Woman Down Sizes Instead of Super Sizes From McDonald’s-Only Diet!

Oh goodness! An obese 35-year-old North Carolina woman who can’t get enough of McDonald’s’ carb-and-cheese covered, tartar-sauce-dipped Filet-O-Fish told the Raleigh News & Observer that she’s lost 33 pounds just by eating 1,400 calories per day from her favorite fast food joint!

I’m nauseous just hearing about this unorthodox regime being followed by the single mom of two, who gets and eats her food (if you want to call it that) in her car at drive-throughs.

Hasn’t the single mom of two heard of the brilliant, insightful Academy Award-nominated documentary, "Super Size Me" from Morgan Spurlock, in which his body gets wider and wider and gets all out of whack from eating at those Golden Arches?

Actually, the 5-foot, 9-inch Merab Morgan — (yeah, I know, another Morgan) — who dropped from 228 pounds (a size 24), to 195 pounds (a size 15) since April 22 — thinks that Spurlock’s film insulted the intelligence of fat people by implying that they couldn’t pass up the humongous portion for a few cents more. (So she records herself turning down those offers.)

Interestingly, Morgan (the female dieter) finds eating this way more palatable price-wise (9-to-$11 per day) than the Atkins or Weight Watchers plans, which require more time and money. (OK, she does have a very valid financial point, one that’s consistently tough for critics to dispute.)

While she’s only had French fries twice (or so, she claimns) and salads often (which is apparently getting tediuous), Morgan isn’t eating well, according to Barry Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at UNC-Chapel Hill and a professor of nutrition and public health. (Popkin is an expert I also had the pleasure of interviewing for my upcoming book, SUGAR SHOCK!).

Popkin worries that she’s not getting enough vitamins, minerals, and fiber, but he applauds her "restraint" in limiting porition sizes.

Another dieter, Soso Whaley of New Hampshire, said she’s peeled off 35 pounds on the McDonald’s diet, and in July, she’ll release her independent film, "Me & Mickey D."

Whatever is this world coming to nutritionally?

How can people get healthy, weight-reducing foods at moderate prices?

What is the allure of those Golden Arches? Would somebody please explain this to me? Is it the low cost? The convenience? The ease of access? Do people really think this stuff tastes good?

Am I on memory-loss autopilot — why can’t I remember the days years ago when I once occasionally ate and even liked some of these things?

Nowadays, I just can’t fathom that a fatty, carb-and-sugar-filled Happy Meal could lift my mood to anywhere approaching cheerfulness. Though, come to think of it, the last time I visited a McDonald’s, I was indeed very, very happy, though it had nothing to do with the food. (I finally found an easy-to-get-to ladies’ room while en route to upstate Connecticut.)

I’d sure like to get author Eric Schlosser’s take on this woman’s fast-food diet. (For those of you out of the loop, Schlosser wrote the muckraking, disturbing, exhaustively researched, beautifully written, well-reviewed New York Times bestseller, Fast Food Nation. If you haven’t checked it out, go buy it.)

And I’d also like to hear Spurlock’s thoughts on the rip-off phenomenon his film is generating.

6 thoughts on “Woman Down Sizes Instead of Super Sizes From McDonald’s-Only Diet!

  1. If she is having salads, I can think of better places to have salads than McDonald’s.
    Personally I find their salads almost unpalateable. My favorite fast food salad is at Subway where I have the baby spinach and grilled chicken salad and can choose what I want to have on it. I usually load it with all kinds of veggies, forego the cheese and have vinegar and oregano as the dressing.
    It is much better than the pre-made McDonald’s salad anyday — and there is no temptation to get a side order of fries.

  2. Why would she choose to have the salad at McDonald’s? Those salads there are just about uneatable. Yuck!
    When I want a fast food salad, I go to Subway and get a baby spinach and grilled chicken salad. It is fresh and I can choose what I put on it. I usually load it with all kinds of veggies, forego the cheese and use vinegar and oregano for the dressing. Yummy. Much better than that premade salad at McDonald’s, and I’m not tempted to have a side of fries with it.

  3. YUCK! I would be very skeptical if anyone doing this McDonald’s plan went through the preparation and doctor supervision that the ‘Supersize me’ guy did – he got a million blood tests before, during, and after; had frequent weigh-ins and measurements taken, etc. Regardless of calorie intake, I’m sure these people eating just fast foods are creating very unhealthy environments in their bodies – imbalances of minerals, fats, cholesterol, fluids.. McDonald’s uses a lot of trans fats in their cooking; they have food that is preservative-filled and full of chemicals and fake food components. What these people are doing to themselves and their children makes me sick, and I’m sure it’s making them sick as well. I don’t see how anyone can think of a diet of exclusively fast food as healthy. Even if the calorie content is where it should be instead of astronomically high like most ‘Supersized’ peoples diets are. There is WAY more to health than just calories. I could get 1500 calories from Oreo’s all day but it would be a deadly diet compared to one of protein, fresh produce, full-fat dairy, and whole grains at 1500 calories a day. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie is NOT true. You are what you eat IS true!
    This ‘McDonald’s diet’ thing is not like the Subway guy – at least he’s talking about nutrition and fresh foods and health, not just weight loss. Now, that’s a diet regime I could support and be reasonably sure people won’t develop heart disease, get diabetes, etc.

  4. On one hand, this is so absurd it makes me laugh. On the other, it’s sad on many levels–that this woman thinks this a reasonable way to diet; that she can’t seem to afford a healthier diet plan; that her kids see her pulling into McDonald’s every single day, etc.
    I just wonder what she’ll do when she reaches her target weight. Will she keep eating at McDonald’s every day? Will she have any chance of keeping the weight off? I’m not too confident.

  5. I think Morgan Spurlock who did the original documentary “Super Size Me” was trying to make a point at an extreme. Yes McDonald’s food is unhealthy if you eat burgers, fries and sodas or shakes, yet you can also make a choice to eat better foods at McDonald’s too such as garden salads, oriental salads, unsweetned iced tea or bottled water and an occasional burger now and then not a dozen or so a day.
    It all comes down to making good choices and combining it with a healthy attitude and exercising and eating moderate portions — something many Americans don’t do. We want what we want when we want it and we want it all –, that is why we have obesity and major health issues. Yes, if you eat McDonald’s, you can get sick and yes if you eat at McDonald’s, you can lose weight as this woman proved, but our health depends on the how many of the right or inccorrect choices that we make.

  6. My question is: what are this lady’s kids eating? Do they get happy meals every day, or does she go home and prepare them something nutritious? If it’s the former, then her kids may be gaining weight and she losing it. If it’s the latter, she should just eat the stuff she makes her kids. Even if it’s meat and white rice, it has to be better than McDonald’s.
    Why is it that people think if you can maintain a healthy weight on a diet, it must be good for you? Morgan Spurlock didn’t just weigh himself- he also checked his liver function, cholesterol, etc. I’d be interested in lab results for this lady, too. I bet they’re not that great.

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