I don't know if I've ever used that title, oh dear. Sometimes I check, because I'm running out of titles rather quickly, aren't I? I even re-used one once. If I've already used this one, don't kill me. I'll find some... eventually...
Okay, so I knew that America was a big country. I mean, we've got the world's largest guitar, so why not the world's largest people? Just about everyone here is overweight, I'm guilty of over-eating sometimes myself (but I'm a teenager, I get special considerations). To tell the truth, I haven't gotten good exercise in two years, I eat like a pig, and for me to look like I do is a miracle, I must honestly have a very, very high metabolism. But I'm not skinny... I'm what people so kindly call "just right" (meaning, enough fat for me to notice, but not enough for anyone else). But today I watched Supersize Me, and I've never seen anything so surprising.
My mom's on her way to becoming a registered dietitian, that means she knows about food. Thus I know about food. And I may not understand the tri-glyceride levels of the blood stream, but I can sure tell how to eat healthily (which I never do). But a lot of people don't know! And I've been hearing "Don't Eat Fast Food" every day of my life, all seventeen years of it. It's always seemed didactic before, I'd never heed it. Until now. I've never seen anything so perfectly aimed. This man went on a Mac Shack binge for an entire month. An entire month of Micky D's, the Golden Arches, McDonalds. 30 days of it. And, sure, normal people don't eat McDonalds every day for a month, but the same problems accumulate over eight years, and are just as hard to get rid of. Not only that, but you eat McDonalds more often than you think! Dietitians say to only eat fast food once a year, or never at all. All of the processing of the meats and potatoes, the sugar that's even in the salad, it's deadly. Not only that, but consider this (this wasn't brought up in the movie): all McDonalds does is microwave its prepackaged sandwiches (what a surprise). That's all you're doing when you take out those little egg muffins of your freezer and microwave them for breakfast. It's no better than packing it down at D's.
Not only that, but McDonalds is aimed mostly at children. Five kids were interviewed, and pictures of people were held up in front of them. One was of the first American president, George Washington. Only two kids could name him, one said he was the second president, the other said he freed the slaves (that was, in truth, Abe Lincoln). Then they were showed the next picture, and no kid could name who it was, one girl thought it was George W. Bush. The picture was turned around, and it was Jesus. That made me cry. But, every child could name Wendy from Wendy's, and, of course, each gave an entire mini-biography of Ronald McDonald upon seeing his picture. Not only that, but kids in schools usually eat very bad things. Of course, that's known, but I didn't know quite how severe it was. Cafeterias here serve all microwaved processed food, under the guise of chicken patties and sloppy joes. Only 6 of 36 foods are handcooked in a highschool cafeteria, so naturally, kids buy Twinkies, fries, milk, and potato chips. One school had such bad behaviour issues that it switched to an all natural, hand-cooked lunch menu, and found that school performance rose and behaviour skyrocketed. And everything on the menu was the same price for the school and students as the unhealthy schools, not only that, but by avoiding name brands, it saved the state money, as well. At my school we have the regular lunch foods, but we also have a special deli line were there are choices of fresh meats and cheeses... but it's far more expensive than buying a soda and some fries.
It makes me sad that so many kids are going to die so early.
And you know what else? I like No Child Left Behind. That's a plan implimented by George Bush to issue national tests for certain grades so that less children fail school. Not only that, but it forces schools to reach a standard of passing rate that if they don't meet, their funds will be cut. And all of my teachers complain about it, "Not every kid can keep up..." Well, maybe you should do your floggin' job! Not only is it supporting academics, but it raises the levels in gym classes, so that there will not only be smarter kids, but healthier ones. I don't care what the teachers think about it, I don't care what it does for the immediate economy. Because eventually those smarter kids are going to make a smarter work force and make America a better country, because those lazy teachers weren't doing it before. People are too blind when they're forced to do something. It's not fair to the kids that aren't getting specialized care, it's just not fair.
Well, that's my ranting for the day. I don't talk much about anything but politics and such things anymore, do I? Hmm... I guess that's because everything else is soooo boring.
OH! I know what I'm going to do my student film on! Yes, yes I do! Once I have the script all written, I'll post it on here, I promise! It's good, oh, it's good.
The title is from Fairly Odd Parents. An American cartoon that's so good, it's almost at the level of Spongebob Squarepants.
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