( March 11, 2011 ) — Chicken Nuggets, a McFlurry, a Big Mac, a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, all washed down with a large diet Coke. These delicious and merely unhealthy “meal” choices are high in fat, sodium, sugar, and calories. Imagine having to eat and drink only at McDonald’s for three full-course “Supersized” meals for 30 days. It seems impossible and irresponsible to me for having to eat garbage like that for a movie, or any other reason. In 2004, Morgan Spurlock, a man of outstanding health, directed a film about his experiences. For the “experiment,” Spurlock limited himself merely to two and a half miles of walking and to three Supersized meals at McDonald’s per day. According to Spurlock’s website, Spurlock’s body fat increased from 11% to 18% in a matter of 30 days. He also gained 24.5 pounds on his previously healthy weight. Aside from the physical harm done to Spurlock, he also experienced mild depression while eating at McDonald’s. Sophomore Anahit Sahakyan, who watched the movie said, “After seeing [ Supersize Me ], I feared more the emotional damages than the physical damages.” She said that the film showed her that it’s essential to her and her family to eat healthy and stay active. Many other movies and shows have shown people with the same intentions of gaining or losing an unhealthy amount of weight in a manner of two months or less. For example, in 2009 two English journalists documented their race to a size zero figure. The show was called Super Skinny Me , and the participants had similar unhealthy results as any other crash diet would. The ladies doing the show had the goal of having a size zero waist. The parts of shows and movies like Supersize Me that really bothers me is the surprisingly large fan base. I truly did believe that people would only need one movie to tell them to stop fad dieting, yet more and more of these “Super” shows are being produced. The “Super” argument has been settled: the winners are those that do not waste their time watching more shows that deal with unhealthy weight loss and gain.
