Read 'n' Seed 6: Final Review of "Don't Eat this Book, Fast Food and the Super Sizing of America"

Overview:

The book I chose to read was called "Don't Eat This Book, Fast Food and the Super Sizing of America" by: Morgan Spurlock. This book was based off of Morgan Spurlock's documentary called Super Size Me.This book was about Spurlock's experience with eating McDonald's fast food for 30 days straight. This included breakfast, lunch, and dinner, if it wasn't on the McDonald's menu, he couldn't eat it. He also included that when the person behind the cash register asked him if he wanted to super size his order he had to say yes. The book also included many food facts and helpful nutritional information. Spurlock over his 30 day experiment gained 24.5 pounds.

Three Significant Takeaways:

The first significant thing about this book was the amount of weight Spurlock put on over 30 days. He put on 24.5 pound over the course of his experiment. This is a huge concern as many people do not notice how much weight they are packing on when they eat fast food.

The second significant thing about this book was that Spurlock was considered healthy by doctors before he started his experiment. By the time he was almost done doctors were begging him to stop because of all the health issues he was already experiencing. Spurlock showed signs of heart disease, lung, and other health risks after 30 days of fast food.
The third significant thing about this book was how much I learned about nutrition. I was able to learn about foods that most think are good for you but can actually be worse. One thing specifically was fake sugar, that it actually isn't any better for you than regular sugar.

 

Why Is It Important:

I think this is really important as obesity is an issue that affects most American's. Even if you are not struggling with your weight, chances are you  know someone who is. This book is really informational and may help people to take a step in the right direction. This book has really changed how I look at fast food. Since reading this book I have ate less fast food. I believe since the semester began I have had fast food three times. Which is less than once a month. After reading this book I plan to cut fast food out of my diet completely. It's amazing what reading one book can really do for your life.

Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to anyone. I really felt that this book opened my eyes to big fast food companies and exactly what they are doing to make their business grow. I know that I am going to pass this book onto my family and friends as I thought it was really informational. If reading isn't quite your thing or you think you just don't have time Morgan Spurlock wrote this book off of his documentary Super Size Me. This documentary has a some of the same information in it, but not everything the book has. Overall, from reading the book or watching the movie you will be able to get a good idea of what exactly is going on in the fast food industry.

Read 'n' Seed 5: Fourth quarter of "Don't Eat This Book, Fast Food and the Super Sizing of America"

Chapters and Pages

For the fourth quarter of Read 'n' Seed I read chapters 13-16, pages 199 to 268.

Main Topics

One idea brought up in this section of my book was what if people adopted the "penny per calorie" rule. According to my book its states that if a calorie cost a penny, then would you really want to spend $3.60 on a candy bar? Or spend $11-12 on a fast food sandwich? The idea behind this is that maybe that would be a way to get the obesity level in America down without spending money on surgeries or listening to your doctor lecture you on obesity. I thought this was an interesting point, although this will most likely never happen, it would probably change the way things are in America.

The final numbers were in about Morgan Spurlocks 30 day McDonald's diet. Day 1: 185.5 pounds. Day 5: 195 pounds. Which is 10 pounds in five days! By Day 12: 203 pounds. He stated that the experts he talked to though that the weight he gained was water weight due to the massive amounts of sodium in the foods he ate. Day 31: 210 pounds. Morgan Spurlock over the course of a month gained 24.5 pounds after eating McDonald's for a month. For him this weight was 13% of his body weight. He stated that it took him 9 months to completely lose the 24.5 pounds he had ate.

Terminology

No new terminology this week, as I have been reading this book I have understood more of the terms the author uses.

Implications

Although, it is slightly unreasonable to believe that anyone would eat McDonald's for an entire month. Morgan Spurlock showed America what can happen if you continue to eat fast food even 3 days a week. I think most people know that eating this type of food is bad for them but it is just the convenience of the food. I plan to try to eat out less, even at sit down restaurants because some of that food can be just as bad for you as fast food can.

Read 'n' Seed 4: Third quarter of "Don't Eat This Book, Fast Food and the Super Sizing of America"

Chapters and Pages

For the third quarter of Read 'n' Seed I read chapters 9-12, pages 130 to 198.

Main Topics

One main topic was a study done by Morgan Spurlock, he left some fast food restaurant foods in a jar. Most of the foods in the jars took a while to go bad, with the french fries lasting the longest. It turned into a joke between him and his friend to leave food, specifically fast food, in each others desk. Most of the time the food was found when it started to smell. In another instance food was found after one Morgan Spurlock had left the company, the food had been placed there at least eight months before, the food was not discovered because of the smell but simply because the other person was looking in his desk for an item behind books. This item behind the books that had been there for at least eight months was a cheeseburger from McDonald's. It lasted that long without smelling, that is not normal. It was stated in the book that it lasted that long because of the added chemicals.

Another Main topic was how Morgan Spurlocks 30 day diet had been going. Spurlock complained of his chest feeling heavy, headaches until he ate the food again,and zits and pimples on his face. These reactions were all within the first week of Spurlocks attempt at 30 days of McDonald's. A rather funny part of this book is that a lot of the words he uses start with Mcblank, for example his 30 day diet is called the McMonth. 

The book also suggested the next time you get a burger from your favorite fast food joint, scrape off the added toppings take of the bun and see what the burger actually looks like. Does it look like that normal burger that you cook up on the grill.

Terminology

I did not have any terminology so instead I made this an interesting fact. Most American's don't know the basics about their health, including what a calorie is. A calorie is a measure of the energy content of food. One calorie, the kind that you usually see when you see the caloric content on food labels, is the amount of energy that's needed to raise the temperature of a liter of water by one degree centigrade (Source: Marion Nestle, nutritionist).

Implications

This is very important of society to know, because although this food may make your headache go away, that headache is only being caused as a result of eating the fast food. I think this is also important to realize because as people eat this food more and more they will be think it is normal and not seek any care or change their eating habits.

Read 'n' Seed 3: Second quarter of "Don't Eat this Book, Fast Food and the Super Sizing of America"

Chapters and Pages

For the second quarter of Read 'n' Seed I read chapters 6-8, pages 75-129.

Topics

One topic covered was that Morgan Spurlock had three different doctors he saw over the course of the 30 day McDonald's only food period. The three doctors specialized in gastroenteritis and hematologist, cardiologist, and an . Morgan Spurlock had a physical before he started his McDonald's only diet and he weighed approximately 185.5 pounds, I am excited to read about what he weighed when he was done with the 30 McDonald's only diet.
I also read about the amount of calories in the salads that fast food places makes, in one McDonald's Fiesta Salad there is 450 calories. This does not seem that bad for a fast food place but of that 450 calories, 56% from fat and 26% from saturated fat. Now that is not very good for a salad that is supposed to be good for you. To put that into perspective it has a higher percentage of saturated fat than a Double Cheeseburger.
"Some scientists believe that those 10 teaspoons of sugar you slurp down in a 12 ounce soda may stimulate the same part of your brain, the reward circuits, that cocaine and nicotine do." This is really interesting. I am not much of a pop drinker but someone of my friends say they need a pop every morning or they just feel they have an off day.
I also found it interesting that even Monsanto could some how be brought into this book. Monsanto is the same company we saw from in The Future of Food, the movie we watched in class a few weeks ago. Monsanto was brought into the book because of their development of artificial sweeteners in the early 1900's.

Terminology 
Gastroenterologist is the study of the digestive system
Hematologist is the study of blood 
Internist is the medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis, management and nonsurgical 

Implications
I think it is important to understand the food that you are putting into your body. I like to get salads if I do go to a fast food place, for instance if I am traveling. I just assumed that they would be the best option but I learned this week that you really have to look into what you are eating and not just assume that because it is a salad that it is healthy. It is important for others to understand this too as it is pretty well known in society that salads are good for you, but you really have to take into account what is in the salad besides lettuce.

Read 'n' Seed 2: First quarter of "Don't Eat this Book, Fast Food and the Super Sizing of America"

Chapters and Pages 

I started my book this week called, "Don't Eat this Book, Fast Food and the SUPER Sizing of America." I am extremely happy with the book I chose to read, so far it has been very interesting. I read chapters one through five (pages 1-74) for the first quarter of read 'n' seed.

Main Topics 

The main topics of my book were facts about most American's eating habits. Within this it was talked about the how 65% of American adults are overweight, while 30% are obese (See bellow for definition). Childhood obesity is also a huge issue in America, and causes growing health concerns. Type II diabetes is the kind you can develop through bad diet and excess weight. Type II diabetes is just one of the health issues children are likely to face if their weight is not within healthy averages. One fact that really stuck out at me was that in 1970 there were about 70,000 fast food establishments in America, 186,000 in 2001. McDonald's alone has 14,000 in America, and 31,000 worldwide. In 1986 in reaction to the opening of the first McDonald's in Rome, started the "Slow Food" movement. According to the book "Slow Food" means old-fashioned cooking,with real, fresh ingredients grown and raised in environmentally sound ways. This movement has surprisingly even moved in to the United States, among 45 other counties (when this book was wrote, now to 132 countries).

Terminology

I learned the difference between overweight and obesity. Overweight is when your weight is 10% over the healthy weight for your height. Obese is when you are 30% over the health weight for your height. I was unaware of the "Slow Food" movement before reading about it in my book, and found it to be very interesting.

Implications
I think that as long as a person cares about their health they should care about obesity in America and what they are putting into their mouth. I don't think obesity is anything new in America, most have known that if you don't exercise and eat well you will probably gain weight. To address this issue I think more can be done to teach children when they are younger about proper nutrition and forms of exercise. Yes we all had gym and recess in elementary school and were able to get out running around in then, but now some school are cutting these two things from their programs. Granted it is not many school but it is one way we are only going to dig ourselves in a deeper hole. The book also implied that people need to change no just for them but for their kids because more learn by watching. I agree with this idea, some kids simply follow in their families footsteps of eating habits.

Read 'n' Seed: Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America

I chose to read the book "Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America," by Morgan Spurlock. This book is about Spurlock's experiment in eating fast food everyday. He talks about the politics, power, and pounds in the fast food industry. Spurlock also talks about America's struggle with obesity and how it relates to fast food. Spurlock takes a look at how eating fast food affects a persons health and how eating unhealthy can cut years from your life. I chose this book because of my interest in nutrition and staying healthy and to see what people go through when they eat this way.
I was able to learn more about Morgan Spurlock and other books and movies by him, through the research (website below). I found this book on Amazon.com, where many consumer and editorial reviews were given. The consumer reviews really spiked my interest to read "Don't Eat this Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America."

More about "Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America:"

• Morgan Spurlock
• Consumer Reviews
• Editorial Reviews
  

This book is 320 pages long, over 16 chapters. My plan is to split up the reading so that it is roughly even throughout the semester. I plan to read chapters 1-5 as the first quarter of read 'n' seed, chapters 6-8 as the second quarter, chapters 9-12 as the third quarter, and chapters 13-16 as the fourth quarter of my book.
I hope as I read this book I am able to share a lot of tips to stay healthy and why it is important to avoid eating fast food all the time.

Intro Post to Amanda's Water Bottle Watch

TITLE: Welcome to Amanda@Amanda'sWaterBottleWatch!

PHOTO:

PARAGRAPH 1:
Hi my name is Amanda, I am a health care management major. My blog is about plastic water bottles and reusable water bottles. Plastic water bottles are a big part of waste and could easily be reduced by using reusable water bottles. Above is a picture of a reusable water bottle in nature. My blog will be about my switch to reusable water bottles and how you can do your part to change to reusable water bottles also.

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This was my first post, I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for visiting, I hope you come back and learn more about water bottles!

Blogged for the Welcome Linky Party hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy.