supersize me: mcdonalds experiment
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I think someone should do a documentary where all they eat is mcdonald's food, stay within their calorie limits and work out on a regular basis. That would be a documentary I'd enjoy watching with other people that keep trying to tell me what I should and shouldn't eat.
EDIT:
I'm a copy cat too apparently. I didn't get that far into the thread before I replied with my genius idea.
google down size me, guy did just that, also lifted, maintained body comp throughout
If I could get a sponsor, I'd do it
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From Wikipedia, I remembered this but had to look up the details:
Soso Whaley, an independent film producer, made a YouTube movie reply titled Me and Mickey D's, in which she also ate all meals at McDonald's, yet lost weight—20 pounds over 60 days; 30 pounds in 90 days. Whaley's results were quite different because of the reduced calorie diet, and inclusion of exercise. Some of Whaley's requirements for her meals were the same as Spurlock's (had to eat everything on the menu over the course of the experiment, etc.); but some were different (she didn't have to clean the plate—Spurlock required himself to do so). Whaley also documented her meals by saving the receipts.
Well, never mind then. Apparently I'm the copy cat. Oh well, it saves me the trouble. I think I'd get pretty sick of McD's before my month was up.0 -
It is a message about where corporate responsibility and self reliance meet. Shouldn't people be able to make healthier choices on their own?
The problem is worse than that. McDonalds (and all restaurants) serve such unhealthy food because THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE WANT. If McDonalds started serving lower calorie healthy foods they'd go out of business in a week, meanwhile all the fat people that blame their problems on fast food would be going to Burger King instead b/c the higher cal food tastes better.
I completely agree with you! It is more than just McDonalds changing it is America changing too. In the movie they refer back to cigerette smoking quite a bit. It used to be socially acceptable to smoke all the time. Just like eating fast food has become socially acceptable to do all the time. Americans have changed their opinion on cigerettes . Who knows the next opinion change might be fast food.
My eating Fast Food at a table next to you isn't going to make you fat. Back in the day if you tried to touch my fries, I would stab you in the eye with a spork. So no second-hand fast food for you.
I don't have a point I just needed to get a spork joke in.0 -
The worst part is the disgusting meat they use in the burgers and the chicken. It's pink slime that they color like meat and add flavoring to make it taste like meat.
The McChicken is left over chicken parts, eyeballs, etc.
The burgers are the same thing.
Pretty disgusting, but they have announced that they will quit using pink slime.0 -
Whaley also documented her meals by saving the receipts.
I think that this is important to note. As far as I know, to date, Spurlock has never released information on exactly what he was eating or in what amounts each day. We only ever get info on the general rules and food we see in the movie itself. So no one knows how much he actually ate every day in order to get the results that he showed on film. To me, that's shady enough to discredit the whole project (not that it ever stopped me from eating wherever I wanted).0 -
Well, never mind then. Apparently I'm the copy cat. Oh well, it saves me the trouble. I think I'd get pretty sick of McD's before my month was up.
I've never heard of this other documentary...
I think it's important though, that the grocery store is just as, if not more, as bad. The only most healthy section of the store is the produce section, and even then it's full of stuff year round to turn this stuff into unhealthy items, such as caramel dips for apples, dips for bananas, it usually has a wall of "discount/bulk/stock" items. It has pastries by the berries for crepes and short cakes, it has lady fingers, and by the potatoes all this high sodium seasoning for various stuff, including the "blooming onion" right above the vidalia onions. I challenge everyone here to find just one food aisle that doesn't have strategically placed unhealthy foods.
I feel the grocery store is killing us just as badly as the fast food industry. Look at how many people believe eating healthy is expensive.0 -
Realistically, how many people eat nothing but fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner??? :huh:0
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The worst part is the disgusting meat they use in the burgers and the chicken. It's pink slime that they color like meat and add flavoring to make it taste like meat.
The McChicken is left over chicken parts, eyeballs, etc.
The burgers are the same thing.
Pretty disgusting, but they have announced that they will quit using pink slime.
I thought the pink slime was a disinfectant to kill bacteria.
Either way, I'm in Canada where it hasn't been used.0 -
It would have been so much better if MS's math added up. As it is, I think he invalidated his intended message. (But if he hadn't cheated/fudged the numbers, no doubt his results wouldn't have been nearly as interesting from an entertainment perspective.)0
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While Super Size Me is somewhat eye opening the one thing that bothers me is they never really discuss that it was the people choosing to eat the way they do. At my worst I was 270 lbs. I am now 228. Still a ways to go but I am making progress. I didn't get that way I did because of the food industry's crafty marketing or deception me. I got this way because I made bad choices. I did it, not anyone else. I ate their food that is nutritionally inferior and harmful knowing what they had would cause me to gain weight if I kept repeating this behavior often.
It really makes me mad when people try to put the blame on the company and not accept responsibility for themselves. Like there was some McDonald's executive putting a gun to their head forcing them to eat their food. I took my daughter to McDonalds on Tuesday as a treat before dance class. I had a salad and a light Minute Maid. The salad was an obviously better choice than a Big Mac with fries. I made a choice to be more responsible.
The people in this world that choose to not to accept responsibility for obesity are almost always going to remain obese. Some people naturally can eat all they want and not gain weight. I wish I was them but I am not. Some people were also better at sports than me or have skills that make them better actors, CEOs and the like. It is hard for me to not give into my old lifestyle. But I know it is my choice everyday to make. When I reach my goal weight I will have obtained it by the choices I made.
Rant over.0 -
I wonder if McDonalds would sponsor me to do a reverse of this, where I ate all my food for a month from mcdonalds and ended up just fine...
Copy cat.
sorry, I didn't see your post because it fell in the irrelevant zone of the discussion at the time...
The irrelevant zone being anywhere from the 2nd reply, to the next to last reply of any discussion.0 -
My son was 8 yrs old when he watched that. Hasn't touched anything from McDonald's since.0
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What is McDonalds?0
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After you watch Super Size Me, watch Fat Head. Both make good points, but take it all with a grain of salt.
We choose what size fries we order, if we even order them, and no amount of "would you like to super size that" is going to force a thinking person into stuffing themselves (as Spurlock does) to the point of vomiting.
The real answer to a healthy diet lies somewhere between the two documentaries and the message is essentially: everything in moderation, with a focus most of the time on whole foods.0 -
ugh I can't even SMELL fried food without it sending my stomach into a full out hissy fit.... like getting stuck behind that idiot that drowns themselves in perfume instead of SHOWERING!! :bigsmile:0
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I liked "Fat Head" better. It countered a lot of Super Size Me. Neither were perfect, but Fat Head was a lot better I thought. Funny too.0
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Made me think of this poster...
Yikes :noway:0 -
What is McDonalds?
I see what you did there.0 -
actually he made a point to eat everything on the menu, not just the highest options.
but please, continue to be snarky, that's much more to entertainment value.
Wrong. He kept track of everything he ate, but he has refused to release the list for 8 years. Know why? Because it doesn't add up. You can eat 5000 cals maybe 2 days at McD's, but then you'd have trouble hitting 3500 cals most days. Unless you got supersize sodas and refilled them 3x. It just doesn't math out.
For the record, I eat a McDonalds virtually every day. It's convenient, cheap, and it's 80 degrees in LA and I can chill out in thier AC and use the free wi-fi. And strangely enough, I've lost 50 lbs, lowered my BF, cholesterol, BP, lowered my heart rate. Perhaps I'm just a genetic freak? No, it's that the SuperSize Me doc was borderline slanderous. I will say that watching it got me to stop drinking regular soda and switch to diet. Drinking 1000 cals a day was crazytime.
Also, thanks OP, for making me feel old as dirt. I can't even chide you for just now seeing it because you were too young to see it when it came out. I will now go take my Geritol Metamucil cocktail0 -
probably late watching this but im watching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDqqiWhXAFE&feature=related
at the minute.
really opens your eyes to obesity and mcdonlds!! unhealthy!!
I know it's nuts, eat in a surplus and you get fat. Totally eye opening
Just like Fathead, eat in a deficit and lose weight, mind blowing film making
Just because it needs repeating.0 -
Hi, I just started on Tuesday and lost 4 lbs. I have always eaten the right foods, no fast foods, no junk food....but still I am 30lbs overweight, (pic. 2009) I know, it is because I eat too much of the good things...like I will have 3 bananas a day...i know it is a no, no but still did it..... I am excited but I have been in the same situation of starting to watch what I eat and something triggers me to change again and go back to eating too much of the good stuff......any help with this??0
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What was distrubing to me when I watched the film was how the McD french fries didn't mold, they sat for a month looking the same while other french fries molded because it's real food. I read online that McD french fries are not vegetarian because they put all kinds of things into it at the factory.
I don't get this because anything under certain conditions mold. Take a plastic cup, put a little bit of water in it and after a few days it will mold. It has nothing to do with being "real food" or not.0 -
is it 2004 again?
The awkward moment you realize you are old because the poster was too young at the time to get your reference.
Exactly that! hahaha0 -
Not sure if anyone has brought up the point on the size of the meals (I didn't see anyone say it). For those of you that say it made McD get rid of their Supersize you should re-evaluate the size menu. After the backlash this movie caused all fast food joints upped their sizes. Small became Medium, Medium became Large, and Large became Supersize/Kingsize/whateversize. A small back in the supersize days is equivalent to most places "value fries" now.0
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Sure, there is better quality food out there, but fast food is not exactly lead burgers with with cyanide sauce on a radioactive bun.
THANK YOU! I'm so tired of the "it's not real food" vein of commentary. Does it contain calories? Protein, carbohydrates, fat? Yes? Then it's "real" food. Do they add in extra stuff? Sure. Poison that will strike you dead if you consume a single cheeseburger? Nah.0 -
I love that one!0 -
I could really go for a big mac now...0
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