Kevin's Watch

I looked through some of the pages of back threads, but did not see a thread for this movie. If there is one, it must be buried pretty deeply, and I hope no minds that I started a new one.

Calibaby and I watched it last night.

Neither one of us could figure out if we should laugh, cry, or vomit.

A man decides to eat nothing but McDonald's food for a month, three times a day. This movie documents the changes that happen to his body as a result of that month long fast food binge.

Tellingly, it took him a month to put on that much weight, and took over a year for him to get it off. And the changes in his blood labs were pretty frightening.

The worst moment for me watching it was when he found that long hair in his sundae...my husband was most grossed out by that guy having the stomach surgery...

As I wrote somewhere else, this film put me off fast food permanently. They ought to show this in every high school to encourage better eating habits early on.

I don't mind McDonalds for breakfast - that is before work - but I'd rather something else. Shame McDonalds is so convenient.

Inconvenience is usually far better for you.

So true.

I enjoyed this aswell, although ive never been much of a Macdonalds fan, this put me off it.

Like I said in a different thread, this movie put me off fast food, and I never even saw the whole thing. To be more accurate, it reinforced my aversion to fast food. There was a book I read that delved into the economics of the fast food industry; some of the things those companies do are appalling, bordering on Upton Sinclair's The Jungle in a modern setting.

What I find amazing is the number of people who saw that movie or heard of the outcome and still eat fast food, especially on a regular basis. I'm not sure I understand that mentality.

Also, most of that stuff tastes horrible, IMO.

I haven't seen the movie. Is it true that the fellow in it ate only fast food while also not exercising at all? I recall watching a newsreport that took a skeptical look at the film. According to medical experts (whoever they are), even modest exercise should be enough to counter the effects of a fast food diet. You would have to be doing nothing but sitting on your butt all the time and eating in order for you to turn into Jabba the Hut. Whatever. Maybe it just all depends on your metabolism.

Not that I'm trying to defend fast food here, but I do enjoy the occasional burger and fries at A & W. MacDonald's is garbage (mostly). The way my lifestyle is, I doubt that obesity will ever be a personal problem for me, and I'm grateful for that. But I do agree that today's generation of kids are paying the price for the life of fast food convenience that our plentiful Western consumer culture has made possible.

Metabolism has a huge part to play. I eat well and I excercise for at least an hour a day. I'm in fantastic shape, but I can't get rid of my gut.

The key thing about this movie is that as we get older, our metabolisms do slow down. I was thin as a rail up until my late 20s. I'm now in my late 30s, and I'm 60 pounds heavier. I'm in much better shape, I've got a lot more muscle mass, but I've got a belly like Homer Simpson.

So the big thing, and the reason I made my 11-year old daughter watch it, is so she starts developing the attitude "if it comes in a box, it's not healthy", and learns to eat well at an early age.

Matrixman wrote:I haven't seen the movie. Is it true that the fellow in it ate only fast food while also not exercising at all? I recall watching a newsreport that took a skeptical look at the film. According to medical experts (whoever they are), even modest exercise should be enough to counter the effects of a fast food diet. You would have to be doing nothing but sitting on your butt all the time and eating in order for you to turn into Jabba the Hut. Whatever. Maybe it just all depends on your metabolism.

Not that I'm trying to defend fast food here, but I do enjoy the occasional burger and fries at A & W. MacDonald's is garbage (mostly). The way my lifestyle is, I doubt that obesity will ever be a personal problem for me, and I'm grateful for that. But I do agree that today's generation of kids are paying the price for the life of fast food convenience that our plentiful Western consumer culture has made possible.

The guy stopped exercising for that month, too. He lives in NYC and usually walked a lot, but he wanted to prove how unhealthy the fast food lifestyle is, so he started taking cabs and eatign nothing but fast food.

The results were not good.

Moderate exercise and a fast metabolism will counter the effects of the added calories from fast food but will do nothing for the additional saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol, and carcinogenic preservatives one would intake.

If you can't find it in nature best not to eat it.

Kinslaughterer wrote:If you can't find it in nature best not to eat it.

Good philosophy.

Cail! Like me you got to stop drinking BEER!--it's our damm Scottish genetics man

Stop with the crazy talk Danlo.

No! (sips his Heineken)

I wonder if someone did a variant, and instead of eating cheap food, only read cheap fantasy like Eddings, for an entire year.

That's a fate worse than death.....

Can you imagine a year of Xanth?

<shudder>

A year of xanth is tantamount to injecting mcdonalds food into your veins for an entire year. Fatal, but painful until the end.

I saw this movie last year. I remember a group of first graders are shown photos/pictures of famous historical figures such as George Washington, George Bush and Jesus among others. The one figure all of the children recognized was Ronald McDonald. Mmmm-mm supersize me!

Isn't it curious how Ronald McDonald manages to stay slim? Wonder where he eats. Probably not at McDonald's.