June/July
2004
A Different Side
to Super Size
The Satya Interview with Alex
Jamieson
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A graduate of New York’s Natural Gourmet Cooking
School, Alex Jamieson is a vegan gourmet chef and holistic
health counselor. She is also the partner of the illustrious Morgan
Spurlock, creator of the controversial documentary Super Size Me.
Catherine Clyne caught up with Jamieson
in the midst of the Super Size Me furor to get her perspective on the
story.
You have something of an understanding of what our readers are
interested in.
I think I do, being one of your readers.
You’ve got an original perspective on Super Size Me.
You want to tell us about that a little bit?
My boyfriend, my crazy, wonderful boyfriend, came up with this idea
to illustrate what can happen to your body and your mind when you eat
a standard American diet—by eating McDonald’s for 30 days
straight. On Thanksgiving Day, 2002, we were at his Mom’s house
in West Virginia and were watching this news program. Two teenage girls
were suing McDonald’s for their obesity and the spokesperson from
McDonald’s said, “You can’t prove that our food has
anything to do with these girls being sick. Our food is healthy; it’s
good for you.” We turned to each other and rolled our eyes and
Morgan said, “If that’s true, I should be able to eat this
food all the time with no problem whatsoever.” And he said, “What
if I ate nothing but McDonald’s for a month? What would happen?”
I said, “You are not going to do that!” Because I knew he
was really thinking of doing it. So, he proceeded to ignore me, and
went ahead with his idea. Luckily everything turned out all right, but
it was quite a frightening adventure.
You knew that a fast food diet was going to adversely affect
his health.
Yes. I knew that he was going to feel awful, but I had no idea it was
going to be as bad as it was. I was surprised, and then I realized I
shouldn’t be. He went to three different doctors at the beginning
to confer with them, and then throughout the film to check on his progress.
At the beginning all of them said, ‘We don’t think that
anything is really going to happen to you. You might put on a couple
of pounds, your cholesterol might go up, but that’s it.’
And I thought, ugh, that’s just so typical because doctors in
this country are still not taught that nutrition and food has anything
to do with your health.
What surprised you about how badly it affected his health?
Within the first week he was extremely depressed, which is totally unlike
him. Normally, even under the most stressful circumstances, he’s
a real go-getter, he’s very positive, outgoing. He had no energy.
We weren’t arguing, but he was just really difficult to get along
with. He felt bad. And it made me realize this is how most people feel
all the time. By day 20 to 21, he was starting to have chest pains,
he put on 24 pounds in a month. That’s an extremely short amount
of time to put on that much weight. And his liver basically turned to
pâté. It was so overloaded by having to deal with all the
toxins and all the fat that it couldn’t function properly.
As a vegan and a health counselor, how did this whole thing
affect you personally?
It was really hard for me to watch my favorite person in the world go
through this because my work is all about helping people who want to
get healthy. So this was like hell for me. We didn’t know what
was going to happen with the movie, if it was going to work. We had
no idea that we’d get the kind of response it’s gotten.
But I thought, there’s a chance that this experiment could really
be a great message. So I just kind of held on to that. And it was 30
days, so it wasn’t too long.
As a positive message, do you think it’s been successful?
I think it’s been very successful. I mean, look at what’s
happened. McDonald’s is phasing out super-sizing, which is incredible.
Of course they keep saying that this has nothing to do with the film,
but it’s an amazing coincidence that the day before the film opened
they announced the Go-Active Adult Happy Meal, which has water, a salad
and a pedometer, like Morgan wears in the film. Then, just a few weeks
ago, McDonald’s announced that Ronald McDonald is coming out with
an exercise video for kids. So a lot has changed.
He and I have both received countless emails and talked with countless
people at screenings that have said, ‘Wow, this film is really
making me think about the connection between how I feel and what I eat.’
Which may, to Satya readers, be a basic premise, but there’s no
connection for most Americans. It’s getting people thinking. It’s
fantastic, it’s so exciting, and I could not be happier.
How has this whole experience influenced how you approach your
counseling of clients?
That’s a really good question. I think I’ve become a lot
more understanding with where people are coming from. I thought there
was a much higher level of food knowledge in the world, that I didn’t
have to talk about these basics that I feel so strongly about, like,
you know, what you eat will influence your mood and your psyche and
all of these things. I’m just realizing that I’m very fortunate,
in that I was raised with this knowledge and most people are not. So
I’m introducing these things to people in a kind way, accepting
of and meeting people where they are, and not telling everybody, ‘You
have to be vegan right now or that’s it.’ Helping them gently
learn about these things in a supportive way is really great. I feel
so much better about what I’m doing, like I’m helping more
people that way. So it’s been great for me.
What do you think this film offers vegans?
[Laughs.] I’ve gotten emails from vegans all over the country
that say, “See? I told you so!” I think it’s been
really powerful to see Morgan go through this kind of meat-based diet
and then on the detox diet afterwards, which was basically vegan, but
also taking out refined sugars and flours, caffeine, and adding in sea
vegetables and other things. It really opened a lot of people’s
eyes to what diet can do for some people. At the end of the film it
says, ‘Alex put Morgan on a detox diet, and in eight weeks his
liver function came back to normal, he lost 10 pounds, all of his blood
work, his cholesterol, came back down.’ That’s pretty powerful.
Not that he stayed with it, [laughs] but that’s okay. It’s
a good example for people to have: look what happened to him, and maybe
if you try this for a short amount of time, you’ll feel better
as well.
Are you guys going to do a detox movie?
The Super Size Me DVD is going to include more stuff about the detox
and the other issues that he just didn’t have time to put in the
film, like he gained access to an Overeater’s Anonymous meeting
and talked to people in that group. Having all these different voices
talking about the issue of obesity is really important, there just wasn’t
enough time for it all to be in there.
Some ethical vegans have criticized the movie for not focusing
more on the way farmed or meat animals are treated. Do you have comment
about that?
This wasn’t a movie about being vegan or animal rights issues.
This was a movie about obesity—the obesity epidemic and the fast
food lifestyle. It could have been 20 hours long. There’s so much
to cover, and absolutely, the way that animals are raised in this country
is appalling. And does that have an effect on how you feel after you
eat a burger? Absolutely. But again, we couldn’t even include
the Overeater’s Anonymous meeting. There’s no way to address
everything in a succinct way that really tells a story well.
I think that the movie is great even for people pushing animal rights.
It is funny and a little bit gentler, and introduces people to ideas
in a way that they can accept. Because they identify with Morgan and
go on this journey with him, they’re more open to thinking in
a different way. People may be turned off by PETA signs or whatever,
[when they’re] confronted in a way that they can’t accept
it or let their guard down.
What do you think it was specifically that helped bring his
liver function back up?
It was basically taking the crap out and putting the [healthy stuff]
in, taking out all the unhealthy fats, there were no trans fats or heavy
saturated fats. We basically used extra virgin olive oil, sesame; and
lots of water. Taking him off sodas was huge. Most people drink a ton
of soda a day. Taking that out alone will be a big improvement in people’s
lives.
What are some of the easiest yet most overlooked things people
can change to eat more healthily?
That’s kind of a tough one because everyone is so different. Everybody
starts in a different place. But I would say, water and breathing, those
are the two things you can’t go without for very long. By breathing,
I mean, not just a deep breath, but exercise, and being conscious of
your breath and how it affects you. And water. Drink nothing else but
water and a lot of other things will clear up. I’m a big believer
in that.
What’s your favorite vegan junk food?
I am such a popcorn junkie. I make it all the time and I love it with
extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, and I use kinako, it’s Japanese
toasted soybean flour. It’s so good.
To learn more about Alex Jamieson and her health counseling services,
visit www.healthychefalex.com.
She is currently working on a book based on the detox diet she prepared
for Morgan, intended to make eating healthfully more accessible.
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