Super Size me no more.

My roommates and I just watched Super Size Me, that huge and controversial documentary showing the changes in the lifestyle and diet of a man whose experiment involved eating only McDonald's food for 30 days. McDonald's food, take note, and nothing more. As he himself says, "If it isn't served at McDonald's, then I can't eat it."

This experiment was primarily motivated by a lawsuit filed by two, perhaps obese, teenagers against McDonald's with the claim that it has been responsible for their dietary and health problems. The judge dismissed the case, citing that the teenagers failed to show that it was indeed the Golden Arches which was the cause for their problems.

The "hero" in the documentary decided to prove just that.

I won't say much about the details of the film, but it will suffice to say that it's enlightening as much as it is entertaining. Here are some random information taken from the film:

1. Unlike our McDonald's here in the Philippines, McDonald's in the United States have the option of a Super Size Value Meal. This consists of half-a-pound of fries (almost 5 times the size of our Go Big Time fries), and a LOT of Coke.
2. The chicken used to create McNuggets came from old chickens who couldn't lay eggs any longer. A poster in one of the scenes of the movie had a chicken's picture on it with some words written above ("Can you find the nugget in this chicken?") and below ("Neither can we.").
3. They serve salads (similar to KFC's Asian and Caesar offers) in the US McDonald's.
4. A calorie is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of water by 1 degree Celsius. (I knew that.)
5. After the film won First Prize in the Sundance Film Festival, McDonald's pulled out the Super Size option from their meals. They also advocated a fitness program for adults. McDonald's claimed that their recent moves had nothing to do with the success of the film whatsoever. Nothing. Who would have thunk it, right?

The "hero" of the film gained 30 pounds in 30 days, got depressed more often, craved for food more and more and encountered headaches when he couldn't have it, had a fatty liver, increased his risk of getting a stroke by as much as 200%, and claimed to have a "worthless" sex life.

The next time I'm eating at McDo, I'm skipping on the fries.