The Bizarre Aftermath of Super Size Me | McDonald's Documentary

[@KianaDocherty]

What’s your verdict? Is this sus or not?? Join the Discord: geni.us/join-our-discord Follow on IG: instagram.com/kianadocherty/ Suggest a Video: geni.us/video-suggestions Join the Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/KianaDocherty/

[@mrpikachu3154]

Sus

[@sarahproton]

I'm still watching through your video, so if you mention it, oops! But 2008-2016 was around the period that Michelle Obama had advocated for changing school lunches to be healthier and so fries were now baked, only diet sodas could be served in machines, some chain restaurants were trying to use less fats, and the food pivoted towards something less terrible. A lot of high schools used to allow kids to leave campus and go get fast food for lunch but that was also getting cut. So I wonder if this is what triggered him/McDs (in part) to do this 10 years later.

[@joaopedrobaggio4475]

Just bullshit, we are responsible for our choices, i am overweight, and i know that this is not good, and i am doing everything that i can to change it.

[@MarieM-ui4bu]

​@@sarahproton such a good point!

[@MarieM-ui4bu]

Big corporations would do the craziest s**t possible to stay relevant and to keep sales high. Finding an "ambassador" and promoting an entire documentary is not the weirdest thing for these people.

[@Ryan-wx1bi]

When I was growing up, I was always jealous of how much fast food, desserts, or candy other kids ate... Now as an adult, in extremely happy my mom pushed healthy eating habits on me as a kid.

[@Travybear1989]

my parents fed me macdonalds every day and i do the same for my kids kids deserve good food and what kid doesnt like macdonalds i mean if you dont spoil your kid some that is child abuse my kid can wipe out 4 mcdoubles like nothing and im proud of him and when we hit up the chinese buffet he can slay 7 or 8 plates and i make damn sure he piles on the chicken because he gets his moneys worth then and one time i cought him eating rice and noodles and i almost whooped his ass lol i took his plate and dumped it in the trash and grabbed him a plate of MEAT HEALTHY GOOD MEAT NOT NO VEGGIES

[@bella-qy4nb]

same here it sucked having all to eat the off brand healthy snacks when i wanted “real” snacks but retrospect is everything

[@LifeWithYen]

I was one of the kids who ate a lot of junk when I was little, partly because my mom also loved the stuff and she likes treats and convenience. As an adult, I wish she cooked only homemade meals and pushed more healthy eating when I was younger😅

[@alexoxo1]

Yeahh

[@maleficent3333]

that jealousy is form of social engineering those companies employ to intease kids to get more junk and get them addicted early , to get stable customer as an adult.

[@MrBonified66]

There were certainly issues with Supersize Me, but the red flag for me here is how Cisna simultaneously changed his exercise habits. A science teacher knows (should know) very well that you must try to minimise any other changes that might affect your results. In fact he should have had some kind of control.

[@ul8590]

Yes!! This! It proves to me he was definitely paid by mcD to do it. If he was genuinely he would not have exercised and he would also have been focused on what food he ate ( egg sandwiches and salads + a burger meal + skipping sugary drinks ) and not that it was from mcD

[@sawoop3856]

@@ul8590 That logic doesnt follow at all.

[@theuncalledfor]

Not necessarily. If the goal is to show that you can live healthy while eating primarily (or even exclusively) McDonald's (as in "it is possible at all", not as in "this is healthy in and of itself"), then changing other variables might be appropriate. It's not a scientific experiment to isolate the exact mechanism, it's a proof of concept experiment utilizing an existing knowledge base. The real problem is the seeming lack of proper disclosure of the full details of the experiment, leading to a deception by omission. (Side note: I hate the term "lie by omission", because it's not a lie. A lie is an outright false statement, a "lie by omission" is true statement designed to lead to incorrect conclusions. Not all forms of deception are lies.)

Did he hide that he changed how much exercise he did?

[@starship2023]

He was also dealing with alcohol abuse he even admitted it in a letter in 2017

[@xanderblackstar8236]

I worked for McDonald's (in Denmark) from 1998 - 2004. By the time "Super size me" came out, I had worked my way up the corporate ladder to manager. So I was in a prime position to see what kind of change "Supersize me" brought about. I too remember the line that "no one has seen the movie", which kinda pissed me off was the official line because it was so clear that all the high level corporate people were scared shitless, it was so obvious that the official line was complete BS. What I remember in terms of damn near immediate ramifications from the film, was the immediate pulling of the super size items on the menu - This happened within a week if I recall correctly. - It was super surprising as the super size items had only been introduced a couple of months earlier to help with brand recognition. - I think after the movie McD didn't want the association to the words "super size", so the super size items were pulled so quickly as to be one of the most surprising moves I saw thorough out my time with the company. Another consequence of the movie happened a couple of months later when McD decided to introduce salads and generally more healthy menu items. We had in '99 been given a "Shaker Salat" product. But that was introduced to allow "the health conscious mother to eat at McD while her kids had happy meals". Although the amount of calories from the dressing alone made them more nutrient dense than a Big Mac.

[@hihungryimdad]

What about the people there? was there a drastic decline in customers if you know?

[@thexskating]

Denmark is awesome.

[@MarieM-ui4bu]

Of course, they have seen the movie. There's no way that McDonald's PR team would not pay attention to the "Supersize me". I bet they made very detailed reports to the bosses almost on a daily basis, consisting of what was the last episode about, what was written in the press and who made any public statement regarding the show.

[@xanderblackstar8236]

@@hihungryimdad We didn't really see a significant drop in sales, but we had no doubt become an unpopular brand. But people still need to eat.

[@KianaDocherty]

thanks for your insider perspective!!! very interesting!

[@JustAnotherSteve]

Honestly the most concerning thing about this is how easily McDonalds (or any corporation) is able to influence the education curriculum in the US.

[@antearesgamer]

They actually aren't even that high on the influence list. First place goes to the soda manufacturers.

[@Bvic3]

They ate not even close to the ability of leftist activists to change the school programs, from kindergarten to PhD. After all, the zealots are the teachers and state employees designing the curriculum.

[@thethoughtfulpeanut6662]

Uh...I hate to break it to you, but most of our official dietary guidelines and nutrition advice is influenced or guided by corporate interests.

[@boobookittyface9622]

The education system was created by corporatists

[@natalianavratilova8678]

many great points made! There were few things in Super Size Me that weren't in 540 meals: 1. Spurlock clearly said he was going to reduce his steps as posible - using elevator inside, driving car as much as possible to match the unhealthy lifestyle, contrarery to Cisna who started excerising 2. He set a rule to choose Super Size menu if the staff asks him about it (hence the puke because he wasn't used to this amount of food at all) which also meant he didn't have any calorie limit - Cisna has a limit about 2000 cal 3. another rule was to try every meal avalaible on the menu during those 30 days, in contrast with Cisna's meal plan So if Cisna was trying to replicate Spurlock's experiment as he said, he would've followed those same rules, except for super size menu since it was discontinued (but could be replaced with 2 smaller portions)

[@rickardkaufman3988]

Also, Spurlock was an alcoholic behind the scenes.

[@natalianavratilova8678]

@@rickardkaufman3988 True, I know about that, still doesn't change the last sentence

[@mikeclark797]

His earlier stated goal was to do the exact opposite of spurlock if you recall, so he did in face do that. Spurlock changed ALL the parameters of his life and then grossly over ate, suggesting that the individual had no role. then stated McDonalds was obviously the cause. A better experiment would have been to eat no more than he usually does and keep exercising. But that film would not have been compelling nor make money. Cisna did exactly as the government (And by the read on McDonald's disclaimer) recommends and ate nothing but McDonald's, and lost weight, I think the goal was to show that the variable causing the problem was not expressly fast food. But your choices and behaviors. At the end of the day ultra processed foods are bad, people do not eat them reasonably and the flavonoids and stuff are addicting. That and 90 days is not long enough. Also, this so called 10,000 dollar value? I figured it at 20 bucks a meal 3x a day for 90 days and got 5000-ish.

[@garystinten9339]

The one thing thing I can affirm to both of these cases.. neither has brought forward a food diary..

[@Blake1720]

That documentary was trash. We all know your body wouldn’t crash that hard with one month of fast food. Of course eating McDonald’s everyday isn’t healthy, but he wouldn’t have had life threatening health issues from 3 weeks of it. It takes years, as we have all seen with the HAES movement to deteriorate like he did.

[@humanbean5547]

Very informative video. A couple of important points are missing, however. In Super Size Me, Spurlock set a couple of rules for his experiment. If a McDonald's employee asked him if he wanted a Super Size (extra-large) order, he had to say yes, and he had to finish it. This is a major difference to somebody choosing from among menu items and ordering smaller or even normal-sized portions. Spurlock was not claiming that everything at McDonald's was unhealthy, only their marketing practices (though he did comment on the fact that other people typically ordered unhealthy food and too much of it). The main result was that soon after the film hit theaters, McDonald's dropped its Super Size portions altogether.

[@warrensteel9954]

He was also restricted to the average amount of exercise a typical person got per day, to the point of having to take cabs if he walked too much. This was to show how unhealthy a sedentary life was coupled to being pushed into overeating by the company. He also showed how hard it was to lose the weight afterward.

[@katrinbarbey]

just say no

[@louistournas120]

Sounds like he should have eaten at multiple restaurants. Or, you could go to the supermarket, buy cola and chips and eat the entire bag and finish the 2 L of cola in a day. You will end up with the same effect == too much fat and sugar.

[@billydelacey]

I know, right? Some "science" teacher, lol.

[@KaitlynBurnellMath]

@@warrensteel9954 Yeah, even at the time, science teachers were saying that the study wasn't properly controlled, since it had two variables (stopping most exercise and changing diet simultaneously). Super Size Me in the end was cinema, and not formal science that would get published in a science journal. The fact that not exercising is bad for you was already pretty common knowledge in 2004. And...honestly, McDonalds was generally perceived as junk food on some level before the movie came out. The stuff I found interesting was the claims about the addictive properties of certain types of fast food, how easy McDonalds made it to consume a high number of calories, and how corporate profits made it beneficial for corporations to encourage overeating through deals, as they sell more product to overeaters. These were new concepts to me in 2004, and were my main takeaways from the Super Size Me film. (The one guy eating at McDonalds for 30 days while not exercising felt like more of a publicity stunt to get attention for the movie).

[@purevibeskitchen]

The fact that he was working with the franchise owner connects him to the company. Additionally, he was compensated with free product.

[@profe3330]

"Free product" and, eventually, a job. This is pure corruption.

[@wondertriplover]

@@profe3330 not to mention a sexual predator.

[@itzskytzy]

It dosent matter it still works. Calories in calories out

[@madpoetsociety2917]

@@itzskytzy Well hun, if you knew even the first thing about any medically recognized study, you'd know that actual researchers (those ppl with degrees) are required to divulge potential confounds like receiving free meals and that included confounds like suddenly starting a regular excersize regime after years of being sedentary would actually disqualify the "study" as being medically accurate. Also, I'm pretty sure the next time I need medical attention, I'll be going to a doctor rather than a high-school science teacher from Iowa for treatment. Also, education standards in that state must be right in the toilet if this dude is allowed to teach there.

[@itzskytzy]

@@madpoetsociety2917 yes he probably should have disclosed it. However it is something worth thinking about. I followed a similar diet to his and lost a ton of weight. Everyday I'd do intermittent fasting and for about a month I only did it with various fast food, keeping it within my daily calories. I'm down 61 pounds so far and just 20 more to go

[@N_e-d]

In Australia, in the wake of Supersize Me, McDonalds went out and got a bunch of their meals certified as heart-healthy by the Heart Foundation, a cardiovascular not-for-profit institute. It was supposed to turn public opinion on Maccas, and undo some of the damage done by the movie, but instead there was massive public outrage at the Heart Foundation. Their certification program was later axed.

[@android584]

I didn't know that. Now that you mention it I haven't heard of the heart foundation in ages.

[@kyleadelaide]

I remember their little freak out after the movie and them producing a bunch of ads trying to push their own narrative. It all came off as a massive cope and stank of panic

[@anthonymatute6057]

@@N_e-d McDonalds & healthy don’t mix!!!

[@Daniel23544]

@@kyleadelaide 😂😂😂 I like the way you put that. LOL!!

[@HFC786]

Please do a video on competitive eating

[@emilymatt8904]

For me, McD was a HUGE trigger for my BED. I ate fast food almost every day when I was over 300 pounds. I tried to incorporate fast food into a healthy diet but I couldn't. I had to cut it out completely because it led me to a very bad and dark place. Even now, thinking about getting a large fry and 20 piece nuggets makes a little tingle in the back of my head like it's a good idea. I was very addicted to it and it was a hard habit to break. I will never go back or take my kids there to eat.

[@EmiL_from_NieR]

I’m so proud of you for recovering. I was anorexic for years, and had binge eating as a side effect of starving myself at times. It’s not easy, just wanted to say I’m happy for you and you aren’t alone. ❤️

[@pacoro84]

getting a large fry and 20 piece nuggets would make any normal person tingle....who the hell eats that much?...its not mcdonalds..its the fact that you eat the quantity of 3 or 4 people at once..of course you gain weight..i ate mac every day for 2 years at lunch,(a cheeseburger and a small portion of fries)yet never gained a gramm.....its not healthy anyway but to blame mcdoanals,coke,kebabs etc for you obesity its wrong....

[@derp195]

Good to hear that you’re passing good habits to your kids. I’m so glad my parents didn’t give us fast food (with the exception of road trips) because I really think that giving fast food to kids changes how their brain craves food.

[@tfordham13]

I am fine with your choice but not for your kids

[@elizabethjackson1783]

​@@pacoro84 bro did you *read* their comment? They had a binging issue, the tingle described by bingers is NOT the same as what "any normal person" experiences.

[@ambercollinsfitness]

There was a 3 month span that my husband was training for his job, which required us to travel to multiple states and stay in hotels. This meant eating fast food and prepackaged foods basically the whole time. I’ll tell you what- I workout everyday, but during this time of only eating that quality of food, my energy levels were TRASH! And my muscles felt so fatigued during my lifts. Sure, somebody could potentially lose weight eating only fast food everyday, *if* they’re in a calorie deficit. But! How do they *feel* everyday??

[@alnklar]

virile, they feel virile :vvvv

[@carolinesa91]

Exactly, you feel depressed and without energy on this type of diet.

[@stephennootens916]

I find the idea of fast food and health going together down right stupid. Not only does it raise and than crash your sugar most Americans eat it because one it is.largely cheaper than making their own meal at home and two it takes less time.than making a meal.

[@Ingrid922]

@@alnklar Did you actually mean vile?

[@apmanda]

@@Ingrid922 Did you watch this video all the way through? Virile was intentional. You missed the joke.

[@formblazingsword]

McDs is a super easy target. But, I always focused on the sodas. Even the example she gave of what an average 3 meals would be, if you removed the sugary drinks from all of them you are around a realistic 2000 cal diet. Morgan Spurlock was drinking about 1500 calories a day in sugar! Yeah, the body is going to take a hit.

[@nedkelly2035]

First thing that occurred to me, as well. Diet sodas alone could make the difference.

[@Thanatos2996]

They really showed their hand in the documentary with that topic. At one point they had all the sugar he had drank on a table, but they immediately forgot about that massive detail and spent the rest of the documentary talking about how bad his “high fat” diet was for him.

[@freddycatano4423]

Yeah but how else are you going to get that pleasure sensor stimulation and dopamine hit? These meals, soda included, are designed this way for a reason. Fast food chains have their formula down to the gram consisting of simple carbs, fats, and salts.

[@etuanno]

​@@nedkelly2035Diet sodas aren't healthy though. There's a good reason why artificial sweetners are used in pig fattening... They cause a whole host of issues starting with bowel bacteria going crazy from stuff like sucralose. I personally prefer traditionally sweetened sodas over diet sodas. I don't like the texture and taste. It doesn't really matter for me though because I only drink soda once every few months.

[@derrickbonsell]

I wish people would please stop spreading this doom and gloom misinformation. There are people with terrible habits who are going to drink a lot of soda. No artificial sweetener that's been approved is as bad for you as consuming a lot of sugar. Perhaps everyone should just stick to water and avoid anything that's sweetened but I'm not sure that's a realistic scenario. The studies people like to cite will take rodents and feed them with amounts of artificial sweeteners per their weight that no person could reasonably consume. Oftentimes it's not even the animals themselves but cell cultures and the cells are directly injected with these compounds.

[@BabyGirlTiny]

What’s funny is that my health class showed this movie, but they still took us to McDonald’s for a treat for all the kids that did well that week.

[@sharkwhisperer7326]

[@laurie_guilbeau]

One day in elementary school, my brother was taught that Styrofoam never decomposes. Then he went to lunch and was served lunch on Styrofoam plates

[@Diseaseisreversible]

@@laurie_guilbeau lol

[@Aigra]

I watched the film in the cinema and on the back of the ticket was a McDonalds ad with a coupon for free fries.

[@derp195]

@Jesse Kinkead Nah, just an average American school.

[@Vicky-Hugh-Martini]

Man that documentary is going to be 20 years old.

[@KianaDocherty]

i know right lol

[@CordeliaWagner]

How many McDonalds opened since then?

[@paolaanimator]

Dang, 20 years old, I remember having to watch this in science class lol. Time flies!

[@anthonymatute6057]

@@KianaDochertySad News… Morgan Spurlock died today aged 53, RIP legend, he was taken too soon from us because of McCancer

[@toppinzr3743]

And the supersizing of the USA and the world has gotten so much worse since then!

[@aurelie8220]

And Cisna very clearly said his students were monitoring a 2,000 calorie diet per day for him using the menus. I highly doubt the typical McDonald’s frequenter and targeted marketing group is counting daily calories this carefully… 🙄 Also, how many calories was he eating prior to the 2,000 calorie diet? And my main concern is not weight but long term health consequences of the chemicals and junk, which can’t be measured in 90 days. EDIT: Literally just hit play and the part where you talk about this just came up 😂😂😂😂 Thanks for being so on it!

[@aurelie8220]

All he did was prove that calorie deficits work. And I would even say SHORT TERM, even though it’s six months. I’d be curious how much this would work (and be safe) after a few years.

[@Not_Always]

Chemicals? What does that even mean. Everything we eat is made up of chemicals.

[@someone-ji2zb]

No grown man is going to become overweight on 2000 calories, that is all I know. Even men who are stuck in a hospital bed for weeks are given 2000 calories a day, and sometimes even more depending on the situation.

[@MyDuckSaysFucc]

“Chemicals” well let’s be scientific about this, I think the harm is in the unhealthy fats and possibly preservatives for people who are allergic/sensitive to those. I completely agree that the McDonald’s (and fast food, even restaurant food in general) is made to taste good, for people who are not counting calories. The funny thing is though a sit down burger and fry meal at a restaurant is often more calories than a cheap McDonald’s meal. This is a widespread issue with how the market of ready made food is affected by demand and the lack of regulations to prevent these kinds of obesity issues.

[@karlabritfeld7104]

Pffft, a few months won't have long term effects on health.

[@ivanorozco4274]

The problem with ANY Mc Donalds'-centered diet is not just the issue with weight, but the lack of fiber and micronutrients that fruits and vegetables have and that McD's (since they cancelled the salad menu) lacks

[@ul8590]

Plus processed food makes you overeat (this is proven in many studies)

[@Mouse73]

Your body doesn't need fiber..

[@glumberty1]

The importance of micronutrients from fruits and vegetables is over rated.

[@deseuryderia]

@@Mouse73no but you’re not gonna have a fun time on the toilet with little to none

[@Mouse73]

@@deseuryderia you have nothing to back up your baseless claim. I've been eating an animal based diet for a few months now. I have no constipation, no diarrhea, no cramps, no gas, no bloating, and no trouble using the bathroom. In fact, I have less waste to get rid of because my body is maximizing nutrients from what I eat. My time spent in the bathroom is minimal, without difficulty and without pain which is a common occurrence for people who eat strictly animal based once their gut biomes have adapted. Your body does not require fiber. In fact, it doesn't require carbohydrates either. Educate yourself.

[@ae.lorenz076]

I think it's also important to state that just because you're losing weight doing something doesn't mean you're on the right track, theres a lot more to nutrition than calories☠☠

[@cgottschify]

True. Additionally, eating lots of fruits of vegetables and adding "healthy lifestyle choices" shouldnt always be someone's priority. For example, the biggest lifestyle factor in counteracting metabolic disorders and early stage heart disease in obese people is simply losing weight, not eating more olive oil. Healthcare is very personal.

[@nunyabusiness896]

All of his numbers were good during a physical, what more do you want? You have nothing to go on other than your fee fees that "McDonald's bad". I assure you, 98% of "mom n pop" budget food options are buying from the same suppliers, cooking in the same oil, etc., but I'd like to see you try to smear them the same.

[@nunyabusiness896]

@WuhanVirus728 If you're gaining weight and it's not verifiably muscle from working out that you're probably flat out over-eating. Being overweight (from accumulated fat/overating) almost universally leads to health problems.

[@wilholmrykes6589]

@AlbertaStrengthI see your other comments under these videos and you completely miss the point about what is wrong with fast food. What makes most fast food establishments extremely unhealthy is the chemicals they use in their food to preserve it. Most establishments use very low quality, mass-produced ingredients that were grown with harsh pesticides, then are packaged with artificial preservatives and frozen for use in the restaurants. Cooking at home from scratch uses none of these. A burger may not be unhealthy, but it is not meat or cheese that makes fast food unhealthy, it’s the chemicals and extremely low quality of the ingredients that you would not get by simply buying ground meat from a store.

[@michaelharris8598]

Calories are however the 800 pound gurellia in the room. If you ate 3000 calories of so called healthy food a day you will gain weight. While yes healthy foods make a difference in health outcomes, nothing trumps calories. If your 60 pounds overweight, no matter how you got there, there will be consequences.

[@blueturtle3623]

By the way, my takeaway from Supersize Me in health class was not "Fast food is bad." It was "You don't need to eat 4 people's worth of mcdonalds when you go. And you don't need to eat it every day" Again, the problem was with the supersize meals.

[@lulupomegranate]

But do you know WHY he ate the surpersized meals? He only ate that, and his body was starved for nutrients. When your body is lacking something like that, it is very likely it will be urging you to eat so it can get what it needs, despite it causing a calorie surplus. And even "normal" sized meals are very calorie dense in McDonalds. A Big Mac meal is a hearthy sadwich with potatoes and a coke, it's is 1080 calories. That's literally a daily caloric intake for a sedentary short woman, and it will NOT hold her for an entire day that's for sure. Lets be nice and say that for breakfast she had healthy 200kcal oats and for dinner a nice bowl of vegetables with chicken, and some greek yogurt dressing, 400kcals, that's... 1680 calories. It would create a 500 calorie surplus every day. Now, of course, you don't need (nor should you) have it every day. But the point of SSM was never "have McDonalds once and you die".

[@JeDindk]

@Blue Turtle - definitely agree. I love McDonald's. Last year I went there twice and each time I had a cheese burger. Nothing else. And there's nothing wrong with that.

[@lulupomegranate]

@@JeDindk There IS indeed nothing wrong with that, but I don't think SSM was saying your health will be damaged if you eat there sometimes.

[@JeDindk]

@Lulu Pomegranate - you are probably right. Nevertheless, I know quite a few people who act like they think a single meal at McDonald's will kill them. I also know quite a few people who feel superior to those who go to McDonald's, because they don't eat unhealthy food. These concepts are largely based on SSM. So, you are probably right. But that is nevertheless what lots of people took away from the movie.

[@jaek__]

​@@lulupomegranate His math still doesn't add up, he only super-sized a maximum of 9 times for the month he went to eat there, and even then those times were spaced out far enough from each other it's hard to tell the exact amount of calories he was consuming, not to mention he was an alcoholic/recovering during the process of the film. Not trying to discredit the overall message of the film, since if you look at it from a consequentialists perspective it's outcome is all the same, but Spurlock is a lying, disingenuous, sophist fear monger at worst, and a barely credible health advocate at best.

[@Dr.Caligari-scabinet]

I remember when that old lady sued McDonalds for getting injured after spilling coffee on her lap, McDonalds spent a lot of money to try to discredit her. When I first heard about the lawsuit I myself thought she was just trying to get rich from a fraudulent lawsuit. Then when I heard actual facts of the lawsuit I was amazed. The actual facts were a far cry from the information that was being distributed via McDonalds in an attempt to sway public opinion

[@vivilover9409]

If I recall correctly she actually got 3rd degree burns, there's no excuse for it to be that hot

[@josh1200]

@@vivilover9409 I read that it fused the skin on her legs together because it was so hot. I know people like hot coffee, but that just seems excessively hot to me.

[@RetroMonkey1999]

​@@josh1200 it was extremely hot and did cause horrible pain and suffering, but the kicker is she originally just wanted to be reimbursed for the medical bills but McDonald's balked at that so it worked it's way into big settlement. It went from her asking for about $20,000 to cover ONLY the actual costs, including skin grafts to her walking out with a much more comfortable $2.7M, although she never got that.. it was later reduced (which seems absurd considering the original amount was only 2 measly days worth of McDonald's income to begin with!) to $640,000, although rather than go through an appeal McDonald's settled for something in the middle, but definitely not what she was owed.

[@marcoschavez1028]

She ended up dying before getting paid.

[@nvelsen1975]

@@josh1200 Could that have been caused by the normal temperature it was served at, or the layer of fat and greed that made her keep the liquid in one specific location for long enough that it would leave a mark and get that sweet sweet litigation cash that she would've needed to work thousands of hours for while she doesn't want to work even 1 hour?

[@kirsten121]

In the UK TV show "The Inbetweeners", Will asks Simon "did you not see Supersize Me?" Simon says "Yeah but it just made me really want a Big Mac".

[@LissaDIY]

So happy whenever a Kiana video comes out! ❤️ Personal responsibility is just not enough! You need to make healthy choices the easy ones in a society, not let all the companies profit off of people. Companies like this are just the epitome of runaway capitalism / consumerism.

[@CordeliaWagner]

But why should companies make a change when everything works just perfect for them?

[@martinfischer9724]

what a simp

[@actoraa]

I like how you say personal responsibility is not enough. Then the next sentence starts with "you need to". Should it be as easy to vote for a candidate wanting to heavily regulate fast food and a candidate wanting to remove all regulations? There you go.

[@erikschafer5176]

this is a good point, there's a book called nudge that gets into this. as humans we often do the 'default' thing, and it's really helpful when the easy choices are the best choices

[@actoraa]

@@chrisstoltz3648 My point is that you can't escape personal responsibility. If you try, you are just at the whim of what others see as their personal responsibility, e.g. politicians who will be creating legislation.

[@BananaSplitBlitz]

While neither documentary is perfect due to the reasons others have mentioned, and I agree that we have to be responsible for our own choices, it's just insidious the lengths these giant corporations will go to to get people hooked on their products for the sole purpose of making money, even knowing full well how unhealthy it is (because let's be real, McDonald's doesnt want you to eat their food 'once in a while as a treat', they DO want you to eat it every day). Especially by targeting kids, who can't see through their tactics. There's a lot that goes into it, from the food itself being addictive, as you mentioned, to the sneaky marketing/blatant propaganda. I find it very unsettling.

[@KianaDocherty]

^^^^^ this exactly this lol

[@CordeliaWagner]

In a better world it's the governments job to stop these companies, because they harm their citizens. That's the goal to strive for. But as long as money equals power and politicians are corrupt people have to look after themselves.

[@truth4004]

Big corps are whats wrong with the world and they're ruining the planet and greedy. No one should buy it. The wealthy make the poor suffer.

[@corpsefoot758]

@@CordeliaWagner Actually, a lot of “the people” vote for these paid-out politicians BECAUSE they support what is happening between the revolving-door of Congress and Wall Street: enriching yourself to diseased extents (even to the point of ignoring natural death itself), even if it means crushing millions of innocent faceless strangers along the way. In other words, people vote for these barons precisely because they imagine BECOMING these barons

[@Travybear1989]

My favorite food is the Double Quarter Pounder with cheese and I eat a value meal EVERY SINGLE DAY during my lunch break, sure I am fat as hell but I really don't care. It's a free country and it's my choice to eat what I want. Sure, I could eat healthy but I wouldn't enjoy it so what is the point of that? My stupid doctor keeps trying to tell me to cut red meat but you know what I do instead? Head directly to the nearest steak house and order a medium rare ribeye and cover it in sauce that is filled with sodium and yeah, I get that I'll probably die a lot sooner but that is MY CHOICE.

[@Rae_777]

I serve as a curriculum reviewer for one of the largest urban school districts in the US. I’m just commenting to confirm that the review committee received the Cisna/McD “health lesson” and it had beautiful graphic design and genuinely excellently crafted discussion questions and project ideas aligned with standards for Science, Health, Language Arts, and Social Studies! We denied the curriculum as quickly as we denied Walmart’s gorgeous (and similar) curriculum, but it actually was fascinating to wonder: who are the staff educators working for these corporations? The supplemental binder from McD & Walmart was impressive (most designers of curriculum don’t include 500 pages of justification for their lesson plans) and CHOCK FULL of extremely expensive research studies from prestigious R1 institutions. The research backed up both the content and the pedagogical approaches, but obviously a reviewer doesn’t have to look very hard to see they had chosen studies that happen to correlate loosely (“consuming some protein is beneficial”). And, like I said, the lessons were beautifully crafted around trash content, proving that a talented person can write an engaging curriculum about literally anything. I’m 100% positive Cisna played no role in the development of those materials bc they truly were airtight (and deftly included encouraging students to question their choices, not just revel in the “beauty” of the capitalist “virtue” of “free choice”). The proposal materials alone must have cost millions to produce (even if they commissioned no new research), just in labor costs for the curriculum designers, graphic designers, and product designers (the binders and presentation materials weren’t pre-fabricated; everything was custom). When you sit in an under-funded room, reviewing materials that usually come best-case printed in Helvetica on cheap paper, a gorgeous, luxury, bespoke curriculum kit looks and feels like a sensory delight, and on first glance is a lovely, research-based curriculum. Makes you wonder what all that money and talent could do for our public schools if it was used to help children instead of shareholders.

[@D.von.N]

Very insightful. Thanks.

[@metadotjpg]

Like, you need to publish your *own* documentary about *this* - no cap, lol.

[@RockandrollNegro]

So this company produced a free curriculum revolving around "airtight" data (your term) and attempted to teach children the power of independent, critical thought (oh, and you take a swipe at capitalism for... reasons?) And yet you "quickly" denied the curriculum with nary an afterthought because... reasons? Can't have children exercising critical, independent thought, right? Otherwise your entire system collapses. No more unions. No socio-communistic collectivist authoritarianism. No more drag queen story hour or 168 genders. Your entire world disappears once a generation of independent, critical thinkers deplatforms you. Yep, lets burn these books. Can't have the children thinking too much.

[@KarmicSalt]

so if you stop exercising and double or triple your calorie intake, you gain weight. If you exercise and count calories you lose weight.

[@countryboyred]

Fascinating comment. You could write a book about this stuff.

[@Cloudsofsand]

I do have to say, as a former McDonalds employee, the salads actually did sell a decent amount, more than you would probably think. Them getting rid of it was more than likely due to the lettuce shortage we had.

[@minkymott]

I agree. Everyone I knew who ate at McDonald's had at least one salad a week from there. And only a salad.

[@marniekilbourne608]

I believe it because I ordered them quite often. I like salads and I didn't always want a burger and fries. I also liked having the grilled chicken sandwich option.

[@slowery43]

as a former McD employee no one ought to take your opinions seriously in any way regarding business related decisions

[@joltjolt5060]

I miss the salads

[@nunyabusiness896]

Also during the pandemic there was probably less demand for them as it's easier just to buy a big bag of lettuce at home and mix the ingredients in yourself than doordash the same thing for 5x the price. McDonald's salads were useful for people stopping for a quick lunch during the workday, but if you're working from home there's no longer a use. At least a McDonald's burger and fries isn't something you can easily replicate at home, especially if you want the fries fried in oil which is a big mess to do just one quick batch.

[@dr_schneeplstein2637]

just wanted to say, your channel is a huge tool in checking my habits. like you so often say say i don't even realise the bad dietary choices I'm making; and although a lot of my weight problems are due to alcoholism, your videos still help me.

[@toastedsniper9248]

right???? this woman changed my dang life, ily Kiana you're so beaut

[@D-Fens_1632]

Whoa, stop, don't worry about food right now, I'd suggest doing whatever you need to do to address the alcoholism first. I've been there, it just gets worse and worse, but when you stop you'll feel better and better and then address the food choices. Though be careful, I'm still guilty of rationalizing cupcakes by saying "at least it's not a beer." Good luck.

[@reepicheepsfriend]

I'm still annoyed that McDonald's got rid of their healthy choices because they actually had some fairly cheap, decent-tasting food. I used to order a snack wrap which was basically grilled chicken, cheese, and lettuce in a tortilla. It was super helpful when I need something simple and fast that wouldn't make me feel sick.

[@sarasamaletdin4574]

Those healthy options are still available in my country. I suppose they weren’t that popular in US so weren’t kept.

[@childrenofscarlet6164]

The KFC in my country used to have grilled chicken as a healthy alternative. It has been gone for a long time now and i wish i was trying to lose weight when it was around (i was a chubby 7 year old when it was still available).

[@MyRandomOpinionsXO]

I loved the spicy veg deli's but they don't even do deli's now 😭

[@apollstar1]

None of it was axtually healthy though. Even the salads were really unhealthy.

[@ktomkt]

just make salad from fresh vegetables you cut , you'll be much better off

[@GugonatuRobert]

Just found this channel a little over a week ago and I've literally binged everything so far. Absolutely grateful for the quality of this content, especially since I've started losing weight about a month ago. You can clearly see the amount of work, care, research and love put towards each video, not to mention your presenting and narrating skills. It's somehow very serious and informative, but also without becoming too cumbersome to watch. Thank you so much for all your work, Kiana! Looking forward to seeing where this project is headed, but I'm pretty sure it's greatness!

[@completelytransparent6320]

Surlock recently admitted he was an alcoholic during the filming. Its funny the doctor is stunned snd tells morgan hes only seen this level of damage this quickly in someone drinking. Hilarious

[@colliric]

McDonalds should have been able to sue him for defamation.

[@maxmeier532]

@@colliric they couldnt and wouldnt cause they would have to prove their food was not unhealthy and their marketing wasnt purposefully upselling people to always get the bigger meal only because it's basically the same price.

[@thomasmikalishen6515]

Every time I hear this or similar criticisms of Super Size Me, it's like people are completely discrediting the experiment and refuting the very idea that McDonald's and fastfood is unhealthy?

[@sitdod17]

@@thomasmikalishen6515 People are completely discrediting the experiment because those criticisms DO completely invalidate his experiment and any conclusions he came to. See Scientific Method.

[@niemandjederimmernie]

@@thomasmikalishen6515 Of course, the entire experiment is garbage. The only thing that happens within a month of changing your diet is weight gain or loss. If you eat 5000 calories a day and don't exercise, you will gain weight. I don't need an experiment for that, that's clear. It doesn't matter how you eat the 5000 calories, whether it's McDonald's or home-cooked or whatever. Besides, nobody eats at McDonalds three times a day. He claimed to be making a movie about obesity in America and then does a completely unusual eating pattern as an experiment? Sure, fast food in excess has negative consequences, but not after a month. And word should also have gotten around that self-experiments and "studies" with n=1 test subjects have no significance whatsoever. So even without the alcoholic thing, it's basically enough to think about the premise of the movie for 30 seconds to know what nonsense it is. If the movie proved one thing, it's how easily American viewers can be manipulated.

[@rainepanda]

I'm 30 years old and have weighed roughly the same amount for the last 10 years. Weight doesn't typically correlate with how your body feels and functions. I could imagine eating McDonald's for 3 months would lead to lots of insane headaches, acne, and digestive problems. Not to mention all the micro plastics found in the food 😬. For a science teacher it's really strange that he didn't use the McDonald's as the only variable but he also changed his activity at the same time. His lack of exercise should have been held constant. That just shows that the entire experiment was flawed and a waste of time.

[@joannamarieart]

Exactly. Adding in another major factor of suddenly exercising regularly is going to have a massive impact on the results. Completely negated the whole thing.

[@Tribuneoftheplebs]

Microplastics are everywhere

[@Theruleforlife]

Obviously a bowl of fiber-filled veggies and a burger have the same calories but different nutrients.

[@paoladellabilancia5965]

​@@Tribuneoftheplebs exactly! 👍 And not only microplastics. There is even worse.

[@D.von.N]

@@Theruleforlife What is more, the satiety effect of a liquid soup is higher than of a burger! There was a research on that too! So after a healthy bowl of soup you are less likely snacking afterwards...

[@AuralayKristine]

I used to be a complete fast food addict. 2-3 fast food meals a day. For October last year I gave it up for a month, and then I decided to do it again this February. On March 1 I had taco bell and felt SO SICK. So now I'm giving it up completely, barring the occasional "road trip no other choice" situations, and learning to make healthier copycat recipes of my favorites at home. Today I'm going to be doing a copy cat of the chicken chipotle melt (I've already perfected a better burrito lol). And I haven't had McDonalds in ages. It's amazing how when you give it up for awhile then have it again, it's not as good as you remembered it being, but if you eat it for awhile regularly, it starts tasting really good again. Addictive as crap.

[@yolii16]

I’m a sugar addict and used to have McFrappes at least weekly for a whole year while in grad school. I gave it up for almost a full year trying to lose weight for my wedding, then decided to order one to keep awake during a road trip. The first sip was like drinking straight syrup, so sweet that it was gross. I didn’t even finish a third of the drink. I have never looked back.

[@CordeliaWagner]

Even on a road trip you can make healthy choices.

[@thesquad2253]

I was gonna say youre going to get sick from fast food but i see it already happened same thing happened to me i work at MDS and used to eat the food everyday but i started getting bad bad stomach pains and hiccups so i stopped eating fast food in general and feel way better

[@clementine9187]

Wow, that's $800-900 a month, maybe more.

[@AuralayKristine]

@@clementine9187 yep. I have no clue how I afforded it.

[@libbywatson6122]

This guy was absolutely working with McDonalds.

[@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770]

Except for the fact that he wasn't.

[@libbywatson6122]

@@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770 dude was friends with a franchise owner and got all of that food for FREE. He was definitely working with McDonalds

[@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770]

@@libbywatson6122 if you have a friend who works at a place, that doesn’t mean you work for the place. That don’t make no sense. That’s bullshit logic.

[@libbywatson6122]

@@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770 I respect your opinion. Have a good evening

[@WobblesandBean]

​@@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770 And yet, John straight up said he was working with McDonald's. 🙄

[@juniorsanchez7441]

The worst thing about the Supersize Me doc is that Morgan Spurlock was a severe alcoholic at the time. This is why he had so many health issues like his liver starting to deteriorate and why he would feel nauseous and throw up after meals. He was constantly drunk/hungover. Couple that with the disgustingly unhealthy chemical laden McDonalds food and it will weak havoc on any body. He never divulged this information and lied to the doctor in the film. Along with the meal log issue it just shows how shady dude really is. I would love a completely transparent re-do documentary

[@maggielyall811]

Great episode. I think the issue of exercise is so essential to any weight loss and makes a massive difference in the two films. Spurlock did the average number of steps for an American each day while we know that Cisna upped his activity massively alongside eating lots more of the "healthy" options that weren't even on the menu during Supersize Me. The documentaries are comparing fresh apples and deep-fried apple pie.

[@leifmeadows3782]

Spurlock might have set his daily steps to the American average, but I did think it was a bit misleading to say, "I gained all this weight just from eating McDonald's!" When it was like... no, you didn't, you also reduced YOUR daily exercise. You can only compare yourself to yourself, really.

[@Doxygurl]

Oh yes, I forgot about that! He normally walked a lot as a New Yorker but purposely switched to driving to replicate the lifestyle of the average American consumer. I don’t think SSM is perfect by any means but it provided more context for its extreme choices than people give it credit for.

[@melodramatic7904]

​@Hannah but I don't think the average America eats at McDonald's 3 times a day nor did they get a super-sized meal just because someone asked them to. Even without all of that the movie was misleading. The movie sold the premise "what would happen if I ate McDonald's every day" when what he actually did was "what would happen if i ate McDonald's everyday and stopped all forms of exercise."

[@wyssmaster]

There's a point in SSM where his doctor tells him to cut out milkshakes, pies, ice cream etc. and Spurlock essentially tells him to fuck off. The only information we have shows him eating 5-6000 calories a day, while deliberately cutting out his exercise. It's disingenuous at best and propagandistic at worst to deliberately overeat AND underexercise and then insist that your weight gain is entirely the fault of the restaurant at which you ate.

[@aprilstilskin5733]

I worked in fitness gyms for 30 years. Exercise matters the least amount in the equation. I see people come and run on treadmills endlessly and never lose a pound. They don't understand about static state cardio versus interval training. Twice in my life I have lost huge amounts of weight, and I did it without exercise and by changing my diet. Over the years in all the gyms I've worked at, the people who were successful at losing weight drastically chaged their diets. They didn't just count calories, they changed the quality of the food they were eating. The trainers at the gym knew this to be true but would not admit it to their clients because they were trying to sell personal training sessions.

[@allen7585]

I’m so tired of the “personal choice” argument. I travel 3-5 days a week for work and I try to pack food. I run out a lot around day 5 and when I have little time, my only choice in airports is cheaper fast food or ridiculously expensive “healthy” options. Then, if people chose the expensive heathy option, they blame you that it’s “your choice” that you have no money when you are literally just trying to choose the healthier option for your health and well-being. In reality, we don’t have a choice because the choices are being made for us on a national level. These companies have so much control in congress that any legislation or agencies that try to regulate them are diminished. We don’t subsidize fruits and vegetables in this country like we do soy and corn which is grown to feed cattle that is eventually smothered in ungodly fats and portioned to us 10xs what it should be - I lived abroad for two years and the attitude towards natural foods versus fast food was so eye opening. Whole sweet potatoes and steamed corn on the cob was served in gas stations in China for practically nothing. Why not here? Because there isn’t huge profit to be made with a steamed sweet potato as there is with processed food. While I very sparingly eat fast food when I’m in a bind at work, health was the number 2 reason I decided to practically stop eating it. The number one reason is because we are completely ripped off, our health destroyed, our idea of what is “healthy” in America is beyond comprehension, the child predatory marketing schemes, and the insanely fat profits these corporations make made me so angry that I refuse to be a part of it. I feel like I’m completely taken advantage of and my own common sense regarding health and food is made out to be stupid by these companies. They are telling me I’m stupid and wrong. I am very liberal but grew up in rural America in a conservative family. I bring this up because fast food and nutrition in this country shouldn’t be ideological - even my conservative family that has gardens 1,000 perfect agree that real, nutritious food comes from the ground and not processed garbage. But these companies use “freedom, personal choice” to muddle the whole thing in order to create political discourse when most of us agree that everybody needs to eat more whole food and that it needs to be way more affordable. I know a lot of liberals and conservatives who avoid fast food - it isn’t ideological. A lot of people are so generally confused, low-income, have no time that fast food is the better option. Others like this guy, just want to be told that his bad habits , which he knows are bad, aren’t that bad at all. And others are so incredibly stubborn that any criticism of standard diet or cultural norm see it as an inherit attack of their patriotism and manhood.

[@Sophia-lk2mr]

My biggest problem with the ideas that McDonald's/Cisna were pushing on the public is that eating McDonald's day in and day out simply isn't filling enough for most people! Not with their menu full of nutrient-devoid, refined carbohydrates, and sugar-dense foods.

[@matthewfarrell317]

Hahaha nutrient devoid, only if you believe the idiots pushing grains on people lol

[@zebnemma]

Another problem is that most people are not counting calories. Yes technically you can eat junk food all day everyday if you stay within your daily calories. But with fast food its so easy to go overboard with the calories and that's why fast food is "bad" for you unless you are a super strict calorie counting nut. Normal people don't wanna live like that, counting calories like an anorexic person, they just wanna eat their food in peace. It's a way better option to just eat better foods if you want to stay healthy, calorie counting is not neccecary then. I still read calorie info sometimes on certain items just so I can get an idea how much if said item I can eat in one sitting so I don't go overboard, like icecream and such. But I have never counted my total calorie intake for an entire day and with the foods I choose daily I don't have to either cuz I know I'm already eating healthily(for the most part). It's about having healthy habits that you can follow everyday. Then there are some people that have zero understanding of how to cook healthy foods + no self control making them balloon to 600-800 pounds! Those people already eat fastfood multiple times a day or order insane amounts enough to feed a normal person for a week, but they eat that in one sitting. It's a bad idea to tell those people "hey you can eat mcdondalds 3 times a day AND lose weight" cuz their lack of self control will result in them gaining more weight, and them being addicted to fast food is already the core problem so it's not helping... Teach people to cook better healthier foods instead, if you are getting better at cooking you can make some delicious meals that are still way less calorie and more nutrients than any mcdonalds menu could provide! But also eating things in moderation is a good standard but the problem is that to a 600 pound person garfing down 5000 calories in one sitting is "moderation" when they could eat 8000 calories on their worst days. Badly educated + bad parents that taught them bad habits = morbidly obese person.

[@itzskytzy]

Maybe for some. But shit I eat a 20pc nugget (which is only like 800cal, pretty normal for a dinner) and I can barely get trough the first 10

[@MadameSomnambule]

Maybe it’s just me but McDonalds sits like lead in my stomach. But yeah you’re right on the money. There’s protein in your average combo, but it’s not enough to counteract the addictive refined carbs

[@beefy74]

@@zebnemmabinge eating is a real disorder that you seem to have glossed over in your comment. eating disorders are more than just anorexia.

[@rawlahiabetes6969]

This guys hypothesis is why he's a highschool teacher and not a scientist.

[@thekojiwolf]

Thank you for making this video, Kiana. For the past few months I've been really depressed and unable to muster enough energy for anything apart from work, so have been defaulting to fast food because it's cheap and accessible. I'm afraid for my health because of this. I know this isn't helping my psychological state. I haven't gained any weight because I only eat once per day, but I am constantly lethargic and feel disgusting. It's almost offensive to me for people to suggest that eating McDonalds or fast food is healthy, even in moderation. Just because you aren't gaining weight doesn't mean you aren't hurting your body, and I can attest to this

[@willowlav]

I totally understand and I hope things get better for you soon love. You will make it through this and you will have the energy to make healthier meals again. For now, maybe try supplementing your fast food meal with something quick like a simple spinach salad, frozen veggies, a piece of fruit...something that'll take a few minutes or less to prepare so it doesn't totally drain your battery, but will at least help to slightly "cancel out" the uncomfortable feeling left by the fast food. And then continue making small baby steps from there until you're on track to your ideal physical health again...which can only have benefits for your mental health as well. I totally believe in you 💜

[@msjkramey]

My go to that's cheap and easy and not too bad for you is going to the grocery store and getting rotisserie chicken and bagged salads. You can even turn the bag sideways and cut it so it forms a bowl! Bam, no dishes other than a fork! You can also get pre cut veggies and hummus. I love sugar snap peas with it the most

[@arieldavis3662]

Well said, and my sympathies for what you’re going through! If I may, might I suggest taking a multivitamin every day as well? I know all too well how much our mental state impacts our food choices (or lack thereof), but it’s very important to make sure you aren’t neglecting the vitamins and minerals your body needs. (Vitamin B and C deficiencies specifically can become particularly nasty) In time and with patience/persistence, I believe in you and your incredible human ability of resilience, and I hope things turn around for you very soon! In the meantime, please don’t be too hard on yourself in your struggles and try to keep your vitamin/mineral levels in check so that you don’t get scurvy or anything of that sort. God bless, and you have a friend rooting for you in Texas!

[@dismurrart6648]

Hey, I understand entirely. Btw, idk if you can muster the energy, but an old go to meal for me was using a rice cooker and steamer basket to make rice and frozen veggies. I'd add a sauce or butter and herbs, then just heat up some protein. It really helped me when I was depressed bc our gut makes serotonin. Genuinely not trying to be some reply guy asshole, I hope you're able to get out of that hard spot soon. I believe in you.

[@anastasiasaratlic7019]

sending you love❤️

[@hypnoteapot]

"How much you eat is what counts in weightloss" That is true. You're gonna lose weight if you eat 1500 cals/day at McDonald's. But they left out how eating 1500 cals a day at McDonald's basically means having one meal a day, considering that even their salads amount to almost 1000 cals each. You add a side of fries and a soda and ding! Ding! Your limit is busted! You can lose weight eating garbage, but you will go through hell in the process. (Also can we talk about the fact that Cisna was already obese when he started out this experiment? Not that hard to lose weight when you start out with an already poor, calory-heavy, diet.)

[@WobblesandBean]

Exactly. He was obese to begin with. Then there's me, a 39 year old woman with PCOS and on certain medications that make weight loss difficult, and my resting metabolic rate is an abysmal 900 calories.

[@grant6578]

This. This is what I came to say. He may have lost weight, but is it sustainable? no. You can look "healthy" and not be.

[@brawndothethirstmutilator9848]

It also completely ignores the negative health impacts of the ingredients in the highly processed foods served at McDonalds. You can lose weight and still poison your body.

[@todo9633]

The problem isn't one meal a day, the problem is if that one meal is designed in a lab to be filling temporarily and then make you hungry again immediately after.

[@GlorifiedGremlin]

You're still going to clog your arteries and ruin your health eating McDonald's every day at a calorie maintenance/deficit. You'll LOOK good and healthy, but you'll rot from the inside out. Speaking from experience. My cholesterol started to slightly elevate, in the prime of my life, extremely athletic, 6 pack, everything you'd visually think of when you think of a fit, healthy person. My diet alone, despite the rest of my lifestyle, was enough to damage my health. Even working out and running 6 days a week, AND being youthful, STILL isn't enough to keep your body from sustaining damage from that crap. Can you imagine how much worse it is on an older, more stagnant person??

[@pieeyedproductions]

Thanks, Kiana. I really enjoy the time and research you put into these videos!

[@miscellaneousz2681]

The meat riding is crazy 😮😮

[@heynowur9146]

Bro didn’t even get a heart 💀

[@LucasTigy2]

it's also important to note that the guy who did the twinkie diet was also taking a lot of supplements to compensate for what his body actually needed. you can always reduce calories to lose weight, but that doesn't mean losing weight is always "healthy"

[@elpretender1357]

When I was a kid my family and I were vegetarians, so we would rarely go to Mc. Donald's, there was also the peer pressure that many kids would go there and I would feel left out but in retrospect, I really appreciate my parents for trying their best to avoid fast food restaurants which means I never developed an attachment to their food. Keep your kids away from those disgusting companies.

[@Not_Always]

no lol

[@DigitalApex]

@@Not_Always Low IQ comment

[@karlabritfeld7104]

I won't. Eat what you want. Don't need anyone preaching to me.

[@We.do.not.scissor]

​@@DigitalApex No. They are educated on how these foods are created specifically to get you addicted. Eating these foods change what you crave, that is why it is dangerous for kids. They end up not liking healthy foods. Same for adults even. It takes time to adjust to a new diet based on taste alone.

[@applegal3058]

My parents never avoided take out food, but we couldn't afford it regularly, so it was a rare treat. I never developed a habit or cravings for it. I think it also has to do with a person's addiction susceptibility. I don't have an addictive personality. I'm sure if I did, I'd be lining up like a lot of the people I know every day waiting for coffee and junk food, I'd be out smoking, and playing the lottery. I have zero interest in it.

[@ejedwards988]

I remember watching Super Size Me in school. My health teacher tore the experiment a new hole for its clear bias and actually taught us about calories in/calories out and how to make healthy choices. It was a whole unit. We kept a food log and had to guesstimate how many calories we ate in a day.

[@mice8791]

Holy crap. Kudos to your teacher! Most people out there don’t know how to manage their weight in a healthy way due to lack of info. But your teacher gave you such important life lessons with that.

[@Vasilia4]

There's more to it than just calories though. The crap that McDonalds food contains is nothing short of toxic and horrible for longevity. 1000 calories of non-processed, fresh food is better than 1000 calories of McDonalds

[@GlorifiedGremlin]

Calories in calories out is the be all end all. Because it leaves zero room for excuses. Even those with actual metabolic conditions have no excuse around calories in calories out. The condition only changes the amount of calories. I've literally LOST WEIGHT, on a diet of nothing but junk food, JUST to prove a point to a family member lol I'm sure my actual biomarkers like blood sugar and cholesterol were atrocious, but nonetheless, I lost weight, on a diet of twinkies 🤷‍♂️ even doing literal damage to my body to prove a point to this person wasn't enough though unfortunately. Some people will reject the very laws of thermodynamics, just to hold onto their delusion

[@vcorkleth]

I hated when I went to school that the food pyramid was still the prevailing thought. I really could have avoided so much dietary issues if I actually knew about CICO, food logging and making better choices than "eat a shit ton of bread because the grain lobby donated the most money."

[@amateurtouring]

How hungry would you be if you ate 2000 calories of McDonalds vs healthy food.

[@sigma8995]

For the people who ate only McDonald for months, it doesn’t matter about the weight gain or loss. That’s a matter of calories intake vs. burn. What is much more of interest are their health markers. I want to know what was their triglycerides level, ldl, hdl, apo b protein, glucose, a1c, and inflammatory markers.

[@EmeraldEyesEsoteric]

This was my conclusion as well. I used to eat nothing but fast food everyday. Now, I have no money and live on food stamps, which means I can only eat groceries bought at stores. I gained about 70 pounds. I was healthier eating the fast food that I loved. I would say that my overall health was better in just about every way.

[@sigma8995]

@@EmeraldEyesEsoteric There are too many concrete studies showing that fast food is bad for us. I can say so from my own personal experience as well. With your situation, use food stamp to buy natural wholesome foods, like meat, fish, eggs, veges. The more natural and less process it is, the better.

[@Buttercup697]

They were low-nutrient calories... not good for the body.

[@awakeandwatching953]

i dont really believe the guy to be honest and just because we cant find any proof doesn't mean their isnt some thing going on there

[@xBINARYGODx]

"let's auto believe the liar who acted like his body was falling apart and made it out like it as addictive as heroine, but someone else you ate the food and gets some exercise and loses weight must have something secretly wrong with him" you lot don't know your body - lower quality food is lower quality, but your body doesn't care, calories and nutrients are calories and nutrients. Can there be long term consequences for eating a lot of low quality (lower amount of protein, healthy carbs, micronutrients per unit of volume, etc.), but how much will differ from person to person, and also, news flash - lots of stuff in the grocery store is just as bad or worse that whatever they current have on the menu at whatever fast food place.

[@sumotherdude]

Laughed out loud when I got a Burger King ad in the middle of this

[@SkyeWoodrum]

That's hilarious.😂

[@ameliawilson9074]

SO DID I!!

[@kin1332]

A few years ago I was on a budget holiday with friends and every day for 9 days we would eat dinner at McDonalds. I would usually have a McChicken and maybe fries but by the end of the holidays I had to start ordering theirs salads just to eat something less processed. When I was returning home, it felt like my digestive system was through it, I had difficulty going to the toilet and felt nauseous after meals. And that's after 9 days of McDonald's in the evening. I can't imagine doing this for 90 days and claiming to feel healthier by the end of the process.

[@CutTheCrapAndKissMe]

Well he lost weight but he looks like shit.. sooo

[@cincin4515]

Mc chicken is deep fried. My stomach would be protesting too if I ate from the deep fry every day. I can't imagine why anyone would eat a deep fried chicken burger when the beef is grilled.

[@asthenamesuggests9513]

The disgust I'm feeling ugh This is the world we're living in, where a teacher can easily sold not just his students' health, but a GENERATION of students' health for money.

[@Theruleforlife]

they also serve fast food in schools for money.

[@ronnieb7313]

This lady does incredible research! I enjoy her content so much.

[@syntax_2000]

The amount of research is insane

[@hillaryjohansen9598]

When I worked for McDonalds, back in the day, I was really thin, and I wanted to eat salads on my break and they allowed that for about a month, then, my meal allowance was taken away for salads, they said I could only order sandwiches, and instead of eating in the breakroom, I had to eat in the main room with the customers so they could "see a skinny girl eat the sandwiches." All of our overweigh employees were moved to the back areas where they couldn't be easily seen and those of us who were thinner had to work window and registers. That was an order that came down in our area because we had a team meeting about it, and our overweight employees were pissed - and rightfully so. This was pretty close to when Supersize Me came out, because I know these days they don't have the same policy - or any salads.

[@dontdiefox]

this is so fucked up.

[@dewereldheerser]

I’m really surprised by how cheap fast food is in America. I never had Mcdonalds as a kid, because it was way to expensive. We ate homecooked meals everyday

[@elisharmar]

Same, plus my mum hated it, she was a great cook and could cook most meals you could get as takeout, I only had takeout when I was round friends houses, I couldn't stand how greasy everything was and why on earth buns were sweet. It all tasted so gross and in my country it was expensive too, much easier to pop to the shop 5 mims away and het some real food. I made a chilli last night and tonight I'm debating making Indian (I don't like rice with either but always have salads ready to eat in the fridge) and I'm prepping salads for work with different proteins and eggs

[@YouAreDreamingRightNow]

fast food was expensive back in the day in america. i grew up in the 70s and we couldn't afford to eat there every day even if we wanted to. it was a special treat every other weekend or so when my granddad would pick us up. only recently has it gotten so cheap - or least used to be, now it's expensive again since the pandemic.

[@Hannah-cd1nh]

He seems like that type of teacher that just loves to hear himself talk and probably gives a presentation about himself during the first class

[@ge2719]

projection

[@middleofnowhere1313]

If I had kids and this guy was their teacher, I would be going to the school board and making a huge fuss. This is unacceptable.

[@spOOkytimes]

Maybe he knew he was losing his job and ran crying to Mcdonalds. I doubt any parents would be thrilled about their kids insisting on eating McDonald's rather than "food at home" (like the meme lol)

[@wondertriplover]

i'd be more worried about his sexual misconduct if he was around children...

[@Faceplay2]

What’s wrong with the teacher? Who does science doing a experiment. It’s not like he was a creep. Oh touching children. Maybe you shouldn’t have kids if something that small bothers you. I remember our science teachers doing wacky experiments in high school. It was for fun and we will do a lot of idea experiment things that are teachers would heavily focus on, but the students would assist with. Honestly, I could imagine my high school teacher coming up with some idea like this for fun. It’s not like he put the great against the kids, and again it’s not like he was doing anything inappropriate with them. Again, maybe you shouldn’t have children.

[@middleofnowhere1313]

@@Faceplay2 I don't have any. They might turn out like you.

[@mcstaken7067]

Honestly, your KZbin channel is really helping me during my weight loss, I want to thank you for being the voice of reason and the person to help people on their own little journey.

[@mayonnaiseeee]

Hope it's still going well for you. I just found this channel recently and feel the same. I have about 10 more pounds to lose, but being the last 10, they're quite the grind. Watching Kiana's videos really keep me grounded. Reading the comments after is always an added bonus, just for the discussions and sometimes the drama.

[@goratron1]

The issue I am having with his experiment is when it was brought up that he added 45 minutes of exercise daily, plus biking everywhere. It was not standard before he started, and because he was new to exercise, he would have gotten the protective effect of noob gains.

[@GabrielShadowArcher]

I think that's kinda the point, which most people seem to be missing. If you believe Spurlock (which at this point, given the info that came out after, you've got larger issues), and many other *health* outlets, you'd think that no matter what you do, eating fast food at any time in any quantity is going to have primarily negative effects. What people should be learning from this is that the origin of food you eat has a proportionally smaller effect on various health markers than many of the other things you need to be aware of to make intelligent, conscious choices to help your health and weight. Total caloric intake, stopping when you're full, being active, the specific macros of what you're eating, all of those make up a much larger contribution to your total health than just being worried about the origin of your food. I don't think the guy is saying that you *should* eat nothing but fast food, but maybe showing that people don't have to be as stringent in avoiding it completely. I had a kinda crappy childhood that didn't prepare me for adulting very well, and as a result, I would probably guess that about 90% of what I ate from age 16 to 31 or so was fast food of some sort, but I was in the best shape ever during that time, because of the other choices I made at the same time.

[@blueodum]

It's not only weight loss, but the quality of the food is a huge factor - especially over the long term.

[@blueodum]

@@GabrielShadowArcher Disagree. The type of food you eat on a regular basis is the most important factor within your control for your long-term health. The UPF most people eat now is completely different to the food people ate 70 plus years ago.

[@nolives]

Abuse of employees is so true. Especially franchises. I worked a couple and all of them were the most stressful angry enviroments. It was like 5 star kitchen levels of seriousness and fights but over a damn mcdouble lol.

[@coreyh6698]

"I can't see how anyone would think that I'm promoting McDonald's" John Cisna McDonald's Brand Ambassador

[@yokoghoul5478]

Since he's a science teacher, he should know that you need a control sample to do this kind of experiment

[@NotAGoodUsername360]

That was the issue with th e late alcoholic Morgan Spurlock's documentary as well

[@fraserehl5894]

He was doing an experiment on himself for some high school kids to learn about calories and food choices, not submitting it for peer review

[@ge2719]

lol, you heard "control sample" once in science class did you? adorable.

[@ge2719]

@@NotAGoodUsername360 yeah, OP conveniently missed that part. below 80 iq alert.

[@laryssasilva01]

Hey, Kiana! Would you consider doing a video based on the ‘The Whale’ movie? I think there’s great potential for discussion there.

[@sheepylamby7320]

This is a great suggestion. I’d love to hear her commentary.

[@jamesneuman7083]

I'm surprised you didn't bring up the "super size" rule. Sure a normal combo will have between 900-1200 calories but the super-sized meals could easily have double then that. That was the issue I had with super-sized me, eating 4-6k calories a day of anything is going tk cause obesity and obesity related issues

[@PrayTellGaming]

Yeah she sounds so biased. Both these documentaries have flaws but the Super Size me is worse tbh. When I was in high school we watched the documentary too, and I thought Donald's was pure garbage and should never been eaten. I then watched it as an adult and the dude throws up because he wasn't even hungry! He didn't want to eat, he just forced himself to eat to reach the caloric numbers. I would say that the #1 problem with fast food is the sodas! Switch to diet sodas. Potatoes arent great for you (maybe ask for no, or less salt), burgers have protein and nutrients. Sodas are just sugar. That's the true poison in my opinion.

[@JoeyisDREADful]

​@@PrayTellGaming OK but finishing our plates till we have a tummy ache is something alot of people do often. I've struggled with that. Seeing someone actually healthy puke from the sheer quantity of food I could effortlessly consume in a day was a good thing for me and many other people. It's journalism not science. The rules aren't based on science of health they're based on the rules of McDonald's, where they offer you more fries for only 20 cents more or whatever and alot of people go "sure why not"

[@twip_]

Do you know how easy it is to eat 4k calories at McDonald's? I think it's fair to say that gaining weight is significantly easier at fast food places like these. It's way easier to eat 4k calories a day there than 2k without eating anything else.

[@Mupyeong]

@@twip_ I'd say it's easier to overeat at home honestly. At a fast food joint I will spend leagues more and see the amount of food I'm shoveling down. At home, you have nobody seeing or judging, food has already been paid and you can just grab more, no need to wait. If anything Pizza, Pasta and Chinese are a threat but watching food habits of morbidly obese people the majority of their calories are in breading, sweets, snacks and such and in the direct worse off choice.

[@salvatoredali4384]

​@@PrayTellGaming burgers have "protein and nutrients"? That's a very funny metric for healthy food to me because you can say that about more than half the food people eat regularly in the US.

[@candicesmith6126]

There actually was another homemade documentary made in response to Supersize Me called “Fathead.” Would be curious to hear your thoughts on it if you haven’t seen it already.

[@animatedaboutlife]

I'd like to see this too!

[@ChandraQP]

I'm surprised she didn't look into it. It's a great reasonable response to the hype. My high school refused to let me talk about Fathead after they tried to scare us in health class with Supersize Me :/

[@alypialpha2712]

Yes! I was wondering why she wasn’t talking about that one! “Fathead” felt like a nice middle ground between Supersize and this one.

[@adnarim10]

Fathead is great! And I think was made right after Super Size Me instead of a decade later.

[@opheliasgh0st]

Fathead was a fantastic documentary, my mom actually watched it with me when I was little and said “This is better than Supersize me, it’s more realistic”

[@coffeebot3000]

As you showed, a day of eating like that would come out to nearly 3000 calories. Spurlock's movie showed he would order multiple sandwiches for he meals. And apparently Cisna was basically eating a salad for lunch and a set meal for dinner. All of these so-called documentaries that start out with an agenda somehow always manage to prove it correct.

[@KurtisRader]

You seem to have completely missed the point. Spurlock ended up eating more calories than was healthy because McDonalds practices encouraged that behavior. Spurlock was reasonably transparent about his rules for dining at McDonalds. While Cisna was deliberately deceptive. To the point I would call Cisna's description of what he did to be outright lying.

[@Debbie-henri]

Plus, you really don't know if he truly finished every meal or stuffed himself with laxatives afterwards. It's pretty obvious he was exercising, otherwise there wouldn't have been those scenes of him doing exercise in conjunction with his Mac diet. Really, that's cheating in itself as he is increasing his metabolism to cope with the increase in calories, esp those from fat and sugar (an Age Of Sail sailor required 4000 calories a day to maintain his weight, and when I was a gardener I needed 3000 per day. Working as a teacher, which is quite sedentary for most subjects, plus the extra sitting time to mark stacks of homework and lesson planning, you probably need 'less' than the average).

[@medes5597]

He never had more than one sandwich, and he provided his entire month's diet, with receipts, as part of the movies promotion so no one could claim that. Everything he ate was part of a pre-packaged meal served by McDonald's. Everything. His main goal was to show that McDonald's encouraged people to eat more and more unhealthy food. Hence why he had to agree if they offered him the option to super size the meal, among other rules.

[@ge2719]

@@KurtisRader thats hilarious. spurlcok was n alcoholic and his entire experiment was a lie, and he never released his meal plans. So either you got the name mixed up or your super low iq. cisna released his meals plans, wasnt an alcoholic, did eat burgers, just not always with fries. his experiment was completely valid and completely disproves spurlocks even if spurlocks wasnt already proven to be complete bs because of his alcoholism.

[@mr.gorgenchuck6501]

A few years ago Spurlock admitted to being a heavy drinker for 30 years. So when they talk about all his health problems it’s a bit skewed. I’m not saying McDonald’s is health food. But dude got way more credit than he deserved.

[@500ccRabbit]

If McDonald's didn't want the documentary to just go away, he would have been sued into oblivion for not disclosing this

[@Gutterrat69]

Im glad im not the only one

[@lauraanne5175]

That might be true, But he took test prior to eating MdD. So his results after eating McD are accurately associated with the diet. Otherwise it would have shown prior.

[@actoraa]

Yes, people are very prone to forget critical thinking when it comes to something that reinforces their ideology. We get this video making valid criticism of Cisna but you can make a very similar video about Spurlock.

[@aimlessautist]

he was also a vegan, which explains why he threw up from eating so much mcdonald's. such a radical shift in diet can shock your body into sickness.

[@xrxt0]

There was a British guy here on KZbin a few years back (I think his name was Ryan) who also did his own "response" to super size me eating only McDonalds for 30 days and documenting every meal while losing weight, highlighting that it's about calories in vs out etc. It was pretty interesting and well done, unfortunately it seems to be gone. :/

[@D.von.N]

All those people linking short term weight changes with long term health are misled. Weight isn't everything. Ultraprocessed fast food lacks many beneficial compounds and their lack will show much much later than a few months. It isn't only about calories or macros. After all, it is in our plain sight that the obesity and metabolic diseases became epidemic after jumping on convenience and fast food on the national level... what are these individuals trying to achieve? Who are they trying to fool? There is a direct relationship between economic situation and the fast food outlets in cities, poorer regions having more of them than the affluent ones, and this feeds back into the loop of worsening health (including brain health, mental health) of those disadvantaged people, making poor decisions, criminality, gangs, more poverty and even worse food choices, because they either lack the education or money to make better choices.

[@xrxt0]

@@D.von.N You are entirely correct. The only thing that experiments like the one I mentioned prove is when it comes to raw weight change/calories in vs out, disregarding anything about long term health. The person I mentioned I don't believe was ever trying to fool anyone into thinking fast food is healthy. They were simply trying to educate and tackle certain misconceptions about weight loss.

[@D.von.N]

@@xrxt0 I think pretty much everyone knows it is down to the calorie in - calorie out, some hoping for miracles, but overall it is always down to this. Plus, if you don't exercise and just decrease your calories, you also lose muscle mass, not really helping in maintaining the weight loss in the long term. So another factor to consider when it comes to counting calories alone. All diets work while we are on them. But 95% fail rate long term suggests there is more that is going on than just calories.

[@nathangaspacio6128]

@@D.von.N You'd be surprised how little people know about calories in vs calories out

[@sticy5399]

​@@D.von.N While that's true, it's also just a fact, that people don't just eat 2k calories when they eat McDonalds. Their food is so empty of nutritional value and specifically designed in a way, that you'll have to overconsume to feel satiated. I could eat 2000calories of pure sugar and loose weight, while being terribly hungry and miserable during it.

[@mollymarie2]

I was a manager at McDonald’s for a while after finishing college to get work experience and I absolutely loved eating salads during my breaks bc I could mix and match ingredients as I pleased (knowing what was best and the most fresh). Imagine my surprise a year later when I had a craving for McDonald’s after being in quarantine and finding out they no longer had salad or any type of grilled chicken. Being a manager, I remember lots of times having to throw the salads out due to a recall on lettuce so I thought it might’ve been due to the company losing money in that way, but it does make a lot of sense that salads were probably the last choice most consumers were making.

[@Adrastia]

They had salads in the diet conscious 80s. They were pretty much green salads with a couple of tomato slices and then you chose a dressing packet that I think was the same as brands you got at the store. I was a young child in the 80s and usually got these salads. I wass probably the only six year old that was. XD Bu t I think salads will come back again some day. All it takes is some new food trend or documentary.

[@tonydytn]

McDonald’s salads were good but probably weren’t profitable.

[@no-u99]

Here in Italy they actually still have salads with grilled chicken and/or Parmigiano but it's quite expensive for what it is.

[@4chloe44]

They sell salads (including grilled chicken) in the UK still! I have never tried it....supporting your point 😂

[@renszoroquino7369]

Yeah I used to work there too. Salads would come up like maybe once or twice per shift.

[@miket2646]

John and Morgan both succeeding in showing that total calories and physical activity are the most important aspects. Morgan screwed up his health and weight by eating everything from the menu and stopping his exercise routines, while John started working out and being sure to not eat at a caloric surplus.

[@PoochieCollins]

Both provided some value while being uniquely misleading in other ways.

[@eacaraxe]

@@PoochieCollins How so, in Spurlock's case? The '90s and '00s were a low point in American nutrition and lifestyle, between the unholy trinity of incredibly lax nutrition education, highly sedentary lifestyles, and glut of processed and unhealthy food options. Much of which is directly attributable to lobbying and marketing efforts by fast food, soda, and convenience/snack food companies, and started in the '80s. All he did was replicate a contemporary blue collar/working poor American's diet and lifestyle.

[@miket2646]

Just so you know, they offer reading comprehension courses at most community colleges. @@ProfessorGothic

[@mallninja9805]

I don't understand Kiana's POV here. Is it that hard to believe that an adult with a captive audience who's heard kids regurgitate this morality play without understanding it would concoct an alternate experiment? Note I'm not saying it was particularly well constructed (IE "get healthy" vs "lose weight") but all in all I don't think it rises to the level of Great Corporate Conspiracy. Honestly the fact that they showed Supersize Me to kids is pretty gross in and of itself, so I'm not shocked that at least one teacher decided to construct an alternate hypothesis.

[@coweatsman]

Depends on the food quality for calorie. 500 calories in hi carb food will add more easily to weight than 500 calories of low carb food. If food has fructose added to it, and more food than one imagines does, then that will suppress leptin release into the body which tells you that you are full. It's very difficult to over eat on low carb simply because your leptin release is normal.

[@Lunchladydoyle]

Spurlock ate everything on the menu and had to Supersize it if asked. He couldn’t bop around to the “ healthier “ choices on the menu. McDonald’s used to have salads on their menu and did away with the SuperSize by the time this teacher did his rebuttal experiment so if his students chose more salads for him instead of Filet O’ Fish or Double Quarter Pounders did he duplicate what Spurlock did ??

[@KianaDocherty]

completely agree!!!!! ridiculous rebuttal lol

[@Lunchladydoyle]

@@KianaDocherty Thanks for exposing this shill. What a putz !! 😅

[@friedrice4015]

Spurlock has also admitted he was drinking heavily throughout the entire filming tho, so I’m not sure anyone trying to “replicate” his diet could get close to his results

[@JerseyJake98]

@@friedrice4015 That explains how he got his "5k calories" a day number from, 3 meals from McDonalds even supersized wouldn't be that much on its own

[@CordeliaWagner]

But if he was heavily drinking years before, why did his bloodwork become so much worse while eating McDonalds? It just shows that wherever you come from, JunkFood makes it worse. And noone goes to McDonalds to eat a salad.

[@suitelifebeck]

Literally JUST finished watching ObeseToBeast’s review of your HAES/Tess Holiday video, so happy to have another video right after!

[@g00dbyemisterA]

The "healthy" point is so annoying, a starvation diet would do the precise same thing and have similar nutrient deficits to the McDonalds diet. Not to mention that at his starting weight, he will have a higher TDEE and that will make it easier for him to have 'impressive' numbers, not to mention Spurlock tried to limit his movement in order to mimic the average American, whereas he's doing the opposite. Sad thing is, theyre both right, theyre both using themselves as case studies but changing their exercise regimes creates too many variables (ie. did the exercise change cause Spurlock's weight gain/Cisna's weight loss, we dont know for sure) Also the fact that they are all about "choice" but Cisna has no choices to make, he outsources his choices, how many times have people gone to McDonalds intending to get a medium but then changed their mind to get a large because of the addictive property of McDonalds foods with their highly palatable mix of sugar and salt.

[@sanderella1642]

I saw this when I was in high school. I think 10th grade. I stopped eating all fast food cold turkey. Have not had ANY since. Twice I was in a position where for whatever reason there are only fast food options and I opted for skipping the meal. I know this documentary was not factually perfect but I’m happy I watched it. ❤

[@joecurran2811]

That's great commitment

[@artamusc]

You mention Cisna adding an exercise regimen as if that's somehow misleading to the experiment, however in Super Size Me, Spurlock cut off almost all of his exercise and also significantly decreased the amount of steps he took per day during the experiment. Cisna specifically stated that he would do the "opposite" of Super Size Me. So where Spulock DECREASED his physical activity, Cisna INCREASED his. Its obvious though from both documentaries that the outcome was decided long before the cameras even started rolling.

[@rickardkaufman3988]

Also, Spurlock was an alcoholic hence the excessive liver problems.

[@KarmicSalt]

IKR so the documentaries show if you stop exercising and double or triple your calorie intake, you gain weight. If you exercise and count calories you lose weight. Not a surprise

[@ComradeRachel]

Let's not lie to ourselves. The people who eat fast food everyday don't exercise.

[@wolfielee11]

@@ComradeRachel That's just bullshit though. People who eat fast food everyday are just as likely to exercise as folks who eat homemade lunches. Classism is a helluva drug to make ya'll think fast food eaters are lazy couch potatoes instead of working people.

[@SevenEllen]

It wasn't an experiment. It was an advertisement to get customers back in McDonalds. Well, it's been losing a HELL of a lot of money since 2004.

[@haroldlanceevans]

The original Supersize Me was far from scientifically rigorous, but I learned from it. I was astonished at the significant changes in metabolic markers in a relatively young healthy man after only 30 days of excess calorie consumption and sedentary lifestyle. It seems that Spurlock may also have been consuming alcohol. That's extra calories, and if done in excess, extra strain on the liver, too. However, I'd like to remind people of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is increasingly common. There are now many non-drinkers who have cirhossis due to the potential impact of obesity and excess calorie intake on the liver. Furthermore, what Spurlock CHANGED was essentially food quantity and food quality, and presumably amount of exercise. Spurlock also demonstrated how easy it is to eat excess calories when in the form of ultraprocessed food. Spurlock could have tried to do the same thing on a diet of nutrient rich whole foods, but I suspect might have found it more difficult to consume so many excess calories that way. Cisna's equally unscientific endeavor showed a less surprising result, that a 90 day program of exercise and caloric control had a beneficial effect on a previously obese and sedentary middle aged man. This does show that one, MacDonalds food had enough micronutrients to prevent a deficiency disease such as scurvy from appearing, and two, had no magic that completely negated the effects of exercise and calorie deficit. It is extremely likely that if Cisna had employed a same calorie diet of a healthier nature, he would have had at least equal if not better results.

[@mikatu]

The guy wasn't that healthy since he was a drunk and he consumed alcohol during the experiment, like a lot of it.

[@ask_sigma6]

Now you sound like your reading a script from McDonalds, you don't have any evidence he was drinking... McDonalds put that idea in your head... don't you see how they operate by now?

[@Pushing_Pixels]

Supersize Me was never intended to be rigorous, it was always meant to be an amusing anecdote. The results were more dramatic than they expected though.

[@sanriosonderweg]

@@Pushing_Pixels not the benefit of the doubt this video gives to the retest. Also there were many other retests that failed to replicate spurlock.

[@titanomachy2217]

Yeah, alcohol is FULL of calories, it's just as fattening as lipids: about nine calories per gram. You can even intake calories from alcohol without actually drinking any. You can smoke it. Or put it up your bum. Or inject it, although you'd need a big syringe to really do anything, or 180+ proof moonshine. Trips me out how that works. I smoked some vodka once. I could still taste the vapor.

[@HereIAm247]

Love your input on 'weight loss versus being healthy'. The way people talk about it have been bugging be for years! :) Does calories matter in terms of loosing weight? Yes. However, if you want to look at health, you want to look into getting the right nutrient balance and exercise regularly. It still amazes me that people don't understand this.

[@sketchysketchist]

Weight loss is just eating less and moving more. Being healthy is being aware of what your body needs and maintaining your health the way people maintain machines, which becomes a chore if you're too hedonistic.

[@todo9633]

Even past that, just the way eating certain foods can make you feel, and the individual differences between how we react to foods. Like, imagine eating a cheeseburger every day, now imagine eating a cheeseburger every day while being varying degrees of lactose intolerant.

[@PungiFungi]

Spurlock’s experiment basically had him stacked his methodology to a predetermine outcome, like deliberately force feeding himself and cutting down on his physical activities.

[@anthonymatute6057]

@@PungiFungi Spurlock’s experiment killed him!!!!!

[@fruitandveggies24]

This came out when I was in college and spurred my health and nutrition obsession. I eventually lost 160 lbs, but this and Fast Food Nation was the spark of it!

[@petebusch9069]

Smart move, I'm 55 and am now just getting this.

[@zxyatiywariii8]

Awesome! I used to be obese and it took me about two years, but now I've stayed at a healthy BMI.

[@ask_sigma6]

Just curious did you eat McDonalds to lose that weight? 🤣

[@Geomama3]

I’m ashamed to admit that it took charging almost $30 for me and my 3 daughters to eat at MCD’s to finally quit giving them our health and money , I don’t even have cravings anymore, it’s changed a lot of things for the better for my family and I.

[@TheReZisTLust]

At that point you can buy like 7 burger stacks, that's such a rip off 💀

[@picketf]

Here's a list of good foods: thai rice, sticky rice, avocados, yams, blue potatos, coconut, figs, greek yoghurt, thiok aceto made from real grapejuice, shrimps, duck, octopus, seaweed, black beans, yellow kiwis, dark purple cherrys, starfruit, pinaple, buffalo cheese, goat cheese... I found out that eating good food works out to about $8-$12 a person per meal. Once you know what's good, you start to realize how 90% in supermarket shelves is just junk, empty glucose calories with no nutritional value. Also never ever touch anything that says light, diet, low fat, reduced fat.

[@NamelessAidan]

I remember this. I didn't go to public school but my mom still had me watch this and it really set her off on this whole health kick. And we weren't eating that badly to begin with, compared to other kids.

[@SeanHendy]

Saw this when it came out, it absolutely blew up. Here in the UK, the fast food chains' menus, portion sizes, and ingredients, are completely different than in the US. Fewer additives, fewer ingredients, less calories, less trans fats and so on. Take aways and restaurants also have to include the calorie information which at least provides people a chance to make an informed choice if they so choose. Morgan Spurlock's approach was new and novel, but it did expose that many people in the US, and other countries, eat far more fast food, more often, than they have ever done in history, and the trend sadly continues year on year.

[@ellingtonlilly]

theres also the case that spurlock started at a lower weight and from what i can remember a fairly healthy and active lifestyle and cisna started much heavier and more sedentary. spurlock made his own meal choices and cisna had his students choose. theyre also just different people which can mean a lot in regards to how someones body deals with certain foods.

[@Marcos.ribeiro94]

This reminded me of Jordan Syatt's video that he added one big Mac a day to his normal diet and ended up losing weight, but in the video he said that the big mac made him feel shitty, that Mcdonald isn't healthy at all and nobody should eat it every day. The message in his video is that you can have food that you like in moderation and still lose weight and that there aren't any bad foods.

[@JeDindk]

I remember that video too. It was much more serious, balanced and nuanced that both Morgan Spurlock and John Cisna.

[@iamprsn9]

I'd love for you to take a look at "Fat Head" in which a comedian did the Supersize me diet as it is presented in the documentary. It's been a while since I saw it but if I recall one of his conclusions was that Spurlock had to be lying about how much he was eating in order to gain as much weight as he did. Also, Spurlock has never been able to reproduce his food logs for what he was eating during filming.

[@MuttFitness]

Rumors are he was drinking heavily

[@JeDindk]

I have never seen "Fat Head", but several has mentioned it in the comments, and I will try to look it up. I'm glad you and the others mention it.

[@ge2719]

@@MuttFitness "rumours"... stated by morgan spurlock himself.

[@rezarranguez2980]

Something that doesn’t get talked about much with Supersize me was Morgan Spurlock’s alcoholism during his time making the film.

[@FleetingThoughts]

After watching Supersize Me in school something didn't sit right with me about it so I did some research and that's how I found the documentary Fathead, which is a refutation of Supersize Me. Fathead was honestly the most influential documentary I've ever seen and I still watch it about once a year. The things it discusses like how carbohydrates are the real food villain and not fat and the history of how fat became villainized is much more mainstream today but it was pretty mind blowing when Fathead first came out.

[@daesong1378]

I was looking for someone else that watched fathead 👍

[@Mupyeong]

Same here, honestly. I keep peddling the documentary to friends and family and those that watch it come out of it rather rattled 😂 Helps that Fat Head has a food diary and tracks everything.

[@mainstreetsaint36]

That one is a great one. It felt more honest and less up their own rear like Morgan Spurlock. Speaking of Mr. Spurlock, I liked the fact Fathead called out the fact he didn't have any of the calories recorded and yet expects everyone to take his word regarding his caloric intake.

[@hiqjix]

Bruh my grandma showed Supersize me to myself when I was 6 and was OBSESSED WITH IT FOR SOME REASON?! I watched it multiple times and became super scared of any fast or processed food, so much so it was one of the seeds that grew into a lifelong battle with food and an eating disorder 💀

[@kennedydavis7668]

Oh no😭

[@CordeliaWagner]

Did nobody tell you that there are other options thaan JunkFood? Why did your parents let you watch this unsupervised? Or did they watch it with you but didn't talk about it?

[@grantc2854]

my brother watch was obsessed with it to but it made him eat more mcdonalds

[@hiqjix]

@No Name Yeah i watched it unsupervised alot bc my grandma just put it on one day after school and was like: lol have fun. and little kid me became hyperfixated on it and watched the recording like 10 times 💀

[@robintisabird1566]

It definitely flared my orthorexia tendencies too!!!

[@amybradbury338]

It's really crazy what we are learning as adults that we used to roll our eyes at when we were younger... We used to eat at McDonalds all the time, it was our go to place on road trips. We drank soda all the time, it wasn't even something we thought about, happy meal with coke, it was a no brainer. M&Ms in our butter popcorn, cookies always in the house, hamburger helper, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese. As an adult feeding my own children it's so weird, because I don't remember a single point when my diet changed all at once, but my kids eat so very differently than I did as a kid. But then, I'm lucky enough to be home with my kids, where both my parents had full time jobs. I have more time to plan healthy meals and cook. It's just strange how what was once the norm for me changed over time so drastically.

[@Squidbush8563]

A lot of our dietary problems stemmed from the "food pyramid" lie. It was bought and paid for by the grain industry that was trying to unload massive amounts of grain and seed oils which turns out are FAR worse for us than fats and meat. Manufacturers only provided us with what we bought and we were convinced to buy all of the wrong things and trashed our health and got fat, all the while we were wondering why our asses were getting so huge.

[@donstalker7162]

It still is the norm. for so many people , I am bemused how many parents feed there children processed foods , sweets , soda every day . I was one of a few parents who had a healthy snack for there kid after school , hundreds there with bags of sweets and fizzy drinks . Kudos to you , your family will benefit from it .

[@LSG101097]

My parents had full time jobs and still cooked for me. Because it's not that hard, for real. Your parents apparently just didn't care about your health enough to overstep their own laziness.

[@ge2719]

access to the internet to get cooking lessons for free likely helped. as well as education on nutrition. Your parents likely weren't educated on macro/micro nutrients at all. were probably taught the bs "food pyramid" that made carbs the most important thing everyone should be eating the most of, and removing good fats and replacing them with hydrogenated vegetable oil margerines which we now know is not good for people. back when you used to buy candy and fast food there wont have even been calories listed on the package.

[@MisterEO_YT]

Idk how this ended up in my recommended, but this was very well done and YOU are SO beautiful, omg.

[@BWyatt76]

Hi Kiana, I was thinking, if this teacher was only eating at McDonald's 3 times a day, that meant he wasn't eating snacks at home, like chips, cookies, and ice cream. So he was probably eating less food overall. If he's eating less food, he will lose weight. He clearly would have different results than Morgan from, Super Size me, who going from a clean healthy diet to McDonald's. The difference would be each person's diet before they started eating just McDonald's. Maybe for people who not only eat 3 meals a days, but also snack, limiting themselves to just 3 meals at a fast food restaurant, will help them lose weight. I however, would have results more like Morgan, and I would gain weight, since I eat healthy.

[@MagisterialVoyager]

I'm still laughing at Cisna trying to pull a slick "I don't work for McDonald's!" from when he said, "This will let McDonald's now whether it works or not". He isn't very smart, is he? That part is just so funny to me because he doesn't have it to pull this whole thing off convincingly.

[@elleh6642]

Thank you for another great documentary, Kiana. I'm not sure if you're aware; apparently the tests that Morgan S ran before his experiment were all falsified or misrepresented. The guy was an alcoholic and already had severe liver damage so I'm not sure how much he paid his docs to state otherwise. He even admitted to this in an interview titled: Did Morgan Spurlock accidentally admit the premise for “Super Size Me? was false?

[@gateauxq4604]

Ok. Doesn’t mean McDonald’s is good for you if you eat it at every meal. (Unless you have 3 students picking out your meals to make sure they’re all 2000 calories)

[@elleh6642]

@@gateauxq4604 what is your point, lol? I pretty much agree with you.

[@PungiFungi]

I saw Supersize Me and all I got from it was this guy stacked his experiment to a self fulfilling foregone conclusion.

[@wyattd8423]

I usually dont like channels like this but your content is really wholesome and digestible :)

[@TheT3rr0rMask]

A nostalgic movie for me, 5th grade when health class showed it to us. Revisited Supersize Me a year ago and was, if anything, even more effective than when I was a kid.

[@ukaszcota8317]

I am one of those people who actually lost what muricans would call "40 pounds" in a year whilst not removing fast food from diet, just eating it less frequently in addition to the very strict calorie counting. It does work only to some degree. In order to lose more fat than muscles and keep your body overally more healthy it is essential to remove fast food from diet indefinitly. Love ur videos as they help me strain away from unhealthy food!

[@HandgunSafe]

You did a fantastic job on this, Kiana! That's what I call investigative journalism.

[@leelaa219]

I only recently found your channel and am now binge-watching all your videos. Very informative and entertaining, thank you!

[@Traeseare]

Excellently done. Speaking as a science teacher married to a science teacher, we both call this great work. Thank you for correcting the errors made in these OBVIOUSLY biased "experiments." This is a fantastic call out on ALL sides. Wonderful!

[@jboss1073]

This was not excellently done at all. It was basically a fat woman crying because she doesn't understand critical thinking. Your being a science teacher and saying this was excellent completely discredits you. What is your real name, so we can avoid you professionally? Thank you.

[@theneverending9319]

I'm not sure why you are putting experiment like that. He was proving you can lose weight if you count calories.

[@kricku]

​@@theneverending9319 ONE GUY!

[@dohadeer8242]

Cisno reminded me of all those scientists who worked for the Tobacco Institute!

[@ComicGladiator]

So does your partner make all the meth, do you, or do you guys split the workload?

[@Voodoorai]

At 1:41 he's got a *salad w/ chicken, apple slices and a yogurt parfait.* Of course he's gonna lose weight if he was living on pizza and beer. He's right. It is about making the right choices. But it's also about making time to eat healthy foods that contain some nutrition and not eating 3 *fake* meals a day at a fast food joint. I think his workouts screwed up the true outcome.

[@5ean5ean22]

The biggest rebuttal to Supersize Me is "Fathead." That documentary changed my life forever. I still dont eat fast food but I stopped demonizing fat as a result.

[@Site17]

I'm only 6 mins in, but i really hope you're going to talk about how Super Size Me was severely impacted by the alcoholism of Spurlock and how other investigations couldnt replicate his issues.

[@xXGracieGhostXx]

I remember that after the John Cisna book came out, my local McDonald's was literally displaying banners with the picture of the cover on it, as well as the book on display. I remember thinking it was super weird for a McDonald's in rural Missouri to be doing that lol!

[@jeremyandrews3292]

I think the problem with both documentaries is that there isn't a control group. That is, they just show people eating McDonald's food and either exercising or not exercising. All that shows is that exercise is good for you and will cause you to lose weight. But realistically, the question should be, if you home-cooked food similar to what McDonald's offers, would it actually be much healthier? That is, if I fry up a burger with thousand-island dressing and fries every day for lunch and dinner, and maybe have a biscuit with sausage, egg, and cheese with a hash brown, would the homemade versions of those things actually be better for me than the versions served by McDonald's? Or is the problem more with the foods people choose to eat at McDonald's and how much of it they consume? I mean, is there anything special McDonald's does to Big Macs and fries that makes them less healthy homecooked burgers and fries, or is it just that if you eat that type of food you need more exercise to balance it out regardless of where it comes from?

[@xensan76]

At the very least, both guys should have provided food logs. Oh well, propaganda is the fast food of teaching.

[@user-xg3uy6hq9g]

micky Ds is higher in sodium

[@worldcitizenra]

Although randomized control trials are the gold standard for scientific research, they aren't generally applicable to small groups. In addition, for nutritional research it is almost impossible to control people's consumption unless the study participants are confined to a facility in which the researchers have total control over the foods they eat. Additional blind random control trials aren't possible for foods, because participants will know what they are eating. When the objective of a test is to determine a binary options outcome for a single factor (weight loss, as an example), a non-randomized control trial is not necessary , as long as the effect of confounding variables is considered. The Supersize Me guy, probably did a slightly better job of identifying confounding variables than the science teacher, but neither of them a particularly good job of that before publishing their conclusions. A couple of confounding variables for the science teacher could be: (1) How and why did he choose 2,000 calories as his daily target? Based on his appearance in the video, my impression is that his maintenance level for caloric intake may have been higher than 2,000 calories. In that case, a 2,000 calorie diet would automatically produce weight loss over time, even without adding exercise. (2) Is it possible that he is among the small portion of the population that is carbohydrate tolerant? For those people, consuming high levels of carbohydrates and sugars makes little to no difference in their metabolic health. (3) What metabolic health factors could have affected his results? I'd give a very slightly better research score to Supersize Me, mainly because that guy gave a bit more qualitative information about his results. If the science teacher's objective was to teach critical thinking to his students, he failed at that because his own thinking did not demonstrate a critical thought process.

[@amandatyler4324]

I would love to seee someone make a video/movie that is actually scientific and tests for variables.

[@amandatyler4324]

Also I don’t think either exactly did this for science….😆

[@desolateleng9943]

Great video, great research! My first job was actually at a McDonalds in 1997 (although in Sweden, so a bit different), and something I still remember is that the company policy said that we HAD to ask if people wanted the "plus size" soda and fries, and then they of course nearly said yes even if they hadn't planned to from the start. Though I usually forgot, lol.