Over the summer, I scored tickets for the premiere weekend of Super Size Me. This Oscar-nominated documentary film, based on fast-food bingeing and its effects on the body, has become a controversy.

While sitting in the movie theater, I realized that a majority of the audience was overweight. These people who were watching a movie based on the tragedy of our nation's fatness were also gorging on huge tubs of buttered popcorn, large sodas and super-sized boxes of Snow Caps. The audience would laugh at jokes cracked about obesity, and it made me wonder: Is our nation in complete denial that most of us are fat, too?

Americans eat about 40 percent of their meals outside of the home each year, and one in four people eat fast food each day. These numbers likely are even higher for the average college student, who is poor, hungry and busy.

So I wasn't surprised that when Morgan Spurlock created Super Size Me, he documented a full month of consuming McDonald's for three meals a day.

You might think it is just a little over the top. My father insisted that eating fast food three times a day is unheard of. However, the reality is that our society loves the taste, price and marketing strategies of fast food.

By the end of his month-long journey, Spurlock's cholesterol and triglyceride levels had skyrocketed from healthy to harmful. Not one of the medical professionals keeping track of his records predicted such an impact of a high-fat diet.

You may be surprised to hear that consumption of fast food just once per week is considered high usage. That weekly trip to Wendy's for Biggie fries and a Frosty? Yep, you are a high user.

The amount of chemicals and ingredients in a fast-food, processed product is insane. Despite what it looks like, you really aren't getting the same milkshake you would make at home. That hamburger, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may contain meat from more than 1,000 different cattle from various countries in one patty.

The chemicals alone are enough to make one disgusted, but in addition, the transfer of agriculture is increasing. Large corporations are raising cattle and hogs in huge feeding lots, in which animals are often penned up and lying in manure for days.

Furthermore, supplementing animals with growth hormone or feeding them other animal protein (chickens eating dead chickens, cows eating cows) increases the risk of poisoning and incidences such as mad cow disease.

What about the British and their fish 'n chips? Although they enjoy eating fried foods, they do it in moderation. And how can the French eat cheese and drink wine every day without getting fat? They don't super-size their portions -- in fact, they minimize.

This film is reality, whether we like to accept it or not. It is because of us that auto companies are expanding the size of cup-holders in cars to accommodate our half-gallon, 48-teaspoons-of-sugar-containing Wild Cherry Pepsis.

If you are going to eat fast food, do so in moderation. Once a week is more than enough. In fact, if you watch Super Size Me, you might crave fast food even less frequently than that.