This post will explore child nutrition through McDonalds nutrition facts and how they are related.
It is based on the experiment done by Morgan Spurlock who made himself into a human guinea pig by eating 3 meals a day for 30 days exclusively at McDonalds, and made a documentary called “Supersize Me.”
One of the favorite things kids love to do is to eat at a McDonalds.
Because this fast food is cheap, tasty and quick, parents like it too in their fast paced, busy and stressed lives…and the kids get a free toy!
But it comes with a price… childhood obesity has soared.
It has increased over 50% in the last two decades.
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Fast Food Facts from Super Size Me
Morgan Spurlock’s goal was to explore the obesity epidemic which plagues America today, so he made a video documentary,
Super Size Me showing his journey from fit to flab in 30 days. He’s also traveled to 20 cities across the country interviewing people on the street, health experts, and a lobbyist for the fast food industry.
Upon starting McDonalds nutrition, Morgan Spurlock was a healthy 6’2″ 185 pound 33 year old.
After one month eating only from the McDonalds menu he had gained 30 pounds – but even more importantly, had become very ill.
Changes began as soon as a few days after starting when he was vomiting out of his car window, and doctors after examining him were shocked to see the rapid deterioration of his entire body.
His liver had become toxic, his cholesterol had shot up from a low 165 to 230, his libido was down and he developed headaches and depression.
Throughout the month Morgan Spurlock was regularly examined by a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner.
“He was an extremely healthy person who got very sick eating this McDonalds diet. None of us imagined he could deteriorate this badly-he looked terrible. The liver test was the most shocking thing – it became very, very abnormal.” – Daryl Isaacs, M.D.
An interesting effect of his eating solely from the McDonalds menu, was that he even starting craving fat and sugar fixes between meals.
Spurlock said, “I got desperately ill. My face was splotchy and I had this huge gut, which I’ve never had in my life. My knees started to hurt from the extra weight coming on so quickly. It was amazing and really frightening.”
His girlfriend, a vegan chef, was horrified but knew he wanted to educate people.
Spurlock has since returned to normal health. “The treatment was to just stop doing what he was doing.” Dr. Daryl Isaacs
Morgan Spurlock was never able to get through to anyone from McDonalds to agree to an interview. A spokeswoman for McDonalds said that no representative from the corporation had seen Super Size Me.
She went on to say,
“Consumers can achieve balance in their daily dining decisions
by choosing from our array of quality offerings and range of portion sizes to meet their taste and nutrition goals.”
Spurlock decided to do this experiment after eating a typical Thanksgiving meal. Feeling bloated, he watched the news on TV and saw that 2 women were suing McDonalds.
People from the food industry were saying, “You can’t link kids being fat to our food – our food is nutritious.”
This made him wonder about McDonalds nutrition, and he decided to find out.
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Click here for Actual Nutrition in the McDonalds Menu:
McDonalds Nutrition Facts
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At the very least, I hope this post gives you food for thought – pardon the pun. Think about how eating McDonalds nutrition and the food at other fast food restaurants affects the alarming rise of the numbers of overweight kids in our nation. For more info about over weight kids, click: The Obese Child
And for more information about kids’ health and wellness, click:
Childrens Health
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To read a list of all my articles in this blog, click: Here
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There are many areas of our well being that can be made better by just making a small change here and there. I decided to reach out to people interested in improving their family’s general health by offering some simple, helpful tips and intend to cover a wide variety of areas in children’s health.
I hope you find the tips useful and as a result, help improve the health of your family and our planet. Being involved in the health and wellness field over the past 28 years, I work to make a positive impact on the lives of my clients and their families in the area of wellness. It is my goal to help make a difference for anyone who desires improved health.
Sincerely,
Sarah
