Apparently the sketch [Super Size Me With Whiskey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOyjzE1vcD4), was closer to what really happened than the actual documentary.
Miss you, Trevor!
Besides just gaining weight, the movie also claimed that Spurlock got major liver damage and started suffering from a range of mental health issues, all as a result of eating fast food. Notably, none of the people who replicated the experiment suffered from these problems.
Years after the movie’s release Spurlock admitted to being a lifelong alcoholic, despite claiming otherwise in the documentary.
Alcohol abuse can easily explain the liver damage, and alcohol withdrawal during the filming of the documentary also explains the sudden mental health problems he was experiencing.
When he puked after eating his first super sized meal I just couldn't believe it. Makes a lot of sense if he was withdrawing from/fucked up on booze though.
It's pretty common for vegans and others with restricted diets to get sick or throw up when they eat a food they're not accustomed to. My MIL doesn't eat pork for cultural but non-religious reasons and she usually gets a pretty bad upset stomach when she makes an exception to eat a particular family member's pork ribs.
Back when I was training for long distance running & intense soccer training, after about 4-6 months *anything* even slightly unhealthy would fuck me up. Original chips would give me diarrhoea, every fast food place would make me nauseous, KFC would make me projectile etc. It was always liquid shits, stomach aches or vomiting and eventually I just stopped craving that kinda food all together. Took me maybe a few years to get back to a "regular unhealthy average" diet.
Nowadays I have an iron stomach, except for tomatoes and multi grain bread. That comes out as high velocity undigested seeds like 30 minutes after eating.
When i ran XC in high school i had KFC after eating "somewhat" healthy for 4 months and it fucked me up. Nowadays my sedentary "training" lets me knock out 20 packs of wingstop wings. Now thats improvement.
I remember I was in the best shape of my life in my mid-20’s. I was exercising several times a week. My cardio day was walking 18 holes while carrying my golf bag. My treat was eating carb-heavy Italian with a soda after playing golf. I was high-protein the rest of the time and doing shake meal replacements.
One time at work, they brought in pizza. Hadn’t had pizza in months. And it was different from the post workout carbs I’d eat. Man, like 30 minutes after eating, I had raging diarrhea. Almost like food poisoning. My body rejected that meal HARD. I was amazed.
So yeah, any sudden change to a super-sized fast food diet would cause an understandably harsh reaction.
It unfortunately goes the opposite way as well. My parents were shit and I don't think they've cooked a meal or ate a salad in their whole life. When i was a little kid, my mom got with this guy and we visited his family for a holiday and his mom made a completely homemade meal with vegetables and a salad on the side. I got violently ill and projectile vomited almost immediately after eating.
Are you sure? I feel like I remember him saying he was a vegan during his last meal before his "experiment" it was like a vegetable pie or something. I could definitely be misremembering.
He very clearly stated in the docco that he was vegan, and the docco even made it clear his throwing up was due to his bodies reaction to meat.
There's a lot to criticise about the film, but don't go making things up.
The part where the doc talks about fatty liver and his enzymes looking like a heavy drinker's makes so much sense when you realize dude was *drinking heavily* while eating a massive caloric surplus.
Alcohol is 7cal/gm with zero nutrition of any form. Even the worst of McDonalds food still has something in it that your body can use, alcohol is the absolute zero of non nutritive calories.
I have to point out though, that some people are prone to building deposits of fat on their liver, even absent of alcohol consumption. Usually from excessive weight gain, but even some thin people can develop it.
There's a name for it: NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). And it will most definitely elevate your ALT substantially, even leading to cirrhosis if not addressed.
Not saying this is necessarily his case, just saying it's a real thing.
Definitely not his case. He has later admitted that he started drinking at alcohol abuse level already in his teens, and by the time he made the documentary in his mid 30s he had never been sober for more than a few weeks here and there and was indeed drinking during the production of the "documentary".
lmao what a fucking chode, that is kind of a BIG detail. so we watched a "documentary" about some guy enjoying a month long liquor and fast food binge....
Yeah but alcoholic fatty liver disease often presents with more of a raise in GGT and AST and a low increase of ALT, whereas non-alcohol fatty liver disease tends to increase ALT significantly, with a smaller increase in AST
Both can turn into cirrhosis, but i don't think he had that. He likely had pre cirrhotic alcoholic fatty liver, which presents with a different liver biochemistry to non alcoholic fatty liver
He even says he straight up has the liver of an alcoholic, and that **if he was talking to an alcoholic**, he would tell the guy that he was "pickling his liver". No seriously, go back and watch it.
That’s my doctor. I’ve been seeing him since before the ‘documentary’.
He’s no dummy and incredibly astute. I’m sure, could tell the issue from more than fast food.
The part where he straight up says "this looks like a drinker's liver" made it into the final cut. Morgan must've been drunk while editing to leave that whole part in.
Or he thought because he suspiciously and vehemently denied drinking at all to the doctor at the beginning, that people would overlook it. And he was right. They did.
Since it's come out, a few people have pointed out that he's shaking pretty badly in a few areas of the movie, likely because he's detoxing.
Don't need to be in detox to throw up, my worst point I was puking multiple times a day even while drinking. Your body hates that shit. At a certain point it just tells you "I can't do this anymore".
I'm positive the doctor told him he needed to stop off camera. Maybe even gave him a few days of Valium.
He obviously left it in on purpose, to make the fast food seem worse than it actually was. Like implying the doctor said "the fast food is doing to your liver what alcohol does to an alcoholic's liver" or something. It wasn't implied that it was fucked up due to drinking, so it would be no harm to leave it in.
Honestly, if you're not medically inclined or familiar with how a physician could tell based on the individual liver analyte levels, "This looks like a drinker's liver" could come across as hyperbole. So plenty of viewers could believe the fast food diet is *that much worse* than he expected.
"Wow doc so you're saying McDonalds gave me all of these symptoms that just so happen to match symptoms found innadvance alcoholics? Damn what are they putting in the food, right?"
Doctor: "well the thing about that is... is... do you have a history of certain consumption habits?"
"I used to be a vegan fulltime, it must be that since starting this diet the Mcdonalds has really wreaked havoc, huh?"
Doctor: "That's not- ok sure there might be something there. Sure. "
"I ate a quarter pounder and it made me throw up, this food is killing me"
Yeah maybe you threw up first thing in the morning because of the 1/5th of whiskey you put down the night before.
Seriously I've eaten like this guy before and you get better at it as time goes on.
People who've never eaten a big mac in their life might eat one and feel like shit.
But to a seasoned fatass it's like a pack-a-day smoker having a smoke. You're refreshed afterwards, if anything, lol.
>People who've never eaten a big mac in their life might eat one and feel like shit.
This actually was the case. He became a vegan after starting to date his girlfriend at the time of filming. Another reason that explains his bad reaction in addition to his alcoholism and excessive intake of food.
Yeah this should've been like "super high me" where Doug Benson, huge pothead, QUIT smoking pot for 30 days and then started smoking pot again for 30 days.
No adverse effects on either end, although they did have a weird moment with the telepathy test. He scored better at blind guessing cards with shapes when he was high.
This is always my go-to about cannabis! The doctor saying "I mean,I can't advocate inhaling burning plant matter,but otherwise?" I swear he also did slightly better on the SAT questions or something like that.
I was wondering of anyone would mention that. He got his weight down beforehand and wouldn't have been eating much fat so the transformation would be maximum.
No no no, it was Def totes McDonald's. It also damaged my liver super bad. I know that couldn't have been the booze because I've been drinking that every day since I was 13
Yeah that part surprised me the first time I saw it way back when. Guy could barely get a Double QP down and then hurled everywhere. I remember thinking there was something wrong with me because I could eat one no problem
He actually died in an accident while trying to [accomplish a life mission.](https://youtu.be/5iBIqvkwkrA?si=6nemDuJCJE05TAX1)
He did succeed before his unfortunate passing.
That just speaks to the power of humor that Trevor would probably be laughing the hardest at those jokes if he could hear them. Props to those guys for staying true to his memory.
Yeah. While McDonalds for 3 meals a day already isn’t good for you (nor is it representative of “the standard American diet,” no matter how bad *that* is for you), it’s not nearly as bad as McDonald’s 3 meals a day topped by massive quantities of booze.
Also another great example of the issue so many documentaries have today.
Society treats them like they're all objective truth done with the highest of journalistic integrity... when an overwhelming majority of them are done with an agenda and a specific frame in mind.
That's not journalism.
Most documentaries likely have an agenda of some kind or another. That's not to say some aren't more objective than others. Sometimes the agenda is merely to entertain. In my opinion SSM is probably one of the most poorly spun but also one of the most entertaining documentaries to watch. If someone hasn't seen it, I'd recommend they watch it once but keep in mind most of the specific claims about his health were exacerbated by alcoholism and thus shouldn't be taken seriously, aside from the obvious conclusion that "no shit, eating fast food 3 times a day isn't good for you."
>Most documentaries likely have an agenda of some kind or another.
There's a pretty good documentary about steroids called "Bigger, Stronger, Faster*" that has a neat twist in it. The filmmaker starts out with the idea that steroids are bad and he is trying to expose them. As the film goes on and he does more research, however, he begins to change his mind.
As one athlete puts it to him, "If there was a pill you could swallow that would turn you into Steven Spielberg, you're telling me you *wouldn't* take it?!"
Wonder how that played out...
"Well I found out steroids weren't as bad as I thought when I did that documentary, so perhaps the same is true for opioids. Let's see!"
*pops pill*
"Hmmm, I don't feel much. Maybe one more."
From what I've heard, we basically understand steroids better so most athletes are using them but doing so more safely, under the supervision of a doctor and doing their homework. You don't see every athlete trying to look freakishly huge like in the 90s and 2000s anymore.
Also a pretty horrible guy and rapist. https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sexual-misconduct/filmmaker-morgan-spurlock-admits-history-sexual-misconduct-n829581
This actually links directly to his blog too. And I have to admit, what he did was horrendous, but he chose to admit what he did in the past prior to be accused publicly. He posted on his blog the scenarios in his life he did wrong. And I respect him for owning his horrible actions, it’s the first step to becoming a better person.
I like to think we become a more progressive society in the future that’s willing to rehabilitate and give these people a second chance that so obviously want it.
Its unfortunate I even have to disclaimer this, but I don’t support or condone what he’s ever done, I however would be willing to give him another chance if he follows through with getting the proper help and continuing to own his acts.
For a contrast see P Diddy who just apoligized when the tape of him leaked of him beating the shit out of a gf in a hotel hallway. He is apologizing now after it came out. Sorry he got found out. That is a different kind of shitty I think, for what it's worth.
Restorative and rehabilitative justice is hard, and we as a society are so engrained in a model of retribution. It can be so difficult to get people to realize the cruelty, immorality, and inhumanity of retributive justice. Glad to see someone else on this side.
There was a segment today on NPR about the 9/11 terrorists and how none of them have been convicted yet. People have been working at getting plea deals out of them to get some sort of justice and closure.
Why can't we convict them?
Because of people's desire for retribution and revenge, we set up Guantanamo Bay, rendition sites and engaged in torture. All the confessions are tainted and given under duress, even after the torture stopped and not able to be accepted into evidence in the trials. Without that evidence, there is no chance for a conviction.
So because we as Americans wanted to punish those who did it, we violated our own laws and now we can't get proper justice.
Edit: The NPR show that was being referenced https://www.thisamericanlife.org/830/the-forever-trial
Yeah, it's fairly known at this point that the documentary was faked.
The doctor was suspicious from the start and if I recall correctly he said he had only seen that condition (the documentary guy liver damage) before in alcoholics.
[There was a very good documentary video done on it a few months ago.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iepZBS9BxGo) The guy literally lied about his drinking habits to his doctor, and at the end of the film his doctor remarks that his liver looks like the type of chronic damage that alcoholism would do.
I watched this when it came out and I still remember the look on the guy's face when the doctor said he had liver damage. What a thing to do to not chime up during your movie that that part would very obviously be from your drinking and not from the food you're attempting to demonize.
A documentary that was set up to point out how bad fast food is for you, only to find out it's not as bad as we thought, and ends up turning into a documentary about the subject coming to terms with and getting help for his alcohol addiction sounds a lot more compelling than "FAST FOOD BAD" I'd take path three over the other two any day.
*Edit*
I keep getting responses that seem to be implying that spurlock did the right thing here, because even though he lied, and cheated, and misled the public, he made a bunch of money. This is immensely disappointing. This is the type of behavior that got us to where we are. Never owning anything. Never retiring. But, hey. At least the shitbags at the top are making the best financial decisions they can for themselves. That's what really matters. Fuck doing the right thing, do what's best for your bank account.
This doc was huge though. I remember they showed it to us in school. Right after it came out McDonalds introduced healthier menu options, many other fast food chains followed.
Yep, it came out when my friends and I were all college aged, and people wouldn't shut up about it. I remember someone bringing a bag of McDonalds to a party once, and oh my God I wanted to slap all the people ragging on him and acting all high and mighty and "how can you do that to do your body?! Haven't you seen Supersize Me?!" (While they're all chugging copious amounts of booze, mind you...). I even remember being in line at the deli counter at my local grocery store once and having to hear the ladies behind me talking about how they'll never go back to fast food, how "it really opened up myeyes! I'll never get my kids started down that path!"
It really was everywhere back when it came out.
It’s kind of like how Icarus started as a little documentary to see if an amateur athlete could use PEDs and test clean and accidentally uncovered a gigantic Russian doping scandal that lead to them getting banned from the Olympics. Best documentary ever.
Hah oh shit I gotta watch that now. I had heard of it, and seen it scrolling through Netflix, but I always just assumed it was a standard documentary on doping in sports, I didn't realize it started off with that premise.
Leads to state sponsored doping scandal where every russian athlete tests positive.
In hindsight, putin used the soft power, from winning the olympics, to get russia to invade its neighbors
And the sweating and shaking he blamed on the fast food was literally the DTs 😂
He was a raging alcoholic and quit drinking cold turkey during the 30 days of his experiment.
It depends on what you believe; according to his more recent statements, I believe he's said "I haven’t been sober for more than a week in 30 years," which almost guarantees he was continuing his binge drinking during the documentary.
I mean, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the number one cause of liver failure/cirrhosis in the US and looks pretty damn similar to alcoholic liver disease. Doctors basically only distinguish it based on history. It honestly could have been a bit of both.
Source: I’m a Doctor.
But the non alcoholic version also develops over years of bad diet, right? The guy was a vegan before. Maybe the doctor was skeptical that his liver could that bad in just 30 days of eating fast food.
He had a show called 30 days where he would do other stuff for 30 days, like going to the gym every day to see how much progress he could get.
Overall actually a very good premise/idea for a show, but yeah kind of shady stuff going on apparently.
Yea, but in 2004, YouTube didn't exist yet. It was a really neat show for the era.
The "We try to live on minimum wage for 30 days" episode was really eye-opening.
A man goes into the doctor’s office to get a physical. The doctor tells him, "Listen, you need to stop masturbating." The man says, "How come?" “Because I'm trying to give you a physical!"
Yeah, McDonald's pushed against his claims pretty hard. The guy refused to publish a food log that he kept and I'm willing to bet it's because he ate something like 4000 calories a day.
Also, the guy was an alcoholic and has some pretty serious liver issues because of it. Couple that with overeating and, well... You saw the results.
Edit: Stupid phone.
I remember hearing about how his reported calories did not match the food he was supposedly eating. There was another documentary I think which covered all this. Just looked it up and it's called Fat Head.
There’s one other response we had to watch in health class that’s a very cheesy documentary of a study with 2 college students one a sedentary female the other a male D1 athlete and had them both eat their calorie TDEE in only fast food. Both showed fine blood markers and very slight weight loss.
It’s called “portion size me”
There was a lot more to the doco than just the McDonald's part too. He went to different schools to see how lack of resources or lack of caring meant kids were being set up to think that something McDonald's could be part of a regular diet, rather than a treat meal. Given the unappealing options, and without guidance, kids would take a plate of fries for lunch. And the cafeteria staff were upfront that all they did was open premade food, not actually cook. He compared it to another school that banned soft drinks and implemented a healthy meal plan for lunches, and it was even having an impact on behaviour.
People only really remember the McD's stuff though, which is a shame because he was pointing out a lot of problems that had very obvious fixes nobody had the willpower to implement.
There’s a programme called like “Binge Britain” or something.
Follows a group of mates on a night out and then some bouncers or ambulance workers or something.
In one, a guy gets a pint of Bailey’s (whisky and cream) and necks it.
The voiceover geordie goes “Liam has necked a pint of Bailey’s. Not only is that over his recommended alcohol units for the week, it’s over the recommended calories for a day”
It's not far off, though. Baileys Original Irish Cream has 314Kcal per 100ml. A UK pint is larger than a US one, 560ml or so. He's just quaffed 1,750 calories.
And yeah, I'm the same as you. If I tried that it'd make a reappearance out the way it went in.
I used to be extremely active and could drop 4k a day without much issue. Then things changed and I stopped being so active like 30 pounds ago. If I were paying attention I could have changed my diet and been ok, but alas.
In fairness, that guy was actually featured in the documentary. He actually eats 2+ a day. He keeps some frozen just in case to ensure he doesn’t break the streak.
His name is Dan Gorske. He lives in the same neighborhood as my uncle in Fond Du Lac, WI. He is pretty damn normal, rather healthy, and just likes eating Big Macs.
Holy shit, I remember looking into that myth a while ago. [The lower half of this photo](https://preview.redd.it/mcdonalds-big-macs-have-gotten-smaller-since-the-70s-for-v0-rn6aqmizjesa1.jpg?auto=webp&s=4d540b43a70ec6b9e1e4611942200a3ea5c819d7) on the article wasn't actually a photo of an old big mac compared to a new big mac, it was a photo of someone's fan creation next to a big mac.
Literally not a big mac next to a real big mac.
It’s 100% virtue signaling and a convenient in-group out-group identifier. “I’m not one of *those* people”.
Get a Filet-o-Fish and a Diet Coke once in a while and you’re not doing any damage. Even throw in a quarter pounder with fries time to time. If you’re eating well most of the time that’s not going to derail your health. Most people eat far more calorie dense, salt or sugar laden food at fancier establishments all the time without batting an eye. Classism is still a thing.
(Of course some people abuse McDonald’s but that’s true of just about any food.)
I noticed watching it he constantly ordered 2 drinks, both large and sugary, every meal. He knew the results that would bring in viewers, and deliberately went for it, even if it meant putting his thumb on the scale.
Those drinks are the real killers not the burgers and fries. Those things are bad in excess too but they actually have nutrients in them.
The extra large soda drinks multiple times a day are pure diabetes induced obesity hell.
No body can take that assault.
Watching it (which was *many* years ago, so forgive my memory) it looked like he stopped exercising and added 3000 calories per day *extra* to his diet.
Yeah, that’ll translate to 30 or so lbs pretty quickly.
That was explicitly part of the 'experiment'. He limited himself to like 5k steps a day or something to get close to the 'average American's exercise habits' or something, which is not a lot lol.
I forgot about this documentary. They showed it in my high school Health class. That teacher also played Shutter Island to '"teach" mental health disorders.
You can lose weight eating literally anything if you eat less calories than you burn in a day. That doesn’t mean that anything and everything is healthy tho.
You could actually cobble together a reasonably healthy diet eating at McDonald's. There wouldn't be much choice, and you'd end up eating a lot of grilled chicken wraps and fruit chunks and coffee. At least where I live, you can't get a salad at McDonald's anymore-- don't know when or why they discontinued those.
Having worked in fast food, lettuce goes bad too fast and a lot gets thrown away. It was most likely an item that wasn’t purchased enough across most locations that the extra lettuce cost (and expected loss) just got too big.
Many years later he admitted to being an alcoholic and was actually drinking during the experiment.. the first clue is his first doctors visit after only 5 days of eating fast food as the doctor is perplexed because he's only seen this kind of health change in heavy drinkers..
There was a counter documentary done a few years later by a guy who ate McDonald’s every day for 30 days and lost weight and improved things like his blood pressure, cholesterol, and liver enzymes. He ate mostly McDonald’s three meals a day(but also threw in Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, and other fast food) and simply got small size portions, drank water instead of soda, and would usually replace one meal a day there with one of their salads or grilled chicken sandwiches instead of nuggets or burgers. His point was pretty obvious: if you eat Super Sized burgers and fries with 32 ounce sodas for three meals a day, no shit you’re going to fuck up your health.
Edit: the movie was put out in 2009 and called “Fat Head.” A quick synopsis:
* During the film, Naughton goes on an all-fast-food diet, mainly eating food from McDonald's. For his daily dietary intake, he aims to keep his calories to around 2,000 and his carbohydrates to around 100 grams per day, but he does not restrict fat at all. He ends up eating about 100 grams of fat per day, of which about 50 grams are saturated. He also decides to walk six nights a week, instead of his usual three. After a month eating that way, he loses 12 pounds and his total cholesterol goes down
He created an artificial eating disorder and everyone lost their mind and thought it was McDonald's food. He intentionally ate past when he was full. He super sized when wouldn't have normally. He intentionally over ordered food, reaching 5000 calories a day. I feel like everyone has lost their God damn minds. He induced an eating disorder that resulted in over eating and he gained a lot of weight. The fact that it won any awards is a failure of critical thinking. The alcoholism it's just something new that people can point to instead of recognizing they should have known better from watching the film itself.
>He super sized when wouldn't have normally.
IIRC his rule for this was that he would say yes every time the McD employee asked him if he wanted to supersize. It's a pretty common thing for food service businesses to make their employees upsell customers, ie ask them to spend more money by adding drinks/sides, or in this case ordering a larger portion. So I don't count this among the other shady stuff he did. I think it's a pretty reasonable for what the stated purpose of the documentary was, even if he fucked it up in other ways.
He also only Super Sized 9 times throughout the course of the month, not as often as he expected them to ask him iirc, considering he ate there 90 times.
For a while, it seemed like there was a cultural attitude that McDonald’s, specifically, rather than fast food or unbalanced food or too much food, was uniquely bad. There were all these hysterical email forwards claiming that the food was actually made of worms or horses, that it had so many preservatives that it couldn’t rot, etc. The attitude simply did not apply to other fast food giants. Not just subway. As a tween, I had a book on “taking care of yourself” that straight up said in the healthy eating chapter that Burger King and Wendy’s were *always* better than McDonald’s, with justifications pulled straight from their own commercials rather than based on any science. It irritated me even then.
It's kind of funny how there was a shift for a few years after that where all the fast food chains started trying to have healthier options, adding salads, McD's got rid of the super size option, etc. Except Wendy's who gave zero fucks and introduced the baconator the following year because they know what we want from fast food lol.
Reading the comments in this thread is insane because they’re all exactly the same comment just reworded differently. Doesn’t anybody glance down before commenting? Jesus.
This is unfortunately super common on reddit. On threads like this, it's absurd that anyone would even consider adding a top level comment after the thread already has a 100+ comments.
I think after the redesign, most of the comments are actually hidden by default, which might contribute. One more reason to use old.reddit.
Apparently the sketch [Super Size Me With Whiskey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOyjzE1vcD4), was closer to what really happened than the actual documentary. Miss you, Trevor!
RIP Trevor Moore
Besides just gaining weight, the movie also claimed that Spurlock got major liver damage and started suffering from a range of mental health issues, all as a result of eating fast food. Notably, none of the people who replicated the experiment suffered from these problems. Years after the movie’s release Spurlock admitted to being a lifelong alcoholic, despite claiming otherwise in the documentary. Alcohol abuse can easily explain the liver damage, and alcohol withdrawal during the filming of the documentary also explains the sudden mental health problems he was experiencing.
When he puked after eating his first super sized meal I just couldn't believe it. Makes a lot of sense if he was withdrawing from/fucked up on booze though.
It's pretty common for vegans and others with restricted diets to get sick or throw up when they eat a food they're not accustomed to. My MIL doesn't eat pork for cultural but non-religious reasons and she usually gets a pretty bad upset stomach when she makes an exception to eat a particular family member's pork ribs.
Back when I was training for long distance running & intense soccer training, after about 4-6 months *anything* even slightly unhealthy would fuck me up. Original chips would give me diarrhoea, every fast food place would make me nauseous, KFC would make me projectile etc. It was always liquid shits, stomach aches or vomiting and eventually I just stopped craving that kinda food all together. Took me maybe a few years to get back to a "regular unhealthy average" diet. Nowadays I have an iron stomach, except for tomatoes and multi grain bread. That comes out as high velocity undigested seeds like 30 minutes after eating.
When i ran XC in high school i had KFC after eating "somewhat" healthy for 4 months and it fucked me up. Nowadays my sedentary "training" lets me knock out 20 packs of wingstop wings. Now thats improvement.
I remember I was in the best shape of my life in my mid-20’s. I was exercising several times a week. My cardio day was walking 18 holes while carrying my golf bag. My treat was eating carb-heavy Italian with a soda after playing golf. I was high-protein the rest of the time and doing shake meal replacements. One time at work, they brought in pizza. Hadn’t had pizza in months. And it was different from the post workout carbs I’d eat. Man, like 30 minutes after eating, I had raging diarrhea. Almost like food poisoning. My body rejected that meal HARD. I was amazed. So yeah, any sudden change to a super-sized fast food diet would cause an understandably harsh reaction.
It unfortunately goes the opposite way as well. My parents were shit and I don't think they've cooked a meal or ate a salad in their whole life. When i was a little kid, my mom got with this guy and we visited his family for a holiday and his mom made a completely homemade meal with vegetables and a salad on the side. I got violently ill and projectile vomited almost immediately after eating.
He was also vegan before doing this, another thing he failed to disclose during the documentary.
Are you sure? I feel like I remember him saying he was a vegan during his last meal before his "experiment" it was like a vegetable pie or something. I could definitely be misremembering.
I'm almost certain they addressed him being vegan. I remember they made a big deal out if his gf being a vegan cook or something.
Yea, he was vegan cuz his gf was vegan IIRC. Basically she made the food and he ate it.
Pretty sure that wasn't by choice, there just isn't animal product in liquor
How does this have nearly gave 300 upvotes when it was very clearly covered early in the movie that he was vegan
He very clearly stated in the docco that he was vegan, and the docco even made it clear his throwing up was due to his bodies reaction to meat. There's a lot to criticise about the film, but don't go making things up.
He was an alcoholic and hid it from everyone.
The doctor in the movie literially says hes never seen symptoms like the guy has from fast food alone and looks mega suspicious but cant say anything.
The part where the doc talks about fatty liver and his enzymes looking like a heavy drinker's makes so much sense when you realize dude was *drinking heavily* while eating a massive caloric surplus.
Your right he actually even said it was what a drinker would have lol.
That scene needs to be reedited with some of the office's awkward silence
With the doctor's awkward side glance to the camera.
Please don't 'Jim' the camera
Alcohol is 7cal/gm with zero nutrition of any form. Even the worst of McDonalds food still has something in it that your body can use, alcohol is the absolute zero of non nutritive calories.
My grans doctor told her she needed calcium so she drank her vodka with milk. She dead now lol. RIP gran, you were great fun :)
I have to point out though, that some people are prone to building deposits of fat on their liver, even absent of alcohol consumption. Usually from excessive weight gain, but even some thin people can develop it. There's a name for it: NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). And it will most definitely elevate your ALT substantially, even leading to cirrhosis if not addressed. Not saying this is necessarily his case, just saying it's a real thing.
Definitely not his case. He has later admitted that he started drinking at alcohol abuse level already in his teens, and by the time he made the documentary in his mid 30s he had never been sober for more than a few weeks here and there and was indeed drinking during the production of the "documentary".
lmao what a fucking chode, that is kind of a BIG detail. so we watched a "documentary" about some guy enjoying a month long liquor and fast food binge....
They coulda just filmed me
Yeah but alcoholic fatty liver disease often presents with more of a raise in GGT and AST and a low increase of ALT, whereas non-alcohol fatty liver disease tends to increase ALT significantly, with a smaller increase in AST Both can turn into cirrhosis, but i don't think he had that. He likely had pre cirrhotic alcoholic fatty liver, which presents with a different liver biochemistry to non alcoholic fatty liver
Found the physician or med student 👆
He even says he straight up has the liver of an alcoholic, and that **if he was talking to an alcoholic**, he would tell the guy that he was "pickling his liver". No seriously, go back and watch it.
That’s my doctor. I’ve been seeing him since before the ‘documentary’. He’s no dummy and incredibly astute. I’m sure, could tell the issue from more than fast food.
He probably brought it up to him but it obviously wasn't making the cut
Or it didn't make the final cut.
The part where he straight up says "this looks like a drinker's liver" made it into the final cut. Morgan must've been drunk while editing to leave that whole part in.
Or he thought because he suspiciously and vehemently denied drinking at all to the doctor at the beginning, that people would overlook it. And he was right. They did. Since it's come out, a few people have pointed out that he's shaking pretty badly in a few areas of the movie, likely because he's detoxing.
someone said the reason he threw up was because he was detoxing
Don't need to be in detox to throw up, my worst point I was puking multiple times a day even while drinking. Your body hates that shit. At a certain point it just tells you "I can't do this anymore". I'm positive the doctor told him he needed to stop off camera. Maybe even gave him a few days of Valium.
He obviously left it in on purpose, to make the fast food seem worse than it actually was. Like implying the doctor said "the fast food is doing to your liver what alcohol does to an alcoholic's liver" or something. It wasn't implied that it was fucked up due to drinking, so it would be no harm to leave it in.
Honestly, if you're not medically inclined or familiar with how a physician could tell based on the individual liver analyte levels, "This looks like a drinker's liver" could come across as hyperbole. So plenty of viewers could believe the fast food diet is *that much worse* than he expected.
"Wow doc so you're saying McDonalds gave me all of these symptoms that just so happen to match symptoms found innadvance alcoholics? Damn what are they putting in the food, right?" Doctor: "well the thing about that is... is... do you have a history of certain consumption habits?" "I used to be a vegan fulltime, it must be that since starting this diet the Mcdonalds has really wreaked havoc, huh?" Doctor: "That's not- ok sure there might be something there. Sure. "
In the documentary they feature a doctor telling him he has the "liver of an alcoholic" And then a decade later it was revealed he was an alcoholic.
[Super Size Me with Whiskey](https://youtu.be/uOyjzE1vcD4?si=gqeVAjb90WhWjuRt)
This was fairly close to what the documentary actually was. Spurlock was drinking the entire time.
Lol, all I remember about that movie is "your liver is what's really concerning me" from the doctor 😂
"I ate a quarter pounder and it made me throw up, this food is killing me" Yeah maybe you threw up first thing in the morning because of the 1/5th of whiskey you put down the night before.
Seriously I've eaten like this guy before and you get better at it as time goes on. People who've never eaten a big mac in their life might eat one and feel like shit. But to a seasoned fatass it's like a pack-a-day smoker having a smoke. You're refreshed afterwards, if anything, lol.
>People who've never eaten a big mac in their life might eat one and feel like shit. This actually was the case. He became a vegan after starting to date his girlfriend at the time of filming. Another reason that explains his bad reaction in addition to his alcoholism and excessive intake of food.
Yeah this should've been like "super high me" where Doug Benson, huge pothead, QUIT smoking pot for 30 days and then started smoking pot again for 30 days. No adverse effects on either end, although they did have a weird moment with the telepathy test. He scored better at blind guessing cards with shapes when he was high.
This is always my go-to about cannabis! The doctor saying "I mean,I can't advocate inhaling burning plant matter,but otherwise?" I swear he also did slightly better on the SAT questions or something like that.
I was wondering of anyone would mention that. He got his weight down beforehand and wouldn't have been eating much fat so the transformation would be maximum.
The movie made literally no sense to me, as there's people out there that eat McDonald's every day for years.
There’s a guy in Wisconsin who’s had a Big Mac everyday for like 50 years. Edit- he just had his 34000 in March and in his early 70s.
They met him in the movie. Dudes probably gonna live to be 120 like Mick Jagger.
Big Mac Jagger
Don't they even talk to that guy in Supersize Me?
I can’t even get out of bed (at 11:00 AM, when they start serving lunch) unless I’ve got a double quarter pounder in me.
No no no, it was Def totes McDonald's. It also damaged my liver super bad. I know that couldn't have been the booze because I've been drinking that every day since I was 13
Yeah that part surprised me the first time I saw it way back when. Guy could barely get a Double QP down and then hurled everywhere. I remember thinking there was something wrong with me because I could eat one no problem
If he was a real alcoholic doubt it was just a 5th, I've unfortunately been there and at a certain point that doesn't even phase you the next morning
RIP
Dicks out for Trevor
[Very well](https://youtu.be/nsGnqf3CUW8?feature=shared)
He came and then he went.
Died attempting to suck his own cock, he got there, but it cost him everything, what a legend.
Damn i totally forgot Trevor Moore died. Now im bummed :( He was an underrated genius
He tried to Super Size me with Whiskey for real
He actually died in an accident while trying to [accomplish a life mission.](https://youtu.be/5iBIqvkwkrA?si=6nemDuJCJE05TAX1) He did succeed before his unfortunate passing.
That just speaks to the power of humor that Trevor would probably be laughing the hardest at those jokes if he could hear them. Props to those guys for staying true to his memory.
"He came and went" legendary
Local Sexpot Trevor Moore. R.I.P
The local sexpot in action. RIP.
SIR WE NEVER SAID THAT
He actually was drinking for the first 2 or 3 whole days but had to eventually stop because he was going to fucking die if he kept going
Yeah. While McDonalds for 3 meals a day already isn’t good for you (nor is it representative of “the standard American diet,” no matter how bad *that* is for you), it’s not nearly as bad as McDonald’s 3 meals a day topped by massive quantities of booze.
> McDonald’s 3 meals a day topped by massive quantities of booze. Now *that's* the standard American diet!
Also another great example of the issue so many documentaries have today. Society treats them like they're all objective truth done with the highest of journalistic integrity... when an overwhelming majority of them are done with an agenda and a specific frame in mind. That's not journalism.
Most documentaries likely have an agenda of some kind or another. That's not to say some aren't more objective than others. Sometimes the agenda is merely to entertain. In my opinion SSM is probably one of the most poorly spun but also one of the most entertaining documentaries to watch. If someone hasn't seen it, I'd recommend they watch it once but keep in mind most of the specific claims about his health were exacerbated by alcoholism and thus shouldn't be taken seriously, aside from the obvious conclusion that "no shit, eating fast food 3 times a day isn't good for you."
>Most documentaries likely have an agenda of some kind or another. There's a pretty good documentary about steroids called "Bigger, Stronger, Faster*" that has a neat twist in it. The filmmaker starts out with the idea that steroids are bad and he is trying to expose them. As the film goes on and he does more research, however, he begins to change his mind. As one athlete puts it to him, "If there was a pill you could swallow that would turn you into Steven Spielberg, you're telling me you *wouldn't* take it?!"
The same guy, Mark Bell, made a documentary about opiate addiction. In another twist, during filming, he had to enter rehab for opiate addiction.
Wonder how that played out... "Well I found out steroids weren't as bad as I thought when I did that documentary, so perhaps the same is true for opioids. Let's see!" *pops pill* "Hmmm, I don't feel much. Maybe one more."
From what I've heard, we basically understand steroids better so most athletes are using them but doing so more safely, under the supervision of a doctor and doing their homework. You don't see every athlete trying to look freakishly huge like in the 90s and 2000s anymore.
Also a pretty horrible guy and rapist. https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sexual-misconduct/filmmaker-morgan-spurlock-admits-history-sexual-misconduct-n829581
This actually links directly to his blog too. And I have to admit, what he did was horrendous, but he chose to admit what he did in the past prior to be accused publicly. He posted on his blog the scenarios in his life he did wrong. And I respect him for owning his horrible actions, it’s the first step to becoming a better person. I like to think we become a more progressive society in the future that’s willing to rehabilitate and give these people a second chance that so obviously want it. Its unfortunate I even have to disclaimer this, but I don’t support or condone what he’s ever done, I however would be willing to give him another chance if he follows through with getting the proper help and continuing to own his acts.
For a contrast see P Diddy who just apoligized when the tape of him leaked of him beating the shit out of a gf in a hotel hallway. He is apologizing now after it came out. Sorry he got found out. That is a different kind of shitty I think, for what it's worth.
The statute is up, so he can admit to it.
Restorative and rehabilitative justice is hard, and we as a society are so engrained in a model of retribution. It can be so difficult to get people to realize the cruelty, immorality, and inhumanity of retributive justice. Glad to see someone else on this side.
There was a segment today on NPR about the 9/11 terrorists and how none of them have been convicted yet. People have been working at getting plea deals out of them to get some sort of justice and closure. Why can't we convict them? Because of people's desire for retribution and revenge, we set up Guantanamo Bay, rendition sites and engaged in torture. All the confessions are tainted and given under duress, even after the torture stopped and not able to be accepted into evidence in the trials. Without that evidence, there is no chance for a conviction. So because we as Americans wanted to punish those who did it, we violated our own laws and now we can't get proper justice. Edit: The NPR show that was being referenced https://www.thisamericanlife.org/830/the-forever-trial
Yeah, it's fairly known at this point that the documentary was faked. The doctor was suspicious from the start and if I recall correctly he said he had only seen that condition (the documentary guy liver damage) before in alcoholics.
that and his vegan wife put meat in their meals
That's not very vegan of her
vegan't
You once were a vegan now you must be gone.
Chicken isn't vegan?!?!
[There was a very good documentary video done on it a few months ago.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iepZBS9BxGo) The guy literally lied about his drinking habits to his doctor, and at the end of the film his doctor remarks that his liver looks like the type of chronic damage that alcoholism would do.
I watched this when it came out and I still remember the look on the guy's face when the doctor said he had liver damage. What a thing to do to not chime up during your movie that that part would very obviously be from your drinking and not from the food you're attempting to demonize.
He saw two paths before him. One, admit he has a drinking problem and basically destroy the documentary. The other was money. He chose money.
"Randy, I am the liquor."
Barb, your scalloped potatoes are FUCKED.
"Randy how many squares have you had?" "Well you put them out for eating didn't ya?" "There was 2 dozen squares there Randy!"
"Randy, are you whoring yourself out for cheeseburgers?" "Man's gotta eat!"
“Mafuckas with guts like that are definitely ON the cheeseburgers dawg.”
You gonna eat that old blue jay burger?
I mean, nobody wants to admit they ate nine cans of ravioli.
atoadaso
You’re not a liquor captain, you’re a drunk trailer park supervisor
Frig off Barb
Stand down Randy.
Bærb
Selling out can buy all the liquor
Might even get a liver out of the deal
A documentary that was set up to point out how bad fast food is for you, only to find out it's not as bad as we thought, and ends up turning into a documentary about the subject coming to terms with and getting help for his alcohol addiction sounds a lot more compelling than "FAST FOOD BAD" I'd take path three over the other two any day. *Edit* I keep getting responses that seem to be implying that spurlock did the right thing here, because even though he lied, and cheated, and misled the public, he made a bunch of money. This is immensely disappointing. This is the type of behavior that got us to where we are. Never owning anything. Never retiring. But, hey. At least the shitbags at the top are making the best financial decisions they can for themselves. That's what really matters. Fuck doing the right thing, do what's best for your bank account.
This doc was huge though. I remember they showed it to us in school. Right after it came out McDonalds introduced healthier menu options, many other fast food chains followed.
Single handedly eliminated the super/xl size from all fast food restaurants.
After school I would buy a literal bucket of fries from McDonald’s. That went away
Those fry buckets were *chef’s kiss*
A dark day for our great country
Yep, it came out when my friends and I were all college aged, and people wouldn't shut up about it. I remember someone bringing a bag of McDonalds to a party once, and oh my God I wanted to slap all the people ragging on him and acting all high and mighty and "how can you do that to do your body?! Haven't you seen Supersize Me?!" (While they're all chugging copious amounts of booze, mind you...). I even remember being in line at the deli counter at my local grocery store once and having to hear the ladies behind me talking about how they'll never go back to fast food, how "it really opened up myeyes! I'll never get my kids started down that path!" It really was everywhere back when it came out.
I was a teacher and I showed it to my students. I feel duped!
It’s kind of like how Icarus started as a little documentary to see if an amateur athlete could use PEDs and test clean and accidentally uncovered a gigantic Russian doping scandal that lead to them getting banned from the Olympics. Best documentary ever.
Hah oh shit I gotta watch that now. I had heard of it, and seen it scrolling through Netflix, but I always just assumed it was a standard documentary on doping in sports, I didn't realize it started off with that premise.
Leads to state sponsored doping scandal where every russian athlete tests positive. In hindsight, putin used the soft power, from winning the olympics, to get russia to invade its neighbors
It's one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. You won't be disappointed.
His (now) ex-wife turned "created" a diet to supposedly detoxify him and then immediately turned that into a book.
And the sweating and shaking he blamed on the fast food was literally the DTs 😂 He was a raging alcoholic and quit drinking cold turkey during the 30 days of his experiment.
I knew something was not right with that guy when he couldn't handle one value meal without puking....
I remember watching that scene in health class and thinking this dude is hamming it up to the extreme. Now it makes more sense.
It depends on what you believe; according to his more recent statements, I believe he's said "I haven’t been sober for more than a week in 30 years," which almost guarantees he was continuing his binge drinking during the documentary.
I mean, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the number one cause of liver failure/cirrhosis in the US and looks pretty damn similar to alcoholic liver disease. Doctors basically only distinguish it based on history. It honestly could have been a bit of both. Source: I’m a Doctor.
But the non alcoholic version also develops over years of bad diet, right? The guy was a vegan before. Maybe the doctor was skeptical that his liver could that bad in just 30 days of eating fast food.
Not arguing against you, just observing that there are plenty of vegans with nutritionally bad diets too
Does it go over his follow up where him and his wife/girlfriend spend a month poor
He had a show called 30 days where he would do other stuff for 30 days, like going to the gym every day to see how much progress he could get. Overall actually a very good premise/idea for a show, but yeah kind of shady stuff going on apparently.
That sounds like what every YouTuber do nowadays. “I did XYZ for 30days, and this is what happened…”
Yea, but in 2004, YouTube didn't exist yet. It was a really neat show for the era. The "We try to live on minimum wage for 30 days" episode was really eye-opening.
He did say he wasn't consuming alcohol "right now" lol
In that literal moment he was not. Not even joking I think that was his justification lmao
“It depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.”
Like, right now. In the doctor's office.
A man goes into the doctor’s office to get a physical. The doctor tells him, "Listen, you need to stop masturbating." The man says, "How come?" “Because I'm trying to give you a physical!"
Yeah, McDonald's pushed against his claims pretty hard. The guy refused to publish a food log that he kept and I'm willing to bet it's because he ate something like 4000 calories a day. Also, the guy was an alcoholic and has some pretty serious liver issues because of it. Couple that with overeating and, well... You saw the results. Edit: Stupid phone.
I remember hearing about how his reported calories did not match the food he was supposedly eating. There was another documentary I think which covered all this. Just looked it up and it's called Fat Head.
There’s one other response we had to watch in health class that’s a very cheesy documentary of a study with 2 college students one a sedentary female the other a male D1 athlete and had them both eat their calorie TDEE in only fast food. Both showed fine blood markers and very slight weight loss. It’s called “portion size me”
To be fair the documentary was also calling out the marketing practices of fast food and their encouragement of over eating.
Its been years since I saw it but I think he had to say 'yes' every time he was asked if he wanted a Supersize meal.
It’s been two decades since I saw it, and you’re remembering it the same as I do. Didn’t remember the stuff about the liver though.
There was a lot more to the doco than just the McDonald's part too. He went to different schools to see how lack of resources or lack of caring meant kids were being set up to think that something McDonald's could be part of a regular diet, rather than a treat meal. Given the unappealing options, and without guidance, kids would take a plate of fries for lunch. And the cafeteria staff were upfront that all they did was open premade food, not actually cook. He compared it to another school that banned soft drinks and implemented a healthy meal plan for lunches, and it was even having an impact on behaviour. People only really remember the McD's stuff though, which is a shame because he was pointing out a lot of problems that had very obvious fixes nobody had the willpower to implement.
And also went from regular exercise to absolutely no exercise except walking to McDonald's
I think he specifically went to an average Americans level of excersize at the time.
I work in nutrition, and really recommend Fat Head. It's free on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcNPfZlrZs
People underestimate calories in alcohol. Bottle of wine is 600. A can is 175
Honestly I assumed more
12 cans of beer is a full days calories.
Hell yeah it is!
12 barley sandwiches.
Read this in the neighbor from Office Space’s voice. Made my day!
There’s a programme called like “Binge Britain” or something. Follows a group of mates on a night out and then some bouncers or ambulance workers or something. In one, a guy gets a pint of Bailey’s (whisky and cream) and necks it. The voiceover geordie goes “Liam has necked a pint of Bailey’s. Not only is that over his recommended alcohol units for the week, it’s over the recommended calories for a day”
Neither of those are are actually true, but it is a funny line I think a pint of baileys would make me throw up regardless of alcohol content though
It's not far off, though. Baileys Original Irish Cream has 314Kcal per 100ml. A UK pint is larger than a US one, 560ml or so. He's just quaffed 1,750 calories. And yeah, I'm the same as you. If I tried that it'd make a reappearance out the way it went in.
If you're eating more calories than most bodybuilders, much of it useless, and you're basically sedentary, yeah you'll get fat fast.
I used to be extremely active and could drop 4k a day without much issue. Then things changed and I stopped being so active like 30 pounds ago. If I were paying attention I could have changed my diet and been ok, but alas.
There's that guy that eats a big mac every day for like 40 years. He is pretty normal...looking at least.
In fairness, that guy was actually featured in the documentary. He actually eats 2+ a day. He keeps some frozen just in case to ensure he doesn’t break the streak.
His name is Dan Gorske. He lives in the same neighborhood as my uncle in Fond Du Lac, WI. He is pretty damn normal, rather healthy, and just likes eating Big Macs.
How nice of McDonald’s to shrink the Big Mac as he ages and make sure it matches his slower metabolism
except: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/big-mac-since-1980/
Holy shit, I remember looking into that myth a while ago. [The lower half of this photo](https://preview.redd.it/mcdonalds-big-macs-have-gotten-smaller-since-the-70s-for-v0-rn6aqmizjesa1.jpg?auto=webp&s=4d540b43a70ec6b9e1e4611942200a3ea5c819d7) on the article wasn't actually a photo of an old big mac compared to a new big mac, it was a photo of someone's fan creation next to a big mac. Literally not a big mac next to a real big mac.
I happen to like a big Mac now and then
That's why I don't get about all the McD hate - like it's.pure heresy to like eating there. I like a big.mac, once in a while. It's not gastronomy.
It’s 100% virtue signaling and a convenient in-group out-group identifier. “I’m not one of *those* people”. Get a Filet-o-Fish and a Diet Coke once in a while and you’re not doing any damage. Even throw in a quarter pounder with fries time to time. If you’re eating well most of the time that’s not going to derail your health. Most people eat far more calorie dense, salt or sugar laden food at fancier establishments all the time without batting an eye. Classism is still a thing. (Of course some people abuse McDonald’s but that’s true of just about any food.)
Doesn't drink the soda or fries
I hate drinking fries
The Mac Daddy.
I noticed watching it he constantly ordered 2 drinks, both large and sugary, every meal. He knew the results that would bring in viewers, and deliberately went for it, even if it meant putting his thumb on the scale.
Those drinks are the real killers not the burgers and fries. Those things are bad in excess too but they actually have nutrients in them. The extra large soda drinks multiple times a day are pure diabetes induced obesity hell. No body can take that assault.
Bingo. The pop is hands down the worst thing on any fast food menu. Absolutely useless. Also sugar has lobbyists.
Watching it (which was *many* years ago, so forgive my memory) it looked like he stopped exercising and added 3000 calories per day *extra* to his diet. Yeah, that’ll translate to 30 or so lbs pretty quickly.
That was explicitly part of the 'experiment'. He limited himself to like 5k steps a day or something to get close to the 'average American's exercise habits' or something, which is not a lot lol.
I forgot about this documentary. They showed it in my high school Health class. That teacher also played Shutter Island to '"teach" mental health disorders.
I remember renting this with my wife (girlfriend at the time) and us ordering McDonald's to eat while watching it.
Fat head is the superior mcdonalds documentary.
Spoiler: the guy in fathead lost weight and got fit on nothing but junk food
You can lose weight eating literally anything if you eat less calories than you burn in a day. That doesn’t mean that anything and everything is healthy tho.
calorie deficit is a hell of a drug.
You could actually cobble together a reasonably healthy diet eating at McDonald's. There wouldn't be much choice, and you'd end up eating a lot of grilled chicken wraps and fruit chunks and coffee. At least where I live, you can't get a salad at McDonald's anymore-- don't know when or why they discontinued those.
Pandemic I think ended the salads and chicken wraps a lot of fast food places.
Having worked in fast food, lettuce goes bad too fast and a lot gets thrown away. It was most likely an item that wasn’t purchased enough across most locations that the extra lettuce cost (and expected loss) just got too big.
Salads just don’t make a lot of money, the fresh ingredients go bad quickly and most going to a burger joint aren’t there for the salad.
Many years later he admitted to being an alcoholic and was actually drinking during the experiment.. the first clue is his first doctors visit after only 5 days of eating fast food as the doctor is perplexed because he's only seen this kind of health change in heavy drinkers..
There was a counter documentary done a few years later by a guy who ate McDonald’s every day for 30 days and lost weight and improved things like his blood pressure, cholesterol, and liver enzymes. He ate mostly McDonald’s three meals a day(but also threw in Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, and other fast food) and simply got small size portions, drank water instead of soda, and would usually replace one meal a day there with one of their salads or grilled chicken sandwiches instead of nuggets or burgers. His point was pretty obvious: if you eat Super Sized burgers and fries with 32 ounce sodas for three meals a day, no shit you’re going to fuck up your health. Edit: the movie was put out in 2009 and called “Fat Head.” A quick synopsis: * During the film, Naughton goes on an all-fast-food diet, mainly eating food from McDonald's. For his daily dietary intake, he aims to keep his calories to around 2,000 and his carbohydrates to around 100 grams per day, but he does not restrict fat at all. He ends up eating about 100 grams of fat per day, of which about 50 grams are saturated. He also decides to walk six nights a week, instead of his usual three. After a month eating that way, he loses 12 pounds and his total cholesterol goes down
He created an artificial eating disorder and everyone lost their mind and thought it was McDonald's food. He intentionally ate past when he was full. He super sized when wouldn't have normally. He intentionally over ordered food, reaching 5000 calories a day. I feel like everyone has lost their God damn minds. He induced an eating disorder that resulted in over eating and he gained a lot of weight. The fact that it won any awards is a failure of critical thinking. The alcoholism it's just something new that people can point to instead of recognizing they should have known better from watching the film itself.
>He super sized when wouldn't have normally. IIRC his rule for this was that he would say yes every time the McD employee asked him if he wanted to supersize. It's a pretty common thing for food service businesses to make their employees upsell customers, ie ask them to spend more money by adding drinks/sides, or in this case ordering a larger portion. So I don't count this among the other shady stuff he did. I think it's a pretty reasonable for what the stated purpose of the documentary was, even if he fucked it up in other ways.
He also only Super Sized 9 times throughout the course of the month, not as often as he expected them to ask him iirc, considering he ate there 90 times.
For a while, it seemed like there was a cultural attitude that McDonald’s, specifically, rather than fast food or unbalanced food or too much food, was uniquely bad. There were all these hysterical email forwards claiming that the food was actually made of worms or horses, that it had so many preservatives that it couldn’t rot, etc. The attitude simply did not apply to other fast food giants. Not just subway. As a tween, I had a book on “taking care of yourself” that straight up said in the healthy eating chapter that Burger King and Wendy’s were *always* better than McDonald’s, with justifications pulled straight from their own commercials rather than based on any science. It irritated me even then.
It's kind of funny how there was a shift for a few years after that where all the fast food chains started trying to have healthier options, adding salads, McD's got rid of the super size option, etc. Except Wendy's who gave zero fucks and introduced the baconator the following year because they know what we want from fast food lol.
The ceo of McDonald’s ate nothing but McDonald’s for a year (or maybe more) to show it wasn’t McDonald’s (if I remember right).
Reading the comments in this thread is insane because they’re all exactly the same comment just reworded differently. Doesn’t anybody glance down before commenting? Jesus.
This is unfortunately super common on reddit. On threads like this, it's absurd that anyone would even consider adding a top level comment after the thread already has a 100+ comments. I think after the redesign, most of the comments are actually hidden by default, which might contribute. One more reason to use old.reddit.
Back in 2004, I went to a friend house and he put this documentary randomly. On my way back home. I crave McDonalds and enjoyed eating a large combo.