SUPER SIZE ME

SUPERSIZE ME

I have never written a movie review before, technically speaking, because I believe that the other “movie reflections” I did was just school requirements and not all of them were composed solely of my ideas. So, yes, this will be my first and definitely not the last.

à What’s the best way to spend your vacation? Others may say that it is when you go out with your friends, or go to the beach, eat out, go out of town or even out of the country…
Well, not needing to get out of bed – except for lunch and dinner breaks and cr breaks – and having movie marathons while eating whatever is my basic and simplest idea to spend my vacation, being a couch potato that I am. Today is the 3rd of November 2008 and all I did was watch these four “two-thumbs up” movies. I don’t know why I chose this movie as my finale for the day, but it made me write this. Very interesting, I might say!

The title of this movie is “Supersize Me”. I wonder if you’ve heard of it. It’s been on our movie rack for years and years and I don’t know what came over me to finally decide to give it a try. But this isn’t actually a movie, I believe; it’s more of a documentary.
Oh, whatever. It’s a movie, all right.

A guy named Morgan Spurlock, an American filmmaker with a very healthy body wanted to do an experiment to prove that fast foods are EVIL… and in this case, McDonalds was placed in the hot seat. He will eat three times a day nothing but McDonalds. He laid down three rules: One, he has no options but to eat only what was available over the counter (water included!). Two, no supersizing (it’s Go Large here in the Philippines) unless offered, and three, he had to eat every item on the menu at least once. He went to different McDonalds branches (I think one for each state) with a friend and one cameraman. I would like to quote a part of the synopsis written at the back of the CD just to summarize what took place. It says,

“It all adds up to a fat food bill, harrowing visits to the doctor, and compelling viewing for anyone who’s ever wondered if man could live on fast food alone. The film explores the horror of school lunch programs, declining health and physical education classes, food addictions and the extreme measures people take to lose weight and regain their health.”

After watching the movie, no…even while watching it, I had repeatedly told myself that I would never eat at McDonalds or any fast food as often as I do now. I eat out often primarily because I don’t have the leisure of time to cook and I live away from the parents, which means that I don’t get the “sermons” on what to and not to eat. I basically wanted to try every single restaurant and fast food chain in Baguio (I think I’m down to just one more at Session Road) before I graduate. But don’t get me wrong. I love to cook and I’m not a big spender, either (well, sometimes, when desperate times call for it). I happen to eat at least twice to thrice a month at McDonalds, and it’s not even on a regular basis. But still, I eat a lot of fries and burgers, and drink a lot of Mcfloats, and I love it, and I crave for it. And I easily give in to these cravings. No wonder I get the same “You look fatter” “Did you gain some weight?” greetings when I come down here in Manila. Before, I didn’t believe that McDonalds could get you fat… that one hamburger is equal to tons of calories or carbs or fat, whatever the difference between them is. I don’t know! Wow!
Surprisingly, it was mentioned in the movie that these kinds food could actually make you stupid. Morgan asked people on the spot and they don’t even know what a calorie is! Well, now I know what it is. Do you? ;)

In just a matter of weeks, a very healthy young man named Morgan started to have chest pains, very severe headaches, waking up in the wee hours of the morning because he has difficulty in breathing, dizziness and feeling of nausea in the morning, throwing up in the streets, and guess what…

He got addicted to it! He feels depressed when he’s not eating McDonalds, and becomes very happy when he is.

PLUS: IT HAS AFFECTED HIS SEX LIFE! His girlfriend would have to be on “top” because Morgan is too tired… He climaxes, yes, but his girlfriend testifies that it’s way too different than before.

Enormous weight gain, fat bellies, and mood swings in just one month… wow! Can you handle that? Mind you, it took him TWO months to detox and ONE year and TWO months to go back being 185lbs…

This movie hit me hard that I’ve really decided that this semester I would definitely go for the “healthy living”. I would plan my diet and exercise routines. I might even join taekwondo or whatever extra-curricular activity is out there. Plus, I’d do a lot of walking and no more “couch potato”. I’m 18 now, so I’ve decided that it’s my time to take things seriously. And that would definitely include my well-being. Inside and out. No more playing and fooling around. I could do that once in a while, but yeah, I’d had enough of those. ;) We need to…uh… you know… grow up! ;)
I need to take care of my body, balance everything. Eat healthy, sweat more, grow with much better physique, live healthily inside and out. Unless I do this now, I would definitely come to the point where I’d regret having this kind of lifestyle that I live now.

Now I sound like my elders.

But seriously, I’m just 18 and I can already feel that something’s wrong with my body. Before anything goes worse, I need to take action.

So, for those of you out there who thinks that you’ve got a lot of time, you’re so young that you can still burn all of those fat that had piled up…tsk…tsk! Better think twice…
I bet you don’t want to go through any kind of operation, eh? I dare you to watch this movie and learn from it. Philippines is whole lotta different from the U.S. but hey! Burgers are still burgers, nuggets are still nuggets, fries will remain fries, McDonalds is a business and it will remain that way as long as money comes in, and unhealthy food will always be UNHEALTHY FOOD! It’s just up to us to choose wisely, eat wisely, and live wisely!


Have a nice day and come again ;)