If you haven’t seen the documentary by Morgan Spurlock called Super Size Me (2004), then you must. This guy goes out to prove how unhealthy fast food is and for that, goes on a 100% MacDonald’s diet. He sees his physicians, nutritionists, exercise physiologist, and starts off as a healthy 6ft 2" weighing 185lbs with a perfet BMI, good cholesterol and triglyceride levels etc etc.
30 days later, he is addicted to all the fries and burgers and shakes, has gained 25lbs and all his numbers are off big time. He is unhealthy, depressed and fatigued.
This is where America is heading, in fact obesity is a current epidemic. We feed our children junk thinking that it wouldn’t matter at their young age where they are so active not realizing that we are teaching them bad eating habits but making them crave for such foods.
Please watch this to understand the dangers of unhealthy eating. I’m totally shocked…well not really, but after watching this, I want to throw anything that isn’t pure, fresh and healthy out the window, and go jump on a treadmill!
I can understand the movie had the impact on you that it is meant to have. it is well made!!!! and serves the purpose..But let it settle... Obesity is an issue, but being healthy is our personal choice, it has to come from within. I also think some things have been done since then to improve the overall quality and nutritional value of what we eat. And we have become more aware of our health.
I think the best way is to instill these healthy habits since childhood. I see so many kids addicted to soda and cookies and pizzas, etc....I don't know if that is right :S
I agree with philo here. The movie was made to make a point ... and it made it well. However, the undercurrants or the implied message of the film remains that of making a choice. No one forces anyone to eat at fastfood places ... but its such an ingrained part of western culture that no one gives it a second thought either.
That sugar, fat and salt are addictive is really not a new finding!
I've lost count of number of ppl I know and see daily who begin their day with a giant serving of soda and pick out that solitary piece of lettuce off of their double stack burgers.
I see kids by the tons in the ER for stomaches .... which majority of the times ar due to nothing but contipation. Kids as little as 3-6 yrs old .... why? ... cuz their diet is composed mostly of processed foods/fast foods. parents unconcernedly give in to the first tantrum thrown by their child for that darned happy meal ... right there in the ER ... right then n there in front of me ... right after I gave them a 15 min talk of healthy eating habits. fiber, exercise blahhh blahh blahhh
so do I blame McDonald? burger king? .... nope. I blame the person who made the wrong choice.
I blame both people as well as the junk food chain stores/places as well as people who are involved in encouraging junk food through media/newspapers etc. There's a town in UK name Reading and it has the highest rate of obesity as well as the highest junk food places. That tells a lot about it, right?
We started to change our habits 2 years ago and now for the past 6 months we have completely left eating junk food.
Yes absolutely, being healthy is a personal choice and this documentary sort of reminded us of the consequences of “letting go” and becoming slaves to what’s out there. Nothing like a well balanced home cooked meal and being educated about what to eat and what not.
Funny thing is how this fast food culture has infiltrated the Indo/Pak region where people actually feel “cutting edge” when they dine at a MacDonalds or Pizza Hut and boast about how many times they can actually afford to eat out . if we eliminate the quantity of oil we use in our daily cooking (not considering the ocassional samosay and pakorey), I think our desi food is quite healthy. Isn’t it?
I agree, I had watched that documentary, fast food is laden with unhealthy stuff.
I agree with Philo too, the best way to ensure that the kids do not fall into the obesity eating junk is to make sure their diet and nutrition at home is based on healthy eating
Niksik, desi food is healthy? All that desi ghee?!
Desi food at our homes is healthy. Desi food in restaurants is far from it
In this documentary that guy was eating MacDs three times a day for 30days straight. Of course he will gain weight and bunch of other diseases. Just like we eat Parathas every day with Niharis and payes, our BMI would be sky high as well. It is not the food we are eating, it's how much we eat and how we prepare it.
^^ correct Ditzy, but even if someone wasn't eating at MacDonald's 3 times a day, he'd probably be eating similar high fat food the other 2 meals. I think most people who eat junk are addicted to it so regardless of where they eat it from, that's what they crave and get.
Yes our desi food can be a killer...in fact, given the fact that heart disease and diabetes are the number 1 and 2 killers in our society, we must bedoing something really bad...but more than the food we eat, I think our poor health is due to our sedentary lifestyles...work-eat-TV-dawats.
But if we can get ourselves educated, we do have the healthy options in our desi cooking for sure.
Well it really made me want to go get McDonalds, I do think they put crack in their food to make it addictive :)
Btw not "all" eating out is considered bad or junk food. Lots of places have salads, subwayis pretty healthy too..its all about educating yourself on whats good (chicken = good, chicken battered and fried = oh sooooo good but not good) and bad.
i think its better that if u want it too much u should make it home so u know that what ur adding thats better then eating out and not knowing what in with increased number of sodium.
I think its a misconception that when people think about desi food they think about paye nihari qorma and parathe which are fat laden. I agree that those are big part of our diet but these are pretty much all dawat food. I don't know that many people who eat paye and nihari on a regular basis. Most people forget about aalu palak, bhindi, bengan, daal and all those other veggies that are a staple of south asian diet more than nihari and paye. From what I remember from when I was in pakistan, we use to have one meal as veggie and/or daal and the other had to be something meat/chicken probably with some veggie in it. People also didn't sit at home the whole day and took the car out for a shop thats 5 mins walk away.
I think Nikki bhabi can shed some light on the indian side of things and I know for a fact that in Punjab saag and palak paneer and pretty much all veggies are pretty big.
I don't think there's anything wrong with having fast food occasionally...it only becomes an issue when people start making a habit of eating it all the time. Anything in excess is bad for you.
Oh and on the subject of desi food...in the UK there's this idea that desi food is unhealthy and full of fat. That's because of all the restuarants over here that don't even cook the food properly, so the dish will have more oil in it than masalas. Homemade desi food can be completely healthy, most of the spices we use have so many health benefits.
Many of you are not realising that unhealthy food kills and makes you sick. Yet as a society we have not taken up a stance to prevent its harmful effects on people. ANd whatever is being done is too little and ineffective.
Everything in life is about choice, yet we regulate lot of products, but bad foods have escaped so far.
The worst thing is that the kids are being lured into bad foods and very little is being done about it. I am glad atleast schools have started nutritional education. But I wonder, why the products that are banned in schools are being allowed in supermarkets, makes no sense at all.
. if we eliminate the quantity of oil we use in our daily cooking (not considering the ocassional samosay and pakorey), I think our desi food is quite healthy. Isn’t it?