Fast Food Nation & Supersize Me

What can I say? These are two great media items that go great together! Last month I finally read Fast Food Nation and I highly recommend it to everyone. You definitely do not need to be vegetarian to appreciate it, although you may have some difficulty digesting your meat afterwards.

Last night my hubby brought home Supersize Me from the library. There's the frugal portion of this post, no rental fees from the local library. Since my hubby works in a different county, we have access to two different library systems, but I digress. I sat down last night with my latest project (making a braided rug from old jeans) and a cup of Wild Berry Zinger Tea and gave it a watch.

Supersize Me is definitely worth a watch. In it you clearly see a man in excellent physical health deteriorate before your eyes. Granted, not everyone is eating 3 meals a day at McDonalds but just the 10 week French Fry experiment should give everyone pause before they ingest anything a fast food establishment has to offer.

As I see it, the movie is about choices. Morgan Spurlock makes the choice to eat fast food as an experiment for 30 days. He makes the choice to continue eating fast food despite the medical evidence that it is harming him. He makes the choice to stop after 30 days and deal with the medical/physical consequences of his actions. Morgan makes choices and we make choices. That's the key, we all make choices.

Each week I make the choice to bake my own bread. Certainly its more work but why is it worthwhile for me to spend my time doing it? First it is a family affair, we do it together. Second, it is more healthful than most store bought bread. Third, it costs less for me to make bread than to buy bread. This is just one example of a lifestyle choice that you can make.

Here's another, I cook dinner every night. I can count on one hand the number of times we've eaten out since the school year began. Why is this important and worthwhile? The main reason is less pure than you might expect. Simply put, it costs a lot to feed a family of six at a restaurant of any sort. Take out is a pretty pricey option as well. However, I'd be lying if i didn't tell you that health concerns are part of the reason we avoid eating out regularly.

Here's another example of a choice you might make. I know someone who quit smoking years ago and gained quite a bit of weight in the years that followed. She has dabbled in diet plans and takes the occassional walk but has not had success with weight loss. Recently, she began smoking again to curb her appetite and promote weight loss. This too is a choice, although not a very intelligent one.

I'll be watching Supersize Me again this evening with my hubby and kids. I think afterwards we'll probably be talking about choices. What choices are you making?