Regular Discouragment

I took some time off today to watch Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me, something I like to do regularly when I think I'm eating too much fast food. It is pretty effective.

As a college student, I stereotypically eat unhealthy most of the time. A good 90 percent of my meals are consumed at Kimmel Food Court, three blocks away, where my choices are Dunkin' Donuts, Sbarro, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, Häagen Dazs, some bad sandwich place, and a very limited Chinese grill.

In order to improve and diversify my diet somewhat, I subscribed to an off-campus meal plan this semester, which lets me eat or order from over a dozen places, most of which are on Marshall Street, four blocks away. I only chose a very limited meal plan for that though, so I probably only had somewhere around 25 meals off campus, all semester.

I really hope I end up marrying a vegan chef someday, like Morgan Spurlock is, or at least develop an interest in healthy cooking. The way America's nutrition is heading is absolutely disgusting... The half-gallon (2-liter) soda cups, the Triple Whopper (quite tasty) and its near equivalent breakfast sandwiches... It's ridiculous. If I didn't walk the great amount I do almost nearly every day, to/from class and at work), I'd be horribly obese. No wonder that fast food, coupled with cars and delivery service, has achieved this.

Super Size Me brings in so many facts, that really drive home the argument. Just about all food products marketed to kids on TV are for fast food, sugared cereal, or soft drinks. McDonalds serves as the “community playground” with its PlayPlaces. Too bad its Happy Meals aren’t that easily burned off climbing and sliding for twenty or so minutes.

Then of course there are school lunches. When I was in elementary and middle school, you were basically forced to purchase a somewhat balanced lunch. Spurlock visits schools where kids are allowed to just purchase fries or a pile of Little Debbie snacks. One great moment is when a lunch supervisor mentions that the school recently got rid of soft drinks, upon which Spurlock notes that there is just as much sugar in the Country Time Lemonade they were selling. Even poor schools, receiving nearly all their food in boxes from the federal government, are receiving nothing but disgusting junk.

As if that wasn’t enough, schools are cutting recess and physical education. Isn’t this a wonderful combination!?

Spurlock’s movie was “rebuttaled” several times by journalists and other independent filmmakers. All ate at McDonalds for 30 days, but limited their calorie consumption. Too bad most Americans don’t do that.

Anyway, so now I’ll be scared of fast food again for a couple days. It can’t hurt.