Mom drops 37 pounds on McDiet

[Keirador]

McDonald's sells salads. McDonald's sells grilled chicken. McDonald's sells fruit. McDonald's sells yogurts. McDonald's sells water. They provide healthy options. Is McDonald's supposed to force people to eat healthy? What more do people want them to do? When does it stop being the corporation's fault, and start being the fault of individuals? We have created a society where people no longer take responsibility for their actions, but simply blame larger units of society. If you want to blame McDonald's for obesity, then you have to accept that you no longer have responsibility for your actions. Which means that corporations and government has the right to tell you what you are going to eat.

 

[Cuivienen]

McDonald's sells salads. McDonald's sells grilled chicken. McDonald's sells fruit. McDonald's sells yogurts. McDonald's sells water. They provide healthy options. Is McDonald's supposed to force people to eat healthy? What more do people want them to do? When does it stop being the corporation's fault, and start being the fault of individuals? We have created a society where people no longer take responsibility for their actions, but simply blame larger units of society. If you want to blame McDonald's for obesity, then you have to accept that you no longer have responsibility for your actions. Which means that corporations and government has the right to tell you what you are going to eat.

I would point out that at the time of Super Size Me, McDonalds offered no salads, fruit, yogurt or any remotely healthy option. It has only been since Super Size Me that McDonalds and other fast food restaurants (Burger King excepted) have moved towards less unhealthy hamburgers and moderately healthy options like salads and parfaits.

 

[Narz]

And even now McDonalds food is still far from healthy. On their walnut salad (or whatever it's supposed to be) they sugarcoat their walnuts. They just can't do anything right.

 

[Riesstiu IV]

I can no longer eat McDonalds burgers. I've been spoiled by my mom's home cooking to the point were I get sick after eating just one double cheese burger. I don't know why but after eating there my stomach feels terrible. The food doesn't taste bad but after a few minutes of digestion, the rest of my body is screaming, "what the hell did you just eat?!" I can't imagine my body trying to sustain a diet on McDonalds. I'd be dead in a week.

The only fast food burger places I can tolerate are Wendy's (more expensive but they actually make REAL burgers) and Burger King.

 

[highflyin213]

I would point out that at the time of Super Size Me, McDonalds offered no salads, fruit, yogurt or any remotely healthy option. It has only been since Super Size Me that McDonalds and other fast food restaurants (Burger King excepted) have moved towards less unhealthy hamburgers and moderately healthy options like salads and parfaits.

But why does McDonalds food have to be healthy? Why does McDonalds have to provide healthy options? It should have to state that their food is not healthy or make nutritional facts available(Which I believe is something that they already do and have been doing). I don’t see the criticisms of McDonalds not providing healthy options as justifiable.

 

[Keirador]

I would point out that at the time of Super Size Me, McDonalds offered no salads, fruit, yogurt or any remotely healthy option. It has only been since Super Size Me that McDonalds and other fast food restaurants (Burger King excepted) have moved towards less unhealthy hamburgers and moderately healthy options like salads and parfaits.

I realize now it was detrimental to my point to even include these healthy options, but I've done it, so now I have to defend it. Well before Super Size Me came out, McDonald's offered grilled chicken and salads. Granted, their salads are now better advertised and more varied, but they've offered them for many years.

This, however, is tangential. Why does McDonald's have any obligation to sell any healthy food at all? It is not as if there is no alternative food choice. It is an decision to frequent McDonald's, a decision that is not made by the corporate offices, but by individual diners. If you feel McDonald's is unhealthy and makes you fat, here's what you do: don't eat there. You don't have to sue, you don't have to start a movement to turn McDonald's into a health-food shop, you really don't have to do anything at all. You just have to NOT give them your money. It is one thing to protect consumers by punishing fraud and regulating harmful materials, it is quite another to hold corporations responsible for a succesion of poor choices by their clients. If one can succesfully sue McDonald's for obesity, I fail to see why one could not sue a gun manufacturer for the suicide of a loved one.

EDIT: highflyin made my point, but more concisely.

 

[The Last Conformist]

McD sells fruit? What's the world coming to?

If an adult voluntarily eats at McD on a regular basis, he deserves turning into a diabetic sphere of fat. The problem, tho, is that when a significant proportion of the population goes spherical it costs all of us money. Shaming McD into serving healthier stuff may not be "fair", but it makes alot of national economic sense.

Then there's the real outrage of Super-Size Me, that somehow gets little attention; the junk food served at school restaurants. Someone feel like defending that?


(Tangentially, while the correlation between overweight and increased mortality is well-established, causation is not. One study even found that when age, sex, class, and level of physical activity were compensated for, people with BMI 25-30 had lower mortality than those with 19-25.)

 

[aaglo]

IIRC, Spurlong always took the super-size menu, if they offered it.

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 choices made from it, she said.

Oh boy, this is real news...

 

[Narz]

One study even found that when age, sex, class, and level of physical activity were compensated for, people with BMI 25-30 had lower mortality than those with 19-25.)

Right, only one. I doubt it will be repeated.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Right, only one. I doubt it will be repeated.

Nah. Between researchers who wet their pants at the thought of overturning a paradigm and food producers who have potential economic gains from the results, people are bound to try and replicate it

 

[Narz]

Nah. Between researchers who wet their pants at the thought of overturning a paradigm and food producers who have potential economic gains from the results, people are bound to try and replicate it

I'm sure the study will be repeated but I have a hard time believing that in a well controlled experiment the results will be repeated.

 

[The Last Conformist]

I'm sure the study will be repeated but I have a hard time believing that in a well controlled experiment the results will be repeated.

Ah, I thought you were complaining about alleged political correctcy regarding the horribility of being fat.

My money, too, would be on the results not being replicated, but the point is that the question of causation isn't settled.

 

[Narz]

Eating a low-calorie diet has been proven to increase livespan across the board. Perhaps being overweight is fine in the short term but not if you want to live out your life to the end with realatively good health.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloric_restriction

 

[Maniacal]

She got off lucky, but, where is she today? Still keeping the pounds off? Or is MacD still paying for the liposuction. I have been boycotting Macd, wendies, etc for well, ever, DQ since last week, Mac for 6 months, and 8 months before that, wendys, never ate there, burger king, um, 5 years, etc. but Subway is still on .

 

[The Last Conformist]

Eating a low-calorie diet has been proven to increase livespan across the board. Perhaps being overweight is fine in the short term but not if you want to live out your life to the end with realatively good health.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloric_restriction

That's perfectly irrelevant, 'cos almost nobody in the 19-25 category is on a caloric restriction diet.

 

[SonicX]

(One study even found that when age, sex, class, and level of physical activity were compensated for, people with BMI 25-30 had lower mortality than those with 19-25.)

Perhaps, but people with BMI 19-25 are more aesthetically acceptable