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The Shocking After-Effects of a "Super Size Me" Diet

Were any of you able to see the documentary super size me while it was out in theaters? If not, it was released to DVD and I highly recommend you watch it right away! Just as a side note, make sure that you have eaten dinner well before hand - this movie will literally gross you out!

For those of you that have not heard about the documentary "Supersize Me", let me fill you in. It's about a man named Morgan Spurlock who is the director and the subject of an experimental project that takes place in the film. Morgan goes on a 30 day diet of nothing but eating McDonalds! The rules: 1) He must eat everything on the McDonalds menu at least once during the 30 days 2) When asked if he would like to supersize he must say "yes" and eat it all. 3) His 3 meals a day must all come from McDonalds 4) No Exercise (this would make sense, since the average American does not get daily exercise); with the exception of a pedometer which he could wear to track steps and take the number of steps that the average American takes per day.

Now, you might be saying to yourself "well that's a ridiculous diet, no one eats that much McDonalds in 30 days". Although this might be true, people DO actually eat this amount of McDonalds in often times a period of just a few months. In fact, most Americans are "heavy users" of McDonald's eating it more than 3 times a week! So his little experiment is not too far off from the way many Americans have been eating and running their lifestyle.

The results of his 30 day experiment were absolutely horrifying! Morgan had 3 different types of Doctors monitoring his health throughout. All three of the Dr's recorded his health before the McDonald's diet and said it was excellent across the board, including cholesterol and all blood results. Here's what happened...in 30 days Morgan managed to more than double and then triple his tri-glyceride and cholesterol levels. Not only that, but the Doctors practically begged him to end his experiment due to the severe damage that it was doing to his health.

Morgan had managed to go from a being of excellent condition to one that was depressed, lethargic and downright killing himself. More than that, The doctors were stunned to see that he was actually doing to his liver what they had only seen alcoholics on extreme binges previously do. It was absolutely amazing to them...I mean it made sense, but these doctors never would have guessed you could get cirrhosis of the liver from FOOD! Excessive binge drinking is one thing - but doing it with food had never been seen before.

Morgan ended up making it through the 30 day experiment, but not without doing some permanent damage to his body. The one thing that absolutely floored me was that in 30 days Morgan managed to put an additional 20 lbs onto his previously lean frame. Now, here is the real shocker! Are you ready for this? Although it took Morgan only 30 days to gain 20 lbs, guess how long it took Morgan to get those 20 lbs off? Answer: He still hasn't done it! It took him 5 months not weeks folks, to get 15.5 lbs off and he still has 4.5 left to go. This is why we need to always be conscious of what we are putting into our mouths. Not only that, but it's important to have realistic expectations of ourselves as we work to get our bodies back in shape.

I always tell my clients who are striving to lose weight to most importantly be patient while your body is going through the internal changes, fat cells are shrinking and all sorts of good things are happening inside those millions of cells to get you back in good health. It takes months and even years to reverse the damages which may have done to the body in only a few months or maybe even years. Regardless, don't give up - the body is resilient and you can get it back to a place of health and happiness.

It is worth every workout that you put your body through and it feels great to sweat those toxins out. Exercise and diet will help you get back in the game. You have the power to do it just be realistic with yourself, be kind to yourself and give your body consistent exercise, positive thoughts and most of all patience. Your world will turn around and with every pound of fat that your replace with muscle you will become a stronger person for it both mentally and physically, inside and out!

If you have any health and fitness questions you would like answered please feel free to email jessica@stormfitness.com or call 703-869-8376. Jessica Storm is ACSM Health/Fitness Instructor Certified and owner of Storm Fitness LLC, a personal fitness training company. For more information and helpful fitness tips, you can visit www.stormfitness.com

Q: I am trying to get fit and lose weight but I really want to avoid getting injured since I seem to have a tendency to get injured whenever I start a new workout program. My question is what is better for me running or walking?

A: Running will burn more calories per minute, but you need to start walking before you can run. If you start running before you have a good walking foundation you will increase your chances of injury.