Everything's bigger in America,
we've got the biggest cars,
the biggest houses,
the biggest companies,
the biggest food,
and, finally,
the biggest people.
America has now become
the fattest nation in the world.
Congratulations.
Nearly 100 million Americans
are today either overweight
or obese.
That's more
than 60% of all U.S. adults.
Since 1980,
the total number of overweight
and obese Americans has doubled,
with twice as many
overweight children
and three times as many
overweight adolescents.
The fattest state in America?
Mississippi -- where one
in four people are obese.
I grew up in west Virginia,
currently the third-fattest
state in America.
When I was growing up, my mother
cooked dinner every single day.
Almost all my memories of her
are in the kitchen.
And we never ate out,
only on those few, rare
special occasions.
Today, families do it
all the time,
and they're paying for it --
not only with their wallets,
but with their waistlines.
Obesity is now
second only to smoking
as a major cause
of preventable death in America,
with more
than 400,000 deaths per year
associated
with related illnesses.
In 2002, a few Americans
got fed up with being overweight
and did what we do best.
They sued the bastards.
taking aim
at the fast-food companies
and blaming them
for their obesity and illnesses,
a lawsuit was filed in New York
on behalf of two teenage girls,
one who was 14 years old,
4'10", and 170 pounds,
the other, 19 years old,
5'6", and 270 pounds.
The unthinkable
had suddenly become reality.
People were suing the golden
arches for selling them food
that most of us know isn't
good for you to begin with
yet each day,
one in four Americans
visits a fast-food restaurant.
And this hunger for fast food
isn't just in America.
it's happening
on a global basis.
McDonalds alone operates
more than 30,000 joints
in over 100 countries
on 6 continents
and feeds more than 46 million
people worldwide every day.
That's more than
the entire population of Spain.
In the United States alone,
McDonalds accounts for 43 %
of the total fast-food market.
They're everywhere --
Wal-Mart's, airports, rest stops,
gas stations, train stations,
shopping malls,
department stores,
amusement parts, even hospitals.
That's right -- hospitals.
At least you're close
when the coronary kicks in.
Lawyers for McDonald's
called the suits "frivolous",
stating that the dangers of
its food are universally known
and that these kids can't show
that their weight problems
and health woes were caused
solely by their McDiets.
The judge states, however,
that if lawyers
for the teens can show
that McDonald's intends
for people to eat its food
for every meal of every day
and that doing so would be
unreasonably dangerous,
they may be able
to state a claim.
Are the food companies solely
to blame for this epidemic?
Where does personal
responsibility stop
and corporate responsibility
begin?
Is fast food
really that bad for you?
I mean, what would happen
if I ate nothing but McDonald's
for 30 days straight?
Would I suddenly be
on the fast track
to becoming an obese American?
Would it be
unreasonably dangerous?
Let's find out.
Im ready.
Super-size me.
I knew
if I was going to do this,
I would need some serious
medical supervision,
so I enlisted the help of
not one, but three doctors -
a cardiologist,
a gastroenterologist,
and a general practitioner.
You're feeling
quite well today, yes?
In general, any fatigue
or weight loss, weight gain,
any change in your vision?
No fever,
no earache, no cough
no shortness of breath,
no chest pain...
...nausea,
vomiting, heartburn?
Dr. Isaacs: no hospitalizations
for illness?
Do you take
any medications of any sort?
Ive just been
taking vitamins.
Any food allergies
or anything?
No.
There's no heart disease
or diabetes or blood pressure
or cancer
in the immediate family?
My grandfather's had
a couple open-heart surgeries.
One out of four
grandparents is dead.
Yeah.
Good genes.
That's the important thing.
- Any alcohol use?
- Now? None.
You don't smoke?
I used to, but I don't.
Any drug use at all?
Not for a long time.
- Are you sexually active at present?
- Yes.
- A girlfriend?
- Yes.
Is there anything
we didn't cover?
Is there anything else
you need to tell me?
I don't think so.
"Patient is embarking
on a one-month McDonald's binge."
Very good.
You might have something
called white coats.
140 over about 95.
130 over 105.
120 over 80.
That's what it is?
The other guys
are stressing me out.
You're much more relaxed.
I tend to do that
to my patients.
Swallow, please.
Your reflexes are perfect.
Good. Back out.
Normal.
Say "ah."
Everything
looks pretty normal here.
Good.
We'll skip
checking for hernias.
We're gonna
do a rectal exam.
I like to be more
thorough than that.
And I like doctors
to be thorough.
You're gonna go downstairs
and get your bloods drawn.
So, the reason
we have you fasting
is the true cholesterol
and glucose number is fasting.
So, if you had, like,
a bacon, egg, and cheese
your cholesterol
would be way high,
or if you had orange juice,
your glucose would be high.
Three down.
Your blood tests
are excellent.
Your starting off with
a total cholesterol of 168
which is less than 200,
which is really superb
your blood level's fine.
Your iron level
is good as well.
you have no evidence
of diabetes.
Your fasting blood sugar
is very low.
the other thing
that we looked at
were all your electrolytes
in terms of salts in your blood,
your kidney function,
your liver function.
They were all perfect.
Your triglycerides, which is
your building blocks of fat --
basically, what you acquire
from eating fat --
is 43, which is low,
which is good.
Your general health,
you know...is outstanding.
Your urinalysis is great.
So, you're
starting off terrific.
I think
the worst-case scenario
is that you increase
your triglycerides
and your cholesterol level,
and if you have any he
art disease in the family --
underlying heart disease --
you're putting
your heart at risk.
I expect to see an increase
in your triglycerides,
because
that can be affected.
You're at 87 now,
and I think that will change.
I think that's the only thing
that will change.
Out of everything?
Out of everything.
There might be
some minor variations,
but the body
is extremely adaptable,
and the kidneys will handle
any extra salt you're taking in,
and your liver will be able
to metabolize additional fats.
As far as you gaining weight,
you probably will.
As far as your cholesterol
going up, it probably will.
As far as you
feeling miserable, may be.
I don't know.
Unless you start cheating
and just order the salads.
I also went to a fancy
new York wellness center
to meet a registered dietician
who would help
track my progress.
Okay, let's start with
getting your height and weight.
Im 6'2".
I weight about 185.
For your height,
this is a healthy weight.
I can tell you that
right now.
Your BMI,
which is the body mass index,
is within normal limits,
which means you're not obese.
You're actually
at the correct weight.
So, I should keep a checklist
of the things that I eat
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
Your calorie needs
are gonna be averaging
about 2,500 calories a day.
As far as fat goes,
for 2,500 calories,
you're gonna want about
80 grams of total fat in a day.
The saturated fat, which is
a component of total fat,
you want to have
less than 25 grams a day.
Don't try to overindulge
too much.
Good luck, Morgan.
Hi, there. I'm Eric Rowley,
our exercise physiologist.
Great.
Rowley:
the official weigh-in...
1851/2.
We'll go through
the cardiovascular assessment,
and then I'll be able
to calculate
how much oxygen
your muscles can utilize,
and that's also an indicator
of what type of condition your
cardiovascular system is in.
All right, good work.
Im gonna use
these skinfold calipers
to estimate
your body density.
You're 11% body fat.
that's great.
We're gonna
measure your flexibility
of your hamstrings, your hips,
and your lower back.
Good, good.
very nice.
38 centimeters
was your best.
There's a basic
old-school test
for muscular strength
and endurance.
36. Good job.
You're above average
above average fitness
for your age group,
definitely, I'd say
you're at a good spot right now.
More than 60% of Americans
get no form of exercise,
so for the next 30 days,
neither will I.
But I'll still have to walk.
How much does the average
American walk a day?
We have these pedometers
that we put on people,
step counters.
You could very roughly
estimate at about 2,000 steps,
because 2,000
would make a mile.
And we know that people
that work in office settings,
who drive a car
to and from work,
who take an elevator
up to that office,
may take as little
as 2,500 or 3,000 steps
in their entire day.
If you wanted to feel physically
like a lot of Americans do,
then you'd limit yourself
to about 5,000 steps a day.
Us New Yorkers --
we walk everywhere.
We walk to work,
to the park, to the store.
Most of us don't even own cars.
The average New Yorker will walk
four to five miles a day --
a day!
That's a lot of walking.
Ill also have the blessing
of being close to a food source
almost everywhere I go.
I walk past three golden arches
just on my way to the office --
three in just over a mile.
There are more Mickey D's
in Manhattan
than anywhere else in the world.
This tiny little island
is less than 13 miles long
by 2 miles wide,
22.4 square miles,
and packed into that area
are 83 McDonald's,
nearly four per square mile.
There are
twice as many Mac Shacks
as there are Burger Kings,
and there are
more McDonald's than KFC,
Wendy's, Popeye's,
and Taco Bell combined.
That's a lot of burger.
I know he's
gonna do it for a month,
but I think after a week,
he's gonna be really irritated.
I think it's gonna
affect our relationship.
You are a vegan chef.
Yes, I'm a vegan chef.
Ugh. I just don't
know if I can --
of course I will.
Ill sit next to him
while he eats McDonald's.
Of course I will.
Im just gonna be
rolling my eyes the whole time.
I have a vegetable tart
and a quinoa
and roasted veggie salad
artichokes,
and a simple green salad --
all beautiful, organic,
fresh vegetables
that you're gonna
miss so much.
What am I gonna have
that's organic?
In the next month?
Nothing?
You're only gonna have
genetically modified potatoes
Im gonna eat as many
vegetables as I can tonight.
There's plenty
here for you.
That's really good.
Thanks.
Have they improved their cookies
in the last 10 years?
Last time I had them, they were
like little hockey pucks.
I don't know.
We'll see.
It's the first day,
and I'm on my way
to breakfast.
Could I get an egg McMuffin
extra value meal?
Every 8-year-old's
dream right now
that I'm getting ready
to fulfill.
I got my egg McMuffin.
That's gonna be
the first thing right there.
This McDonald's
delivers for free.
All I did today
was leave my apartment,
walk down the stairs,
and walk to the McDonald's --
1,272 steps.
So, we got to go to the corner
and we got to get a cab.
The cabs are gonna
add up in this thing.
I can tell already.
I got my scorecard,
and in here,
I had one egg McMuffin.
I had one sausage biscuit.
Do you eat fast food?
Once in a while.
Yeah? How often?
Id say probably
once every two weeks.
Three, four times
a week maybe.
In France, yes.
But here, no.
I don't like here.
It doesn't sound
very...clean.
And what's
your favorite place?
Probably Wendy's.
McDo.
Taco Bell.
Taco Bell.
McDonalds is pretty close.
Do you ever have
super sized cokes?
No, in France...
the small size here,
it's a bigger size in France.
Even the small size here,
I can't drink.
There are rules
to what's going on here
in this whole process.
I will only super-size it
if they ask me.
I can only eat things
that are for sale
over the counter at McDonald's,
water included.
If McDonald's doesn't sell it,
I can't eat it.
I have to have
everything on the menu
at least once
over the next 30 days,
and I have to have
three squares a day --
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
No excuses.
Oh, I love Big Macs.
This is probably
the first time in a long time
that I've seen a big Mac
that looks like the picture,
that actually almost
looks like the picture.
Look at that.
Big Macs never look this good.
You got to come to Chinatown
for the good big Macs.
You've heard
about all these people
who are suing
these fast-food companies.
Yes, I've heard of them.
I think it's ridiculous,
but it's the American
way to sue for everything.
Id throw the lawsuit out
if I was a judge.
And like I was saying,
if these fast-food places
can put their signs up,
if I can walk by them
and just totally ignore them
and say, "I'm not hungry.
I don't need this,"
they can do it, too.
We don't have to go there.
We don't have to shop with them.
we can easily go in McDonald's
and grab a salad,
but we choose not to.
Now, if the McDonald's
refused them service,
they'd be in court again saying,
"we were refused service."
so you can't win if you try
in this world.
I think there's a lot of focus
on the fast-food companies
because they are mentioned more
than virtually
all the other causes
in most of the articles
and books and studies
about why it's
a sudden epidemic.
Again, it can't be
the neighborhood restaurant.
We've had
neighborhood restaurants
for hundreds of years.
It can't be the foods
we eat at home.
We've been eating at home
for hundreds of years.
Something is very different.
I think the figure is we eat out
something like 40% of our meals.
John Banzhaf
is currently spearheading
the attacks
against the food industry,
advising many of the lawyers
who are currently
going through the process.
People say he's crazy,
but that's what
they used to say about him
when he first sued
the tobacco companies...
until he won.
I think in terms
of responsibility,
it's fair to point
the big gun at McDonald's.
McDonalds is
one of the biggest
but, more importantly,
it is the one which,
far more than all the others,
lures in young children.
They have the playgrounds,
the closed, indoor playgrounds.
Many places,
there are no other playgrounds.
You've got to
take your kid there.
So even at 2 and 3 and 4,
those kids are being
lured into there.
McDonalds is very heavy
on birthday parties.
They, of course,
pioneered the happy meals,
now the mighty kids' meals also
with those little
"gotta have 'em" toys.
So they get the kids in.
And, of course, the whole clown.
McDonald's has the clown.
A lot of those ads
appeal primarily to kids.
There's a cartoon on TV
which features him.
So they, more than others,
lure the kids in.
I think all of us are far more
concerned about the kids.
Another man
who is worried about the kids
is Samuel Hirsch.
He represents the two girls
who are suing McDonald's,
with much advisement
coming from professor Banzhaf.
Why are you suing
the fast-food establishment?
You mean motives besides
monetary recompensation?
You mean you want
to hear a noble cause?
Is that it?
I think that fast foods
are a major contributor
to this epidemic.
In 2000, Dr. David Satcher
became the first surgeon general
to draw attention
to the obesity crisis,
declaring it
a national epidemic.
Now, remember,
we're super-sizing everything.
You go to any fast food store,
and they're trained to tell you
to buy a bigger size.
For five cents more,
you can get the super size.
Federal government
will define a piece of meat,
three ounces of meat,
as a sensible portion,
and that looks like
a deck of cards.
Few people would be able
to find this deck of cards
if they were served a piece of
meat, a steak, in a restaurant.
It would probably be about
four or five times this size.
One typical bagel
that one is eating
that looks something like this
is going to comprise
five servings of bread.
When fast food companies
first opened,
they generally
introduced one size.
For example,
one size French fries
when McDonald's first opened,
called "fries."
that size fries
is now called "small."
Medium, large, and super size.
That original size
is still here.
It's got about 200 calories.
but the super size is gonna
pack in over 600 calories.
When Burger King first opened,
they had a 12-ounce small
and a 16-ounce large.
This 12-ounce is now kiddy.
The 16-ounce is now the small...
the medium, the 32, and the 42
and this is across the board
with all fast-food places.
Cars have introduced
larger cup holders
to accommodate those huge
7-eleven double gulps,
which are 64 ounces,
a half gallon,
and hold anywhere
from 600 to 800 calories,
depending on how much ice
you put in.
A half-gallon of soda?
A half-gallon of soda
for one person,
48 teaspoons of sugar.
Hello, may I help you?
Yeah, could I get
the double quarter pounder
with cheese meal?
Large or super size?
I think I'm gonna
have to go super size.
Look at that.
look at that coke.
That barely fits in there.
Oh, shit!
Ive got a -- look at that.
look at how big that thing is.
Look how big that French fry is.
That thing is,
like, four feet tall.
Double quarter pounder
with cheese.
More calories than anything.
There it is --
a little bit of heaven.
That's a lot of food, man.
Ill tell you what...
You get
all that super sized stuff,
that stuff gets super sized, man...
Look at that.
I just put a --
Im not even halfway done
with those fries.
Not even halfway.
This is like a workout.
See, now's the time of the meal
when you start getting
the McStomachache.
You start getting the McTummy.
You get the McGurgles in there.
You get the McBrick.
And then you get
the McStomachache.
Right now I got some McGee
that's rockin'.
Are you sweating there?
My arms -- I feel like
I got some McSweats going.
My arms got the McTwitches
going in here
from all of the sugar that's
going in my body right now.
Im feeling a little McCrazy.
Just give me a minute.
I'm in pure McDonald's Heaven.
This is gonna be you,
like, after every meal.
Im dying.
God,
that looks so nasty.
It's making me puke.
You all right?
Yeah.
I believe we live
in a toxic-food
and physical-inactivity
environment.
That is,
we live in an environment
that almost guarantees
that we become sick.
Not 100% of people become sick,
but the numbers of people who do
are growing
and growing and growing.
I don't believe that "toxic"
is too strong a word, either,
because an epidemic of obesity
where 60% of the population
is suffering
and record numbers
of children are having this
is a crisis by any standard.
The toxic environment
is constant access
to cheap, fat-laden foods.
It's gas stations that sell
more candy and sodas than gas.
It's a nation where there
are more than 3 million
soda vending machines.
That's one
for every 97 Americans.
It's a world where people depend
completely on their cars
for transportation
and where walking
has become such a chore
that we rely on machines
to do it for us.
My stomach
feels horrible this morning.
It doesn't feel good at all.
There we go.
Im getting this really weird
feeling right in my midsection,
basically in my penis right now,
and it's just like this --
It's really freaky.
That is very odd.
Yeah.
It could be
from the caffeine,
but I couldn't really
pinpoint that 100%.
I have a delivery for Mr. Morgan.
$13.39.
$13.39.
I made it
over the three-day hump.
You know
how when you quit smoking --
I don't know how many of you
out there smoke cigarettes,
but you should stop.
I quit smoking.
and there's the three-day hump.
Three-day --
it's the three-day hump
when you quit
smoking cigarettes.
If you can make it
over those three days
without smoking one cigarette,
if you can make it past day one,
day two, day three, you're fine.
Same thing with this.
I made it past day three.
Im all right.
Left unabated,
obesity would overtake smoking
as the leading preventable cause
of death in this country.
I was at this meal,
and it came up
that one of the people
was a smoker,
and somebody else at the table
started hectoring them about it.
"What's the matter with you?
"Don't you know
how bad it is for you?
"It'll do this, that,
and the other thing to you,
and you really should stop."
And the smoker,
rather than saying, "fuck you,
mind your own business" --
Which, I think,
is the appropriate response --
was abashed and defensive.
"Oh, I tried to quit,"
and, "yeah,
I'm gonna try again,"
and "you're right,
you're right," and so on.
At that same table,
there was a quite large woman,
and I was wondering --
what if this guy,
instead of confronting
the smoker,
had said to the large woman,
"What's the matter with you,
you fat pig?
"Don't you know how dangerous
it is to be so overweight?
"Stop eating, for god's sake.
And don't you dare get dessert,
and what's the matter with you?"
Same logic.
Id be hard-pressed
to find a distinction
between those two examples.
So, one is now
socially acceptable --
to hector smokers --
but the other one
isn't quite yet.
So the question is,
at what point
will it become acceptable
to publicly hector fat people
in the way that smokers
are publicly hectored?
A secret study
by one of the tobacco companies
had the ominous title --
something like,
"brand imprinting
for later actuation in life."
They would buy
the little toy cigarettes,
and they'd start
play-smoking them
at 4 or 5 or 6.
Wouldn't even
notice the pack.
If you asked them
what pack it was,
they wouldn't notice it,
but the theory was that
somewhere, it's buried in here,
and then when they get to
the age where they're smoking,
without even realizing it,
they're going for that pack
that they recognize
because it had
those nice feelings for them
when they were
little kids.
The same way here --
they're satisfied,
it's nice,
they remember
the warm feelings
of playing
and getting the toy,
being with mom and dad.
It's gonna carry through.
That's why
when I have kids,
every time I drive
by a fast-food restaurant,
Im gonna
punch my kid in the face
Then we'll never
want to come.
One of the most disturbing
things to me
is that in the last
20 to 25 years,
we've actually seen a doubling
of overweight and obese
children and adolescents.
And this weight gain
has been linked
to countless health problems
later in life, such as...
In fact,
if current trends continue
one out of every three children
born in the year 2000
will develop diabetes
in their lifetime.
At least 17 million Americans
now have type 2 diabetes,
about one
out of every 20 people.
If the diabetes starts
before the age of 15,
you lose somewhere between
17 and 27 years of life-span.
according to the new research,
the direct medical costs
associated with diabetes
have doubled.
The direct medical costs have
doubled in the past five years,
from $44 billion in 1997
to $92 billion in 2002.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of
about 20% of the obese children
have elevated abnormal
liver function tests,
and we have now started a study
where we're
biopsying these children
to see what their livers
actually look like
under the microscope,
and half of them have evidence
of scarring of the liver,
fibrosis of the liver,
the early stages of cirrhosis.
So, when these children
end up being adults,
they're going to end up --
if they don't change their
eating and exercise habits,
are gonna end up
with liver failure
and, well,
either transplant or death.
Did you want lettuce
and mayonnaise on all of them?
I think it's very, very hard
for overweight teenagers
because you're always
going to see
the thin, pretty,
popular girls,
and you can't help
but look at them
and think, "I wish I was her,"
or, "I wish I could have that."
And it's depressing.
It makes you feel like crap.
That's just how it is,
and of course
it's hard being a teenager
because you see all the girls
in the Cosmo girl
are teen people,
and they're all beautiful,
and you think, "aren't I
supposed to look like that?"
And it's just not realistic.
It's not a realistic
way to live.
So, without further ado,
let's welcome Jared Fogle.
My big thing was never smoking.
It was never drinking.
Obviously,
it wasn't doing drugs.
My big vice was food,
and before I knew it,
I wound up weighing 425 pounds.
I brought in
a present for you --
my old pants
that are now made famous
in all the subway commercials.
You're welcome.
This is
my daughter, Victoria.
She's an eighth-grade
honor student,
and you're a real
inspiration to the kids.
I really
appreciate that.
That's one
of the greatest --
I started
putting my weight on
as you guys know,
about third or fourth grade.
She was real tiny
when she was littler,
and it's been in our family.
In fact,
I had a great-grandfather
that died
and was buried in a piano box
years and years ago,
so it's a history.
Absolutely.
And she's been trying
to maintain her weight.
It's tough.
it's always a challenge.
I know as a kid,
it's awfully hard these days
and kids
are not always kind.
No, not at all.
And I know that firsthand.
And the problem is,
the world's not gonna change
You have to change.
I guess it's kind of cool
to know somebody
or be able
to listen to somebody
talk about actually
being where I am right now,
and it's kind of hard
because I can't afford
to go there every single day
and buy a sandwich
two times a day,
and that's
what he's talking about,
like that's
the only solution.
That's what he said
worked the best,
but I can't do that.
And I've tried other ways,
and it's kind of hurt my body
from doing other ways
that I've tried to do.
And it's kind of hard
to, like, look at someone
who says, "hey, I've done it.
You can do it."
but it's not that easy.
Id been sick as a kid.
I grew up eating
a lot of ice cream,
more than you can believe.
We had an ice-cream-cone-shape
d swimming pool in our backyard.
We had a commercial freezer with
not only all 31 flavors in it,
but all experimental flavors
that were under development.
And I made myself
the official taster.
I had to approve everything,
in my mind.
And I loved it.
What kid wouldn't?
I literally
had unlimited ice cream.
I ate ice cream for breakfast.
But I was sick a lot.
And I wasn't very athletic.
I was really ill.
And I didn't feel good.
So I would kind of appease that
by eating more ice cream.
You can see how the vicious
cycle would take place.
One of the triggering factors
for me was my uncle,
Burt Baskin, my dad's partner
and brother-in-law,
co-founder of the company --
died of a heart attack.
I think he was 51.
Now, my uncle weighed
about 240 pounds --
heavyset fellow.
And when he died,
as a young man, I asked my dad,
"Do you think
there could be a connection
between his fatal heart attack
and the amount
of ice cream he would eat?"
My father said,
"No, his ticker just got tired
and stopped working."
By this time,
he had sold more ice cream
than any human being that had
ever lived on this planet.
He didn't want to think that
the product was hurting anybody,
that it had contributed
to the death
of his brother-in-law, partner,
and, in many ways, best friend.
No way.
Ben Cohen,
the Ben of "Ben and Jerry's",
a couple years ago,
had a quintuple bypass procedure
at the age of 49.
My uncle,
Burt Baskin of Baskin-Robbins,
dies at the age of 51
of a heart attack.
My father, Irv Robbins, the
other founder of the company,
ended up
with very serious diabetes.
You can't deny these links.
You just can't.
Yeah, could I get
the two-cheeseburger meal?
Okay, super sized.
Second time.
Thank you, sir.
Thanks, man.
After five days
on the McDonald's diet,
what I did was I ran three days'
worth of food analysis.
the needs for you to maintain
weight at the 185
that you were at
when you came in -- 186 pounds
was approximately
2,500 calories.
Right now you're getting
almost 5,000 calories a day,
the average being 4,986.
I would love for you
to take a multivitamin.
McDonalds doesn't sell
multivitamins.
Well,
here's my new advice,
is just kind of
minimize the meals.
A substitute for the hot fudge
sundae would be the yogurt.
That is true,
if you get the snack size --
five ounces.
If you get the regular size
without granola,
it contains nearly as many
calories as a strawberry sundae.
With granola,
it has more calories
than the hot fudge
or caramel sundae.
And if that doesn't make you
think twice about the parfaits,
then how about this?
There's a big,
nappy hair in it!
That's disgusting.
Im gonna show you
how we do it.
You go like this.
We go...
look, it's long, too!
did you see that!
Oh, that's so gross!
Only the finest at McDonald's.
Here we are at 190.
192, 193, 194.
No.
We have to stop everything.
I don't believe it.
195 pounds.
It can't be.
We have to redo this.
That's zero.
Second try.
88, 92, 94.
You've gained, actually,
about 5% of your body weight.
Losing and gaining weight
that fast is not healthy.
Do you eat fast food?
Yes, I do.
Unfortunately.
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
love it, love it, love It!
Love fast food.
How often
do you guys eat it?
Every week?
Oh, maybe once
or twice a week.
We're gonna go hit up
McDonald's in a little while.
At least two times today
you know we ain't had
no meal yet today.
We was just pointing
towards McDonald's.
I get the number two,
the cheeseburger
with the super size coke
and fries.
Super-size it up!
Make it bacon, 69 cents.
That's what they say.
"Make it bacon."
Make it bacon, baby.
How often do you think
people should eat fast food?
I don't know
if they should eat it at all.
I don't know if I should
I don't know about
what they should do.
Oh, that's baloney!
It's baloney!
What they need to do
is 25 minutes on that treadmill,
work out a little,
do some push-ups.
If you do some push-ups
when you eat,
you'll keep
your weight down.
I keep my weight down.
I hit them push-ups
and everything,
Keep myself cool.
who has time to do that?
we have to work.
We have to take care of kids.
We have to clean.
so you exercise --
you run after your kids.
These are the first
McNuggets I've had
in this whole exciting
tour of duty.
Look at that
glistening in the sun.
Boy, that is miserable.
Im not sure what portion of the
chicken that's shaped like that.
Im guessing
this is the foot on the chicken.
In the lawsuit against them,
McDonalds stated
in their own defense
that it's a matter
of common knowledge
that any processing
that its foods undergo
serve to make them more harmful
than unprocessed foods.
Case in point -- McNuggets.
Originally created
from old chickens
that could no longer lay eggs,
McNuggets are now
made from chickens
with unusually large breasts.
They're stripped from the bone
and ground up
into a sort of chicken mash,
which is then combined
with all sorts of stabilizers
and preservatives,
pressed into familiar shapes,
breaded, deep-fried,
freeze-dried,
and then shipped
to a McDonald's near you.
Judge Robert Sweet called them
"A McFrankenstein creation
of various elements
not utilized by the home cook."
So, for the past couple days,
which I haven't
shared with everybody --
it's been a new thing --
Ive started to have --
not chest pains, but pressure.
I feel like I got pressure
on my chest.
I figure that's probably
not a good thing.
But neither's
eating all this, so...
I tell you.
I haven't smelled bad yet.
Yeah, you have.
No, I haven't.
You just don't smell
how bad you smell.
Look at that fish filet.
Look at this thing.
Oh, God,
that looks nasty, man.
Isn't that horrible?
Obviously, that's been
sitting around all day.
That, the filet-o-fish.
Shit!
WOMAN:
How can I help you?
Can I get the double quarter
pounder with cheese value meal?
- Okay, thank you.
- $4.86.
I don't feel good today.
Not that I feel sick,
but I just feel
really depressed,
you know, for no reason.
I mean, things are going great.
Ive had a good day.
I just feel really...
yeah.
It's not real hard
eating this food all the time,
just because it tastes good,
it makes you feel good.
I really noticed I'll eat some,
and just a little while later,
I'll be hungry again,
and I'll want more --
more, more, more.
Im pretty bored
with their menu.
It only took me nine days.
But it's pretty good otherwise.
Nine days.
How many?
How many's
the question.
We always ask how many,
and he holds up
how many fingers.
That's it.
It's always the "how many"?
It's just one for now.
As soon as I got my first car,
this is the first place
I came to.
I bought three Big Macs,
ate them out there.
I enjoyed them so much,
I came back about 5:00 at night,
bought three more,
ate them out there,
came back around 11:00
before they closed,
and ate three more,
so the first day I came here,
I ate nine Big Macs,
and it was like I couldn't get
enough hamburger at that time,
and Big Macs are so good,
so I ate 265
in the first month.
How many do you eat
a day, usually?
Usually it's two a day.
Now, last year,
I ate 741 last year.
That's more than two a day,
so that means
there's days I had three,
but that's because
they're getting smaller.
Probably 90% of my solid diet
is probably Big Macs.
That parking spot,
that's where I asked her
if she wanted to get married.
This place is special --
a lot of reasons.
I had one whopper
in my life -- 1984.
A guy gave me 5 bucks
to eat a whopper.
After I ate the whopper,
took my 5 bucks over to
McDonald's, got some Big Macs.
I always make fun
of people at work.
They say, "I'm gaining weight."
I say, "well, you should
try the Gorske diet."
they don't like that.
This is a perfect sandwich,
you know.
At least for me, it is.
There it is --
bite number 19,000.
The wife says when she's
got to put them in a blender,
it ends.
That's what she told me.
Big Mac smoothies.
Americas been McDonaldized,
you know.
It's been franchised out.
It's like one of those
"Flintstones" cartoons
where they just had something
rolling in the background.
You kept seeing
the same buildings go by.
It's like
K-Mart, Wal-Mart, McDonald's,
K-Mart, Wal-Mart,
Wendy's, K-Mart.
And it's like you have no sense
of where you're at anymore.
The way I look at it
is Cezanne was inspired
by the mountain he saw
out his window,
and when I look out my window,
I see no mountains.
I just see billboards
and advertisements,
so I use that as my inspiration.
The average American child
sees 10,000 food advertisements
per year on television.
95% of those
are for sugared cereals,
soft drinks,
fast foods, or candy.
A parent who eats
every meal every day
for the whole year
with their child
and at every meal gives a very
compelling nutrition message
and can bring in cartoon
characters and Michael Jordan --
so instead
of selling McDonald's,
he sells oranges --
and Britney spears,
instead of selling Pepsi
will sell radishes
or lettuce or something --
that parents will have
1,000 cracks at their child,
compared to 10,000
for the food industry.
So it's not a fair fight.
By the time kids
are able to speak,
most of them can say
"McDonald's."
I'm gonna
show you some pictures,
and I want you
to tell me who they are.
Okay.
Who's that?
You don't know?
George Washington.
Who is he?
He was
the fourth President.
He freed the slaves.
And he could
never tell a lie.
Who's that?
Don't know.
I don't know.
No.
I don't know.
George W. Bush?
No. That's
a good guess, though.
Who is this?
I don't know.
Goldilocks?
I forgot the name,
but I think I know.
Yeah?
where have you seen her?
That picture
is on the sign.
Wendy.
Who's that?
McDonald,
Ronald McDonald.
Who is it?
McDonald.
What does he do?
He was helping people
at the cash register.
He works at McDonald's.
I love their pancakes
and sausage.
He brings all his friends
to McDonald's
for a happy meal.
Where have you seen him?
On television,
on the commercials.
He's the character
that made McDonald's,
and he does a lot
of funny stuff on TV.
Companies spend billions
making sure
you know their product.
In 2001,
on direct media advertising --
that's radio,
television, and print --
McDonalds spent
$1.4 billion worldwide.
On direct media advertising,
Pepsi spent
more than $1 billion.
To advertise its candy,
Hershey foods spent under a mere
$200 million internationally.
In its peak year, the "5 a day"
fruit and vegetable campaign's
total advertising budget
in all media
was a lowly $2 million,
100 times less than
just the direct media budget
of one candy company.
Think about the way
food is marketed --
T-shirts, coupons,
toys for children,
giveaways in fast-food places,
place mats,
just all of the different ways
in which food marketing
is ubiquitous.
The most heavily advertised
foods are consumed the most.
No surprise.
Thank you. Come again.
Welcome to McDonald's!
Tomato concentrate,
distilled vinegar,
high-fructose corn syrup --
high-fructose corn syrup
and corn syrup.
That means sugar.
Im gonna move over
to my salad shaker.
I feel a little sick
to my stomach.
This is the best part
of the day --
when I get to be fat on the bed
with my quart of coke.
People eat out a lot,
and so if there aren't healthy
foods available at restaurants,
and there isn't
good nutrition information,
it makes eating out difficult.
McDonald's says
nutrition information
for all their products
is available on-line,
but according
to the 2000 U.S. census,
more than half of all U.S. homes
still don't have
internet access.
So, what are these people
supposed to do?
Go to the stores
for nutrition information?
Is that information even there?
I went to find out.
Do you guys have any
of the nutrition fact sheets?
Do you guys have one of those?
The things that fold out and
have the nutrition info in them?
There aren't
any over there?
Where would they be?
Up front?
But they got lots of info
about "Dora the explorer live!"
Let me check in the back.
That's cool.
Thank you.
Just give me one second.
I can't find the booklet.
You can use the one
right there on the wall.
But you don't have ones
you can take with you?
No.
Do you guys have
one on the wall?
They only have fliers now.
We had one before.
They don't put it up no more.
Why not?
I don't know.
Only half the McDonald's in
Manhattan had the nutrition info
posted on the wall,
some had
the takeaway nutrition charts,
and one in four
had no information whatsoever.
This nice manager brought me
the nutrition wall chart --
from the basement.
You don't have one
that I could take with me,
like a takeaway?
Do you know when you'll have
some of the paper ones again?
No.
John Banzhaf and I looked
all over this McDonald's
in Washington
for any nutritional information,
and then we found it.
Behind here --
you'd never see it.
It's right back there.
You can't argue
that people should exercise
personal responsibility
and then not give them
the information
on which to base it.
I got my chicken group.
There's no chicken group.
That's my cholesterol group.
It's protein.
I got my protein group.
Carbohydrates.
I got my meat group.
You got meat, meat,
sugar, and fat.
I officially had to loosen
my belt the other day.
I had to go a notch lower.
One notch?
It was scary.
Im an old pro at this now.
You'll get sick of this, too,
though.
Your girlfriend
must be loving you.
She hates me.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
I averaged out all the calories
for the last nine days,
and you're still eating
over 200%
of what your needs are.
I suggest you cut out
all the liquids
that you're drinking
from McDonald's,
except for water.
A lot of people,
if they're obese,
and they lose 10%
of their body weight,
it's beneficial.
It can be beneficial in terms
of blood pressure and so on,
so gaining 10%
of your body weight
maybe could be
equally non-beneficial.
Here we go.
Second weigh-in.
What do you think, Eric?
203?
About 202, 203.
I think you almost got 10%
of your body weight gained,
so you've pretty much gained 17 pounds
in 12 days.
You better slow down.
Im telling you,
don't drink your calories.
I told him no more shakes,
no more coke,
no more double burgers.
The staff here's
calling you "burger boy."
It's starting to get
dangerous now, man.
Im getting
nervous for you.
The one place where the impact
of our fast-food world
has become more and more evident
is in our nation's schools.
Can I get a shot
of your lunch right there?
this is where schools
turn a blind eye.
The student
with the French fries
probably brought a bag lunch
with real food.
The girl with the chips
is probably sharing them
with someone else.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Barbara brown
is the field representative
for Sodexho, one of
the countless lowest bidders
that school districts
have farmed out
the feeding of your children to.
Sodexho services more than
400 k-12 school districts
nationwide every day,
providing quality food like
little Debbie snack cakes,
Gatorade, and candy bars
to your children.
They also operate prisons
and feed thousands
of inmates worldwide.
Part of our position
is that we're hoping
that through
nutrition education,
the students will learn
to make the right food choices
without restricting
what they can purchase.
At this middle school
in Beckley, west Virginia,
the school lunches don't have
the flair they do in Illinois.
This school does not outsource
their food service,
but they are on the federal
school lunch program,
providing USDA reimbursable
meals to the students,
most of which are reheated,
reconstituted packaged foods.
Some days the amount of calories
in each meal tops 1,000.
So, the USDA
sends this food
for you
to prepare for kids.
Right. Well, not all of it, now.
You've got sloppy Joe
bar-b-que sauce with pork.
From the government.
Whatever happened to cooks
actually cooking?
I don't know what happened.
Too many whiny people.
They don't want
to work hard.
It's easy to come in here.
This is the best tool
we got right here --
box opener.
That's your chef's tool,
the box cutter.
Open up a box, serve it,
give it to them.
Let's look at the things
that are actually cooked.
Here's a menu.
Mashed potatoes.
Ham.
Chili will be homemade.
The chili
will be homemade.
What about
the tomato soup?
Campbells.
Meatballs?
Comes in a box.
You heat it up.
Out of the course
of an entire month,
6 out of 36.
You're only cooking
6 out of 36 meals?
Appleton central
alternative high school
is filled with students who have
truancy and behavioral problems.
But they've turned
things around --
not through discipline,
but through diet.
We were fortunate
to kind of stumble across
this healthy program
as a result of some contact
with natural oven and bakery
of Manitowoc Wisconsin,
and they believe
in low-fat, low-sugar,
non-chemically processed foods
that are free of dyes
and preservatives,
full of whole grains,
a lot of fresh fruits
and vegetables.
We do no beef here at all,
and then it's the method
of preparation,
where we don't fry.
A lot of baking
and then just fresh preparation,
as opposed to opening cans
or thawing things out
from the box.
We got rid of candy machines,
soda machines,
brought in bottled water,
and it was just a situation
where we saw a major change in the kids.
If you walk through these halls,
and you're here,
these do not look like at-risk,
out-of-control kids.
Their behaviors are better.
They seem to be more focused.
Teachers will tell you
that they get more
out of them in the class.
Keep in mind,
this is not a private school.
These are the "trouble kids"
of the public school system
in Appleton, Wisconsin,
that are eating so well.
and it costs about the same
as any other
school lunch program.
So my question is --
why isn't everyone doing this?
There's an awful lot
of resistance
from the junk food companies
that make huge profits off
schools at the present time.
They don't want to get kicked
out of the school system.
They want to be there
to addict the children for life.
The soft drink companies,
especially, boast about
how they're contributing
to America's education,
but, in fact, what they're doing
is they're draining money
from the community
rather than contributing money
to the community
because the soft drink companies
aren't pumping those dollars
into the machines.
It's the children
in the community
who are getting the money
from their parents,
and instead of that money
going directly to education,
the soft drink companies
are taking a cut of it
and walking away rich
as a consequence.
We just banned soda
in our school district,
and the sugar here shows you how
much sugar a student will drink
in a week of just soda.
Forget about
the rest of the food they eat.
And some of these companies
are really opposing the ban
for reasons of
that we would lose revenue.
And it's not about money.
It's not about economics.
It's about health.
The McDonald's
Texas home-style burger meal.
That's a --
that's a local specialty.
So it's kind of like
a big 'n' tasty?
Yes, except the big 'n' tasty
comes with mayonnaise.
Oh, then, you know what?
I need the McDonald's Texas
homestyle burger meal, please.
Would you like
to super-size it today?
Oh, yes, I would.
Do a lot of people
super-size it?
Yes.
Say you asked five people.
How many of those five do it?
Actually,
I get mostly all of them.
Mostly all of them?
So you're batting about 100%?
I guess.
See that?
She's that good.
Deborahs that good.
First meal inside the restaurant
that I went in to get,
and they asked me
to super-size it.
We're gonna keep a little tabs,
see how many times they ask me
to super-size it here in Texas,
'cause Texas, out of the top 1
5 fattest cities in America,
Texas has five.
Here we are -- Houston, Texas,
fattest city in America,
getting my first breakfast.
Hi, can I help you, sir?
When it comes
to the topic of obesity,
many people are quick
to point the finger
at various foods
and food companies,
but the grocery manufacturers
of America,
a Washington, D.C.-based
lobby group,
whose mission
is to advance the interests
of the food, beverage,
and consumer products industry,
are quick
to shift the focus away
from the companies
they represent
and to remind everyone
that there's more at work here
than just eating poorly.
We believe
very strongly in our industry,
and in other industries,
I think you'll find
there's a growing consensus
that the solution
lies in good education.
We have to get good information
to parents
so that they can
teach their children
better exercise
and nutrition habits
and so they can lead
the healthy lifestyles.
We don't teach physical
education in schools anymore.
In the U.S., only one state
requires mandatory physical
education for grades k-12.
It's also one of the fattest -- Illinois.
You got a heart rate?
Phil Lawler
is the phys ed teacher
at Madison junior high school,
home of the soaring war hawks,
the snack-ridden school lunches
we saw earlier,
and one of the most
well-executed
physical education programs
in the country.
Supported mostly by fundraising
and parent involvement,
Lawler has created a role model
for instructors
and school districts nationwide.
When's the last time you
ever heard of a science class
fundraising to get their labs?
eventually, society
has to step up to the plate
and say, "This is important.
"We should have
daily physical education
and equip it properly."
We have to say,
"Our greatest strength
is the resource
of our young people."
That's our future,
and the way we're treating
our resources right now,
we're running into some
serious problems with that.
Ive always said we've never
had healthcare in this country.
we've only had "sick care."
I think daily physical education
is the only place out there
that's really
offering a solution.
When I start the music,
you are gonna begin traveling
through general space.
You will go back to your spot,
and I will tell you
a body shape.
Watch out for other...
People!
People! People!
Round!
Good job.
How many days a week
do the kids here at this school
get to go to gym?
Once. One day a week.
For 45 minutes.
Is that enough?
No. Nowhere close.
Not when the surgeon general
recommends that, at minimum,
you need 30 minutes
of physical activity a day
to maintain your weight
and a healthy well-being.
So, once a week
is nowhere close.
In 2001, president Bush
announced his presidency
with sweeping education reform.
The "no child left behind" act
would now hold states
accountable
for not having students who met
minimum education requirements.
Apparently, we were not only
the fattest nation in the world,
but we were quickly
becoming the stupidest.
It may be sending a very
difficult message for schools.
One of the reasons
recess is being cut back
in elementary schools,
as I said earlier --
that's being cut out so
they can prepare for the tests.
and something I've said
to a couple of groups --
we could end up with youngsters
who can read but who are fat.
So we have "fat readers."
The more and more
we put mandates on the school,
to be very myopic
in their focus,
we mitigate against
all of these other areas
where they should be
devoting time and energy,
including phys ed,
nutrition, health.
these are all the things
being cut out.
Who in here can tell me
what a calorie is?
Something
you should watch.
Yeah.
You got that right.
Is it the fat
that goes through your, um...
What's a calorie?
Oh, Jesus.
A calorie is
an increment of, um...
Um, that's a good question.
Most of us know
what a calorie actually is.
I don't know.
Oh, wait.
Is a calorie some part of fat?
Like -- I don't know.
It's something that builds
up the fat in your body.
Calories are not good
It's the amount of --
See, I don't know.
I want to say it's the amount
of calories in a calorie.
I never pay no mind
to what calories are.
I just eat when I'm hungry,
and that's it.
If you can tell me
what a calorie is, go ahead.
A calorie is a measure
of the energy content of food,
and a calorie,
the kind that you usually see
when you see the caloric content
on food labels,
one calorie
is the amount of energy
that's needed to raise the
temperature of a liter of water
by one degree centigrade.
Well said.
Could I get a bacon,
egg, and cheese McGriddle?
Smells like a little pancake.
Tastes like a little pancake.
Look at that.
I haven't walked a half-mile
a day since we've been here.
No wonder
everything's bigger in Texas
If you're inside, stay there.
The blizzard of 2003
isn't over yet.
I got my lunch.
I got my dinner.
Never have to leave the house.
Im not gonna
completely become vegan
just because
you want me to.
Im not saying you should do it
because I want you to.
Im saying you need
to think about
what you believe
is a system
that it is corrupt and immoral
and wrong and hurtful,
but you're gonna
be a part of it.
Where is
the disconnect there?
Why don't you
make that choice?
Why don't I make the choice
to not eat meat?
Yes.
Because you like it.
'Cause it tastes good
I like bacon.
I love pork chops.
Ham is the greatest
thing ever.
Im sure heroin is awesome.
Heroine and ham are in
completely different categories.
Im sorry, but ham and heroin
are not the same thing.
They're not.
They're not.
I could be strung out on ham
for days and be okay.
You are
a little strung out.
And I am
strung out on ham.
It's hard for me
to watch him go through this,
I got to tell you.
I worry about his health.
He's exhausted by the end
of the day, just so tired.
He gets home
really late from work,
and he gets all jacked up
on sugar and caffeine,
and then he crashes.
And then when we do have sex,
I got to tell you,
he's not quite as energetic
as he used to be.
I have to be on top.
Otherwise, he, uh...
You know, he gets tired easily.
I think the saturated fats
are starting to impede
the blood flow to his penis,
and he's having a hard time,
you know, getting it up.
He does, totally.
It's still good,
but it's definitely
a big difference.
There's definitely a difference.
I can tell.
I feel horrible today.
My headache's coming back again.
It feels like somebody's yanking
on the tendons behind my eyes.
My body ...officially hates me.
All the vitamins
that you see here --
vitamin e, thiamin,
riboflavin, niacin, and so on --
are all under 50%
of what you need.
You're getting
quite a lot of carbohydrates,
and I know, clearly, that those
are all refined carbohydrates
because those are coming from
the buns, biscuits, hashbrowns.
And the sugar --
let's not forget the most
refined carbohydrate of all,
which is coming from your
milkshakes and your coke.
In fact,
there are only seven items
on the McDonald's menu that
contain no sugar whatsoever --
French fries, chicken McNuggets,
hashbrowns, sausage,
diet coke, coffee, and iced tea.
Everything else -- even
the salads -- contain sugar.
Im telling you -- 202.
I lost a pound!
Oh, thank God.
Muscle weighs more than fat.
You might have lost some muscle
mass and gained some fat mass.
I lost a pound.
Let's go get something to eat.
I was feeling bad in the car --
feeling like shit, really.
I was feeling really, really...
Sick and unhappy.
I started eating.
I feel great.
I feel really good now.
I feel so good, it's crazy.
Isn't that right, baby?
Yeah, you're crazy,
all right.
150 over 90.
The headaches might even be
hypertensive headaches,
but they're probably not.
They're probably
related to blood sugar.
You might be in
this hyperinsulinemic state.
150 over 110.
Your total cholesterol
was 165 before.
Now it's 225.
A liver that's inflamed
in any way or sick in any way
will leak some of its enzymes
out to the blood.
So this
is very nonspecific,
but it means
the liver is sick,
and the most likely cause
of your liver sickness
is a fatty liver.
Your liver
is now like pat?
SGO was originally 21.
Now it's..
And SGPT was originally 20.
Now it's 290,
a more than tenfold increase.
Not good,
not good, not good.
Anybody would say right now
that you're sick.
If you're
fatigued with this,
you'll feel
lethargic with this,
you'll feel
run-down with this.
If somebody were doing this
to their liver with alcohol,
they could theoretically
wipe out all the liver cells
and they'd be
in liver failure.
Ive never heard of anybody
doing this to their liver
with a high-fat diet,
but I guess anything's poss--
I don't know.
I can't answer the question.
Never been done before.
No one's ever
wiped out their liver
with a high-fat diet before.
Wow.
And I won't wipe out my liver
in two more weeks?
I would think
it would be unlikely.
I don't want to tell you
you wouldn't.
My advice to you is
to stop doing what you're doing,
because it's hurting you.
You're sick,
and you're making yourself sick,
and you can
make yourself unsick
by stopping doing
what you're doing.
Im just afraid
there will be something
that's totally irreversible,
that there will be
some damage done that...
- Yeah.
- I don't know.
So, do they think that
once you change your habits
that that's
going to correct itself.
They think that everything
should get back on track
once this is done.
Your liver -- I've been
doing some reading - -
your liver is very resilient,
and your liver heals itself.
Well, if you need a portion
of my liver, honey,
you can have it.
Ill give up part
of my liver for you.
Thanks, mom.
Thanks.
There's a drug that is used in
emergency rooms called Naloxone.
It's used for heroin overdose.
A guy comes in
overdosed on heroin, comatose.
He's gonna die.
You inject him with this drug,
and it blocks the opiate
receptors in the brain.
Heroin doesn't work.
He wakes up.
If I give that same drug
to a real chocolate addict,
a person just shoveling it in,
you find
the most amazing thing --
they lose much of their interest
in chocolate.
They take a bite,
they set it back down.
In other words,
it's not taste and mouth feel.
it's a drug effect of the food
within the brain
that keeps us coming back
again and again.
You're saying
that your mood goes up
once you start eating.
Lately, every time I eat,
I feel 100% better.
So it seems
like you're starting
to get addicted to it now.
McDonald's calls people
who eat their food
at least once a week
"heavy users."
Im not kidding.
72% of the people who eat
at McDonald's are heavy users.
They also have
another category --
the "super heavy user."
These people eat their food
three, four,
five times a week and up.
22% of the people
who eat at McDonald's
are super heavy users.
If you look at the menu
at a fast-food restaurant,
they use
all of the addicting components.
They'll take a slab of meat,
cover it with cheese --
cheese, of course, which is
filled with the casomorphins,
the opiates that are found
in the cheese protein --
and then they serve it
with a sugary soda,
which has
the addictive powers of sugar
with plenty of added caffeine.
Now, you might be
a 12-year-old kid.
Your brain is no match
for that combination.
In 2002,
McDonalds France
took out a full-page ad
in a French magazine
in which a nutritionist stated,
"there is no reason
to go to McDonald's
more than once a week."
McDonalds corporate
headquarters in the U.S.
freaked out, saying that
this is only one opinion,
and that the vast majority
of nutrition professionals
say that McDonald's food
can be a part of a healthy diet.
So, we thought we'd randomly
call some nutritionists
to see what their opinions were
when it came
to eating fast food.
How often do you think that
people should eat fast food?
Ideally, never.
Rare to never.
The less, the better.
Zero is the best.
Hopefully, no more often
than once a month.
If you were stranded
on a deserted island
or if we get bombe
d with anthrax,
and that's
the only food available,
that's the only time
you should eat fast food.
We called 100 nutritionists
all over America,
and the results
were not on track
with the "vast majority"
McDonald's talked about.
Only 2 out of the 100
said you should eat fast food
two times a week or more.
28 said once a week
to once or twice a month.
And 45 said
you should never eat it.
95 of them agreed
that it is a major contributor
to the obesity epidemic
sweeping America.
Okay.
Okay? Okay.
Hi, Morgan, how are you?
Bridget Bennett from Health.
Unfortunately,
I have to tell you
that Health is gonna have to
close its doors,
effective immediately.
Im sorry to have to
tell you that over the phone.
We're all sort of surprised,
but we will proceed as before --
just not at
the integrated Health center.
Okay, Morgan, thanks,
and I will talk to you soon.
Bye-bye.
Apparently,
we don't put much value
on health in America anymore.
In fact, each year,
we spend over $30 billion
on diet products
and weight-loss programs,
2 1/2 times what we spend
on fitness and health.
There are pills, drinks, bars.
You can lose weight while you
sleep, while you watch TV,
and while eating
everything you want --
always pushing the newest way
to stay thin without exercise.
Some people, however, feel
that they have tried everything
and see
only one remaining option
as their last hope for health.
I'm diabetic.
80% of the people don't have to
take insulin anymore after this.
Plus, I have hypertension.
Hopefully, correct that,
lose my weight,
and lose my high blood pressure.
This is Bruce Howlett.
In a few minutes, his stomach
will be surgically reduced
to the size of a small apple
in a gastric bypass operation.
People with hypertension
who are obese,
about 75% of them
will get rid of
their hypertensive medications.
Doctors Adam Naaman
and Carl Geisler
will be performing
the operation.
Together,
they have done more than 500
gastric bypass surgeries,
and with their tandem technique,
they are setting
the industry standard,
completing the procedure
in less than 30 minutes
and sending patients home
the following day.
We have established now
that the only procedure
that really cures diabetes
is obesity surgery.
I went blind for a week.
Just one day out of the blue,
you went blind?
I went to work,
drove to work that night,
got to work,
couldn't read the charts,
and I had to call my supervisor,
tell her I couldn't work
because I couldn't see
what I was doing,
and called my wife,
had to get her to ride to work
to pick me up
and take me home.
And then once I stopped
drinking the diet soda waters,
got my sugars back down.
I was fortunate enough,
my eyesight came back.
I didn't do that much damage
to them at that time.
I think it's human nature
to seek a drastic solution
only when you're faced
with a drastic problem.
I drank three or four
of those a day.
This is a half-gallon,
so that means
you were drinking probably
about two gallons of soda
a day.
It wasn't unusual,
for a two-week time,
we'd buy
50 two-liters of soda water.
50 two-liters
every two weeks.
And I'd probably end up
having to pick him up
a couple extra.
He drinks more than I do.
Ill go through
about one of those a day.
There's some days I go through
three or four two-liters.
A lot of us
don't realize the social stigma
that these people face
on a daily basis.
It's, um --
it's, like, 2:00 in the morning
on February 21.
I, uh, woke up,
couldn't breathe.
Im having
really difficulty breathing.
Im very hot,
and, uh...um...
felt like I was having
heart palpitations.
Came up and
walked around the living room.
I was trying
to get my breath back.
and, uh ...I want to finish,
but I don't want anything
real bad to happen, either.
Dr. Isaacs:
your EKG is normal.
Deep breath.
And out.
Now, listen, I don't have
a ready explanation
for your chest pain.
Would you at least consider
taking aspirin once a day
now that you're
on this ridiculous diet?
Maybe.
Ill think about it.
Why would you even
think about it?
Why wouldn't you
just do it?
This is really --
you know --
you saw
these numbers, right?
These numbers are
absolutely outrageous.
For the first time,
we're seeing uric acid elevated,
so you're giving yourself
hyperuricemia,
and the danger of hyperuricemia
is gout, kidney stones.
The results for your liver
are obscene
beyond anything
I would have thought.
Truly.
I mean...you know that movie
"Death in Las Vegas" --
Nicolas Cage,
that pickled his liver
during the course
of a few weeks in Las Vegas.
I would never have thought
you could do the same thing
with a high-fat diet.
My advice to you,
as a physician,
is that you've got to stop
pickling your liver.
And you're kicking it
while its down now.
Now it's down,
and you're kicking it further.
I mean, if you were
an alcoholic,
Id say,
"you're gonna die.
You keep drinking,
you'll die."
If the pain starts to radiate
to your jaw or down your arm,
that's life-threatening,
and immediately so.
So I need to hear about that,
or you need to call 911.
All right?
Hello?
Hello.
Hi, sweetheart.
How are you?
Im good.
I'm worried about you.
Yeah.
I had no idea this was gonna be
such a dangerous experiment.
Yeah.
I don't think anybody did.
The doctor didn't even think
it was gonna be this drastic.
He's floored by it.
And, um...he doesn't
know what will happen.
He says,
"listen, I have no idea."
But he said that if I am feeling
bad or feeling anything,
to page him,
and he'll admit me immediately
wherever I am.
Oh, sweetheart.
Yeah.
I love you so much,
and I don't want you to be hurt.
Yeah, me either.
Me either.
Ill tell you --
if you start to get nauseous
and you start vomiting
and your eyes turn yellow,
you have got to go
to the emergency room,
no matter where you are.
Again, if you're not
keeping food down
or you're feeling
sick to your stomach --
it looks like your
liver-function tests
are getting worse.
My suggestion would be
to stop the diet
and go back to eating
a lower-fat diet,
rechecking the blood tests
in a couple of weeks.
Nobody needs to be
partisan about this issue.
We need fixes, we need remedies,
and we need support.
How much influence
on government legislators
does the food
industry have?
The food industry is an enormous
business in the United States.
Therefore,
it employs very expensive
and well-paid lobbyists,
and those lobbyists are in
Washington for two purposes --
number one, to make sure that
no government agency ever says,
"Eat less
of the company's products."
number two --
that the government never passes
legislation that is unfavorable.
And I guess the third one
is to encourage the government
to pass favorable legislation.
The GMA
is one of those lobbies.
You're going to see us do
what we do best,
and that is
market appropriately,
finance education programs,
as we're doing
in a great abundance,
getting good information
out to parents
so we can solve the problem.
That's what we do
in the food industry.
we think that is a responsible,
important role to play.
We are not police.
We are not regulators.
We provide a safe,
affordable abundance of food
like the world has never seen.
The food industry
and the broadcasters
are extremely powerful lobbies,
and ...they outgun us.
The industry
has stepped up to the plate.
We're going to do more.
we want to do more.
We recognize
we have a role to play.
We're part of the solution.
We're part of the problem,
and we also are part
of the solution.
Did everyone hear
what he just said?
"We're part of the problem."
The lobbyist for Coke, Heinz,
Smucker's, Kellogg's, Nestl?
Kraft, Hershey's, Sara Lee,
Cadbury, General Mills,
Seagram, Welch's, Wise,
Anheuser-Busch, Birds Eye,
Lance, Campbell's, Carvel, Mars,
Ocean Spray, Hormel,
Dannon, and Pepsi
said,
"We're part of the problem."
I think
we're making some headway.
Good afternoon.
Media Line.
Yeah, I wanted
to speak to somebody
about scheduling an interview
with Jim Cantalupo.
I can take the information
and have somebody
get back to you.
Good morning.
Media Line.
I wanted to speak to someone
about scheduling an interview.
I can take the information
and have somebody
get back to you.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the united states of America,
for which it stands, one nation,
under god, indivisible,
with liberty
and justice for all.
One more time.
Yeah, what did you do?
I said it.
What were you doing?
I pledge allegiance
to the flag
of the united states
of America, one nation...
And to the republic
for which it stands.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the united states of America,
and to the republic,
for which it stands,
one nation, under god,
indivisible,
and justice for all.
Liberty.
Where's the liberty?
The liberty.
Say it.
Do you want us
to keep walking?
What's the Big Mac slogan?
You know,
"two all-beef patties"...
"special sauce, lettuce,
cheese, pickles, onions
on a sesame-seed bun."
Yeah, you know that.
That is a shame!
Welcome to McDonald's.
We're glad you're here.
Help me out, now.
Hi, can I help you?
Could I get
a large vanilla shake, please?
Im sorry, sir. We don't
have any shakes right now.
No shakes?
When will you have shakes,
do you think?
Guess that's a never.
At the end of this month,
Ill have eaten
as much McDonald's
as most nutritionists say you're
supposed to eat in eight years.
Media Line.
This is Sheila.
Yeah, Sheila,
It's Morgan Spurlock calling.
Im trying
to reach Lisa Howard.
Okay, Morgan,
I will let her know.
Hi, this is Lisa Howard.
Im not able to take
your call right now.
If you'll leave me a message,
I'll get back to you...
Hey, Lisa,
it's Morgan Spurlock.
I wanted to follow up
on the e-mail I sent you...
...close to
the end of the day,
and I didn't know when
she was gonna be taking off.
Ill put another
message on her desk.
Lisa Howard.
Hi, Lisa,
it's Morgan Spurlock calling.
- How are you?
- I'm okay.
So you got my e-mail.
Yes, I got your e-mail,
and I'm circulating it around.
I don't have
an answer for you.
Any idea when
you think you might?
Probably in
the next day or two.
Oh ...man.
Walking up the stairs
has gotten --
it's starting
to get really difficult.
By the time I get to the top,
it's really pathetic.
Oh, man.
I've got Morgan's
detox diet all ready to go.
the biggest thing
is taking the crap out
and putting good stuff in.
Im really focusing
on nutrient-dense food,
organic, seasonal, fresh food,
making sure that I'm getting
as many cleansing vegetables
into his diet as possible.
We're sharing a portion.
Yeah, we split it.
Extra calories.
I love you dearly,
but you are demented, man,
you're sick.
Bye-bye.
Bye!
I can't believe
that tomorrow I'm gonna get up
and not have to go eat
McDonald's.
That's it.
Unbelievable.
Okay.
It just
keeps getting bigger.
Wow.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, boy.
I'm gonna say 210,
right on the money.
We went from 185.5 to 194...
a week later to 203,
then down to 202,
and now eight pounds
during the last week for 210.
I think we know
the damage that can be done.
Lisa Howard,
it's Morgan Spurlock calling..
I don't know how many times
we've called her now,
but this has got to be
the 15th time.
Lisa Howard, Morgan Spurlock
calling from New York.
Please call me
when you get this message.
We'd still like
to schedule an interview
with someone from McDonald's.
Please call me when you get this
and let's talk
about what's possible.
You'll not talk to anybody,
and you'll like it that way.
After six months
of deliberation,
Judge Robert Sweet dismissed
the lawsuit against McDonald's.
The big reason?
The two girls failed to show
that eating McDonald's food
was what caused their injuries.
Interesting.
In only 30 days of eating
nothing but McDonald's,
I gained 241/2 pounds,
my liver turned to fat,
and my cholesterol
shot up 65 points.
My body-fat percentage
went from 11% to 18%,
still below the national average
of 22% for men
and 30% for women.
I nearly doubled my risk
of coronary heart disease,
making myself twice as likely
to have heart failure.
I felt depressed and exhausted
most of the time.
My moods swung on a dime,
and my sex life was nonexistent.
I craved this food more and more
when I ate it
and got massive headaches
when I didn't.
In my final blood test,
many of my body functions
showed signs of improvement,
but the doctors
were less than optimistic.
I would very, very much doubt
that these numbers
will return to normal.
Although it did drop,
it was a small drop.
If you kept on the diet,
you'd definitely --
I know that you'd probably
develop coronary artery disease.
...inflammation
and hardening of the liver.
Should people
eat fast food?
No.
You know, the answer's no.
It certainly needs
to be very restricted
and balanced with,
overall, a healthy diet
and, overall, a lot of exercise.
And there's no reason whatsoever
why fast food
has to be so disgusting.
Fast food can be nutritious.
It's a cheap form of food,
and it does keep you
full for a while,
so you get your money's worth.
But unfortunately, you cause
some major harm to your heart,
your liver, your blood.
I wouldn't suggest
you continue the diet
for a year to check this out.
I don't think
it's appropriate or healthy,
especially with
what showed up with your liver.
So I shouldn't eat
this food for a year?
No, I don't think so.
We see people
who go on an alcohol binge,
and their numbers
go up like crazy,
but to go on a Mac attack...
and they've got numbers to show
that it attacks your liver, too.
Honestly, I wouldn't have
even thought about this.
But it makes sense.
Now that we have the data,
it definitely makes sense.
Still, the impact
of this initial lawsuit
is being seen far and wide.
School districts in new York,
Texas, and San Francisco
have banned sugary soft drinks
in schools,
and all-natural, healthy options
are popping up everywhere.
McDonalds joined right in,
sponsoring events
that showed how health-conscious
they'd become
and creating a new line
of premium salads.
At the same time, however,
they also masterminded
one of their fattest
sandwiches to date --
the McGriddle,
a pancake-wrapped creation
that won my heart in Texas
but can pack as much fat
as a Big Mac
and have more sugar than a pack
of McDonaldland cookies.
in fact, their new premium ranch
chicken salad with dressing
delivers more calories
than a Big Mac
and 51 grams of fat --
79% of your daily fat intake.
Over the course of my McDiet,
I consumed 30 pounds of sugar
from their food.
That's a pound a day.
On top of that,
I also took in 12 pounds of fat.
Now, I know what you're saying.
You're saying "nobody's
supposed to eat this food
"three times a day.
No wonder all this stuff
happened to you."
But the scary part is,
there are people
who eat this food regularly.
Some people
even eat it every day.
So while my experiment
may have been a little extreme,
it's not that crazy.
But here is a crazy idea --
why not do away
with your super size options?
Who needs 42 ounces of coke,
a half-pound of fries?
and why not give me a choice
besides French fries
or French fries?
that would be a great start.
But why should these companies
want to change?
Their loyalty isn't to you.
It's to the stockholders.
The bottom line --
they're a business,
no matter what they say.
And by selling you unhealthy
food, they make millions,
and no company
wants to stop doing that.
If this ever-growing paradigm
is going to shift,
it's up to you.
But if you decide to keep
living this way, go ahead.
Over time, you may find yourself
getting as sick as I did,
and you may wind up here...
or here.
I guess the big question is --
who do you want to see go first,
you or them?
Right now, you have the urge
to eat something.
When it's through,
if you still want to eat,
then you're probably
really hungry.
Think about what I'm saying.