Katherine Mangu-Ward Discusses Banning McDonald's from the Olympics on CNN's OutFront with Erin Burnett

Reason Mananging Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward appeared on CNN's OutFront with Erin Burnett to talk about a move to end McDonald's sponsorship of the Olympic Games in London. Mangu-Ward sticks up for Big Macs and suggests that people who chose to eat Mickey D's burgers and fries should also choose to go swim some laps. (After waiting half and hour, of course.)

Airdate: July 6, 2012

About 3 minutes.

Comments

[Pro Libertate]

If the athletes I've known are any guide (a few of the professional variety), fast food may very well be their official food.

[Warty]

A lot of elite athletes live on garbage food because their genes let them get away with it. I haz a jealous.

[Pro Libertate]

Of course. I've observed this phenomenon with nonathlete relatives, too. I have ancestors and great uncles/aunts who lived a mighty long time on fat, fat gravy, fat vegetables, lard, and additional fat. Typical Deep South cooking. Why did that work? Some good genetics, I hope, but also, they were very active. Work, play, and farming hobbies.

[wareagle]

you hit the piece the food police refuses to acknowledge: activity. Working behind a keyboard is new phenomenon. Also back in the day, much of what your ancestors ate was fresh, not processed.

Yes, there was fatback, sweet tea, and the rest, but there were veggies from their garden or someone else's, too. My wife's grandfather also smoked hand-rolled cigarettes and lived well into his 80s.

[Killazontherun]

Most of the things you listed are fats. Though caloric density tends to be higher, they also tend to burn more efficiently in digestion than carbs. You stuff more than a few hundred calories in you at one setting, a good chunk will convert in to stored fat on your gut.

[Killazontherun]

more than a few hundred calories of carbs in you at one setting

[BakedPenguin]

I suspect excess fat and protein is eliminated through waste, whereas cheap carbs are entirely absorbed due to the insulin response.

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, well, biscuits, fried pies, and cornbread--for example--aren't carb-free.

[BakedPenguin]

I think that goes back to the "working at a desk all day" versus "working in the fields all day" thing. Lawyering just doesn't burn fat like chopping, plowing, etc.

[Killazontherun]

Only thing on his list with carbs was the gravy, and it is used for congealing purposes. If he listed biscuits, I would assuredly added a qualifier to avoid corrections. I really hate them when they are unwarranted.

[Killazontherun]

Wait, you are he. So, well, okay, I guess a response was warranted. God, I feel like such an ass. Had a similar misunderstanding at a work meeting earlier today. I should just go back to bed.

[Urkobold?]

Assume biscuits and cornbread. And grits.

[Killazontherun]

You are quite correct, I took my foul mood generated by an ass coworker out on the Urk. Forty lashes well deserved.

[Whiterun Guard]

Your anecdotal evidence is no match for their faith-based 'scientific' consensus.

[Whiterun Guard]

Your anecdotal evidence is no match for their faith-based 'scientific' consensus.

[o3]

obviously whiterun's been gorging on super-sized, know-nothing burgers

[Whiterun Guard]

No, my fat fingers come the natural way. From beer.

[Hugh Akston]

So I guess that means the UK will refund McDonald's corporate taxes to prevent any of their filthy cholesterol-laden lucre from poisoning the purity of the new construction undertaken for the Olympics?

[Jesus H. Christ]

I remember hearing a breakdown of Micheal Phelps' diet during the last summer games. I was appalled at the calories that guy had to consume. I'm sure he could substitute a large fry and a burger for some of the pasta he ate. I think the guy was eating over 4 kilocals a day. He must have to take 10 pound dumps, eating all that food. Gross.

[Jesus H. Christ]

"4 kilocals"? what the heck was I writing? Howza bout "4 thousand Calories".

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I saw that interview, too. I think it was on ESPN a couple years back. His caloric intake was way above 4,000. It was closer to like 12,000 a day. Insane. But he spends 8 hours a day swimming in water, as the fastest man in the world.

[wareagle]

you're missing the flip side to the calories in - calories out. Phelps' regimen and that of other Olympic level athletes is not like you and me going to the gym. They are at it for hours a day, every day. Just like you would not drive cross country in a hybrid, you cannot train for the games on 1,500 calories a day.

[Jesus H. Christ]

I completely understand that, which is why I wrote "the calories that guy had to consume". He didn't really have a choice. Those athletes are burning fuel well beyond anything us normal people can imagine.

[wareagle]

then I missed something - first post made it seem that, with all Phelps was taking in, he should be a zeppelin.

[Jesus H. Christ]

That's ok. You've obviously been eating fast food and suffered a stroke. Try not to drool on your keyboard.

[DanD]

As a former D1 soccer player, I can tell you that when you're consuming 4000+ calories a day, you just go more often. It's hard to compete at a high level when you have a bowel obstruction. 🙂

The killer for most athletes is that metabolism slows down long before the appetite does 🙂

[BakedPenguin]

I'm surprised it wasn't more than that. I used to run ~9 miles a day, and I had to eat 4-6,000 calories just to stay at my weight.

Macadamia nuts helped.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Yeah I remember reading an article on Phelp's eating, it was more like 10k calories. I remember my days of running 100 mile weeks for track and even eating that 4k I could barely stay above 125 pounds.

[Lord Humungus]

for watchers of Deadliest Catch, it's not uncommon for those fisherman to consume large quantities of food. Of course they're doing hard labor which burns the stuff up.

[Paul.]

Who would have guessed that a baby boomer's favorite word would be "ban"?

[wareagle]

if someone has made it to the Olympics, it is hard to see how McDonald's hurts them.

[Whiterun Guard]

Just think how awesome they could have been if they HADN'T eaten it.

[wareagle]

you are trying to prove a negative and, as such, are merely engaging in hypothetical. A stronger argument could made that fast food helped them.

[Whiterun Guard]

An article that eats McDonald's won't be strong at all, I'm afraid.

[wareagle]

when your day requires upwards of 3500 or 4000 calories just for maintenance, be sure some fast food is involved. By the way, current records in virtually every sport were set after the advent of fast food.

[Pi Guy]

Maybe they should also run some sort of ad about how smoking pot will keep you from becoming a world-class athlete like Michael Phelps...

[Paul.]

Woman hugs off-duty police officer, super-safe pistol accidentally discharges, killing her.

[Hugh Akston]

Today's lesson: don't interact with the police on any level for any reason. Cross the street when you see them coming.

[Brian D]

The woman who was possibly intoxicated, and maybe on bath salts, was approaching the officer in an aggressive manner, clearly intending to attack...

sin,
police report

[Jesus H. Christ]

What would be the charge against a legal handgun owner if the exact same scenario took place, only the person packing the gun wasn't wearing a badge? I'm guessing manslaughter of some kind.

[Hugh Akston]

Honestly, this is going to hurt the Olympics more than it hurts McD's. McDonald's is willing to spend money to promote the games and sponsor the athletes. Where is the IOC going to find replacements for that money?

And this certainly isn't going to stop people from eating fast food.

[Whiterun Guard]

Intentions results

[Bones]

Why did anyone agree for McDonald's to be the ONLY food available in the Olympic Park? Maybe the dear assemblywoman from North Fucktardshire should set up a healthy food cart across the street.

[Sudden]

That would just be evidence that she cares more for profits than the people's health. And that is verboten.

[BakedPenguin]

Because McD's was going to pay 20% or so of the cost?

[Mike M.]

This really has little to do with "health". Socialists hate McDonald's because it's a wildly successful huge multinational corporation, and an iconic representation of the America that they despise so much.

[Sudden]

And she was perfectly transparent in that actual impulse when she claimed McDonald's cared more about profits than public health.

No shit, woman. They are this thing we call a business. They have stockholders who require that they maximize profits. Those people care very much about profits, as they should.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

As a shareholder in MCD, I am very pleased with the company. Look at the 5 year chart.

People that hate McDonalds are just whiny little bitches who weren't smart enough to buy shares at $50. They are losers.

[sarcasmic]

I'll take McDonalds over British "cuisine" any day of the week.

Blood sausage anyone?

[JerseyPatriot]

Black pudding McDonald's

[JerseyPatriot]

Ha! The "Greater Than" sign didn't show up. Make that "Black pudding crushes McDonald's".

[Sevo]

I'll presume black pudding is tossed in the pot to boil all day like Brit "beef".
That's 'crush', oh, tripe. Maybe.

[Ska]

Black pudding is foul, foul shit. I'll take a #2 over black pudding any day.

[Bones]

Seriously. I don't really care much for McD's but British food is as boring as it gets. I think it's the real reason the French and British hate each other. They just can't relate.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'd rather eat the Roast Beef of Old England than any "haute cuisine" French crap.

When mighty Roast Beef was the Englishman's food,
It ennobled our brains and enriched our blood.
Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good
Oh! the Roast Beef of old England,
And old English Roast Beef!
But since we have learnt from all-vapouring France
To eat their ragouts as well as to dance,
We're fed up with nothing but vain complaisance
Oh! the Roast Beef of Old England,
And old English Roast Beef!

[Brett L]

Yep. Consistently worst food I've ever eaten.

[R C Dean]

No country that has fish and chips as its national dish has any room to complain about the McDonalds menu.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Isn't there something like a McFish and Chips?

*shrugs* I wouldn't know. Being a top-hatted, monocle wearer, I usually order off the "Million Dollar Menu".

[sage]

Hey they have some good stuff. Why I recently was speaking with a chap and we were trading recipes for spotted dick. Mine involves a magic marker and...my dick.

[Brett L]

OT: FL TB Outbreak mishandled by the state. Badly. I sure am glad I moved on from the Bureau of Epidemiology.

"Furthermore, only two-thirds of the active cases could be traced to people and places in Jacksonville where the homeless and mentally ill had congregated. That suggested the TB strain had spread beyond the city's underclass and into the general population. The Palm Beach Post requested a database showing where every related case has appeared. That database has not been released."

Such a database definitely exists. Well, every reported case should be in it. So, so glad I'm not on that project anymore.

[Whiterun Guard]

Someone call Project Wildfire. We can't risk the consequences.

[Ted S.]

She ran calling Wildfire

[Brett L]

Dammit man. Now I have to listen.

[Spartacus]

It's Jacksonville. Just seal off the city and let the thing run its course.

[Brian D]

I laughed when the British woman said that McDonald's promotes their food "because they make it so tasty." Clearly someone needs to pass a law permitting McD's from selling Big Macs only if they taste like rotted fish heads.

[Sevo]

Or:
'Clearly someone needs to pass a law permitting McD's from selling Big Macs only if they taste like *Brit boiled beef*.'

[Anonymous Coward]

It takes a truly diseased mind to think that making food taste good is a negative. And of course, exercise is nonsense in the mind of a member of the Green Party.

[Killazontherun]

I had a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich for the first time in years over the week end. I could not believe the quality and taste. The crust tasted butter infused and extra fluffy, I suspect they may be using macadamia nut oil to get that flavor and texture.

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly Wendy's must be banned. It's flavors and deliciousness have infected your mind and rendered you incapable of knowing what's in your best interest.

[Killazontherun]

I'm out of control! The pleasure centers of my brain are overriding the almost non existent guilt centers because the capitalist pigdevils are putting temptation between two buttered buns. How will the state be able to control me if I grow immune to guilt?

[ant1sthenes]

It takes a truly diseased mind to think that making food taste good is a negative.

Or a Brit, if their cooking is any indication.

[Bill Dalasio]

The horrors of making food actually...TASTE GOOD?

[Killazontherun]

If banned, McD's should set up an alternative sporting event to be held on the same schedule for all the various activities where the prize is a million for every gold medal. You'll see the Olympics destroyed.

[Sevo]

Scipmylo!

[LimpoSimpo]

Good they should all that junk food does is kill you anyways!

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