Super Size Me Page #4

"Oh, I tried to quit,"

and, "yeah,

I'm gonna try again,"

and "you're right,

you're right," and so on.

At that same table,

there was a quite large woman,

and I was wondering --

what if this guy,

instead of confronting

the smoker,

had said to the large woman,

"What's the matter with you,

you fat pig?

"Don't you know how dangerous

it is to be so overweight?

"Stop eating, for god's sake.

And don't you dare get dessert,

and what's the matter with you?"

Same logic.

Id be hard-pressed

to find a distinction

between those two examples.

So, one is now

socially acceptable --

to hector smokers --

but the other one

isn't quite yet.

So the question is,

at what point

will it become acceptable

to publicly hector fat people

in the way that smokers

are publicly hectored?

A secret study

by one of the tobacco companies

had the ominous title --

something like,

"brand imprinting

for later actuation in life."

They would buy

the little toy cigarettes,

and they'd start

play-smoking them

at 4 or 5 or 6.

Wouldn't even

notice the pack.

If you asked them

what pack it was,

they wouldn't notice it,

but the theory was that

somewhere, it's buried in here,

and then when they get to

the age where they're smoking,

without even realizing it,

they're going for that pack

that they recognize

because it had

those nice feelings for them

when they were

little kids.

The same way here --

they're satisfied,

it's nice,

they remember

the warm feelings

of playing

and getting the toy,

being with mom and dad.

It's gonna carry through.

That's why

when I have kids,

every time I drive

by a fast-food restaurant,

Im gonna

punch my kid in the face

Then we'll never

want to come.

One of the most disturbing

things to me

is that in the last

20 to 25 years,

we've actually seen a doubling

of overweight and obese

children and adolescents.

And this weight gain

has been linked

to countless health problems

later in life, such as...

In fact,

if current trends continue

one out of every three children

born in the year 2000

will develop diabetes

in their lifetime.

At least 17 million Americans

now have type 2 diabetes,

about one

out of every 20 people.

If the diabetes starts

before the age of 15,

you lose somewhere between

17 and 27 years of life-span.

according to the new research,

the direct medical costs

associated with diabetes

have doubled.

The direct medical costs have

doubled in the past five years,

from $44 billion in 1997

to $92 billion in 2002.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of

about 20% of the obese children

have elevated abnormal

liver function tests,

and we have now started a study

where we're

biopsying these children

to see what their livers

actually look like

under the microscope,

and half of them have evidence

of scarring of the liver,

fibrosis of the liver,

the early stages of cirrhosis.

So, when these children

end up being adults,

they're going to end up --

if they don't change their

eating and exercise habits,

are gonna end up

with liver failure

and, well,

either transplant or death.

Did you want lettuce

and mayonnaise on all of them?

I think it's very, very hard

for overweight teenagers

because you're always

going to see

the thin, pretty,

popular girls,

and you can't help

but look at them

and think, "I wish I was her,"

or, "I wish I could have that."

And it's depressing.

It makes you feel like crap.

That's just how it is,

and of course

it's hard being a teenager

because you see all the girls

in the Cosmo girl

are teen people,

and they're all beautiful,

and you think, "aren't I

supposed to look like that?"

And it's just not realistic.

It's not a realistic

way to live.

So, without further ado,

let's welcome Jared Fogle.

My big thing was never smoking.

It was never drinking.

Obviously,

it wasn't doing drugs.

My big vice was food,

and before I knew it,

I wound up weighing 425 pounds.

I brought in

a present for you --

my old pants

that are now made famous

in all the subway commercials.

You're welcome.

This is

my daughter, Victoria.

She's an eighth-grade

honor student,

and you're a real

inspiration to the kids.

I really

appreciate that.

That's one

of the greatest --

I started

putting my weight on

as you guys know,

about third or fourth grade.

She was real tiny

when she was littler,

and it's been in our family.

In fact,

I had a great-grandfather

that died

and was buried in a piano box

years and years ago,

so it's a history.

Absolutely.

And she's been trying

to maintain her weight.

It's tough.

it's always a challenge.

I know as a kid,

it's awfully hard these days

and kids

are not always kind.

No, not at all.

And I know that firsthand.

And the problem is,

the world's not gonna change

You have to change.

I guess it's kind of cool

to know somebody

or be able

to listen to somebody

talk about actually

being where I am right now,

and it's kind of hard

because I can't afford

to go there every single day

and buy a sandwich

two times a day,

and that's

what he's talking about,

like that's

the only solution.

That's what he said

worked the best,

but I can't do that.

And I've tried other ways,

and it's kind of hurt my body

from doing other ways

that I've tried to do.

And it's kind of hard

to, like, look at someone

who says, "hey, I've done it.

You can do it."

but it's not that easy.

Id been sick as a kid.

I grew up eating

a lot of ice cream,

more than you can believe.

We had an ice-cream-cone-shape

d swimming pool in our backyard.

We had a commercial freezer with

not only all 31 flavors in it,

but all experimental flavors

that were under development.

And I made myself

the official taster.

I had to approve everything,

in my mind.

And I loved it.

What kid wouldn't?

I literally

had unlimited ice cream.

I ate ice cream for breakfast.

But I was sick a lot.

And I wasn't very athletic.

I was really ill.

And I didn't feel good.

So I would kind of appease that

by eating more ice cream.

You can see how the vicious

cycle would take place.

One of the triggering factors

for me was my uncle,

Burt Baskin, my dad's partner

and brother-in-law,

co-founder of the company --

died of a heart attack.

I think he was 51.

Now, my uncle weighed

about 240 pounds --

heavyset fellow.

And when he died,

as a young man, I asked my dad,

"Do you think

there could be a connection

between his fatal heart attack

and the amount

of ice cream he would eat?"

My father said,

"No, his ticker just got tired

and stopped working."

By this time,

he had sold more ice cream

than any human being that had

ever lived on this planet.

He didn't want to think that

the product was hurting anybody,

that it had contributed

to the death

of his brother-in-law, partner,

and, in many ways, best friend.

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