Super Size Me, a McDonald's Story

So, I'm not sure who saw the documentary Super Size Me, but I was pretty impressed and surprised at some of the things I saw. The basic story is showing how bad fast food is for you and how it affects the whole nation while a guy, the filmmaker, goes for an entire month only eating food and drink from McDonald's. The guy started as a perfect conditioned guy and ended with a very damaged liver, 30 pounds heavier, headaches, depression, twice as much risk of diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other things.
Some of the very interesting facts is that:
1. America is the fattest country in the world(everyone knew that though)
2. 60% of the people in America are either overweight or obese
3. A four-year old will see 10,000 ads or commercials for candy, junk food, or fast food. That means that if the same kid ate every single meal with his parents for a year and the parents gave him good food and ate good food themselves, they would only show him a good example a 1,000 times, as compared to the 10,000 times they see it on TV, Billboards, and in stores.
4. Most public shools get their cafeteria food from major junk food companies and don't care if the kids choose only the worst parts of the food choices. The paradox is also that to get their food from healthy and natural manufacturers costs NO MORE THAN THE JUNK FOOD COMPANIES.
5. Much fast food contains a certain processed chemical that produces a drug like effect that causes addiction making you wanting to eat more and more.
6. Only 6 items on the McDonald's menu do NOT contain sugar, those are fries, mcnuggetts, hash browns, coffee, water, and diet coke. Even salads and condiments such as ketchup and dressings contain high amounts of sugar.
7. If you eat a McDonald's a mere once a week for a meal regularly, your risk of heart attacks, diabetes, and liver failure DOUBLE.
8. On Manhattan Island, which is only 13 miles long, has 83 McDonald's in it.
9. Originally, what is now the kiddie-sized, was regular, and the now small-sized, was the large size for a drink. Also, McDonald's used to sell only one size fries and that was what is now the kiddie bag sized.
10. A teenager that drinks one standard-sized coke for lunch everyday will, by the end of the week, have drunk enough pure sugar to fill a liter-sized coke bottle almost full. The guy doing the experiment by the end of the month had eaten over 30 pounds of pure sugar.
11. 90% of all McDonalds do not contain nutrition charts or carry-out nutrition booklets where as almost every other fast food place comes with them standard.
12. Kids in school that eat nutritional and well-balanced meals greatly increase they alertness, attention span, and ability to stay in shape. Fast food and junk food carry chemicals that makes you feel drowsy, bummed out, depressed, and wanting to just do nothing. It basically makes you STUPID.
13. McDonald's in 2001 spent 2.1 billion dollars in advertising, Pepsi spent over 1 billion, and Hershey spent 200 Million, where the leading nutrition company in it's BEST year spent a mere 2 million, which is 100 times less than just one candy company.
14. McDonald's recieves more customers in one day than the entire population of Spain.
15. Every health expert or doctor will say that any person should go to fast food places either not at all or extremely rare because of the unhealthyness of the food.
16. McDonald's target audience is, you guessed it, the kids, with their comercials, tv shows, cartoons, playplaces, happy meals, and free toys with kiddy meals. No other fast food restaurant has an indoor playground or a tv show.
17. McDonald's is the only fast food restaurant that has no alternative to the very unhealthy french fries they sell. (Burger King: Onion Rings, Wendy's: Baked potatoes, KFC: mashed, potato wedges, etc.)
18. 72% of all McDonald's customers are, by McDonalds standards, heavy users(one visit a week), and 22% of them are Super Heavy Users(more than three or four times a week)
19. Nine weeks after the premier of Super Size Me, McDonald's eliminated the Super-Size addition of the menu realizing the absurdity of it, but yet they said the movie had nothing to do with the decision.

These are just some of the interesting facts I can remember, but it really makes you think.

If you can, STAY AWAY FROM FAST FOOD!!!

p.s. Sorry James. =)