You are what you eat

I started watching Super Size Me a few weeks ago during one of my days as a substitute. I was only able to watch half of it in the classroom and I was finally able to finish it tonight. It was a documentary about a man who tried to eat McDonalds everyday for 30 days for every meal. He was in top shape when he started the project. He was a vegan and liked physical activity.

Every parent needs to see this film. Morgan Spurlock was the man who participated this experiment and actually finished it, but the results were absolutely awful. On day 17 he had gained almost 20 pounds. By day 22, his liver was starting to fail MISERABLY! He also thought he was having a heart attack. His cholesterol went through the roof and other indicators were startling. He gained 25 pounds during the entire project. He went from 11% body fat to 18% body fat and his cholesterol rose 60 points during the experiment. It effected his sex life to point his fiancé said things had dramactically changed for the worse in the bedroom. In all, he ate 30 pounds of sugar and 12 pounds of fatl

At the beginning of the film when he was getting physical’s from three different physicians, they told him he was in such good shape that he shouldn’t be effected that much. They expected his cholesterol to rise a bit and essentially that was it. The doctors were surprise astounded how much things changed and advised him repeatedly after day 20 to stop the ridiculous project.

First—I’m not ready to swear off McDonald’s yet, but we will eat Subway more often if we are in town and need something to eat. Better yet, I think I will make it a point to eat at home before we go anywhere.

Also, Morgan had an interesting tidbit of information about school lunches that participate in the USDA school program. Remember this: The kids eat food that was purchased from the lowest bidder and most of the food is food that is reheated. I think I am going to start making my kids take their own lunches from now on too.

Wow. WOW. Wow.