One of our great interests here at the IWF is junk science’you know, propaganda masquerading as science.
Morgan Spurlock’s movie “Super Size Me” was junk science. The purpose: to demonize McDonald’s, that splendid emporium of delicious and cheap food.
Spurlock ate, as you may recall, only at McDonald’s for a month. He gained 24 pounds and his cholesterol went up 40 percent. James K. Glassman wrote:
“‘Super Size Me’ is not a serious look at a real health problem. It is, instead, an outrageously dishonest and dangerous piece of self-promotion. Through his antics, Spurlock sends precisely the wrong message. He absolves us of responsibility for our own fitness. We aren’t to blame for being fat; big corporations are! And the remedy, he suggests, is to file lawsuits and plead with the Nanny State and the Food Police for protection.”
Jim?s piece is excellent, but Merab Morgan has done an even more effective job of debunking the junk science of ?Super Size Me.? What did she do? She?s lost weight eating only at the golden arches.
The Detroit Free Press reports:
?There are many reasons Merab Morgan decided in April to eat nothing but McDonald?s fast food for 90 days. There?s her weakness for the Filet-O-Fish, slathered with tartar sauce and cheese. And there was that documentary, ?Super Size Me,? which she thought insulted the intelligence of fat people by implying that they couldn?t resist the offer of a gargantuan portion for a few cents extra.
?But mainly, the 35-year-old Henderson, N. C., woman concocted this unorthodox diet for herself — she?s memorized the calories in almost every menu item, and limits herself to 1,400 calories a day — because it fits her life.
?At a cost of $9 to $11 for three meals, the single mother of two can afford it. She travels throughout the Raleigh area working construction jobs, and she has never failed to find a McDonald?s somewhere. The whole process of ordering and eating a meal takes maybe 5 minutes, and she mostly eats in her car. Sometimes she hits the drive-through only once, ordering enough food to last the whole day.
“?It?s kind of like the poor man?s diet,? said Morgan?.
?Since April 22, when Morgan launched her diet with a Sausage Burrito and a medium Diet Coke, she?s lost 33 pounds, putting her at about 195 pounds. At 5 feet, 9 inches tall, she?s dropped from a size 22 or 24 to a size 15. The size 2X and 3X T-shirts she used to wear look like dresses on her. And despite her friends? fears about skyrocketing cholesterol, she feels great.
?Barry Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a professor of nutrition and public health, has studied the relationship between large fast-food portions and the obesity epidemic.
?Eating only at McDonald?s isn?t healthy, he said. He worries that Morgan will need more vitamins, minerals, fiber and dairy. But on the plus side, she?s doing a good job of limiting her calories and, consequently, she?s losing weight.?
Why do liberals like Spurlock insist on demonizing McDonald?s?
Is it because they don?t want to mingle with the people?or perhaps they only eat nouvelle cuisine.