Supersize Me

[kenshikenji]

I was counseling students while watching this movie, so I wasn't paying too close attention at the beginning, but did it say what he was doing in regards to exercising before the "diet?"

What the food did to his body besides just the weight gain was what disturbed me. There's only so much exercise can do for you....

The one thing people have told me time and again is to lay off of the fries when getting fast food... the fries apparently are terrible for you (fat, sugar, etc.).

Since I've been cooking more and eating out much, much less (no extra $) I've noticed that I both feel better and have more $. I only ate fast food once the past few weeks, and that was a Taco Bell burrito at school because I forgot to pack my own lunch. I felt poorly all afternoon. Blah.

My next hurdle is to get over Coke. The beverage kind, of course (I love it so!).

i study health/physiology/pathology/and anatomy as an avocation. Exercise is an important component of health, just as important as diet, beyond essential nutrition.

the reason why fries are so bad for you is that the fast food restaurants used trans-fats to fry the fries with. These have a high tendency to increase Low density lipoproteins which are a huge factor in cardiovascular disease. Not only that, potatoes are made up of a complex carbohydrate polysaccharide called starch, which is easily digested and absorbed into the bloodstream as glucose, spiking ones glycemic level leading to diabetes which also increases risk of heart attack and stroke. Mcdonalds i believe has started to phase out transfats, but they are used in a lot of commercially baked and fried goods because of their stability which probably helped keep the fries fresher than the comparison with the restaurant quality fries. bottom line, one should steer clear of trans-fats as well as potatoes, or eat very sparingly. Not all complex carbohydrates are the same, as the case with fats, as the us department of agriculture would lead you to believe.

i would just like to add, that i never blame the fastfood restaurants as much as i blame the individual for being so overweight. They often try to blame it on genetics (which has some truth) but its funny how this pandemic of obesity is only attacking highly affluent industrialized countries. is there a correlation between wealth and the "obesity gene"? kinda makes you think...TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR LIFE!

(i guess being libertarian reflects in my rants huh?)

[hanaeleh]

I've never thought it was any fast-food chain who was ever responsible for people being overweight. It is always an individual's choice. Still, I do believe that this movie has helped to make people more aware of the choices that they are making- and how those choices are literally killing them.

I say this as I'm drinking a Coke. I have made a definite effort over the past few months to cut down on my soda intake, but I still am making that choice to imbibe. I exercise daily- either running/walking 4 miles, riding my horse, doing Tae Kwon Do, KumDo, etc. but it still doesn't mean that this stuff isn't rotting my teeth and potentially doing damage to my kidney. When I first started drinking soda, however, I was not aware of how *really* bad this stuff is for you.

Mmmmm... Coke....

[kenshikenji]

why not switch to the diet version of your favorite soft drink? may i suggest caffeine free also? caffeine free sodas are sweeter because caffeine adds a bitter element to it. also aspartame is 4 times sweeter than regular sucrose (table sugar). I was always meaning to research the effects of artificial sweeteners on the decay of teeth, but i do know that the acidic ph level of a fresh open can of soda doesnt help.

caffeine free diet dr pepper is my only dietary vice, but its not a big one

[Court]

Why we're on the topic of kicking bad eating habits, I still do have a problem with chocolate from time to time. I wonder if I should go get myself hyponitized or something like some smokers do. Its the only sugar I still go after, I would love to eradicate it from my life!............if only it didn't taste so good.
kenshi-libertarians all the way man!

[In_Gabriel_We_Trust]

I'm a sucker for fast food and candy... which is difficult to resist when you live in the land of chocolate.
And there is of course a little difference in the fact that fast food over here isn't nearly as yummy as the fast food in the states.

[yanbraz]

well I never eat fast food , I just hate this kind of food . I workout every day , so eat this is terrible for me .

[hanaeleh]

Diet stuff sounds like a great idea, but the aspertame and such are quite icky (too sweet!) and plus they lend themselves to migraine headaches. Ah, such are the dilemmas in life!

I tried the C2, but after a few potential migraines, I decided my "diet" woudl just consist of a few Cokes a day instead of a six-pack.

Hmmm... caffeine free? The point of which is....

[kenshikenji]

Diet stuff sounds like a great idea, but the aspertame and such are quite icky (too sweet!) and plus they lend themselves to migraine headaches. Ah, such are the dilemmas in life!

I tried the C2, but after a few potential migraines, I decided my "diet" woudl just consist of a few Cokes a day instead of a six-pack.

Hmmm... caffeine free? The point of which is....

i reallly believe its just a matter of getting used to the taste, all the people including myself were skeptical but diet soft drinks have evolved and with a couple weeks as replacement, you wont (probably) go back.

migraines? didnt know that, what is the mechanical reason that artificial sweeteners cause migraines?

[In_Gabriel_We_Trust]

but the aspertame and such

Isn't there a school of thougt saying aspertame may be cancerous ?

[Keropi]

I try to avoid drinking Pepsi or Coca Cola.

I don't know if they still have them or not, but they used to have something in them (?carbonic acid) that would give me cold sores in my mouth if I didn't rinse my mouth out after I drank them.

Someone in our elementary school class did an experiment about Coca Cola partially digesting hamburger if you kept it in there for a little while.

[Cloud]

I'm not sure if I would like to try to avoid drinking Pesi or Coca Cola. What's it like?

[blueheaven]

but the aspertame and such

Isn't there a school of thougt saying aspertame may be cancerous ?

There is no study that shows a link between aspartame and certain illnesses. However, it does have chemicals that could be harmful to many. Here's an article I read on the subject that makes a good point. Just don't use it. Sugar has 15 calories per teaspoon, so use natural sugar in moderate doses rather than chugging down diet sodas and Nutrasweet.

http://www.drweil.com/u/QA/QA106654/

I don't know if they still have them or not, but they used to have something in them (?carbonic acid) that would give me cold sores in my mouth if I didn't rinse my mouth out after I drank them.

Someone in our elementary school class did an experiment about Coca Cola partially digesting hamburger if you kept it in there for a little while.

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cokelore.asp

All your Coke questions answered at the site above. Actually, if you put hamburger in orange juice, it will desolve just as fast as it would with Coke. Coke contains less carbonic acid than most regular plain soda water. And carbonic acid is not harmful to you at all. As for the other chemical: Coke contains less citric acid than OJ and less phosphoric acid than Gatorade.

[hanaeleh]

^Yay! Go Coke!

I'm of the mind that I'd rather have more natural (not that Coke exists in nature, but that would be the best tree ever!) sugars being processed in my body, than have my body try to break down all of the artificial junk.

[Remi]

why not switch to the diet version of your favorite soft drink? may i suggest caffeine free also? caffeine free sodas are sweeter because caffeine adds a bitter element to it. also aspartame is 4 times sweeter than regular sucrose (table sugar).

I'm going to have to disagree with this suggestion. As someone raised only with diet soda in the house, it's the only kind I've ever been able to drink. Sugared soda bothers my teeth. However if that were not a factor and I was forced to pick between the two and had no other options, I'd rather deal with digesting the sugar and drink it slowly enough to not send my body into sugar shock (I don't eat any foods with added sugar though so it would probably be unavoidable), than consume all that aspartame.

I gave up soda completely a while ago, and now pretty much just drink herbal/green tea and water, but when I did drink it, it was only decaffinated diet soda, mainly diet ginger ale. However, it really bothered me to think about what the aspartame might be doing to my insides, so even though it was rare I had one, I just realized I'd be happier if I stopped drinking them altogether, so I did.

You should really try to avoid soda altogether. It causes bloatedness. As for diet versus normal, with regular you are drinking liquid sugar, which rots your teeth, elevates your glucose level and really unstablizes your energy level. The other option is you go with the diet stuff, which still bloats you, but adds a ridiculous amount of chemicals not meant for human consumption, the long-term effects of which most are still not really known.

If you really are calorie conscious, but need a sweet fix but have been using products with either nutrasweet or aspartame, I'd like to recommend trying a product called Splenda. I know that there are some sweet 'diet' foods that are now being made with it, but ir's actually made from natural sugar, so I think in the long run if you have to use a sweetner, this one will be much kinder to your insides.

P.S. Caffeine is the worst though! Instead of trying to trick your body into thinking it has energy, it's much better to actually treat your body in such a way that it provides you with energy! When you are sluggish or tired, try and figure out the reason behind it and correct, rather than fool your body with a quick-fix! *gets off preachy soapbox*

[hanaeleh]

^Knows you're right, but I still enjoy my soda. Ah, well... guess it's a small vice in comparison to what's out there....