Supersize Me

Ruu_Old

Very predictable as everyone knew, but did any of you guys see it? I saw it in Germany, not the same style as Michael Moore more of a direct approach hehe

Basq

Yeah, i saw it! Thought it was great actually. Actually put me off fast food. The vomiting scene completely turned my stomach. Had a lot of interesting facts in it, one of my favourite was:

how when fast food firms started up, they only have the one beverage size - regular! That same regular size back then is only a small / kiddies size in those same fast food firms nowadays!

My review here!

Cabaal

Yep I saw it
As per my thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=178364

chewy

can documentaries have spoils?

Basq

chewy wrote:

can documentaries have spoils?

Don't want to ruin all the fun (..or not so fun..) facts for everyone..!

Guy:Incognito

is this the films where he eats in mcdonalds non stop? Im not a big fan of this michael moore type stuff, its all twisted to suit the aims. i mean you can pick any type of food, be it good or bad for you and eat it constantly for a month or whatever, results will always be bad, A non varied diet is bad regardless what ur not varying from.

Mr E

It was entertaining (?) to see the side effects of a fast food diet. I don't think I could eat 3 McDs a day for 3 days, never mind 30. I thought the scenes in the schools were scary -

selling junk food, or processed (i.e. not fresh) food from the government.

. Its no wonder America is getting fatter.

Ruu_Old

i was never a fan of McDonalds, it was always a very last resort if i had to eat. After the movie you would walk past a mcdonalds and it would just stink of fat! Probably my mind playing tricks on me

Cactus Col

haven't seen the film yet ... but sounds like it covers a lot of ground covered by the book Fast Food Nation ...

but really ... I may not be mac donalds biggest fan ... but all they do is provide a service ... if people don't want to bother with a balanced diet then they gotta expect to have problems ... if you limit yourself to one certain type of food I'm sure you're gonna have some kind of problem (although I'm probably wrong there)

ChumpStain

I assume you can't see this in UCI, or will I have to undertake a mammoth 20 minute journey to UGC to see this?

Cabaal

Its not out in Ireland yet

allyourbase

I love McDonalds, I hope it kills me too, life is just a nightmare anyway

Fysh

Stekelly wrote:

is this the films where he eats in mcdonalds non stop? Im not a big fan of this michael moore type stuff, its all twisted to suit the aims. i mean you can pick any type of food, be it good or bad for you and eat it constantly for a month or whatever, results will always be bad, A non varied diet is bad regardless what ur not varying from.

The point as I've perceived it (although I admit that I haven't yet seen the film and can't be conclusive until then) is more to challenge the general perception that eating junk food regularly won't have a detrimental effect on your health. Although I agree with you that calling these type of programs a "documentary" is misleading (particularly in Moore's case, where valid as his points sometimes are, he cannot possibly claim to be unbiased).

lodgepole

I'll watch this film, but hopefully the "only eating McDonalds" part of it is merely a device to present more relevant information. I don't expect to learn much though, it was covered fairly comprehensively in Fast Food Nation.

Fysh wrote:

Although I agree with you that calling these type of programs a "documentary" is misleading (particularly in Moore's case, where valid as his points sometimes are, he cannot possibly claim to be unbiased).

Documentaries don't have to be unbiased.

damien

In a court case McDonalds stated that it's food was not harmful. A judge then said if it can be proved that the long term consumation of their foods caused health problems then they were liable. He proved it.

The fact that a thin, very fit guy gained a full stone in a week after eating 3 mcDonalds meals a day proves this. The fact that by the end of the diet he had the same liver damage that's be caused if he went on a drinking binge.

It's an excellent documentary and far superior to Fahrenheit. Well balanced and loads of facts. The stuff about americas schools is scary.

jesus_thats_gre

I saw this film during the week.. Overall, I quiet enjoyed the film and definely had a good thought about some of what he highlighted. However, I do think he went overboard a bit, to a point where it nearly negated the point he was making..

Before the film, the man was the picture of health and had a very very good diet (he was married to a vegan chef). He exercised daily, walked anything up to 5 miles a day and consumed the recommended amount of calories a day..

He then suddenly changed his diet completely. He basically stoped eating anything that is good for you. He ate on average 4,500 calories a day, stopped exercising and stopped walking to work.

You do not have to be a GP or a nutritionist to know that eating mc donalds three times a day will mess you up.. He put on 20 pounds in four weeks.

He seemed to also have a personal vendetta with Mc Donalds (reminded me of Moore and Bush tbh). He seemed to exadurate everything (once referring to a supersize carton of fries being "four foot tall". He got sick from eating a double quarter pounder, supersize fries and coke. It actually took him 25 minutes to eat it too. Afterwords he got the "mc sugar high", the "mc Shakes" and put "mc" before everything he said..

The film proved something we all know. That you should not fried food for your breakfast, lunch and dinner while also stopping all forms of exercise.. It also proved that it is possible to become addicted to food.

If anything though, I did like the part about school meals and alot of the nutritional stuff.. I just blanked his hatred for Mc Donalds, justified or not..

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Cabaal

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Oh and you can, it just means you might actually do serious harm to yourself after a month of it

SantaHoe

Points, vendettas and information aside... it's a very entertaining film.

Guy:Incognito

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Before the film, the man was the picture of health and had a very very good diet (he was married to a vegan chef). He exercised daily, walked anything up to 5 miles a day and consumed the recommended amount of calories a day..

He then suddenly changed his diet completely. He basically stoped eating anything that is good for you. He ate on average 4,500 calories a day, stopped exercising and stopped walking to work.

even if he had just stopped the excercise he would have put on weight. his body was geared for regular exercise so that will have an effect.

Cabaal

he did'ent STOP walking, he continued to walk he just walked the average amount the averge American does, he had a step counter (petometer?) with him at all times to keep track of this

jesus_thats_gre

Where have McDonalds said that they think it is ok to eat solely greasy fast food as your 3 main meals for 30 days a week? Do they not say that it is ok to eat mc donalds as part of a balanced diet?

http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat/nutrition_faq/diet.html

If he continued exercising he would not have put on as much weight.. Finally, when going from a healthy balanced vegan inspired diet with plenty of exercice and active lifestyle to eating just mc donalds, having no exercise etc... Your body is bound to react badly, possibly worse than an average joe with an everage diet and lifestyle. He went from one extreme to another. Think never drinking alcohol and then going on a binge the first time you ever drink alcohol. Now think being a regular enough drinker and then drinking the same amount, you will not be half as bad.. Simple argument but you get my point?

Cabaal

Did'dnet somebody alright mention that this film is just another one where Americans point out the bloody obvious, and it is.
But non-the-less its got people watching it maybe because of the shock value, or because they like the idea but either way its interesting to watch and if it turns a few people off fast food then better for them.

honru

Saw this today and enjoyed it, if a bit excessive. Of course if you solely eat McDonalds meals three times a day you'd be putting yourself at risk. It's tasty, cheap food; what do you expect?

Stuff that got my attention is how massively globalised McDonalds is and the growing obesity of people in the United States (and throughout the world).

segadreamcast

f®eak s&#169 wrote: »

Saw this today and enjoyed it, if a bit excessive. Of course if you solely eat McDonalds meals three times a day you'd be putting yourself at risk. It's tasty, cheap food; what do you expect?

Stuff that got my attention is how massively globalised McDonalds is and the growing obesity of people in the United States (and throughout the world).

People are getting heavier in America - there's no doubt about that.

However, did Spurlock not present his information a little misleading me with that graph showing America in different colours representing the percentage of which was obese, since during that period the WHO (IIRC) scaled DOWN the minimum weight requirement to be considered obese, thus more people would fall into that category?

Blisterman

Sis anyone else go straight into McDonalds after seeing this? All that food made me hungry.

Captain Trips

I saw it in Screen last SUnday. Excellent movie, nothing new overall but quite funny and entertaining. I haven't read Fast Food Nation, but did read Fat Land when it came out which was very good. That stuff on HFCS and the "food crisis" in teh US in the early seventies was fascinating.

The heavy emphasis on McDonalds was fair as they epitomise fast food gluttony and marketing across the globe, they are on par with Coca Cola for US global/marketing reach.

The most bizarre part was looking at the back of the Screen tickets for SUpersize Me: an ad for Supermacs "Free fries with every hamburger". I kid you not. Check out the photos for ultimate in disbelief!:

Venom

Cabaal wrote:

Did'dnet somebody alright mention that this film is just another one where Americans point out the bloody obvious, and it is.
But non-the-less its got people watching it maybe because of the shock value, or because they like the idea but either way its interesting to watch and if it turns a few people off fast food then better for them.

I dont think its a case of just knowing how bad fast food is for you but rather how much worse it is than people really thought. The 3 doctors in the film were blown away by the amount of damage he did to his liver.

Also he was not a Vegan, only his girlfriend was but he did have a good diet. Overall a very good film and a must see one at that in my opinion.

ixoy

Spurlock freely admits that eating McDs every day is clearly bad for your health - the movie is more directed at showing how McDs, and other businesses, are using aggressive marketing and tactics to help bring along the fast food culture. There's some - pardon the pun - food for though here regarding school canteens not examining the healthy options, the local playground being the one inside a McDonalds, food containing certain chemicals and so forth.

Given I expected to be told nothing new, I was quite suprised to find this movie could be quite informative and entertaining. Recommended.

substr

I think its biased and surprised he didnt get sick after the very first meal on the first day because he was a strict vegetarian before he started it

Cabaal

Captain Trips wrote:

The most bizarre part was looking at the back of the Screen tickets for SUpersize Me: an ad for Supermacs "Free fries with every hamburger". I kid you not. Check out the photos for ultimate in disbelief!:

Supermacs have one twisted sense of humor,

chewy

as he writes this he biting into a ready cooked barbecue chicken leg .... *shame*

anyway the subway diet.... the subway diet....

that girl, it seems the only way ill lose the weight is to eat two sandwiches everyday but im not as lucky as him cos i can't afford to that... that subway diet??????????????


and the woman in the canteen?

*licks fingers*

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

I'm surprised no one else mentioned Big Mac man who's eaten ~20,000 Big Macs... he was one weird fella.

Grimlock

substr wrote:

I think its biased and surprised he didnt get sick after the very first meal on the first day because he was a strict vegetarian before he started it

What film where you watching?!!
He's clearly NOT a vegetarian or a vegan like his girlfriend.
He says in the film numerous times "I love ham, pork & bacon"
At the very end it says after he lost the weight he had put on during his binge (which took 2 months to loose) that he quit his vegan diet.
The diet which his girlfriend, the vegan chef, made out for him as part of his detox plan.

It's a good film and an enjoyable watch, but I would have liked if he had put more emphasis on the fact that over weight people tend to eat larger portions and more portions at their meals. Only the time this was implied was when the Texan McD's all offered to supersize his meals.
And I’d have to agree with Jesus_the_Gre he altered more than his diet, he also altered his life style, if he hadn't altered his diet, he would still have but on weight and become less healthy, granted not to the same extent but he did jump from one extreme to another.

mycroft

substr wrote:

I think its biased and surprised he didnt get sick after the very first meal on the first day because he was a strict vegetarian before he started it

Glad to see you were paying attention. His girlfriend was the strict vegan, he ate meat. No vegan would lunge into a big mac as quickly as he did and with such relish (no one with taste buds should IMO).

The diet served as a backdrop, a gimic, to the film's central theme, how the development and marketing tactics of fast food companies can be directly linked to the increased cases of obesity in america.

Spurlock is a canny filmaker he released if he just made a film about the marketing tactics and behaviour of the fast food industries, he'd not get much of an audience, so he ties it in with his obsence diet.

The best and most important bits in the film include the statistics on the amount of adverts american children are bombarded with, the increase in size of portions. the scientist talking about the chemical rush a small child recieves from a cheeseburger and coke, and the examination of diet in a school cafeteria.

Spurlocks sets out from the beginning saying that the diet was absurd, but demostrating what the crash cross does to his system (his colestral alone) but it begets the question the long term impact a sustained diet of fast food has on you.

The diet is the window dressing the shock appeal to get you in the door, the film addresses a serious of diverse and intelliegent issues, in a visually imaginative and provocative way.

Two thumbs up...