Soso Whaley is now turning this experiment inside out, demonstrating that it's just as easy to skew the results of Spurlock's experiment in favor of the McDonald's diet. For the next month, she'll be limiting herself to McD's cuisine, but choosimg healthier menu items and exercising regularly. Will she got as thin as Spurlock got fat? This is Whaley's diary of her McDonald's month.
"A gentleman never eats. He breakfasts, he lunches, he dines, but he never eats."—Anonymous
Day 5. I've lost 3 pounds!!!!! Now, let's not get too excited, but I visited the doctor today for some more tests and, out of curiosity, stepped on the scale. Already, I am seeing positive changes! Yet, despite these early results, I caution my readers against severely restricting their diets; drastically limiting your food intake/choices for a long period of time is not a wise thing to do.
I'm surprised—but delighted—at these early results, as I am ignoring the fat and sodium contents of the foods and just counting calories. However, I must monitor how much beef and fried food I consume, because I'd like to lower my cholesterol during these 30 days (it came in at 232).
To be honest, I'm not bored with the menu yet, because I usually only eat certain items at McDonald's (as many people seem to do). However, while choosing a familiar favorite might be a safe choice, it does tend to keep one in a rut. For me, trying new items like the McGriddle Sandwich or the Yogurt Parfait has led to wonderful new taste discoveries—and new favorites. Go ahead be brave, try something new today at your favorite eatery.
For the most part, I am feeling energetic and alert. One problem I've encountered is ensuring that I maintain an accurate calorie count of the food I'm eating. I will use the McDonald's Web site's nutritional information page for this test, but may have to locate some calorie counts elsewhere, as they are not provided by McDonald's for some individual items, such as 2 strips of bacon which I had this morning with the pancakes.
My eating patterns are still off, as I'm eating later in the morning and afternoon because I'm just not hungry. Perhaps this is because of the different foods I've been consuming. Today, I chose a Big 'N Tasty with cheese for lunch and then had a hamburger for dinner—perhaps not the most nutritious of days. But, I can make wiser choices tomorrow. Meanwhile, I find it very stimulating to have to "think" about my food choices. Gives my brain something interesting to do.
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]]>Soso Whaley is now turning this experiment inside out, demonstrating that it's just as easy to skew the results of Spurlock's experiment in favor of the McDonald's diet. For the next month, she'll be limiting herself to McD's cuisine, but choosimg healthier menu items and exercising regularly. Will she got as thin as Spurlock got fat? This is Whaley's diary of her McDonald's month.
My academic journey has not been easy. Fortunately, I have always been very inquisitive and love reading so that combination has led me to acquire titles as diverse as The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett, The Myth of Monogomy, by Barash Lipton, Doc, My Tiger's Got An Itch by John G. Martin and The Ultimate Einstein by Dr. Donald Goldsmith. I own hundreds of books, on many different subjects, I've read and collected both the mainstream and the unique.
Some books are for fun (I'll admit to being a big fan of Stranger in a Strange Land and other books by Heinlein) but most feed my hunger for knowledge. I always want to know more. After leaving school, I never really felt as though my education came to an end. Academic degrees should not be a reason to stop learning and thinking.
Unfortunately, many people are poorly equipped to evaluate the information that they are inundated with every day, so they just ignore it. I don't blame them. Critical thinking is not a subject that is broached very often in the public school system; in fact it is often discouraged by a very rigid academic system which these days tends to concentrate more on test results than creative thinking. But this lapse of common sense on the part of our educational system doesn't have to stop anyone of any age from rebooting and refreshing their minds. It's fun; give it a try. Look up "critical thinking" on the web if you like surfing, or pick up a good book like Statistics You Can't Trust: A Friendly Guide To Clear Thinking About Statistics in Everyday Life by Stephen Kent Campbell, et al.
Once you've learned a few techniques for recognizing things like junk science and alarmist propaganda you can then separate the wheat from the chaff and make more informed decisions about your life. Thinking and becoming more aware of your surroundings is an exhilarating experience but don't forget to exercise your body while working on your mind, brain cells thrive on oxygen.
NOTE TO MY READERS
Murphy was right, if anything can go wrong it will, and I'm not surprised it happened at the drive through window, but I do not blame McDonalds, this was simple human error, nothing more. I was given the wrong receipt for my lunch yesterday and my error was in not checking the receipt. I had hoped to recover the receipt by relying on the computerized cash register system but the registers had been cashed out and I had missed the cycle. The manager was kind enough to note my actual meal on the incorrect receipt and fortunately I had taken a picture of my double cheeseburger and medium coke. MORAL: Always check your purchase before you leave the drive through window
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]]>"The food will make you sick."
"How can you eat 3 meals a day there?"
"You're Crazy!"
These are just a few of the responses from friends about my decision to eat only at McDonald's for 30 days.
And what, you ask, would cause a person to engage in such behavior? Morgan Spurlock did it and documented his adventures in a new film called Super Size Me. Eating massive amounts of food, Spurlock claims to have "proven" that McDonald's food is bad for you and causes all sorts of medical problems.
This anti-corporate, anti-fast food take on the "evil" McDonald's is nothing more than simple junk science and should be relegated to the comedy section at Blockbuster once it is distributed. To be honest, I've had it with all the doom and gloom, alarmist, anti-everything attitude of certain individuals and organizations who want to control my life, your life, everyone's life with little regard for individual tastes, freedom of choice and personal responsibility.
Sure, I would have preferred that Mr. Spurlock had chosen some 5 Star restaurant but McDonald's will do. I grew up eating their food, and I cannot attribute any ill health effects to eating there over the last 49 years. Once praised and respected as a food producer that made cheap, decent food available to the masses at a low cost, the Golden Arches is now a major target of all sorts of groups from animal rights to environmental to anti-capitalists. I'm not surprised that this filmmaker chose one of the most maligned fast food operations in the world. Picking on this corporate giant is guaranteed to attract attention and continue a long history of the "little guy" going after the big, bad corporation to right some perceived wrong. Poppycock—Mr. Spurlock chose a topical story, performed the simple task of eating massive amounts of food, and convinced too many people that his film is actually some sort of landmark scientific discovery.
I, on the other hand, am motivated to eat at McDonald's for 30 days to show just how easy it is to skew results of any test to reflect your preconceived notions and come up with just exactly the results you want to see. In my case I'm going to use some of the same parameters Mr. Spurlock used but I would rather see results which show I can maintain a healthy lifestyle and actually lose weight at McDonald's, so I will not be scarfing down Double Quarter Pounders with cheese. My real purpose is not to prove something, rather, I see this as a unique opportunity to explore food and weight issues and separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to what is reported about our health and well being in the media and other sources. However, I would not attempt such a feat without being properly prepared to use critical thinking skills while engaging in this adventure so I ride into battle with the help of Steven Milloy, author of Junk Science Judo and founder of JunkScience.com. I encourage anyone who has not read his book or been to www.JunkScience.com to spend a little time exercising those brain cells. For those who are familiar with Mr. Milloy I challenge you to pick up a non-fiction book and start exploring your world. My current favorites include The Natural History of the Rich by Richard Conniff and The Professor and The Madman —A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the OxfordEnglish Dictionary by Simon Winchester.
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