May 24, 2004
Super Size Me
This weekend I went to The Oriental Theatre to see Super Size Me. It is a great documentary packed full of facts about the fast food industry and the affects it has on the people who eat all of that nasty food. I recommend the movie for everyone, especially kids in gradeschool and above. There is so much I learned from the movie, but much that it did not cover what I already knew...
In the film Morgan Spurlock decides to document a 30 day diet of nothing but food sold at McDonald's. If they do not sell it, he cannot eat it. And if they ask him to super size it, he has to take it. To cover his medical condition he actually worked with 3 doctors and one physical therapist to track his health. They focused largely on the fact that eating at McDonald's would be high in fat and sugars, but I felt there was a key detail they did not cover very well.
Last year I read about the double danger of High Frucrose Corn Syrup (HFCS). In contrast to the natural sugars and sweeteners which people have been eating for centuries, this unnatural sweetener will metabolize to fat immediately as well as block the body from producing insulin which curbs your appetite while eating. HFCS is in pretty much everything unnatural for flavor, but it is largely in carbonated beverages, like Pepsi, which McDonald's will give you in very large amounts. So not only do you put an obscene amount of sugar in your body, you also gain a lot of fat from it as well while blocking insulin.
The leading cause of preventable deaths is smoking and obesity follows as number two. Many people saw the law suits against these fast food giants as silly, but I feel the use of these dangerous ingredients is the equivalent of the paint companies using lead. The industry should simply stop using it! I do not care about any damages paid in the form of money, but I do feel the industry could find an alternative to this nasty ingredient.
Last spring I cut out all carbonated beverages in addition to not eating after 8pm and I lost 15 pounds. I also drank a lot more water instead of the Pepsi or Coke. I have been getting great diet and exercise tips from Men's Health Magazine and part of what allowed me to lose that 15 pounds was the information they presented on the different forms of fat, including Trans fast and Mono-unsaturated fats.
A key tip was to eat peanuts after 8pm for a couple of reasons. First, it will prevent me from eating potato chips and taking in more of the bad fats. The added benefit here is the Mono-unsaturated fats in the peanuts help break down the other fats which are bad for your body. The second reason is that it will curb my appetite for the rest of the night so you can get through to morning without having that fat on your belly.
The recent health craze with low-carbs and everything is a out of control and is acting like a smoke screen. People are not getting the true facts. The low-carb diet is the silliest concept which will soon fall flat on it's face. The point everyone should take away from this movie is that the fast food industry and the food industry in total is not looking out for your health interests so long as they use these harmful incredients. We should ignore the "facts" they present in their commercials and get information from legitimate sources instead. And simply cutting out carbs is not the solution. Educate yourself!
Posted by brennan at May 24, 2004 10:27 AM | TrackBackComment Rules
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