Posted on 02/19/2005 11:02:55 AM PST by freedom44
Les Sayer hasn't cheated on his McDonald's-only diet. Not an apple, an orange, a cantaloupe or grapes in 17 days. Sayer, a teacher at NorQuest College and Metro Continuing Education, wanted to drive home the point to students that Morgan Spurlock's documentary, Supersize Me, was an opinion piece. He said he could eat McDonald's food for a month and lose weight, not gain it.
"The main reason for doing this is because my students thought (Supersize Me) was an objective piece," the 39-year-old Sayer said yesterday.
Sixteen days into the diet, Sayer says he's lost 13 pounds - he's down to 222 pounds from his 235 - and his blood pressure has dropped to 134/73 from 136/88.
His secret? One hour in the gym doing cardiovascular exercise and weight training five to six times weekly.
"The big surprise for me was the blood pressure."
Sayer has steadily chowed down on Big Macs, Bacon and Egg McMuffins and Chicken McNuggets.
"The magic here is in the exercise," he said. "The average Joe doesn't exercise."
Sayer said he's not being paid by McDonald's nor is he affiliated with the fast-food giant. But he said he has caught a lot of flak for taking on the diet.
"Some people are upset because they think I'm pandering to a huge, large corporation," he said.
"It's not McDonald's food that's unhealthy. It's the lifestyle you lead."
Sayer said the main message is that you should eat and enjoy a variety of foods as long as you exercise.
Ruth West, a registered dietitian at the Grey Nuns Hospital, said people who want to lose weight should be eating a variety of foods to benefit from all nutrients.
West said Sayer is likely expending more energy than he's consuming.
Fast food and no exercise will make a man fat. My hand to God, I know it's true.
Too many years Freeping with no exercise will also result in the chair-shaped ass.
All right, so let's go over it again:
1. McD's and most other fast food is not healthy
2. Most average Americans do not get near enough exercise
3. A bad diet can be offset by the right amount of exercise
4. The filmmaker behaved like most Americans, the teacher did not
5. The teacher claims "Super Size Me" is based on unrealistic, biased claims
6. The teacher is incorrect in his assumption that most Americans DO get enough exercise
Therefore, the teacher is wrong in his attack on the movie.
West said Sayer is likely expending more energy than he's consuming.
Good thing she's registered by some government drone. Otherwise, nobody would believe such an outlandish statement.
Once again, my tagline is relevent.
That is the one false statement, seeing as the teacher said this:
"It's not McDonald's food that's unhealthy. It's the lifestyle you lead."
this diet would work for me, since I hate McDonald's and would eat very little food if I could only eat from there. Breakfast, two chicken burritos (those are pretty good) and maybe a side of fries for dinner. And I'd guess I'd have an apple pie, even though they are not as good as they used to be.
And don't tell me to have salad. I don't like salad, I never have. But Rosie Radigan's in Jersey City, NJ makes a banging Chefs Salad and the (now) world famous Flamingo Cafe makes an equally good Greek Salad.
So, if you want salad, come to Exchange Place in Jersey City. Who'd'a thunk it?
"The main reason for doing this is because my students thought (Supersize Me) was an objective piece," the 39-year-old Sayer said yesterday.
Perhaps we're just interpreting it differently. I read the above statements in the article and I see the teacher saying, "Morgan Spurlock is full of crap. You CAN eat nothing but McDonald's and be perfectly fine." However, Spurlock modeled his lifestyle on your average sedentary adult, not an obvious fitness nut like Sayer.
I suppose you could argue the objectivity of "Super Size Me" depending on whether you exercise a lot. However, since most people are more like Spurlock than Sayer, I'd say Spurlock's interpretation is more apt to the environment than Sayer's.
I bet this story lasts about 15 minutes - not like the movie or the stories. It would be great if a couple of trial lawyers in NYC who are forever suing McDonalds had to read this story in the Times tomorrow.
But Spurlock sends the wrong message. Yeah, don't eat at Mickey D's. So the couch potatoes skip the drive-thru and eat their own home cooking instead. But don't get any more exercise. That won't change their waistline much.
Sayer says that it is more important to change your lifestyle - he goes on the diet that Spurlock is denigrating as unhealthy and still lose weight. So it ain't the diet. It's the lifestyle.
At the end of the day, Spurlock takes the liberal approach and Sayer takes the conservative approach. Spurlock says that Mickey D's is to blame. Sayer says that individuals who don't exercise are to blame. And Sayer, IMO, is right.
False
2. Most average Americans do not get near enough exercise
True
3. A bad diet can be offset by the right amount of exercise
Sometimes, to some extent. It is much more the *amount* of food consumed than the type that is important.
4. The filmmaker behaved like most Americans, the teacher did not
False. The filmmaker did not behave like most Americans either.
5. The teacher claims "Super Size Me" is based on unrealistic, biased claims
Kinda, sorta. He claimed that "Super Size Me" was subjective, not objective.
6. The teacher is incorrect in his assumption that most Americans DO get enough exercise
False. He explicitly did not make that assumption, but rather the opposite.
Therefore, the teacher is wrong in his attack on the movie.
False. The teacher was correct in what he stated, and in his basic premise.
On that we can definitely agree. I could care less about Spurlock's political agenda. Anyone trying to blame the food for existing rather than yourself for not making the necessary lifestyle changes deserves what he gets.
Hey, are you gonna finish those french fries?
Maybe you had better learn a little bit about physiology, especially blood pressure and its function.
The systolic part - the upper number - is not what medical people look at in non-emergency situations. It is the diastolic (lower) number that is the indication of "high blood pressure" on a long term basis, or chronic hypertension- arterial health. And since it is the number that indicates the pressure when the heart is "at rest", it doesn't fluctuate much like the systolic does.
A drop of 15 points diastolic is significant in regards to hypertension, and probably would be an indicator that his arterial/cardiac health is being dramatically improved.
When I had a critical patient in my ambulance, I didn't care much what their diastolic pressure was, as I was concerned that they had enough systolic pressure (perfusion) to keep them alive until I got them to the hospital. If they had long term hypertension, so what? Their diastolic pressure didn't enter into my "critical care" parameters at the moment. However, if they were being seen in the clinic on a non-emergent basis, their diastolic pressure is the number that is probably more diagnostic of their arterial/cardiac health.
My blood pressure was 179...
As explained above, that is a meaningless number without the diastolic... other than proving that you are pretty much alive with reasonable perfusion.
As soon as I got home and saw my DP and my dog, I took my blood pressure. It was 118.
Again, a meaningless number, other than showing that you still have good perfusion while being relaxed. What I wonder about is how trained you are in how to take an accurate blood pressure. The cuff size and placement is important, as is where you put the head of the steth- it's supposed to be directly over the artery. Without training, you can get wildly inaccurate pressure readings.
Also, taking your blood pressure once is of little diagnostic use... unless, like I said above, you are in a critical situation. Also, time of day or what cycle in daily activity will change the readings- sometimes dramatically. That's why you would chart your pressure over a period of time to get a picture of your arterial/cardiac health, plus many other things besides blood pressure. Maybe you should have paid the doc and nurse's concerns some heed.
I assured them my blood pressure was fine.
Yup, and why exactly were you at that "after hours clinic"? And why did you even go there if you are such a medical expert and you can tell a trained physician whether your blood pressure is "fine" or not? Setting aside the fact that you don't even know the parameters that make up your "blood pressure".
Sure, you had a little "white coat anxiety", which wouldn't make much difference in the diastolic pressure, only the systolic. But obviously, you know more than the doc.
Maybe your blood pressure was that high because of the trip to the ER???
Exercise should bring it down. I know y cholesterol was high about a year or so ago. I haven't had it checked lately.
Umm, I think I will stick with the diet and exercise my doctor suggested!
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Plus, it's really hard to sue yourself in a class action lawsuit.
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Not at all. I've got my sleazy, right-wing a*s on the ropes and going in for the kill.
You missed the POINT. The pig in the movie blames it all on McDonald's, not HIS OWN BEHAVIOR. Yes, many Americans have slipped into that kind of lifestyle - AND IT IS ALL THEIR OWN FAULT. McDonalds SELLS hamburgers; they do not MAKE anyone eat them.
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1. McD's and most other fast food is not healthy
2. Most average Americans do not get near enough exercise
3. A bad diet can be offset by the right amount of exercise
4. The filmmaker behaved like most Americans, the teacher did not
5. The teacher claims "Super Size Me" is based on unrealistic, biased claims
6. The teacher is incorrect in his assumption that most Americans DO get enough exercise
Therefore, the teacher is wrong in his attack on the movie.
<<
So what's your point? Dirtboy and I came to that conclusion a while ago. Of course it's the individual's responsibility--my separation from the pack on this item was on who was more accurately portraying the realistic American lifestyle and its subsequent implications on health.
"They" are upset because "they" can't sue a multi-billion dollar business.
Then the movie should have been called "Americans Are Big, Fat, Sleazy People Who Choose to Eat Badly and Not Exercise Sufficiently In Order to Maintain Their Ideal Body Mass."
The movie I saw blamed McD's for MAKING people fat. This does not accurately represent anything.
>>
So what's your point? Dirtboy and I came to that conclusion a while ago. Of course it's the individual's responsibility--my separation from the pack on this item was on who was more accurately portraying the realistic American lifestyle and its subsequent implications on health.
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