"supersize Me!"

[gnargtharst]

Burgess Laughlin wrote:

P. S. Why did I suggest 4 meals per day? Because, as I have discovered in going to a low-protein, plant-foods-only diet for medical reasons, appetite increases enormously when the food eaten is very lean.

I eat a similar diet, and did not experience any hunger. Although, I eat a lot of veggies. Fills me up.

P.S. I've been very happy with this new "diet", which, interestingly, came via a recommendation from Mark DaCuhna at his www.capmag.com. Specifically, Joel Fuhrman's book, "Eat to Live".

P.P.S. From what I've heard of the "Supersize Me" glutton, he ate more than 5,000 calories a day at McDonald's. Judging from his size, height, etc., one would expect those calories to gain him about 2/3 lb/day. Which is exactly what he gained. 5,000 calories/day will gain you weight whether you're eating it in the form of Big Macs or broccoli.

[JMeganSnow]

I was watching an interview featuring Spurlock on IFC a week ago. The interviewer asked shyly, "didn't you over eat?". He "countered" that arguement by saying something about how you become hungry again after a short period of time after eating fast food. I don't know if that's true or not. Someone enlighten me.

I seriously doubt this: fat deadens your appetite. I eat fast food occasionally and when I have a meal there I usually don't eat again for the rest of the day; I'm simply not hungry. In fact, having that much fat and carbs made me exhausted because my body was throwing all its energy into digesting the food. I would be hard pressed indeed to eat 5000 calories in one day, and I can eat a lot. Likely I wouldn't be able to move.

Currently I'm attempting the Slim Fast diet, which is extremely strange because I'm eating all the time. Three meals and three snacks a day (given, two of those "meals" are shakes, but still . . .) and I'm having a hard time managing to eat that often! I keep getting the idea that I'm going to gain weight by eating so much! Especially since most of what I'm eating is "sweets"; shakes and candy bars.

Nothing like going on a diet to make you obsess about food.

[JMeganSnow]

P.P.S. From what I've heard of the "Supersize Me" glutton, he ate more than 5,000 calories a day at McDonald's. Judging from his size, height, etc., one would expect those calories to gain him about 2/3 lb/day. Which is exactly what he gained. 5,000 calories/day will gain you weight whether you're eating it in the form of Big Macs or broccoli.

I would rather have seen the health effects if he'd eaten the recommended 2000 calories a day at McDonalds, with some mild physical activity.

[deedlebee]

I seriously doubt this: fat deadens your appetite.  I eat fast food occasionally and when I have a meal there I usually don't eat again for the rest of the day; I'm simply not hungry.  In fact, having that much fat and carbs made me exhausted because my body was throwing all its energy into digesting the food.  I would be hard pressed indeed to eat 5000 calories in one day, and I can eat a lot.  Likely I wouldn't be able to move.

There is a difference in your body's reaction between eating a carb and fat laden meal on occasion, and doing it all the time. In a relatively short span of time (perhaps a week or two), the excessive "bad" carbs (from preprocessed flours and pure sugars) actually alter your body's ability to process glucose. The effect is a system that processes these sugars extremely fast thereby causing a brand new craving, usually well before the body has had the chance to use up the fats from the previous meal. I.e., you get hungry. But to clarify, eating junk food is not an addiction. Eat salads for one or two days and your system will start to level out again.

Currently I'm attempting the Slim Fast diet, which is extremely strange because I'm eating all the time.  ... Nothing like going on a diet to make you obsess about food.

On the other hand, good diets that have you eat 5 or 6 times a day in small amounts with balanced nutrients will keep your sugar levels ... level. Hunger cravings will disappear and your energy level will stay at a good balance. Incidentally, I've found the same problem. Back in high school, I never bothered eating breakfast because I found it always made me hungry for lunch. Skipping seemed easier. These days, I prefer little meals over the day. Eating so often is difficult, even if it's in small amounts! I never feel hungry, even though I'm only getting between 1000 and 1500 calories.

As for McDonald's, the idea of the movie reminds me of the experiment they did with those rats decades ago with Sweet & Low and decided it causes cancer.

The evidence that saccharin causes cancer is so weak, that even suspicion is groundless. The original rat studies were flawed in two ways. The rats that died consumed an equivalent amount of saccharin to a human drinking gallons of diet cola every day for a lifetime. Secondly, rats metabolize saccharin in a different manner than humans.

Anyone who couldn't see the obvious results of eating hamburgers every day needs to go back to school, not sue a corporation. I'd rather have celery and Laughing Cow cheese than French fries anyway

[GoodOrigamiMan]

I got in some major arguments over this movie with my family, they loved it, I thought it was unbearable to watch.

My evaluation was that it was a movie about a guy who:

Has no choice where to eat - McDonalds
Has no choice when to eat - Breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day
Has no choice what to order - I forget the reason why he couldn’t stick to the McSalads... guess there would be no reason for a documentary
Has no choice how much to order – one of the rules was he couldn’t decline the supersize question
Has no choice how much to eat – had to finish everything every meal

For the people who found the movie hilarious, it is all of those *choices* that they are stepping on (demeaning their metaphysical importance). Considering how important choices (free will) are to me – I couldn’t stomach Supersize Me anymore than its protagonist could stomach force feeding himself (both events were easily predictable ). I don’t even think he had a choice to stop the diet... his nutritionist made him! (too bad)