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Most of you have heard of Morgan Spurlock's film Super Size Me which came out earlier this year. Unfortunately it did not receive widespread movie theater availablity. But the great news is that last week it came out on DVD. I watched the movie last night and could not recommend it more. It should be REQUIRED viewing for all children.
Morgan was 185 pounds, highly fit and an athletic individual prior to his experiment and in one short month he gained 25 pounds, looked absolutely terrible and was suffering from many of the complaints patients see me for such as fatigue, headaches, and indigestion. He also developed elevated cholesterol, uric acid and a mild chemical hepatitis. Amazing what all that trans fat and 31 pounds of sugar will do to you in one month.
I am not a fan of individuals being able to litigate against McDonald's for making them fat as that abrogates personal responsibility. But on the other hand there is some unquestionable corporate evil and greed that promotes garbage fast food to our very vulnerable youth. They showed one child a picture of Jesus and asked who he was and he said "George Bush". Most of the under 5 year old kids could not recognize past famous presidents but every one of them could identify Ronald McDonald. Tragic, absolutely tragic.
McDonald targets these kids with playgrounds in many of their stores, cartoon commercials and opportunities for celebrating birthdays there. This should be illegal. I don't see ANY difference for advertising food that will destroy their health and advertising, guns, alcohol or cigarettes to five year olds. There is no way McDonald's should be allowed to get away with this, or for that matter any company that wants to steal our children's health so they can make a buck.
I hardly every consume fast foods, but if I do it would be Wendy's and never McDonalds. Prior to this movie I had never seen a supersize order of fries or soda. It is hard to believe any human could consume a half pound of fries or a half gallon of soda in one sitting.
Interestingly, (watch carefully) in one scene there are half a dozen of my NY Times best seller, No Grain Diet books displayed as part of a scene of popular diet books. I would have loved to work with Morgan on his video. He did an outstanding job and I will be purchasing a copy of the DVD. If you have children you must simply show them this film, it is part of being a responsible parent.
Internet Movie Database