By J. Douglas Stevens
Staff Writer
A 33-year-old independent filmmaker has given new meaning to the tired cliché, “you are what you eat.” West Virginia native Morgan Spurlock spent last February eating nothing but McDonalds food for 30 days straight. As a sort of educational science experiment, he lived every 8-year-old’s dream: an Egg McMuffin for breakfast, a Big Mac for lunch, and a Super-Sized Big Mac meal for dinner.
Spurlock said he got the idea while sitting on his living room couch, enjoying that post-Thanksgiving dinner haze. You know the feeling: too tired to move, too full to get comfortable. You usually wake up to the smell of fresh coffee, drooling on your self and mumbling about dessert. But he was alert enough to come across a story about two women suing McDonalds. They claimed the golden arches were responsible for their obesity. McDonalds pleaded its innocence and even claimed to have a balanced, nutritious menu.
I am ashamed. I am ashamed to breathe the same air as someone who thinks they can sue a multi billion-dollar corporation simply because they couldn’t control their hand-to-mouth reflex. I am also ashamed that McDonalds refuses to step up to the plate and acknowledge its product as largely unhealthy. They are pushing burger, fry and soda-flavored candy to kids spending their parents’ money. Now McDonalds is offering salads to create the illusion of a healthy alternative. The truth is, if you add the dressing, a salad has more calories and fat than a hamburger.
Spurlock wanted to let the public know what fast food does to the body, and in order to do a convincing job of it, he had to sacrifice his own body and his health. Those Super-Sized meals gave him 25 extra pounds, 60 extra points of cholesterol, a toxic liver, headaches and depression. He even threw up out of his own car window. His rapid deterioration both worried and disgusted his wife, who is a vegan chef. (The reports said his libido was decreased, but I have a feeling his wife just wasn’t going for the meat.) Spurlock’s doctors monitored him closely, especially his liver, and worried about serious damage. Luckily he returned to normal (still a little pudgy) soon after ending his McSuicide diet.
His independent film “Super Size Me” received a warm welcome at the Sundance film festival this January, but Spurlock is hoping to get his film picked up, packaged and properly presented to a public audience. He said he is not singling out McDonalds, but the whole “Super-Size” syndrome that inspires binge eating. McDonalds is in the process of phasing out their option to Super-Size value meals, they say, to simplify the menu and prepare for the increasing demand for healthier food alternatives. I guess Spurlock’s film just happened to coincide with their decision.
I can definitely see both sides of the argument. Nobody is forcing the masses to consume unhealthy amounts of McDonalds food. Likewise, nobody is demanding McDonalds menu be chock full of junk food. The supplier and the consumer are both acting on their own accord. Spurlock’s personal investigation is more of an indication than an accusation. It is an indication of the consuming public’s gullibility and the disregard of many fast food restaurants’ marketing department.
I don’t do much cooking, unless you count poking the plastic cover and nuking an instant entree on high for four to five minutes. I choose not to make time for meal preparation (and I choose not to dirty dishes that I’m not going to wash). As a result of eating microwaveable food, I’m usually borderline attention deficit, and I tend to waste time going around in circles. If eating nothing but McDonalds turned Spurlock into a sloppy health hazard, then what does your diet say about you? Here’s some food for thought for all the graduating seniors: if we really are what we eat, and we’ve been eating caf food for the past four years, then what does that make us?
Submitted April 1, 2004