Fast Food: National or Local

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Recommended: Short and long term effects of obesity

Fast food restaurant chains are a popular and convenient choice for eating on the go in our modern society. There are certainly several positive aspects to fast food establishments, but are the potential health detriments and collective negative effects on society worth it? Or would it be better to support locally owned and operated restaurants? Here I will examine several facts pertaining to these restaurants, as well as explain why I personally believe we should not frequent these establishments, but rather support local restaurants.

In the documentary film "Supersize Me" Morgan Spurlock eats every meal at a McDonalds for a month. He eats what an average person would eat and gets almost no physical activity – only walking as many steps as an average person. Spurlock performed this experiment under close supervision of doctors and registered dietitians. He suffered several repercussions to his health as a result of this experiment. Spurlock gained 24.5 pounds, his cholesterol went up 65 points, and his body fat increased from 11% to 18%. Spurlock's risk for heart disease doubled. He became depressed and suffered mood swings and headaches whenever he didn't have the food.

Another documentary film called "Downsize Me" was created by Chazz Weaver as a rebuttal to "Supersize Me." Weaver has 30 years of practical fitness experience. He is also in good physical condition already. In the film "Downsize Me" he responds to Spurlock's claims by saying:

Unfortunately, Spurlock's sensationalist diet of eating nearly 5,000

calories a day revealed irresponsible eating habits more than anything

else. But what would really happen if a nutritionally informed person

attempted to eat nothing ...

... middle of paper ...

... Works Cited

Downsize Me. Dir. James Troost." Perf. Chazz Weaver. 2005, Film

"First Burger - Albany, OR "

"Man Says He Lost 80 pounds Eating At McDonald's – Health News "

rmhc.org "McDonald's Relationship < http://rmhc.org/who-we-are/our-relationship-with-mcdonald-s/>"

Super Size Me. Dir. Morgan Spurlock." Perf. Morgan Spurlock , Daryl Isaacs. 2004, Film.

Schlosser, Eric, and Charles Wilson. Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know about Fast Food. Boston. Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.

"The Subway Diet

"

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