My New Obsession: "Supersize vs Superskinny"

A few months ago, I began to religiously watch a British show called "Supersize vs. Superskinny." I have known about this  show for some time and would watch it sporadically on YouTube, but for the first time, I watched the whole show (6 series) in sequence. Wow. As corny as this sounds, my life has been changed. I don't think I've ever been so enthralled and educated by a television programme!

Now, you're probably rolling your eyes at the statement, "changed my life." I don't blame you. If I were you, I'd be thinking, "oh please! That's ridiculous." --- But it's true. I have begun to adopt a new attitude towards food and have done my best to begin to change my lifestyle based on the show, and you know what, it's working for me. This show has given me a new perspective on healthy living and has even helped me find a new passion --- nutrition. Before I continue, let me explain the premise of the show to you, in case you've never seen it.

The program, which airs on Channel 4, is hosted by the very handsome Dr. Christian Jessen, a doctor on a quest to help people understand their distorted relationship with food. So, with that fact alone, I was intruiged. This show isn't just about making morbidly obese people exercise, which is important but gets old after a while, but rather, it's about understanding the underlying psychology behind unhealthy eating. Furthermore, rather than just focus on morbidly obese individuals, like many health shows, Dr. Jessen battles both ends of the scale, aiming to help individuals who are underweight too. To me, this strategy is truly refreshing and very interesting.

Each week, Dr. Jessen pairs a morbidly obese individual with an underweight individual and enrolls them in a diet swap. In the earlier seasons, the diet swap was a week long, but in the later seasons it was reduced to two days. The idea isn't necessarily to starve the obese individuals and force feed the underweight individuals, but rather to illustrate that the "supersizer" is capable of surviving on less, whilst the "super skinny" is capable of eating more. Additionally, by watching someone else struggle with either the massive or minuscule diet, Dr. Jessen's goal is to open the eyes of each individual to the errors of their diet. It's really interesting.

In the later seasons, all of the Supersizers and Superskinnies were paired up ahead of time

One particularly interesting segment from earlier seasons that I always liked was when the two participants would be forced to see what they eat during a week via food tubes. Basically, based upon a food diary that each participant was asked to keep, Dr. Jessen and his team gather up all the mentioned foods and force them down a feeding tube, providing a stark and shocking reality check. Usually during this segment, facts about calories are discussed, which I think is interesting. The voiceover would always state what the normal calorie count for a male/female is and then compare the norm to the calories of the participants. Furthermore, after establishing whether someone is eating enough for three men or less than a child, a discussion on how much of an overeat or undereat is occurring would follow. To mean, this is amazing and made me think about calories in a new light.

As you can see here, supersizer and superskinny are worlds apart with the amount of food they eat!

In addition to focusing on diet, there is a substantial medical focus. To really shock each participant and show them the harm that they are doing, Dr. Jessen gives a medical lecture. Although the lectures vary depending upon each individuals, normally, Dr. Jessen discusses consequences of lacking nutrients, what an excess of certain foods can do to the body, etc.... He also loves to illustrate his points with graphic photographs. It's gross, but I love it and can't get enough! For me, it's nice to see the connection between nutrition and disease.

In this episode, both participants have bad diets, high in saturated fat, so Dr. Jessen wanted to try to put them off highly saturated foods by taking their favorites and mixing them together.

Mmmm....delicious...?

Here, Dr. Jessen explains just how much saturated fat each participant gets through in one year. Whereas the recommended amount of saturated fat for one day is NO MORE than 20%, the superskinny was getting 30%, while the supersizer was getting 60%! Wow!

Here, Dr. Jessens shows the women a clogged artery, which resulted from a high saturated fat diet. The atherosclerosis in the photograph caused a heart attack in the person, which killed them. 

In this earlier episode, Dr. Jessen discusses the medical complication that would arise for this superskinny if they didn't amend their ways.

To ensure that the supersizer realizes the dangerous path they are on and to really drive the message home, Dr. Jessen sends each supersizer to America, as warning. Much like the "Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come" in A Christmas Carol, the idea is that the supersizer gets a glimpse of what his or her future could be if they don't change their lifestyle now. It's always really shocking and in my opinion, heartbreaking and upsetting.

In this episode, British super sizer Jo (on the right with the blue shirt) spends time with Nancy in Georgia. Whereas Jo is nearly 300 lbs, Nancy is closer to 550lb! Due to her weight, Nancy has a whole list of co-morbidities and is practically immobile. 

In this epsiode, 504 lb Rob (blue shirt) visits 588 lb Donna in Ohio. 

Rob experiences first hand the difficulties of life at nearly 600 lb.

During the last two seasons of the show, Dr. Jessen traveled state-side on a mission to visit America's fattest cities: Evansville, Indiana and McAllen, Texas. He wanted to learn about the obesity crisis here and see how we are coping. Let's just say, we have a real situation on our hands and I learned A LOT of shocking information about healthcare in the Texas and Indiana!

Dr. Jessen trying to make his way through some American portions, but failing.

For example, I learned that in Evansville and McAllen, there are special bariatric ambulances called "jumbulances", where a team of almost 6 paramedics are needed to winch a morbidly obese patient into the ambulance. Some hospitals also employ a special group of individuals, mostly strong men, and their sole job is to help lift and move morbidly obese patients! In Texas, there is also something called the "Lap Band Wagon" and it is an RV that is equipped with medical equipment and nurses. Apparently a large number of individuals in this area have undergone bariatric surgery and have lap bands fitted, so this resource allows for easy lap band adjustments without seeing your doctor. I think that's insane!

The "lifting team" at a Texan hospital attempts to move a morbidly obese patient weighing almost 500 lb. 

The program has also featured some not-so-nice stuff that I won't share with you...at least I won't share pictures. I have learned in graphic details the consequences of diabetes: ulcers, amputations, etc... Issues stemming from edema and a whole slew of weight-related medical complications 

A patient suffering from severe edema is getting a massage to try to remove excess fluid from her tissue.

As you can see, this show has a lot to offer. Depending upon the seasons, there are also side segments on diet fads, how to lose weight and still eat your favorite foods, and side programs focusing on eating disorders. I love this show and it really inspires me to do my best to maintain my new healthy lifestyle. The show really does point out that being overweight will never benefit you and the best way to avoid a lot of nasty medical complications is to live a healthy lifestyle. The same can be said for the other end of the spectrum. Being superskinny can be equally bad. Being underweight puts you at substantial risk for muscle deterioration, osteoporosis, and lots of other nasty things. At the end of the day, its all about balance and moderation, which may seem obvious, but this show will really open your eyes.

If you are like me and you fascinated by food/nutrition/medicine, I highly recommend the program. I promise you, you will learn a lot and it will give you a new perspective. 

NOTE: ALL IMAGES TAKEN FROM GOOGLE