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Super Size Me

I just watched the documentary Super Size Me for the first time last night. I knew that fast food was bad for you before watching this film, but I had no idea how quickly and how decisively it can devastate your body if you eat enough of it.

The maker of the documentary, Morgan Spurlock, went on a strict McDonald’s diet for 30 days. He had to eat three meals per day, and every component of every meal had to be purchased at McDonald’s. He also had to try each menu item at least one time. And if he was ever asked if he wanted to super size his order, he had to say yes.

Before undertaking this new diet, he visited three doctors to get a complete assessment of his physical condition. He would then revisit these doctors each week throughout the diet to get blood work done, get his weight measured, and talk with them about how he was reacting to the new regimen.

Mr. Spurlock is 6 feet, 2 inches tall, and he weighed just shy of 186 pounds before he started the diet. One week into the diet, he gained just less than ten pounds. He gained a similar amount the second week. The third week he actually lost one pound, and the final week he gained a few more to leave him with a total weight gain of about 25 pounds.

His cholesterol jumped from about 170 before the diet to 225 at the end of the diet. Very shortly into the ordeal, all of his doctors recommended he stop doing it. One of them in particular told him that he was truly pickling his liver. His liver was reacting to the high fat diet the way livers tend to react to the amount of alcohol consumed by the most serious alcoholics. The doctors very quickly began to seriously fear for his well-being.

During one part of the documentary, Mr. Spurlock talks to his mom about his liver issues, and it’s clear that both of them are very worried about what might happen. He sticks with the diet, though. He sticks with it through vomiting (which he did after eating a super sized double quarter pounder with cheese meal on day two), through middle of the night chest pains (which happen around day 20 or so), and through mild bouts of depression and exhaustion.

I found one of the most interesting parts of the documentary to be the discussion Mr. Spurlock has with one of his doctors where he explains that he feels down all the time, but when he eats he feels 100% better. The doctor then explains that he is experiencing the symptoms of an addition. He actually becomes addicted, on some level, to McDonald’s food.

He travels around the country a bit to go to different McDonald’s. He lives in Manhattan, so he eats plenty there. But he also goes to Los Angeles and to Houston. I’m not sure where else he went to eat McDonald’s.

Being from Texas, I was particularly interested in seeing the portions of the documentary where he goes to Houston. For one, he sees the Texas Homestyle Burger on the menu and notes that it’s probably a regional selection. That remains my favorite McDonald’s burger (which isn’t saying much), and I was really disappointed when I first learned that it was only available in Texas. He also points out that five of the ten fattest cities in America are located in Texas. He also notes at the end of the documentary that he was asked a total of nine times if he wanted to super size his order, and five of those occurred in Texas.

The documentary is mind-boggling. Two thirds of it is about Mr. Spurlock’s diet, and the other third is about obesity in America in general. If you really enjoy eating fast food and would rather not see the darker side of that industry, this film is definitely not for you. But, if you wanted to know just how devastating a fast food diet can be on your body, you will be hard pressed to find a more stark visualization than the one in Super Size Me.