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Supersize Me by Morgan Spurlock

April Sween

Salt Lake Community College

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Abstract

This documentary is about Morgan Spurlock and his journey to discover the true

nutrition of McDonalds food items. He agreed to eat McDonalds for 30 days straight as

his meals 3 times a day. America is the worlds largest country not just for all the

belongings Americans own but for the people themselves. Mississippi has the fattest

people in the entire world according to the documentary and New York has a

McDonaldss about 0.4 mi from each other. There are more McDonalds in that one

section of New York then any other fast food place. Morgan begins his challenge to eat

McDonalds 3 times a day for 30 days straight and begins to experience many symptoms.

His body mass increases by 13 %, he gets a roller coaster or emotions, fat accumulates in

his liver and by the time the 30 days are up he almost ends up in the hospital. Also while

he was out getting McDonalds any time they asked if he would like to supersize his meal

he would say yes. During this time he was closely monitored by a cardiac specialist, a

nutritionist, and a general practitioner to make sure he was okay. While he was doing this

documentary he met many people who told him they have eaten fast food everyday for

years and years. This documentary not only looks at what so much fast food did to

Morgan but it also takes a look at what fast food is doing to general nutrition and school

lunches. Are we all becoming addicted to fast food?

Keywords: Obese, Nutrition, Fast Food

The documentary I chose is Supersize me and I chose this documentary because, I

feel like it really outlines how unhealthy fast food is for people. Morgan agrees to go on a

diet of fast food for 30 days, eating it 3 times a day. Just after a couple days of eating that

much fast food he shows unhealthy signs and symptoms. Fast food does not contain any
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of the nutritional vitamins and proteins our bodies need. I try to stay away from it as

much as I can because really all it is is frozen deep fried food with little to no nutritional

value. Fast food is a filler food it makes you full like you ate a meal, but doesnt give you

any nutrients. Because the food is frozen and then deep friend any of the nutritional value

that it once had is now gone due to improper handling.

The author of this documentary is Morgan Spurlock and his nutritional

background is exceptionally healthy. His girlfriend is a vegan cook who cooks hiss meals

for him during the day. She makes all meals animal and animal by product free, therefore

his diet consist of all plant substance. Plant substances, if handled right and prepared right

are actually very healthy for your body compared to animal products because they do not

contain the same fat like animal products do. He gets his vitamins and minerals from the

plant products. He gets proteins and such from plant products such as beans, tofu, quinoa,

and other plant protein resources.

This documentary was produced in 2004 and I believe its values are still

applicable today. Since 2004 the population in America has continued to grow, but is a

larger population. Almost every person in America has eaten McDonalds once in their

life but have no idea of any nutritional value. They just eat it because it fills them up and

so its believed to be a good source of food. In reality its not and fast food is just an easy

source to fill your stomach. This documentary should still be in place because it goes

through to show that fast food is more of a connivance thing then anything else. Fast food

is a place you can go and have food hot and ready in less than ten minutes. But what most

people dont know or care to look at is the nutritional value of the foods they are eating.

Fast food not only damages our waist lines but our health as well, it can cause many
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health problems such as excess fat build-up in our liver, cardiovascular disease, obesity,

and many other health complications for not getting the required nutrients humans need. I

also feel like this documentary is still applicable because it really goes in depth and does

interviews with people who have been eating fast food their whole life and shows the

damaging effects fast food has, especially when Morgan decides to take the supersize me

challenge.

Compare and Contrast 1:

In my nutrition textbook my plate recommends the daily serving of protein needs

to be 7 grams a serving in order to maintain a healthy body. Protein can be gathered from

canned tuna, broiled chicken, roast beef, yogurt, kidney beans, and many other sources.

McDonalds does offer sources of protein such as their burgers, chicken patties, etc. They

actually do meet the standard on this level as their average hamburger has 13g of protein,

but it also has 8g of total fat and 31 carbohydrates which I will go over in the next

compare and contrast. Their spicy chicken sandwich has 15g of protein but also contains

15g of total fat and 40g of total carbohydrates. If you were to order both of these items

you would be eating 27g of total protein which is 3.9 times higher per the recommended

serving. You would also be eating 72g total carbohydrates and 23g total fat.

Compare and Contrast 2:

The second compare and contrast I am making is the recommended daily amount

for carbohydrates per day for adults is 130g. In the previous compare and contrast a

burger and a chicken sandwich if eating together in one serving was already 72g. Most

Americans get their meals super sized; lets see how many carbohydrates on average are

in a super sized meal. In a super sized meal of a number 1 which is a big mac with a large
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french fry and a large coke comes out to be 193g of total carbohydrates. That is 63 more

carbohydrates then the recommended daily amount being 130g! Imagine eating that meal

for all 3 meals of the day for 30 days. That would be 579 carbohydrates a day and 17,370

carbohydrates in a month. Not to mention the total fat in this meal is 52g which is why

the excess fat builds in your liver.

Compare and Contrast 3:

The last compare and contrast is about the daily serving of fruits and vegetables.

For men ages 19-30 years old need 3 cups of vegetables a day and 2 cups of fruit. Woman

19-30 years old need 2 cups of vegetables a day and 2 cups of fruit. In the bacon ranch

grilled chicken salad by McDonalds it contains 42g of protein, 9g of total carbohydrates,

14g of fat, 320 calories, and 1230m of sodium alone. Even a McDonalds salad is not a

healthy option, while it does contain some vegetables being spring lettuce it does not

provide the daily recommendation of vegetables but it also provides more unhealthy

options then healthy. Also McDonalds does not offer fruit other then in their fruit parfait

which contains cup of frozen berries which have lost their nutritional value due to

improper handling and preparation.

I learned that fast food while it is readily available it is actually really unhealthy

for the human body and provides no nutritional value. I thought that their burgers were

more nutritional then other menu options, but it turns out that they provide way more

protein and fat per serving then the daily recommendation. They also have a lot of

carbohydrates in them and most of the nutritional value that could have been in fast food

has been lost to improper handling such as freezing and deep frying food.
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After learning more about how unhealthy fast food is for you I will incorporate

some new steps in my life to avoid it. Such as packing more readily available healthy

food choices I can take with me to work for lunch rather then going and buying a filler

food item. Also I will try to eat fast food only once per week rather then multiple times a

week, by preparing homemade dinners that have more nutritional value. Its scary to see

how detrimental fast food can be after eating it for long periods of time. Morgan only ate

it 3 times a day for a month, while most Americans eat it for years and look how much of

a toll it took in just a month he almost ended up hospitalized. I am glad I did this

assignment and will take steps to improve my nutrition today and avoid fast food

restaurants.
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References

http://documentary-movie.com/super-size-me/

https://www.choosemyplate.gov/fruit

https://www.choosemyplate.gov/vegetables

http://connect.mheducation.com/connect/hmEBook.do?setTab=sectionTabs

Hagloch, Susan B. "Supersize Me: A Film of Epic Proportions." Library Journal, vol.
130, no. 2, 2/1/2005, p. 120. EBSCOhost, libprox1.slcc.edu/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=lfh&AN=15951717&site=eds-live.

https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-our-food/nutrition-calculator.html