Debunking Morgan Spurlock

When you watch "supersize me" you realize that Morgan Spurlock cannot receive any credibility. It is obvious that if your only source of food is fast food, and that each meal is oversized you ARE going to gain weight and get sick. What he failed to mention in his "documentary" is that in normal circumstances, fast food is not going to have that effect on your system. Above all he blames the food company for his health problems. I challenge him to do the same with what we consider "healthy foods", eat large amounts of vegetables and fruits. Just like he did with fast food, supersize the servings. What would happen? I can tell you right now, he would have weird reactions too.
Moderation is the key to living a healthy life, do whatever you do, drink alcohol, smoke, eat fast food, whatever, if it is in modderation your body will cope.Blame anything else but yourself for the things you consume and it will be all b.s., which is Morgan's specialty.

I actually liked his movie. It proved a point. That most americans arent looking for salads at fast food places they are looking at the burgers and fries.
Personally, I actually stopped eating fast food for one month to see what would happened. I ate out for three meals a week. Doesnt sound bad. THat is a total of 10-12 meals a month. I found out that I was having migraines over the high salt content (used a lot in fast food to help perserve it from distrubution centers), and I ended up losing 7 pounds. Also, my skin cleared up and I was able to sleep better.
Although, I will say that Morgan Sporlock did go the extreme, the meals he ate in a month are actually the average meals ate in a year in the average population. People dont know what is in fast food meals and that is scary.
Fast food is like everyother kind of food, in moderation and mind the portions. Also find out what kind of oil they are using and try to get a nutrition guide. I still go out to fast food places, but only once a week. I also stopped ordering the double cheese burgers, drinking teas instead of soda, and only ordering french fries half of the time.

Wrote an article on this in mid-July.

Comparing Merab Mogan of Henderson, N.C. and Morgan Sporlock.

Merab did the McDonald's diet. She LOST 33 pounds in 90 days.

She had one thing over Morgan - Self Control.

I thought the point of Spurlock's movie wasn't that Mcdonalds itself (the corporation) made you fat, but that its food was such that it made it extremely EASY to get fat. It was perfectly possible for Spurlock to eat 5000 calories a day of maccas, while doing no exercise, and still fit it in his stomach. This is virtually impossible to do on a healthy diet, the bulk is just too much. It has been suggested that spurlock could have gotten fat by eating 5000 calories of carrots, however, 5000 calories of carrots is about 21kg/46 pounds of food each day. Difficult, if not impossible.
Not to mention the fact that even though he was eating heaps of food (in calorific value) he was still vitamin deficient. It means even if you ate only enough maccas to support your energy needs, your health would still be shot, since you're getting next to no vitamins.
Maccas food doesn't have to be like this. In Australia, maccas has a lean beef burger, which is about half the energy of a quarter pounder with cheese, yet still more filling. If spurlock's film encouraged maccas to make these sort of changes, to improve the density and nutritional value of its food, that's an achievement, for which I can credit him.

Jeez people, we know that if you eat under 1200 calories you will lose weight, the problem is that people don't. Yes some person ate McDonald's and lost weight, but people are getting fat because they eat at McDonald's or any fast food three times and day, go for a 10 minute walk and are confused when they don't lose weight. Telling people that they lost 33 pounds while eating McDonalds gives people the green light to eat there and that is the wrong message to be sending. Morgan did a great thing for everyone by showing what sort of damage can be done to your body by eating poorly. It has encouraged me to lose weight and the only thing I have done is cut fast food from my diet. I doubt you could lose weight at Mcdonalds eating six times a day like I do to lose weight, it is impossible. Stop bashing him and realize he stirred up the hornet's nest and got some people to improve their self image and self confidence.

I really think the criticism of Spurlock isn't so much criticism of him, but rather, an attack on a strawman.

It didn't even occur to me that Spurlock was trying to say what people accuse him of saying. Quite obviously, the diet wasn't supposed to represent that of, say, the average American diet.

The idea here was the quality of this food. If you ate at say, a Mongolian grill place (make your own stir fry) until full for 3 meals a day vs. the extremely calorie dense McDonalds diet in Spurlock's movie, probably you would:

(1) Consume less calories as stir fry contains a lot of water, vegetable fiber, and is not calorie dense - it fills you up on less calories. Just the time it takes to eat a bowl of vegetables vs scarfing down a spongy McDonald's "burger" would make you more likely to consume less calories with the same level of satiety (This concept is why the "eat less exercise more" cliche - while technically true - is overly simplistic. Eating less is a lot easier on bulkier, less calorie-dense foods. That's why people obsess over the diet du jour - Atkins, Ornish, whatever - the idea is to find a diet you can easily stick to in the process of consuming less calories.)

(2) Get a lot more nutrients and a lot less salt and saturated fat (Yeah, you could dump a lot of soy sauce and meat into the stir fry I guess).

(3) Maintain or lose weight as a result of #1, maintain or lower bad cholesterol as a result of #2.

Watching Super-size Me, I thought the point he was making was that fast food is not sustenance. It is not a valid food to make part of your weekly diet, if you have any interest in staying healthy. (As a treat, most definitely. Some of it tastes pretty good, I guess.)

I like Wendy's burgers - a lot. And fries, like probably everyone else here. But I try to save visits to Wendy's as an occasional treat (once every 6 weeks or less), and I doubt Spurlock would consider that kind of relationship to fast food problematic (I treat soda the same way).

But I have worked with a lot of people who eat a lot of fast food. And no, they don't eat fast food 3 meals a day but they do have it 4 or 5 times a week, and this cannot be healthy. In my experience in my little world, there is a pretty solid correlation to fast food consumption and total lack of exercise and things like smoking. Which is to say, people who eat fast food as a regular thing are a lot less likely to exercise, and more likely to smoke and drink and so on. Maybe your experience is different, but mine is that people who are in really good shape and get up every morning to run rarely, if ever, eat fast food. I'm sure there are some who do, but I haven't known any.

The idea of Super-size me is that fast food is a poor alternative - even in moderation - to other options, in terms of something to eat on a daily basis. The food is nutritionally poor, lacking many essential nutrients, and containing all of the stuff people would do better to limit.

Yes, it all comes down to calories and energy output, as if people who exasperatedly make this point every 5 minutes seem to think the rest of us "don't get it." Well I get it - the problem is it's pretty hard to meet your nutrition goals - vitamins, fiber, and so on (protein is probably not a problem) and stay at a reasonable level of calories if you're eating fast food all the time, considering what most people eat at McDonalds represents 50% (or more) of a day's worth of calories and salt, and possibly fat.

For some reason people have insinuated that Spurlock is on some kind of mission to shut down fast food restaurants or something. That didn't seem to be the point at all, and rather than freaking out, just take the movie for what it is - an experiment with fast food. Yes, self control is the key (this Merab Morgan woman and her fans seem to think that Spurlock's movie discounts this or something). Part of self-control is not eating crap 4 or 5 times a week and then complaining about the results. Most people who eat at McDonalds are there to indulge themselves, not count calories by ordering a child's happy meal in an effort at nutrition. Most people want a big greasy burger and a mound of salty fries.

When I go to a fast food place, that's what *I* want, at any rate.

And the fast food staples *are* crap. I eat them sometimes but I don't kid myself. People I have known tend to eat crap too often. Fast food is barely "food" from a nutritional standpoint, and what I'd like to see are better options. In cities with good restaurants and cafes, there often are. Frankly I'm not a big fan of salad, and I'm even less of a fan of low-fat, low-salt salad dressings, so I'd like to see healthy options (vegetarian chili, for instance) other than salads.

Sometimes though, out in the hinterlands of this continent of glowing signs there's just White Castle. Years ago I worked an overnight job, and this was the only option. I tried to pack lunch when I could, but we had no refrigerator, and as a result I just wound up eating too much White Castle. It tasted good, but I paid for it in the long run.

Spurlock proved he could get fat at McDonalds. He wrote a clever book about it and made money. Jarred claimed he got skinny eating at Subway. He's making money in TV commercials. There's a woman now claiming to be loosing at McDonalds. She's made news. Will she make money? I think McDonalds and Subway are also making money. I think we will see more of this.

You and I might have found that Spurlock might had an other motive to make his documentary. Yet, the media seem to have turned it into what they wanted it. The evil corporate McDonalds. Why? Because the "stupid unwashed masses" does not sell... After all it is the general unwashed masses that pay for the media.

So, give it a slight twist, and voila! you have a new enemy that there are plenty of people to hate, and therefore consume their "news services"...

I still don't believe Spurlock had such an altruistic and that he wished to enlighted the general public about the general public. No, he set out to show how McDonalds was the evil uncaring corporate monstrosity. THAT is how he became the instant media darling.

Working as a sales representative can be stressful, and most times that extra visit to a customer can make or break your day. It should come as no surprise that I started to shave time off my lunch as well as dinner by going to the McDonalds nearby...it became almost an obsession, with me mentally registering the McDonald joints in every city I visited, and actually planning my day around them. I started to realize that, altough my sales were increasing, I was having trouble staying focused, and even though I would have a good day, I didn't feel that way at all. Before I saw "Supersize Me", I figured out I was eating McLunch and McDinner at least 3 times a week, and my weigh was going up as much as 1 kilo a week! I teetotaled, cutting all fast food from my lifestyle. At the begining, it was physically difficult not to register the Golden Arches, and I even noticed a pavlovian reflex! Yes, when I saw a McDonald's, I started to salivate! In some cases, I had just eaten. The most important point in the film to me was that children are being preprogrammed to accept the fast food reality, but not connect the fast food industry to that big belly that's blocking your view of the scales, the sweat collcting on your neck, and the almost uncontrollable urge to walk in a McDonald's and order something-anything, to make yourself feel good.

Im filming a documentary,, the re-buttal to supersize me . I lost weight eating fast foof for 30 days ,, I gained weight eating 5000+ calories of fresh fish and veges and I then show you how you , an overweight person or obese person loses fat ,, I show you I explain how it works ,, and its not just reducing calories,, if you have ever had the need to lose weight and couldn't or struggled, this documentary is for you. I poke a little fun as I debunk super size me and ultimately show how supersize me should not have been entered in the film festivals as a true documentary ,, its actually a docu-drama. super slim me coming soon ps I ultimately lose 70 lbs. chew on that morgan!!!!

One cannot gain weight eating fresh fruit and vegetables, Kevin Springer. Can't be done. You might get healthier than you anticipated, feel great and look great, but you won't get weight. Maybe the fish will put weight on you if you are soaking it in oil and frying it. That is basically fast food.
Look, Americans eat like crap and get mad when they are told so. McDonalds is crap. Your body has to struggle to digest all of the junk that is in it, squeeze out the little nutrients and then make waste of it that stinks up your bathroom. If your waste stinks, you are eating crap. Face it. Eat vegetables and fruit only for one week. You will notice you can leave the bathroom without using air freshener. The crap we eat gives us cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses. We rank 24th in the world in terms of longevity. Know why??? Guess. Its no mystery. So, all of you lazy slobs that refuse to see the truth about the way we eat and its consequences, keep eating the crap. Take your statins, keep the drug companies in business, the diet companies, etc..BUT...........DO NOT TRY TO CONVINCE ANYONE THAT THE FOOD YOU ARE EATING IS GOOD FOR YOU. MEAT IS NOT GOOD FRIED FOODS ARE NOT GOOD BUTTER IS NOT GOOD ICE CREAM IS NOT GOOD FAST FOOD IS NOT GOOD SODA IS NOT GOOD BOXED FOOD AND PREPACKAGED FOOD IS NOT GOOD.WAKE UP. STOP BELIEVING ALL OF THE COMMERCIALS. MILK is not good. Why are you drinking something that comes from the body of a cow for its young and trying to convince yourself its good for you????? You are drinking a cows bodily fluid (even the calves stop drinking it when they no longer need it). Protein in meat is not the kind you need. Your body is getting cancer from it. wake up. Thank you to all of those above that are trying to convince the idiots.

"Supersize Me" had a few good points nestled inside a big pile of crap. It had the potential to be an excellent documentary. I was one of the first people in line to see it. But it was so bias, so over hyped that it lost all credibility in my eyes. I almost walked out halfway through the movie. The puking scenes were ridiculous and obviously just there for shock value; he was going from being vegan to eating 5000 calories of high fat food a day. What did he think was going to happen? I think the documentary would have been a lot more effective if he had also discussed people that eat fast food in moderation and people trying to diet using fast foods.

The movie was also way too preachy rather than being practical. It was made to entertain people that already hate McDonalds and Fast Foods and insult people that actually eat fast food on a regular basis. Basically the message was, if you eat fast food at all you're really just an ignorant slob. The path towards enlightenment is going vegan.

And wakeup, throwing insults around isn't going to help anyone. People already know that fast foods, meat and butter are bad for them you don't need to beat them over the head with it. That doesn't keep people from craving it. You're absolutely right, if everyone went vegan, the world would be a much healthier place, but practically this isn't going to happen. At least not anytime soon. People are going to eat what they're going to eat whether you like it or not. What they need to learn is not to binge and eat thousands of calories at one time. They need to learn moderation.

I lost 20 pounds in 3 months. Most of the time I'd try to eat around 1500 calories a day and I'd try to eat as many soups, fruits and veggies as I could because they filled me up more. I'd excercise at least 3 times a week. But every once in a while if I was doing really good on my diet, I'd treat myself to a double cheeseburger and fries. This doesn't make me an unhealthy person just a person that knows how to balance the unhealthy foods in her diet with healthy foods and excercise..

And just FYI, it is absolutely possible to get fat eating fish. If you take a look at the calorie content of salmon it is not all that different than eating beef. It's easy to think that just because it's a fish you can eat all you want. Maybe you don't have a portion control problem but many many other people do and this is a serious problem. I think Kevin is trying to make a point about moderation and he has my full support (just as long as it's based on facts and not just shock value :) ).

If people continue to defend the old adages that dairy,meat and god knows what else is good for them, they ARE idiots. One of the definitions for idiot is "a foolish person". People that continue to eat like crap, knowing it is crap and moan about being fat are foolish. Period. Not an insult. Truth. We live in the best country in the world, with a VAST amount of studies regarding this subject. Yet, people continue to ask "why can't I lose weight" as they shove a big mac in their mouth. Foolish. Sorry, but the documentary WAS based on fact. Clearly, that food is horrid. That was the message. One cannot live on it. In fact, one will die on it if they eat enough of it for a good amount of time. Kind of like lead. So, my point is, anyone that eats that way and wonders why they look and feel like hell, when they KNOW why...they are idiots.

Eileen, I dont think I was throwing insults around. I did not insult any one person personally. It was a generalization in order to drive home a point. Don't be so sensitive.

i wanna lose weight, im 14 and its too hard for me to not eat, i wanted to become anorexic but from wat i heard, thats not good. and i wanna lose my weight fast. can eating just fruits and veggies and exercising 30 mins a day help me lose weight?

Annie, don't be silly! Anorexia is not something you 'want', to be anorexic is to be eatting virtually NOTHING. Which.. makes you loose weight very fast(weight loss for anorexia comes from mainly muscle and water, although alot of fat is also burnt up by that time you look real ewww!), also makes you look really unhealthy (picture a pale, sickly looking person) it makes your stomach produce huges amounts of acids, which you throw up.. so your teeth turn gross and yellow, because the acid eats rapidly into your teeth. You'd have zero energy, bad memory,stinky breath and be super cranky most of the time (especially more so at your age).

Besides all that, you can't 'make' yourself anorexic - its a disease that generally stems from perfection or mental/physical abuse.

If you want to loose weight do it the smart way, not the easy/dumb/quick way (starving). If you starve your body to much your body will then cling on to anything you eat WHEN you eat again, you metabolism will reduce to the point where you will actully put more weight on WHEN you eat again. It can take up 2 years for your metabolism to be normal again, so just don't do it!

Smart Way For Weight Lose (copy this )
1. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day (staying hydrated is important for your metabolism)
2. Eat lots of fresh fruits, veg and salads. Eat lean meats and fish like tuna and salmon (all portion controlled (about the size of your fist )
3. Eat regularly 5 small meals a day! (that's good foods, not junk or rubbish)
4. 30 gm cheese, 1 small tub of L/F yogurt, small glass of milk is a about all you need for calcium (also good little meals/snacks

Pretty much eat when your hungry, choose healthy foods, low fat, low salt and sugar. Eat just enough to take your hungry edge off. Always eat your breakfast and NEVER skip your meals or your body will go into starvation mode with just lowers your metabolism, a high metabolism is essential for weight loss/fat loss.

Exercise 5-6 days a week 30 minutes at a time try and build it up to 45 -60 minutes.

Do light muscle building exercises like push ups(girl style), sit ups and squats - they won't bulk you up, just increase your muscle mass more and increase your fat burning metabolism even more!

you are full of shit. She should eat all raw like she sugested and she will have great health. Don't post your opinion if you have now clue about nutrition. Fluffbunny you are completlly false in 100% of what you said

Hey "wakeup"; you need to wakeup. I'm one of several fat vegans out there- fruits and vegetables can be surprisingly calorie packed. If you took some time to read labels and stop assuming things your passion could have fueld a much more convincing argument.

well the point of all of this is 2 prove THAT THERE ARE FAT PEOPLE WHO EAT WAY 2 MUCH!!! simple as that and he proved it so dont wine about being fat bcuz the point is u had 2 get there sum how didnt u.....stop whining and complaining...im 16 and i saw this movie in my cooking class and we have 2 do a report on this so all im saying is that people who complain about being fat should quit bcuz its their fault not nebody elses

Jim, you are a fat vegan because you have no self control and lack discipline. You eat junk food. You are not fat because you eat clean. Don't lie. You are fat because YOU ARE reading labels and eating it anyway. You are eating too much, and too much crap. So, before you sit your fat ass in the chair and write stupid emails, decide to shut your dorito hole and do some crunches. You are NOT eating healthy...vegan or not. Idiot. PS:if you took some time to read your own post, you would have spelled fuel correctly. Now, go eat some fruit you raging idiot.

First of all, this whole vegan-non vegan issue is far from black and white. Many nutritionists agree that we do need the protein in meat and the calcium in milk and that not eating any of it can cause our bodies severe problems. Now, many experts say the opposite: eating meat and dairy products is dangerous for the body and should be stopped. If even the experts can't agree on this, I think there's room for different interpretations and lifestyles. How about a little respect and tolerance in the land of the free?

Getting fat on fruit: perfectly possible. Fruit contain lots of fructose (fruit sugar) and it is fattening. It's not as bad for you as white sugar, but it's equally full of energy. For example, one litre of orange juice with no sugar added contains 400 calories - about as many as a litre of Coca-Cola with sugar. Add to that the calories in vegetables such as beans or potatoes. Carbs=calories. Weight gain is not a product of eating unhealthy food; it comes from eating more calories than you spend, and that can be achieved with healthy food also. Extreme amounts of fruit and vegetables are bound to give you indigestion, and too many vitamins can be dangerous for your health too. Everything in moderation.

Super Size Me is problematic in many ways. It's subjective and extreme, while claiming to be scientific. It uses emotional effects: shock, disgust, humor, to make you feel a certain way. It's is by no means objective, and the information in it can't be generalized to every single person eating at McDonald's, as witnessed by the more varied "McDonald's diets" made by other journalists. Now, some of you are saying that those journalists shouldn't be allowed to present their evidence because "it gives a green light to go to McDonald's." That sounds like censorship to me. I thought we had a right to weigh the information, be notified about conflicting studies, and make the judgements ourselves. SSM wants to tell us what to do, and to me that's dubious in itself. Give us facts and let us think, don't give us emotional shock effects and commands.

Those other studies don't exist to say that burgers in extreme are good for you. Their point was that you can be healthy on any food, as long as you eat a varied diet and everything in moderation, plus have exercise. They also prove that eating at McDonald's won't immediately cause poor health. I think that's a good message and still within the realm of promoting good health. It just isn't anti-McDonald's and anti-fast food.

And conversely, just because a message is anti-fast food, doesn't make it a good message. Read the quoted article from the top. There are many inconsistencies in what Spurlock is claiming. Be critical of his methods and ideas, don't just celebrate him because he said out loud what you were already thinking.

Spurlock's a clown, According to him the second day eating McDonald's he puked as if he had never eaten such "quantities" of food (A Double pounder with fries and a coke) please, I rather believe in the Weekly World News articles than this guy's desperate 15 mins. of fame.

I am a 21 year old female. a little over 1 year ago I weighed in at 84 kilos so I went on a salad and water diet and now I weigh 65kilos. I really want to lose 6 more kilos. How do you suppose I do this.I dont wanna starve myself again but it feels like its the only option that works for me???help!!!!

wakeup is an idiot. meat and milk are not bad for you and dont give you cancer. thats propoganda put out by the soybean people u moron.

Weight loss boils down to one thing...creating a caloric deficit in relation to your BMR. Your BMR is the amount of calories required to maintain your weight..if you eat more than this you gain weight, less and you lose weight. Likewise if break even with food calories but excercise each day you still create a deficit and will lose weight.

Too large of a defecit will cause your body to go into starvation mode where it will store almost all of what you eat in your fat reserves. This is a result of thousands of years of human evolution and having always lived on the bring of one famine to the next.

A pound of fat is 3500 calories. If your BMR for a man is for example 2300 calories per day you would want to create a defecit of about 300 to 750 calories to achieve healthy weight loss. This would net you 2/3 of a pound to 1 1/2 pounds per week. You can also add in excercise but your combination should never exceed about 1500 calorie defecit in a given day (3 pounds per week for man, less for a woman).

If you ate 40 pounds of carrots or 3 Big Macs you still gain the same amount of calories (in reality the chewing and effort required to eat 40lbs of carrots would likely see you expend more in the long run hehe).

So you want to lose weight...whats the secret?

Create a daily deficit through a combination of excercise and food. Eat healthy balanced food (vegan or meat). Split those meals into 5 to 6 smaller portions per day. Work in weight lifting as it strengthens bones and will reduce the percentage of muscle lost in your weight loss (you lose both muscle and fat when losing weight, not just fat.)

That's it..no secret diet...no scam, no gimmicks...just common sense...get moving...eat right and tada...you lose weight.

"I am a 21 year old female. a little over 1 year ago I weighed in at 84 kilos so I went on a salad and water diet and now I weigh 65kilos. I really want to lose 6 more kilos. How do you suppose I do this.I dont wanna starve myself again but it feels like its the only option that works for me???help!!!!"

Congratulations you lost important muscle weight along with fat but probably mostly muscle. You also put your body in starvation mode and will likely yo yo and could end up weighing more than before once you resume regular consumption.

STOP...listen. As I posted above. THERE IS NO SECRET TO WEIGHT LOSS. NO GIMMICKY DIETS. They are harmful in the long run and will damage your body. To lose weight you need to do two things...

EAT RIGHT
EXCERCISE

Eat Right - Means eating smaller meals more frequently and tracking WHAT you are eating. As a woman shoot for about 1400 calories per day, which should get you on average about a 200 calorie deficit from food.

Excercise - Then excercise for an additional 500 calories per day.

This will see you losing a healthy 1.5 pounds of weight per week. But most importantly mose of the weight will be fat with only a little muscle lost.

Wow, so this is why the world is fat and unhealthy! People need to relax... But by relax, I don't mean eat whatever they want and literally defend the fast food industry. You guys are comical and very delusional. Just eat food; REAL food. Remember fruits and vegetables? Remember whole grains and legumes? It's not complicated, nor should it be such an emotional topic. Oh yeah, and go vegan! …For your health, for the environment, for the animals, for the starving, for world peace, for the workers who kill and torture your food for you daily. It just makes sense. You can blab all you want about Morgan Spurlock. He's not vegan, because he's just as delusional. Do your own research, as he certainly is not the authority on diet.