Super Size Me

[Fjon]

A hamburger meal costs 6€ and is damn small.
A falafel meal costs 7€ and has about double the amount of food a hamburger meal costs. And tastes better. And is healthier.
A pizza meal costs about the same as a hamburger meal, is faaar bigger and tastes 1337% better. And is still healthier than hamburgers.
And then there's chinese food, which is cheaper than hamburgers and normally too much for one person to eat And causes no health problems other normal food wouldn't.

So... Why on earth would I eat hamburgers?

I'm not entirely sure I would agree - a pizza *does* taste better than a burger, but I wouldn't say it is much healthier - compare the carbohydrates in a Pizza Hut pizza and a McDonalds Big Mac meal and I'd say you have more or less the same.
Same goes for Chinese - a lot of greasy sauces and MSG. Too much starch and carbohydrates.
At least a burger has some protein.
I'm not a big burger fan either, I'm just trying to point out that most fast food is equally bad for you. Whether you buy a baguette in France, frites in Holland, gyros in Greece or Bratwurst in Germany they are more or less equally bad for you...

[Batavorum]

Yesterday I saw a short preview of the movie "super size me".

It is showing in some Dutch theaters starting august 12.

[micro]

I just read that the movie was a great success and that McDonalds started to change their food collection. (Which doesn't mean that their food is healthier now, it just pretends to be healthier.)

At about the same time this thread started I found a McDonalds voucher in my mailbox. So after years of abstinence I went there and purchased some kind of Italian burger (maybe that was a member of their new collection) but it was really disgusting.

[Donald]

I got more information about the movie. The author lived solely on McDonalds meals during 4 weeks and he took the giant size servings if they were offered to him. He always ate up the complete meal he got served. I think it is the quantity of super size servings that puts you in a bad condition. I went 3 times to McDonalds in the last 4 weeks, partly stimulated by this thread. I had:
1) "Tomato Kicks" (mozzarella balls with a tomato core in a tempura-like dough) This was a specialty during the European football championships.
2) A vegetable burger, they asked me if I liked to order a drink, which I denied.
3) A vegetable burger again, they didn't mention any drink. I discovered a list with nutrition facts on the backside of the paper they put on the tray. My burger has 475 calories.
I don't think that the McDonalds meals have hurt me much, and I observed none of the symptoms you can see in the picture.

[micro]

An association dedicated to testing and comparing consumer goods (Stiftung Warentest) examined chicken nuggets in its Feb-2004 journal and came to the conclusion that most brands of chicken nuggets available in supermarkets (frozen) are more nutritious than the ones from McDonald's or Burger King.

[Batavorum]

HILVERSUM De AD-journalist Wim Meij die dertig dagen uitsluitend bij McDonald's heeft gegeten, is in die periode 6 kilo afgevallen. Zijn bloeddruk is gedaald.
Zijn bevindingen,die morgen in het AD staan,contrasteren met die van Morgan Spurlock,die over zijn maand McDonald's de film Super Size Me maakte. Murlock groeide 12 kilo en kreeg leverproblemen en een hoger cholesterolgehalte.
Meij nuttigde 1900 calorieën per dag. Hij at veel salades en nam slechts af en toe een Big Mac. Spurlock propte 5000 calorieën per dag naar binnen. In Nova zei hij dat het hem om de levensstijl gaat die bij McDonald's past.

Short translation:
A Dutch journalist (Meij, working at a one of the biggest nationwide spread newspapers) has eaten for 30 days exclusively at McDonald's (just like Spurlock, the maker of Super Size Me).
Meij lost 6 kg and his bloodpressure decreased. Spurlock gained 12 kg, got liver problems and an increased his cholesterol percentage.
Meij eated 1900 calories per day. He eated a lot of salads en just now and then took a Big Mac. Spurlock ate 5000 calories per day.
In a serious Dutch TV program Spurlock stated that he wanted to test the McDonald's lifestyle.

Conclusion (and I already knew it): It is not McDonald's that kills you but your own bad habbits. Like always.

[Viperazzi]

I saw the movie today. It was quite as shocking and mind-opening as it was supposed to be. The thing I could relate to was that after eating fatty fast food you'll feel fine but then suddenly, after two hours, no matter how much you ate, you might start to feel hungry again. I've been wondering this with my friends and they've had similar experiences. Scary... This never happens if I eat something else than fries or burger the same amount and get full.

For some people it is obvious that they eat at MickeyD's. Cos they can't get the food anywhere as fast and as conveniently. But for those people I'd suggest buying your fridge full of fresh and tasty food which you can prepare and take out to work or school.

It is really shocking how in the students in almost all American schools get mostly fries, burgers, chicken nuggets and stuff like that. There are healthier alternatives but they're not as popular. And the amount of vending machines is dreadful. Believe it or not, many schools have catering by fast food companies.

Nowadays I'm really interested in Eastern food. Sushi and Indian food are really good, but expensive. I just could not believe how good the seaweed and rice sushi tastes!

Off-topic: In the movie and in general the Americans got the amount of calories wrong. In Europe amounts are in kilocalories, and one kcal is 1000 calories. But in the US they have left the kilo from the beginning, so an overseas banana has got just over one hundred calories, whereas a Euro-banana has got 100 000 calories or 100 kcal. But then again, they're in the medieval imperial unit system, which forgives them a lot. The only units that are remaining from it are calories and horsepower because their SI-equivalents are much more complicated to use.

PS. Eat at Subway!