and drink? 2 Look at the key words below and discuss the meanings with your teacher or your classmates:

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Buzz WordsWords

The following words are used in the documentary: ‘supersize’, ‘junk food’, ‘McFrankenstein’ and ‘fast food’. Dis- cuss with your classmates what you think they mean.

There are other words and phrases that have developed to describe aspects of the current generation, such as ‘couch potato’. What does this mean? Can you think of other examples? obese • binge • diet • calorie • vegan • language that are different from what organic • epidemic • nutrition • indulge we use in Australia. The US still uses • senses • toxic • law suit • overweight the imperial system of measurement • preventable • processed • addiction • whereas Australia switched to the blood pressure • lobbyist metric system in the 1970s.

Key scientifi c words: Go to a text book, dictionary or web diabetes • cholesterol • cardiologist site and convert the following meas- • BMI (body mass index) • gastroen- urement units: terologist • dietician • triglycerides • kilojoule http://www.convert-me.com/en/

3 The following issues are raised in Mass: one pound = ... kilograms (kg) the fi lm. Discuss what you think Length: one inch = ... centimetres (cm) the fi lm is going to show you. Volume: one fl uid ounce = ... millilitres Overweight and Obese a The balance between corpo- (mL) rate and personal responsibil- One US gallon = ... litres (L) This documentary uses the terms ity for the food we eat. Energy: one calorie = ... kilojoules (kj) overweight and obese. What do you b The effect of advertising and think these two words mean? Look up brand imprinting on young a Morgan Spurlock began the the meanings of these two terms in a children. month weighing 185.5 pounds and dictionary. c School canteens and the fi nished weighing 210 pounds. foods they serve. Convert these two measurements The scientifi c defi nition of the two d How children’s exercise pat- to kilograms and calculate his terms relies on a calculation called terns have changed since the weight gain in kilograms. body mass index (BMI). BMI equals last generation. b A half-gallon soda from 7-eleven weight in kilograms divided by height contains forty-eight teaspoons in metres squared. After you watch the fi lm of sugar. What is this volume in litres? Weight in kg ÷ (Height in m)2 = BMI Americanisms c The dietician stated that Morgan should be consuming 2500 calo- In Australia, the accepted defi nitions This fi lm was produced in the USA ries per day. How many kilojoules of weight categories for adults (over and uses units of measurement and is this? eighteen years) using BMI are (see table 01 on following page):

3 Calculate your BMI using the above equation.

*Note that for children under eighteen, the fi gures differ slightlyslightly aandnd mmalesales aandnd ffemalesemales havehave ddifferentifferent classificlassifi cations.cations. UseUse thesethese fi guresgures asas a roughrough guideguide only.only.

The way we eat now 8 Do you think the At the beginning of the fi lm, the fi lm- role of the maker shows images of his mother kitchen has cooking in the kitchen and contrasts changed in these with images of people eating in households fast food restaurants. through the generations? Discuss 9 Discuss the cost of fast food com- 1 What do these images suggest pared with food pre- about America’s eating habits? pared at home. 2 Do you think the same is true in Australia? What is in your food? ence of major allergens, a nutrition infor- mation panel and a use-by date. Some In the law suit against them, very small packages are exempted from McDonald’s stated in its own showing nutrition information. defence that it’s a matter of common knowledge that any processing its Many of the ingredients in processed foods undergo, serves to make them food are called Food Additives. They more harmful than unprocessed food. are added in small amounts and have a specifi c use. They are listed by Unprocessed foods have had very little showing their function and either their done to them. A raw apple is unproc- chemical name or a code number. 3 How often do you and your family essed, but if you cut the apple up, add eat a home cooked meal at the sugar to it, wrap it in pastry and cook it, The types of food additives are: dining table? you have an apple pie that is a proc- Colours: restore colour lost during 4 How often do you and your family essed food. When you make an apple processing. eat take-away food at home? pie at home, you know what ingredients Preservatives: prolong shelf life by 5 Do you think that some take-away you have used. When you buy an apple controlling growth of bacteria and foods are healthier than others? pie at the supermarket, the ingredients fungi. 6 How often do you and your family must be listed so you know what you are Antioxidants: prevent foods containing eat at a fast food restaurant? buying. By law the labels must contain a fats and oils from going off (rancid). 7 Ask your parents questions three list of ingredients from greatest to small- Food Acids: maintain acid levels in to six about their childhood. How est by weight (with the percentage of the a food where there are variations in a have eating habits changed? key ingredient), warnings about the pres- product’s acidity.

Adults 14-year-old females 14-year-old males

Underweight less than 18.5

Healthy Weight 18.5 - 24.9

Overweight 25.0 - 29.9 23.3 – 28.5 22.6 – 27.5

Obese greater than 30.0 greater than 28.6 Greater than 27.6 TABLE 01

4 Thickeners: change the texture and Energy comparisons consistency of food. Humectants: control moisture levels What you need: as they absorb and keep foods moist. • Calculator Flavour enhancers: bring out the • Access to the McDonald’s web fl avours. site at www.mcdonalds.com.au

Activity: Reading food labels What to do:

What you need: Go to the McDonald’s Australia web • two or three different processed site and click on the nutrition calcula- foods (e.g. breakfast bar, choco- tor. Under the heading ‘Our menu’ late bar, frozen dinner, pasta click on one of the choices (e.g. fries sauce, packet of biscuits) and nuggets). Then click and drag a • Food additive code breaker book menu choice onto the tray. Fill in the or access to http://www.food- name of the menu choice in column standards.gov.au/_srcfi les/new_ A of the table. Pick one menu choice numeric_list_0902.pdf from each heading. the ingredients. Then fi nd out A basic recipe book the ingredients in an apple fi lled Read off the kilojoules and fat content breakfast bar. Compare the differ- and write them into columns B and C Look at the list of ingredients on each ences and discuss your fi ndings of Table 03 (see overleaf). of the packages. Fill in Table 02 by with the class. naming the product in column A, write Twenty minutes of leisurely walking in the fi rst ingredient in column B, Energy in food burns up approximately 336 kJ of write the name and percentage of the energy. Work out how many minutes fi rst ingredient that shows a percent- We eat food for enjoyment and to of walking would burn up the energy age as well as its position in the keep us alive. We need food for in one serve of each food. Do this Ingredients list in column C, list all the energy as well as to give us the raw by multiplying the energy per serve classes of food additive (see above) in materials to grow and repair our (column D) by twenty then dividing column D, and fi nally count up all the bodies. thethe aanswernswer bbyy 3336.36. WWriterite youryour different ingredients and show how answeranswer iinn ccolumnolumn EE.. many there are in column E. Foods often have nutri- tion information on their UseUse tthehe nnutritionutrition ccalcula-alcula- Answer the following questions about labels. This will include tortor ttoo fi ndnd thethe answersanswers toto the food you chose and then com- the amount of energy thesethese qquestions.uestions. pare your answers with those of your measured in kilojoules classmates. (kJ). Processed foods (Hint:(Hint: DDragrag tthehe mmenuenu iitemstems suchsuch aass ppotatootato cchipships uusuallysually ontoonto tthehe ttrayray tthenhen cclicklick ‘‘nutri-nutri- • Is the ingredient listed fi rst (the containcontain ffarar mmoreore energyenergy thanthan thethe tionaltional bbreakdown’reakdown’ toto ggetet a ccompari-ompari- highest percentage) always the unprocessed potatoes that they come son table.) key ingredient? from. Most of the food that you can buy • Look up the codes of the food at fast food outlets is highly processed • Which item contains more sugar: additives in the food additive code and often contains large amounts of fat a Berrynice yoghurt crunch or a breaker and list them. Then fi nd and sugar. A high intake of processed strawberry sundae? out how many of these additives food is believed to be one of the causes might be used in cooking at home. of childhood obesity. • How many grams of sugar are in a • Find a recipe for apple pie. List large coke?

Column A Column B Column C Column D Column E

Name of food fi rst (highest percent- percentage and rank of Different types of food number of ingredients age) ingredient key ingredient additives TABLE 02

5 Column A Column B Column C Column E

Menu choice Energy. kJ per serve Fat per serving (g) Minutes of walking per serve

Apple (raw) 243 0

Medium coke TABLE 03

• Which burger contains the most National Health and NutritionNutrition AAustralia’sustralia’s kilojoules? Medical Research IngridIngrid PPhylandhyland iiss qquoteduoted • How many red apples would Council (NH&MRC) to asas ssayingaying tthathat sschoolchool you have to eat to get the same calculatecalculate yyourour ddailyaily eenergynergy canteenscanteens ccouldould rrunun ssuccess-uccess- number of kilojoules as a Big Mac? requirements. fullyfully aafterfter rremovingemoving jjunkunk ffoodood ffromrom their menus. She supported new rules Your energy requirements Pick one of the foods listed at in NSW that from 2005 will ban high the McDonald’s web site in the fat and high sugar items from being People require different amounts of previous activity and work out how sold more than twice a term. A former energy to survive each day. Your ener- many serves would meet your daily offi ce bearer in Victoria’s division of gy requirements depend on your age, requirements. Nutrition Australia said that many can- your sex and your level of physical teens were reluctant to remove junk activity. If your energy input is greater Look at the nutrition label on your food from their menus because they than your energy requirements, you favourite snack food packet. Work out were money spinners. store the extra energy as fat. how many serves would meet your daily requirements. Compare this with The Victorian Education Department What you need: the McDonald’s result. provides schools with lists of foods • Access to the web site http:// that are recommended and not rec- www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/ Discuss reasons for eating more than ommended: diet/n6p4.htm one type of food every day. • A calculator Recommended foods • A packet from one of your favour- Canteen food • Sandwiches and rolls with salad, ite snack foods lean meats, cheese, hummus or Nutritionists in Australia have recently chutney What you do: called for better food in school can- • Muffi ns, scones and fruit loaf teens. • Pasta, rice and noodles Use the information provided by the • Baked beans and bean salad • Omelettes and hard boiled eggs • Salad tubs • Baked potatoes and corn on the cob • Fruits including cantaloupe, water melon, mandarins, apricots, fi gs and mangoes • Yoghurt drinks and fruit smoothies

Not recommended foods • Hot chips • Hamburgers • Fish and chips • Pies • Fried dim sims • Crisps • Cream cakes • Ice cream • Sweets and lollies

Source: Herald Sun, May 9 2004 6 Find out about: What you need: Childhood Obesity • the number of foods recommend- • A can of soft drink and a can of the ed on the list above that are sold diet version of the same soft drink Read the following extract on child- in your school canteen. • Kitchen scales hood obesity from the Better Health • the number of foods not recom- • A large tub of water Channel—Obesity in Children & mended that are sold in your Excess Body Fat web site. school canteen. What you do: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/ • your school’s canteen policy (in- • weigh the can of ‘regular’ soft cluding who runs it and where any drink and record its mass. Between 1985 and 1995 the preva- profi ts go). • weigh the diet soft drink can and lence of overweight children aged record its mass. 7-15 almost doubled and the preva- Survey the class and fi nd out: • what is the difference? lence of obesity in this age group • How many students rely on the • Calculate the difference in density more than tripled … It is thought that school canteen for lunches every of each soft drink by dividing the genes are responsible for between day? mass (in grams) by the volume (in 25-40 per cent of all cases of obesity, • What percentage of the class buys millilitres). while the rest is largely determined snacks at the school canteen and • Substances that are more dense by environmental factors. However, how often? than water will sink in water and as both genetic and environmental • What is the most popular food substances that are less dense factors appear to play a role in the item at the canteen? than water will fl oat. Try fl oat- development of obesity, it is diffi cult to • How many students would be ing both cans in a tub or bucket contribute obesity to just one factor. happy if the canteen only sold of water. (Be careful not to trap The most immediate consequences items on the recommended list? any air bubbles under the cans.) of being overweight during childhood Describe what happens. and adolescence are psychosocial. Discuss the following with your class- Obese children have low self-esteem mates: If a 375 ml can of soft drink contains and body dissatisfaction. They are • Do you think the government about six teaspoons of sugar, how also more likely to: do less well aca- should regulate what is sold in many teaspoons of sugar are in demically, have poor job prospects, school canteens? a llitreitre ofof softsoft drink?drink? bebe ssociallyocially iisolatedsolated … RResearchesearch • If profi ts from the canteen benefi t showsshows tthathat oobesebese cchildrenhildren ffeeleel the school community, should thatthat bbeingeing ooverweightverweight iiss a wworseorse the canteen sell whatever is most disabilitydisability tthanhan llosingosing a llimb.imb. popular with the students and/or whatever gives the highest profi t? … CChildrenhildren aarere mmuchuch llessess aactivective thesethese ddays.ays. TThishis mmayay bbee llinkedinked ttoo tthehe Soft drink and diet soft drink numbernumber ooff hhoursours ttheyhey sspendpend wwatchingatching television,television, pplayinglaying ccomputeromputer ggamesames The density of water is one gram andand ootherther eelectronic-basedlectronic-based ssed-ed- per cubic centimetre (or millilitre). entaryentary aactivities.ctivities. CChildrenhildren wwhoho This means that one millilitre of watch more than 10 hours of water weighs one gram. When television a week are more likely you dissolve sugar in water the to be overweight. Children with density increases. TVs in their bedroom are more likely to be overweight than A regular sized can of soft those without. Reports indicate drink (375ml) contains about that most young people aged six teaspoons of sugar. The seven and above are inac- diet version of the same tive and that girls are even soft drink contains no sugar. less active than boys. Instead it contains a chemical sweetener such as aspartame Some social factors, or cyclamate. Chemical sweet- such as low income, eners are very concentrated so and a low level of edu- just a few drops will provide the same cation, have also been sweetness as six teaspoons of sugar, linked to obesity. but none of the energy.

7 Discuss in its food. Pres- or 111 kg by eating Subway for a year. ently, in Australia it is Find out more and write about your 1 What might be the obligatory to provide opinion of his weight loss by going to environmental factors nutritional informa- http://www.subway.co.uk/jared.html that contribute to obes- tion on packaged foods. ity? Moreover, it is now obligatory Try to fi nd nutrition information about 2 Social factors such as low for takeaway outlets and restaurants Subway and compare it with that income and minimal education to provide the nutritional information if found on the McDonald’s web site. are also associated with obes- requested by any customer. Work out how much it would cost a ity. What strategies could you day to follow Jared’s diet in Australia. develop to help people on a low Source: Fast Food Legal Actions— Comment on the cost effectiveness income to eat better food and Trials and Try www.ausfoodnews. by comparing it with other diet plans educate people about healthy com.au such as Weight Watchers or Jenny eating? Craig. 3 Survey your parents and people Discuss: of their generation to fi nd out how John Robbins is the son of one of physical activity has changed over 1 Who is responsible for what you the founders of the Baskin Robbins the past twenty to thirty years. eat? Ice Cream Company. In the docu- 4 Do you think that computers 2 How much information do you mentary he talks about his unhealthy have contributed to the obesity like to know about what you’re upbringing as a child. He now heads epidemic? eating? an organization called ‘The Food 5 Find out about the ‘Walking Revolution—how your diet can help School Bus’ program. Discuss Research activity save your life and the world’. why such a program has been introduced. Go to http://www.trav- Keep a record of food advertise- Go to http://www.foodrevolution. elsmart.gov.au/schools/schools2. ments on TV between 4-6pm over a org/ and explain, giving one or two html one-week period. examples, how: • your diet can save your life Food Advertising Product / Target audience / Images • your diet can save the world. / Slogans / Number of times adver- Read the following case summary: tisements appear in one night / Your For educational sales of Super Size reaction Me contact Ronin Films, PO Box 1005, In 2002, a New York consumer, Mr Civic Square, ACT 2608 Caesar Barber, attempted to sue four After one week, bring your fi ndings to Ph: 02 6248 0851 Fax: 02 6249 1640 major fast food chains for causing the class and discuss these ques- him several health problems. Later in tions: This study guide was produced the year, his lawyer, Samuel Hirsch, by ATOM. For more information sued fast food giant McDonald’s 1 Did the advertisements infl uence about ATOM study guides, The America. His clients were eight you or your friends to buy the Speakers’ Bureau or Screen Hub teenagers aged between thirteen and product? (the daily online fi lm and television nineteen years, who blamed McDon- 2 Did you compare your own life to newsletter) visit our web site: www. ald’s for causing their health problems the lives shown in the advertise- metromagazine.com.au or email: that ranged from diabetes to coronary ments? [email protected] heart disease. Mr Hirsch claimed that 3 In what ways could these advertis- McDonald’s had misled impression- ing strategies be used positively? able children about the content of their products through aggressive ad- Changing your life style vertising strategies. He also claimed that the company had not warned Two men who have radically changed its consumers about the allegedly their lifestyles are featured in the fi lm. large amounts of fat, salt and sugar One is Jared Fogle who lost 17.5 stone

www.dendyfi lms.com.au

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