Supersize Me's Morgan Spurlock visits Tulsa

Why would one man eat nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days straight? He did so to in order to make a documentary and raise awareness about the food we eat. His film was nominated for an Academy

Thursday, May 12th 2005, 10:05 am

By: News On 6

Why would one man eat nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days straight? He did so to in order to make a documentary and raise awareness about the food we eat. His film was nominated for an Academy Award.

Morgan Spurlock was in Tulsa Thursday to talk about fast food, corporate greed and overweight kids. News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says Morgan Spurlock never meant to be a nutrition activist, but that's what has happened.

"Y'know I didn't read labels, I didn't really think about where my food came from. I didn't think about what was in it or what it was going to do to my body and since making the film, it's really been an eye-opener for me." He made the movie "Supersize Me" on a whim and says he got the idea after Thanksgiving dinner, when he was sitting on the couch watching the news about people who had sued McDonald's for their weight problem.

Over the 30 days, he gained 25 pounds and lost his sex drive. His cholesterol shot up to 230 and he threw up out his car window. Doctors said his liver became toxic.

Some of the money from Thursday's appearance will go to the Oklahoma Fit Kids Coalition. Spurlock says he's especially concerned about childhood obesity and about how fast-food is marketed toward kids. He says people have a personal responsibility for their own health, but kids are often stuck with the food that adults put in front of them. "We're eliminating nutrition education, we're eliminating health education, we're eliminating physical education and then we're feeding kids just garbage in the school lunch program. I mean we're setting kids up from a very young age to fail. We're putting them on a path to illness; we're putting them on a path to obesity."

He's certainly not the first person to say we should eat right. But with his humor and his film-making skills, the message seems to capture more attention. Cheryl Waldeck: "He quotes the same people that I've been quoting all year, now I'm going to start quoting Morgan Spurlock." Morgan Spurlock: â€œY'know, I was just hoping we'd make a good movie, which was my first goal."

"Supersize Me" cost $50,000 to make and has so far made $35-million. Spurlock says in his next documentary, he tries living for 30 days, on a minimum-wage salary.