Super Size Me Documentary Review from a Biochemistry Perspective

Burgers, French fries, and a soda - is it all worth risking your health? McDonald’s is notoriously known as one of the unhealthiest fast food restaurants in the United States, despite there being over 13,000 locations in the United States. The Super Size Me Documentary was released in 2004 when McDonald’s came out with a new size meal, with the super-sized meals being even bigger than the large meals. Imagine how many calories are in the large meals, and then double that. In this documentary, Morgan Spurlock, a documentary filmmaker, producer, and writer, eats all his meals from McDonald’s for 30 days. This includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The rule is, if McDonald’s doesn’t sell it, he can’t eat it. Before he started his 30 days at McDonald’s, he went to a general physician, a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, a nutritionist, and an exercise physiologist. Over time, Morgan gained a lot of weight, his mood was negatively affected, he became addicted to the food, and he put his health at risk when he was diagnosed with a fatty liver. All of these health issues can be attributed to McDonalds’ abhorrent dietary options. All of the food at McDonald’s has refined sugars - even the salads! Refined sugars are sweeteners that lack nutrients like fibers, vitamins, and minerals, which leaves a highly pure form of sucrose. For example, the entirety of McDonald’s menu contains high fructose corn syrup, which can increase the risk of numerous health issues, such as diabetes. 

The average meal at McDonald’s contains between 990 to 1170 calories. That could range from half to the total amount of calories that one should consume in one day. If you really think about it, the average meal at McDonald’s isn’t a balanced meal either. Let’s say you get a Coke or Pepsi as your drink, a Big Mac, and a side of fries. The drink is high in sugar, the Big Mac is frozen, packaged meat that is reheated, and the fries are greasy. These foods don't satisfy hunger long-term. Also, you don’t know how long that food has been sitting out for, because most of the time when you order, they’ve already made the food. Why do you think you get the food so fast? Something that I found disturbing from this documentary that I still think about is the chicken nuggets. The documentary revealed that McDonald’s chicken nuggets are made from chickens that have oversized breasts. The chicken is then processed in factories and then shaped into a chicken nugget. They package it and send it to McDonald’s restaurants for them to fry and serve to their customers. The quality of the McDonald’s food is quite honestly disgusting, and you deserve to eat better food that isn’t greasy, reheated garbage. 

In my own experience, I’ve had McDonald’s a couple of times because it’s convenient and fast. The convenience and the fact that the food is readily available make people come back frequently. No wonder people are such easy victims for the fast food industry. In reality, McDonald’s cares more about profit than the health of their customers. So what is the alternative? In all honesty, home-cooked meals are way better than fast food. Sometimes, people don’t have the time to cook home-cooked meals due to busy schedules. An easy fix is to prepare meals in advance to make it less overwhelming. You can make a calendar to use as a menu for the week or freeze food that you’ve already made for later. It’s all about having a balanced diet. Make sure that you are having a fair share of carbohydrates, fats, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Next time you go out for dinner, take a stand and say no to fast food!