Eat McDonalds and lose weight?

[scthgharpy]

I think Im gonna be sick:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/08/11/national/a132924D64.DTL

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People Try to Lose Weight at McDoanld's
- By VALERIE BAUMAN, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, August 11, 2005


(08-11) 13:29 PDT Raleigh, N.C. (AP) --


Inspired by the documentary "Super Size Me," Merab Morgan decided to give a fast-food-only diet a try. The construction worker and mother of two ate only at McDonald's for 90 days — and dropped 37 pounds in the process.


It was a vastly different outcome than what happened in the documentary to filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who put on 30 pounds and saw his health deteriorate after 5,000 calories a day of nothing but McDonald's food.


Morgan, from Raleigh, thought the documentary had unfairly targeted the world's largest restaurant company, implying that the obese were victims of a careless corporate giant. People are responsible for what they eat, she said, not restaurants. The problem with a McDonald's-only diet isn't what's on the menu, but the choices made from it, she said.


"I thought it's two birds with one stone — to lose weight and to prove a point for the little fat people," Morgan said. "Just because they accidentally put an apple pie in my bag instead of my apple dippers doesn't mean I'm going to say, 'Oh, I can eat the apple pie.'"


Spurlock, who turned his surprise-hit movie into a TV show on the FX network, isn't talking about Morgan or the many other McDieters who have criticized his film and found success losing weight by eating healthy foods off the McDonald's menu, said his agent, David Magdael.


One person went so far as to make her own independent film about dieting at McDonald's. "Me and Mickey D" follows Soso Whaley, of Kensington, N.H., as she spends three 30-day periods on the diet. She dropped from 175 to 139 pounds, eating 2,000 calories-a-day at McDonald's.


"I had to think about what I was eating," Whaley said. "I couldn't just walk in there and say 'I'll take a cinnamon bun and a Diet Coke.' ... I know a lot of people are really turned off by the whole thought of monitoring what they are eating, but that's part of the problem."


As might be expected, McDonald's also objected to the impressions left by Spurlock's film. Walt Riker, the company's vice president of corporate communications, said Oak Brook, Ill.-based company is pleased — but not surprised — that some customers have lost weight eating only at the fast-food giant.


Spurlock's film "really spurred a backlash based on common sense," Riker said.


Morgan used nutritional information downloaded from McDonald's Web site to create meal plans of no more than 1,400 calories a day. She only ate french fries twice, usually choosing burgers and salads. Those choices are a stark contrast with those made by Spurlock, who ate every menu item at least once.


At the end of the 90 days, she had dropped from 227 to 190 pounds.


"It feels great," she said. "Because, the truth of the matter is that beauty is power, and if you're fat, or your overweight, then people don't really take you seriously."


Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, agreed that a low-calorie, McDonald's-only diet can help people lose weight but said it may not offer enough long-term variety. Whatever an individual does to lose weight, they need to do for the rest of their life, she said.


Morgan said she hasn't decided if she will stick with the McDonald's-only plan to reach her goal of 150 pounds. But she does have one complaint about McDonald's.


"If I could suggest anything to McDonald's, I would suggest the McMargarita," Morgan said. "Dine-in only, of course."


URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/08/11/national/a132924D64.DTL

[Samuel]

I have no problem with McDonald. I eat sometimes there when I'm traveling. I order salad with grilled chicken, double cheeseburger and a diet coke. I remove the bun and add the rest of my sandwitch to the salad. Then I cut all the meat and cheese into small pieces and enjoy my delicious, filling low carb meal. It is healthy too.

[ItsTheWooo]

Obviously people have a personal responsibility for themselves. At the end of the day, if you have a problem, it's your job to fix it.

This does not absolve deleterious influences of their share in the blame for creating problems in society. I think of McDonalds as a peddler of substances for recreation - like alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Food like the sort you get at McDonalds is basically recreational substance. People eat it to feel good and enjoy themselves. It's fine in moderation, but we shouldn't overlook the fact that the foods are addictive, body and mind. All of us here are familiar with physical food addiction. The carbohydrates and the fats makes our bodies feel good and a dependancy cycle can start. Emotionally and psychologically, if there are other stressors in our life we can become dependent on the physical cycle caused by the food. That's when you have a REAL problem with food and are a true food addict.

A lot of people are unknowingly getting hooked on food, unlike in the past, because of how COMMON recreational food is today... people are now encouraged to eat these foods every day. This change in our culture occurred because of industry: the enormous presence & influence of entities like McDonalds is saturating our culture with one-sided propaganda. People start to think eating like that every day is acceptable, because McDonalds presents a fantasy image where healthy attractive people eat their food as a normal meal every day in commercials. McDonalds has been telling us for years in their commercials that it's acceptable to eat like that every day, that it is acceptable to eat that kind of food to deal with every day problems in life. McDonalds wants people to condition themselves to associate "unwinding" and "relaxing" after a hard day with eating at their restaurant (emotional eating). They and other restaurants have commercial after commercial featuring this scenario. They want us to make this action (stress -> eating) a second nature reflex. They've been very successful.


Anyway, both sides are right. You can't blame a company for your fatness, but you also can't blame fat people for being fatter now when it's pretty obvious to any reasonably socially aware person that we're being encouraged to eat really unhealthfully more than in the past.

[Angeline]

I think there is also the fact that people are eating outside of the house more and more. I think it's to the point that young people today don't even know what good food is. They think home cooking is taking a "home-made" lasagna from the supermarket and popping it in the microwave. So when it comes time to eating, they grab the fastest, easiest and cheapest food they can, which is usually fast food. Sometimes I think we are heading towards an all-processed type of diet, like you often seen in Science-Fiction. A scoop of green goo, a slab of brown stuff and cubes of whatever. Contains all the nutrients a person needs. No one minds because no one remembers real food.

My DH and I just spend a week at home, on vacation. All we ate for that week were veggies fresh from the garden and meat from the farmer's market. Then we had to go back to work and resume eating from the cafeteria. bleh. But we are in the position to compare.

It might just be me, but I can't imagine growing up on a diet of good fresh food, and turning to a steady diet of disgusting fast food (TV commercials showing picture of fast food just repulse me). I can see those kids going through a fast food "phase", but not staying on it permanently.

[ProfGumby]

We batted this one around in another post, and again I have to agree with you, Its The Woo (no Dr Suess hyme intended)

It is your choice what you choose to eat and where you choose to eat. Most fast food joints, use some sort of preservative type thing on or in everything. It is not organic food, nor was it ever intended to be. Nothing there is truly as healthy as out of a garden with pure soils and the proper mix of organics in that soil.

But it is a choice, just like the analogy I used, if you went to the local market, bought and ate nothing but cakes and pies and the like for two months straight, would you then blame the market for you being fat/putting on weight as a result?

This thread has proved a point, as has the other. It is all about choices and how one choses to eat. If you eat 2 or 3 meals a day out, it is your choice on what you eat that controls your health.

[mcsblues]

My DH and I just spend a week at home, on vacation. All we ate for that week were veggies fresh from the garden and meat from the farmer's market. Then we had to go back to work and resume eating from the cafeteria. bleh. But we are in the position to compare. If your employer forces you to eat cafeteria food .... change jobs!;)

You can't take your own?

Cheers,


Malcolm

[NJNicole]

I bet I could lose weight on a chocolate only diet but it doesn't mean it is healthy and long-term. I vowed off all fast food after seeing that documentary and I have happily been fast food free for 6 months. Now if I could only vow off all fried foods period. :)

[Angeline]

If your employer forces you to eat cafeteria food .... change jobs!;) You can't take your own?

lol, I don't think that anyone could force you to eat cafeteria food unless you were in prison, or the army. No, it's simply that I am not very good about brown-bagging it. I know I should.

[Vince3325]

I have a pizza in bed diet , book is in the works.