Super Sized Fast Food Phobia

[Newton Fig]

While I normally enjoy these podcasts, I think this one missed the point a bit. To start off on the positive, I do like the raising of the other studies and the nutritional value of, for instance, a Big Mac.

But as some of the comments in the episode guide state, this wasn't really the point of Super Size Me. First and foremost, it was for entertainment value.

Secondly, it needs to be taken in the correct context. Which is America's love for fast food and junk food will make you unhealthy and is a massive contributor to the higher obese population.

Thirdly, marketing and advertising by the companies can be deceptive at times.

This podcast mainly focused on the points which weren't the point of the movie. It seemed like nitpicking. Showing that it is possible to eat somewhat healthy at most any fast food joint is one thing, but to bash Morgan Spurlock and Super Size Me is another. I think Brian missed the point and took things out of context.

What do you all think?

[vita10gy]

I think it's foolish to look at Super Size me as anything other than Morgan trying to scare us about how bad for you fast food is.

I think Brian's point about the nutritional value of the big mac was to point out that the word "nutritional" has nothing to do with the fat/calorie content, but people have started to use nutritional to mean just that, rather than to denote "contains lots of different types of nutrients"

The movie had to be someone entertaining, so we would watch it, but it's not like he river danced for 2 hours, he conducted this "experiment," so I don't think he should get a pass just because "it's entertainment."

The man began the movie by eating McDonalds for every meal, spent the whole movie talking about how miserable he felt, then ended the movie with his Doctors begging him to stop because he might die otherwise. I'm pretty sure the message the movie wanted to send was clear.

I'm not picking on you, because I've heard it elsewhere too, but to say the movie touched on "deceptive" practices by mcdonalds is a bit unfair. All McDonalds taking away their "supersize" option did was not let the people who wanted it to get it.

My wife and I went to colleges 2 hours apart our freshman year. I would get off class at noon on friday and head down for the weekend, hitting a McDs on the way out of town. I liked the supersize because it gave me fries I could snack on the whole way down, and a drink that lasted the whole trip.

Everyone knows McDonalds isn't a health spa. If anything the deceptive marketing started afterwards because they had to react to the movie with "healthier" options, like salads that contain more fat than a big mac.

[briandunning]

I think "America's love affair with fast food" is a fantasy. People who "love fast food" are few and far between. I stop there on family road trips, and when I do, I don't eat more than I eat at any normal meal. I seriously doubt that my body exhibits any detrimental effects from fast food, and I eat there as much as anyone. I suspect this is generally true of most fast food customers.

[Newton Fig]

I, too, rarely have fast food but DO still buy it. Like you, road trips seem to bring out my cravings for fries and a shake. But I do not believe that we are in the majority here. With two thirds of Americans being overweight and one third being obese, there are more frequent lines being drawn between fast food and weight gain.

One article (in ScienceDaily.com, not able to post url in here but avail.) talks about a frequency of between 1.3 and 2.3 visits per week. Having worked in an office environment, I saw far too many desk jockeys running out for a quick lunch to fast food joints. The closest five restaurants were fast food, Arby's, Taco Bell, McDonalds, Good Times and Subway. Most popular choice was the closest of Good Times. They give McDonalds a good run for their money when it comes to calories per value meal.

Another article in USA Today (url also avail upon request) found that people said they ate five meals a week out. Their findings in this study were of particular interest to this thread, with the most interesting being that each meal eaten out was corrolated with being 1.5 pounds heavier.

People eat fast food several times per week. America has one of the highest number of fast food restaurants in the world, per capita. Also one of the highest obesity rates.

If you are not eating there several times per week, then No, you are not eating there as much as anyone else. Once or twice per month is not going to make enough of a noticable difference to compare well with those that don't eat fast food at all. If using that 1.5 lbs over normal weight per weekly consumption, then it would only equate to less than 1 pound heavier than the counterpart. Little things add up though. Don't notice a difference with once per week and they discount its potential effect, start eating it twice or three times a week and before you know it, we have another statistic on our hands.

[EvilEye]

One thing to take into account, is that a good majority of first jobs are at fast food resturants, and most of those kids are eating the food they sell at least 5 days a week. They are also young and still forming habits that will stay with them for life, unless they change on purpose.

[AgeGap]

They are also young and still forming habits that will stay with them for life.......
Yep, I still steal food off my employer.:D

[Xiaan]

I must admit that after listening to this podcast, it did remove some of those guilty feelings I was starting to experience as I downed a Big Mac!

[FreeRomanian]

i agree

[briandunning]

Newton Fig, your post makes the opposite point you intend. You cited lots of articles that say how much Americans love fast food. But note that the point of all such articles is to be critical of this trend. In fact, nearly ALL mentions of fast food in the media are critical of it. I would argue that what's trendy in America is to BASH fast food, not to worship it.

[wantobe]

Brian:

It's trendy for the Media to bash fast food, and it's trendy for people who are media slaves to repeat that bashing, but that doesn't change the fact that people still go to fast food joints much more often than 2 or 4 times a month. I know people who eat just about every lunch there, and some dinners, each and every week.

I agree that "Fast Food" isn't some monster that is out to destroy America, and people are responsible for their own actions. The reason there are so many FF joints is that they are popular, and the reason they are popular is because people like fast, cheap, and (when possible) good food. I'd even say the criteria is pretty much in that exact order. You can blame marketing (not you, Brian, just "you" in general), but marketing won't work if people use a little common sense.

My wife and I eat way too much of the stuff, but we rein it in when we can and try eating healthier meals at home. But I'm too lazy to want to cook every night, and so is she. That's our fault, not McDonald's.

[briandunning]

People go to the supermarket more than 2-4 times a month too.

When you say you eat "way too much of it", can you be more specific? Are you getting way too much fat, way too many calories, way too much sodium? How does this differ from the food you eat at home?

Many people automatically assume fast food = automatically bad, and it sounds like you're making the same assumption when you say you eat "way too much" of it.

[wantobe]

By "way too much", I mean that the calories, sodium, fat, etc. are way higher than what I would get when (or if) I eat at home. I can make a burger and fries at home that are healthier, because I'm going to use a lower fat meat, and bake the fries instead of deep-frying them in oil.

Plus, for some reason, I have less self control when I'm eating at a FF joint. I see double cheeseburgers for $1, and it makes sense to me to buy two. My wife likes the chicken sandwiches for $1, and she too will want two of them. Plus fries. To be fair, it's not just FF where we do this; we tend to order too much at regular restaurants, too. It's just that we don't eat at regular restaurants near as often because they are generally more expensive. FF is cheap and easy.

Again, I don't blame McDonald's (or any other place we eat) for that. It's my fault, not theirs. I can control what I eat a lot more readily when I'm at home, cooking the meals for us. If I limited our meals at FF to just two or three times a month, it'd probably be okay, but we'll go twice a week or more (plus when I go for lunch) if I don't put my foot down and decide that we have to eat healthier (less fat, sodium, calories).

Maybe fast food isn't inherently bad, but the way I use it probably is. I imagine I'm not the only one who has that problem, so I don't mind saying people should use a little more common sense when it comes to FF. Myself included.

[JoeEllison]

Plus, for some reason, I have less self control when I'm eating at a FF joint. I see double cheeseburgers for $1, and it makes sense to me to buy two. My wife likes the chicken sandwiches for $1, and she too will want two of them. Plus fries.

What my wife and I have learned, to our eternal benefit, is that we tend to eat what is placed in front of us, regardless of what we are hungry for. When we ate at all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets, we would probably chow down on 3000 calories apiece. When we sit down at a high-end Chinese or Japanese restaurant, we'll split an entrée and an appetizer between us, and probably come in at under 2000 calories split two ways.

We do as well at Ruby Tuesdays... we will get the salad bar and soup or mini burgers, and pile up on broccoli, leafy greens, and edamame, and wind up having a much more healthy meal than what would be available at any fast-food place.

[Newton Fig]

We bash everything and everyone in the media at some point. Yet we still eat fast food, eat unhealthy, eat too much and eat the wrong way overall. The point of the articles I reference are that people are doing this and it DOES make a negative health impact.

So what that we all say it is bad when we continue to buy it.

There are reasons fast food in general is unhealthy. We typically eat MORE, eat less nutrients, eat the wrong proportion of the ones we do get and eat too fast. This podcast was to the point of defending fast food as a healthy option. Which is just as extreme as the perspective Morgan Spurlock took. Both are right in a little way, but extreme in their own respect.

While, yes, Morgan Spurlock's movie should have a counterbalance, I'm more for the middle ground where I realize that fast food CAN be a decent option, but 99% of the time does not turn out that way because it takes 10 times the effort and knowledge to make it so.

[vita10gy]

I think one of the biggest problem fast food restaurants have is that people, for whatever reason, almost consider their home cooked meals to be 0 fat 0 calories. It's only outside their house that calories and fat exist, and they are in the "highest concentrations" at fast food places (which probably isn't even true anyway)

I eat out a lot and don't consider myself a healthy eater, but I'm not exactly preparing croutonless-cheeseless-dressingless salads at home.

The one exception to this is buying prepared meals that have the nutritional info on them for in home use. There's a similar attitude towards those where a box of fried check has x calories and y fat, but making fried chicken from scratch has zero. I can't believe how bad for you this lasagna is! I'll just by the noodles, sauce, meat, and cheese and make it myself.

[vita10gy]

I think one of the biggest problem fast food restaurants have is that people, for whatever reason, almost consider their home cooked meals to be 0 fat 0 calories. It's only outside their house that calories and fat exist, and they are in the "highest concentrations" at fast food places (which probably isn't even true anyway)

I eat out a lot and don't consider myself a healthy eater, but I'm not exactly preparing croutonless-cheeseless-dressingless salads at home.

The one exception to this is buying prepared meals that have the nutritional info on them for in home use. There's a similar attitude towards those where a box of fried check has x calories and y fat, but making fried chicken from scratch has zero. I can't believe how bad for you this lasagna is! I'll just by the noodles, sauce, meat, and cheese and make it myself.