ps: “Rob and myself both eat it, we’re healthy. There’s nothing wrong with the food they serve there. “

Big, loud, TV game show, incorrect answer, buzzer type noise: “Bar Barrp!” How old are you, sizzlechest?

Eating 5000 calories a day is going to make you fat whether you get it from McDonalds, Mead’s Fish Gallery or the Hare Krishna vegetarian restaurant. The only difference is that McDonalds is a multinational company, and therefore “evil” in the eyes of anti-globo types.

I don’t know what you are trying to convey with your line “not as often as they would like”. Obviously a restaurant, or any business for that matter, would prefer you to give them more money. Why aren’t you attacking Cadbury’s for advertising chocolate, or the Potato Board for advertising potatos?

We have to start paying more attention to how we eat, what kind of an example we’re setting for our kids, and kind of what we want for ourselves as a future, especially in the United States, where, for the first time, we’re seeing a generation of kids who aren’t going to live as long as their parents. For the first time in centuries. And you have to ask ourselves, “Wow, so we are doing this to ourselves. This is our lifestyle that’s putting us on this path. How can we change that?”

[...]

60% of America gets no form of exercise whatsoever. My film really represents how we live our lifestyles as Americans where we overeat, we under-exercise, we don’t think about what we’re shovelling into our faces. It would be a beautiful world if we ate less and exercised. What a great thing. But we don’t. And what my film represents is the reality of what will happen to you if you keep living your life this way. The film is a snapshot. Like, it’s a snapshot of your life, of what will happen in 20, 30, 40 years if you keep overeating, you know, eating too much fat, eating too much sugar. The path that I was on, you know, you will be on to getting elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, liver disease. All the things that you see start to occur in my body will happen to you.

He says the same thing in pretty much every interview. Whether it comes out in the film, I don’t know — as I said, I haven’t seen it. But he’s saying people are making the wrong choices.

But what he also says is that companies like McDonald’s have a responsibility to consider the health of their customers. Yobbo denies this, but thankfully Maccas Australia doesn’t. To their credit, they accept their responsibility more than their US parent company.

In the US, politicians have done their best to shield McDonald’s from Big Fat lawsuits by passing protective legislation. In Australia, Russo has acted more aggressively, jumping on the nutritional bandwagon, attending obesity summits, even admitting what his American bosses still cavil about: that McDonald’s has contributed directly to the obesity epidemic. Though he won’t take the rap alone.

“We serve food that is high in calories — I don’t mind saying that because I know all of our calorie and kilojoule things back to front. OK. When I went to the summit and they were looking for someone to blame, all the experts said it is very complex … They’re trying to blame the networks and all the people advertising on those networks. They’re trying to blame schools and tuckshops. They’re trying to blame fast food. So should everyone put up their hand and say: ‘I’ve contributed’? I think McDonald’s and society contributed to obesity, absolutely. All of us did. But it’s very hard to pinpoint which piece did it first.”

So should we stop them advertising during kids TV? Yeah, I think we probably should. But should that be a part of a wider program of exercise, changed tuck-shop menus, etc? Absolutely.

Oh, and the comparison between Maccas and the Hare Krishna is a bit silly. By weight/volume of food, Maccas is far less healthy. And sure, you can eat under your recommended calorie intake, but it’s hardly realistic, and it’s unhealthy in other ways, too:

Of course we bear responsibility for our own actions, so … is it possible to go to McDonald’s and order a healthy meal? This week a Chicago nutritionist told a Sun-Times reporter that of course Spurlock put on weight, because he was eating 5,000 calories a day. She suggested a McDonald’s three-meal menu that would not be fattening, but as I studied it, I wondered: How many customers consider a small hamburger, small fries and a Diet Coke as their dinner? When was the last time you even ordered a small hamburger (that’s not a Quarter Pounder) at McDonald’s? Don’t all raise your hands at once.

Oh, I agree with the nutritionist that her recommended three meals would not add weight; her daily caloric intake totaled 1,460 calories, which is a little low for a child under 4, according to the USDA. But even her menu would include 54 grams of fat (15 saturated), or about one third of calories (for best heart health, fat should be down around 20 percent). And her diet included an astonishing 3,385 mgs of sodium (daily recommendation: 1,600 to 2,400 mgs). My conclusion: Even the nutritionist’s bare-bones 1,460-calorie McDonald’s menu is dangerous to your health.

Spurlock should be congratulated for encouraging people to think twice before they shovel the next double quarter-pounder down.

Predictably a week later I am seriously craving a quarter pounder.

I guess that Guy Russo fellow didn’t come up through the kitchens, eh? One thing I’ve noticed is that friends that go to work at Maccas or Hungry Jacks tend to “go off” fast food very quickly.

(Strangely enough, an acquaintence of mine works at KFC, and still eats the stuff like a pig. Stays thin as a rake, too. Bastard.)

Truth is, McDonalds are spooked and should be. Their counter-punching adverts actually make them look silly, which is an expensive mistake. The point of the film was exaggeration for dramatic effect – Spurlock goes on about the exercise issue quite a lot, and ultmately argues that ‘yes – it’s about choice, but kids are making those choices in an environment saturated by propaganda and an overwhelming abundance of shitty options (- like at their school caf.)’

Maccas need to come out and say “We know you shouldn’t eat our food more than once every month – and we’ve been arguing that all along”. Of course they can’t do that for two reaons. The first part would kill them, the second part is bullshit.

(For the record, I love fat. I cook with fat, I eat fat. I love duck – which is one fatty bird. I love mayonnaise and fried just about anything. I also walk everywhere and play soccer at least once a week. It’s about balance, eh?)