Supersize Me

I have seen this movie several times before watching it in class last week and yet I still learned more about the dangers of fast food. Since taking this class, I no longer eat meat products from fast food restaurants but I do eat the french fries (I need to work on that). "Supersize Me" still surprised me with the emotional and physical damage caused by eating fast food for just one month. To think that fast food can damage someone's liver to the point that it may resemble that of an alcoholic is remarkable. I do not think anyone really understood exactly how bad fast food was until Morgan Spurlock did this dangerous experiment. Of course, I knew it was unhealthy and that if I eat it every day I will gain weight. However, until watching this documentary I did not realize the extent to which the chemicals and fat and cholesterol can affect a person's emotional state and long-term health. The truly alarming thing is that many people do eat McDonald's and other fast foods on a daily or semi-daily basis. Weight gain may be the most visible change that people notice, but this documentary shows us that weight is actually one of the less dangerous problems caused by a fast food diet. The lack of energy, the anxiety, depression, craving, blood pressure and liver problems are shocking and show that many people have these problems at least in part due to fast food. As I get a little older, I begin to see how much a bad diet affects me in my daily life. Even though I am only 25, I can see that many health problems are in my near future if I continue to eat fast food and other processed foods. Six years ago I never would have believed that young people could be affected by fast food in such an enormous way. Due to the subject matter of this class, and this documentary, my opinion on that issue has changed substantially. It is the weight-related health issues that are not visible to the naked eye that are the worst aspect of the fast food generation. "Supersize Me" is an incredibly important documentary because it begins with weight issues in the forefront and proceeds to show us that this isn't about vanity anymore, it's about life and death.