revulsion

I finally got around to watching Supersize Me tonight. Wow, it was every bit as disgusting as everyone had hyped it to be. There were definitely some gratuitous shots that served no other purpose than to gross out the viewer. For example, the scene of Morgan regurgitating on Day 3. We all saw him lean out the window, they put in the appropriate sounds, there was no need for the camera to then focus on what was on the pavement outside the car. I also found myself wondering if all of his self-reported chest pains and such were real, or perhaps a bit hypochondriac-y. Regardless, the movie drove its point home. If they felt the need to heighten the disgust-factor to make a cohesive documentary with a strong message, that's fine with me.

One of the most surprising things to me was that he managed to gain 25 pounds in 30 days. That seems astronomical, and the fact that it took nearly a year to lose that weight speaks volumes about how our body breaks down fat.

If you rent the dvd, be sure to check out some of the extras. One of them is a little science experiment that he does by observing how long it takes each item to decompose if left alone, to get an idea for what would happen in your stomach. For comparison, he also lets a burger and some fries from a "real restaurant" decompose. The amazing thing is that after everything else has dwindled to smelly fuzz, the McDonald's golden fries look pristine in their jar after 10 weeks. They didn't naturally decompose for more than two and half months! The fries got thrown out at that point, so he didn't continue the experiment to see how long it would take before the actually did start breaking down. Just imagine what your poor stomach must have to go through to digest those suckers.

Unfortunately, McDonald's fries definitely have something addictive in them, and I know I won't be able to stop myself sometimes. But at least it will be a long time before my next trip.