[Greekgirl]

Most of us heard about or saw the movie "Supersize Me", currently running in hundreds of movie theaters all over the world. The following article is a slightly shorter but faithful translation (by me) of the Dutch newspaper "Trouw" of 12/8/2004, which shows another side of the picture.
Bottom line: it's picking the right things that matters, but you still should't snack at fast food restaurants often.

AMSTERDAM - The US Film Director Morgan Spurlock only at at MacDonalds for the period of a whole month. He became fat and sick. Americans are living in the grip of the fast-food industry, Spurlock states.

But is eating at McD really that unhealthy? A Journalist of the Dutch Newspaper "Algemeen dagblad" named Wim Meij decided to copy Spurlock's experiment in the Netherlands. The only change was to be the goal: Where Spurlock only chose the supersized meals, Meij composed low-calorie meals exclusively from the offered assortment. It worked. For thirty whole days he only at McD's products and lost about 14 pounds. And to his surprise he stayed very healthy.

Meij reported in his newspaper. He wanted to prove that people are no weak-willed victimes of the fa(s)t-food industry, like Spurlock claims. Meij: losing weight is no big deal: a clear case of adding and subtracting (editor: there are lots of people who would disagree with you). What we did expect was a health decline because of a lack of dietary fibers and the saturated fats used by McD in some of their products. But even that did not happen.

He didn't really like the taste of the food. He especially hated the white buns after a while. He also got tired of eating mountains of salad to get some vitamins into his diet, as McD has no other vegetable option available (in the Netherlands anyway).

Meij was assisted by a dietician, who helped him choose the healthiest food plan possible. Meij recognizes that this would not be so easy for the average consumer. "McD however does give nutritional information on their (Dutch) website, but not in it's (Dutch) outlets. It is very difficult to choose a balanced menu and McD really should hang a list at every counter".

A spokesman of McD's says he's happy with the Dutch initiative. He still points out that both the American and the Dutch experiments are unrealistic: "our customers visit us once a month on average" (editors note: no comment).

Spurlock himself did not appreciate the duplication of his idea in the Netherlands. Meij: "I had a short talk with him. He was irritated. We hadn't understood him, he said. He wasn't concerned with suing McD, but wanted to emphasize the American way of life of consuming lots of fat-laden foods and not exercizing". Spurlock got a health problem concerning his liver because of an overdose of fries, burgers and soda pops. Meij: "I think he's putting us all on".

Even the Dutch nutrition Center thinks Spurlock's story, who also claims the fat-laden food made him impotent, goes too far. Dietician Els Dijkstra:"It's OK to eat fast food say once a week, as a main-meal replacement. It is not healthy to do this often, the food is too fatty and monotonous. We also do not recommend hamburgers as a snack meal.

Still, Spurlock is said to be partly responsible for McD taking the Super Sized Menus off the menu. these huge portions are not available on the Dutch market. Dijkstra: "in America everything's bigger, even the smalest soda size available is half a liter (about a pint)".

Mieke van Spanje, of the Dutch Obesity Club for overweight people: " At least McD does give some information. But what about the others"?! Van spanje says the (Dutch) government has the obligation to inform its citizens on healthy nutrition: "How? That is a difficult question, because the risk group usually is the one that's least receptive".

GG, 14/8/2004

PS
Dont't do this at home