A few years ago I did a paper on the whole “McDonald’s makes you fatter!” hysteria as part of my MBA.[]Among my findings?[]1. The film “Super-Size Me” is invalid from an academic or scientific standpoint, as the author left no actual record of just what he supposedly ate; without this record, it would be impossible for anyone to reproduce his experiment.[]2. Two different people conducted experiments to determine whether or not a person could improve their health by eating at McDonald’s. Both people ate each menu item once, then went to their preferred style. Both succeeded. Both left records of the meals consumed. One man followed a modified Atkins diet and kept a written log, while the other made it a point to substitute for healthier options (such as going for tea or coffee instead of soda) and kept the wrappers & cups as visual proof. []3. School lunches and school fitness programs are, on the whole, more important in determining a child’s level of obesity than fast food, yet get far less attention. For example, the majority of school lunches served by the city of San Francisco would fail the standard the city put in place for Happy Meals… which is both ironic and hypocritical given the fact that the city council member who pushed for the standard was once in charge of the city’s school lunch program. []4. A number of foods deemed “healthy” actually aren’t. For example, in some regards a hamburger can actually be healthier than a “Deluxe salad w/ chicken”. []The long and short of it is that it all comes down to (A) schools needing to ensure that people get a good education in regards to nutrition & fitness and (B) people needing to take responsibility for what they do and do not eat.
A few years ago I did a paper on the whole “McDonald’s makes you fatter!” hysteria as part of my MBA.[]Among my findings?[]1. The film “Super-Size Me” is invalid from an academic or scientific standpoint, as the author left no actual record of just what he supposedly ate; without this record, it would be impossible for anyone to reproduce his experiment.[]2. Two different people conducted experiments to determine whether or not a person could improve their health by eating at McDonald’s. Both people ate each menu item once, then went to their preferred style. Both succeeded. Both left records of the meals consumed. One man followed a modified Atkins diet and kept a written log, while the other made it a point to substitute for healthier options (such as going for tea or coffee instead of soda) and kept the wrappers & cups as visual proof. []3. School lunches and school fitness programs are, on the whole, more important in determining a child’s level of obesity than fast food, yet get far less attention. For example, the majority of school lunches served by the city of San Francisco would fail the standard the city put in place for Happy Meals… which is both ironic and hypocritical given the fact that the city council member who pushed for the standard was once in charge of the city’s school lunch program. []4. A number of foods deemed “healthy” actually aren’t. For example, in some regards a hamburger can actually be healthier than a “Deluxe salad w/ chicken”. []The long and short of it is that it all comes down to (A) schools needing to ensure that people get a good education in regards to nutrition & fitness and (B) people needing to take responsibility for what they do and do not eat.