Are You Addicted to "Bad" Foods?

Not sure who authored this -- sent via an associate.
Documentary should be forthcoming on TV.

"Food" for thought!

What if someone ate nothing but empty nutrition in the form of fast food for 30 days and drank nothing but soda? What do you think would happen to their health?

According to the following articles, someone did try it. Someone has eaten nothing but McDonalds’ food for 90 straight meals—breakfast, lunch and dinner for 30 days, all in the name of art. Super Size Me: A Film of Epic Portions is an independent film screened at the just-completed Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The film follows Morgan Spurlock, who directs the film, as he eats meal after meal of McDonald’s fare.

According to an article in the Salt Lake Tribune Spurlock first thought about the film on Thanksgiving 2002. “Watching the TV news, he heard about a lawsuit filed by two New York City girls, who claimed an addiction to McDonald’s food made them obese. In the news stories, Spurlock noted food-industry spokespeople stressing that their products could not be blamed for the girls' obesity. ‘If it's that good for me, then I should be able to eat it every day,’ Spurlock concluded.”

On February 1, 2003, Spurlock began his fast food experiment. His health was monitored by three doctors and a dietitian. The New York Times reports that “he and his doctors were amazed to find that after just 20 days, the 33-year-old Mr. Spurlock, who started in supreme physical condition, was almost in liver failure. They encouraged him to abandon the diet, but he continued through the month, gaining a total of 25 pounds and finding himself depressed and listless.”

The Deseret News also a Utah newspaper, reports that Spurlock: gulped down about 5,000 calories a day at McDonalds across the country. All told, he ingested about 30 pounds of sugar and 12 pounds of fat from the fast food. And after bingeing on everything Ronald’s menu has to offer at least once—and supersizing when offered—the previously trim and healthy Spurlock had spent about $850…raised his once-normal cholesterol levels by 65 points, sent his blood-fat levels out of the Playland roof and, in one of his doctor's words, turned his liver into paté.

Plus, he became emotionally and physically addicted to the grub despite repercussions of headaches, chest pain, mood swings, exhaustion, depression, etc.

"I felt depressed constantly when I was eating this food," he said. "I was a horrible person to be around most of the time."

You would think that after just a few days of nothing but McDonalds, he’d crave something else. No! He was “emotionally and physically addicted to the grub.” Hopefully people you talk to about their empty nutrition habits aren’t in such a dire state, but this vividly (and sickeningly) illustrates the addictive power of empty nutrition. Overcoming such a strong connection, emotional as well as physical, to food will be one of the biggest challenges your customers face.

Lest you think Spurlock is totally nuts for doing what he did, his motives are sound. The Deseret News article tells us Spurlock “hopes the film and his eating experiment will serve as a wake-up call for Americans who—as he, nutritionists, doctors, even a former Surgeon General he consulted with believe—are eating themselves to death.” He even echoes Brain GardenR17;s message of adding to existing habits and not trying to force people to swear off fast food completely.

In the Deseret News article, he’s quoted as saying,“I do want people to start doing is thinking about eating it. They need to think about what they're doing and how this will affect them in the long run.”

If it’s any consolation for Spurlock, he won the documentary director’s award at the Sundance Festival. Even more importantly, he has lost all but four of the pounds he gained and his blood levels have normalized, thanks to a vegan diet his girlfriend designed.