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Documentary Analysis: Supersize Me

Decent Essays

Supersize Me is a documentary about the dangers of eating fast food, specifically McDonald’s. In Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock sets out on a quest to eat nothing but McDonald’s for every meal for thirty days and see how it affects his health. Spurlock must only eat what only at McDonald’s, he must have everything on the menu at least once, and if workers ask him if he would like to supersize, he must. Spurlock had a thorough medical examination prior to beginning this experiment. Throughout the thirty days, he experienced different side-effects of eating McDonald’s. The obvious being gaining weight and becoming noticeably bigger throughout the duration of the experiment. Spurlock also faced mental challenges along the way. He began to feel …show more content…

I was carefree as to what I was eating. In my young mind, hamburger was meat, whether it was from the store, or from a fast food restaurant. I never took the time to consider what I was eating. If was hungry, then I ate. It did not matter whether it was something I prepared, or if I bought it from a fast food place. I must admit, however, I do not feel as if I ate terribly. I grew up with seven siblings, so the majority of our meals were home cooked because of how costly it was to eat out. I was never forced to put any consideration into my diet. My mother cooked dinner and I ate the dinner. Now that I am in college, that has changed. I am forced to make my own food choices. I often find myself eating meals similar to what my mother would have prepares. Often times I have some form of meat, a starch, and any type of vegetable. I never made myself aware of the dangers of eating fast food. I knew that fast food was not the best thing for you, but I had no idea exactly how bad it was prior to viewing the film. Supersize Me showed me that fast food is not something that should be put into the body on a consistent basis. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services blames poor eating habits and lack of exercise for 310,000 to 580,000 deaths a year (Therein). Being young and unaware, I assumed the food was exactly what was advertised. I was not aware of all the …show more content…

I will certainly be more cautious of what I am putting into my body. I plan to do this by attempting to avoid fast food at all cost, but I know that this is not realistic. I plan to eat at healthier fast food options such as Subway. The majority of sandwiches at Subway are under 400 calories, where the Big Mac at McDonald’s is 560 calories by itself (Subway.com). After learning the dangers of fast food, I want to make sure that I make the healthier choice. I need to choose the healthy choice, rather than the convenient choice. With fast food restaurants being cheap and located on almost every corner, making the choice to eat fast food is easier than preparing your own healthy food. Choosing fast food comes at a cost that is not money. One of those costs being the health dangers that come from eating fast food in excess. Fast food, which is high in fat and sodium, can lead to health risks such as high cholesterol, obesity, and heart disease (Van Horn). Along with these definite health risks, fast food restaurants add fillers to their food. The fillers help the fast food industry by lowering the cost and causing the food to look more appetizing. However, these fillers are not healthy for consumers and do not provide them with the nutrition that they believe they are receiving. Preparing my own food will take more time than just simply driving through the

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