Debunk the Junk: The story about one woman's 'golden arches' diet
from Portsmouth (NH) Herald

The opinions expressed here by Soso R. Whaley are entirely her own and do not reflect the opinion of Seacoast Online or any other newspaper affiliated with Ottoway Newspapers, Inc.

In response to the popular new documentary "Super Size Me," about a man who eats only McDonald's food for an entire month only to watch his health steadily deteriorate as his weight increase, Kensington resident Soso R. Whaley is taking a stand.

Whaley, 49, claims she will "debunk the junk science" of the documentary by eating nothing but McDonald's food for the month of April. Herald Sunday writer Melanie Asmar will follow Whaley and file a weekly report each Sunday. Whaley herself will file a daily diary entry that you can follow here at Seacoastonline.com.

Read the story below, check the Portsmouth (NH) Herald website for daily updates.

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DAILY DIARY – DEBUNK THE JUNK, APRIL 7 2004
Soso R. Whaley

"So somebody ate at McDonalds for a month and got sick. If you ate nothing but broccoli for a month, you'd be dead. Hit the hot apple pies, they're really good. Bon appetite." - e-mail from Michael to Soso Whaley

"We're going to sue them and sue them and sue them. And somewhere a jury's going to buy this, and then the floodgates are going to open." - Trial Lawyer John Banzhaf referring to the potential cash cow of obesity lawsuits

Day 7: Habits. During the next 30 days I am going to change my eating habits, eating less and more healthy in order to lose weight. The bad news: habits can be hard to break. I'm not talking about changing good habits such as brushing your teeth, cleaning your home, or exercising, it's the bad habits that cause us so much trouble. If you have a habit of overindulging every time you eat, you will gain weight and you will suffer the medical consequences of your eating habits. The good news: habits can be changed. Not without some effort but they can be changed from bad to good in a relatively short period of time.

It doesn't make any difference what type of bad habit it is, biting your nails, smoking, overeating, sloppiness. Any habit can be overcome and controlled with the right amount of will power, and we all have the ability to change ourselves if there is truly a desire to do so. The only problem is that some of these habits, once broken, will nag at you constantly in an effort to re-establish their hold over your life. For instance I stopped smoking cigarettes quite a few years ago but still find it an almost daily battle to avoid having a smoke. It is only sheer will power that keeps me from back sliding into my 1 pack a day habit. I have taken "personal responsibility" for my actions and my own health and enjoy the control I have over my own choices.

Recently the "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act" passed its first test in the U.S. House of Representatives. The House responded to the majority of American citizens (89%) who feel that these lawsuits are frivolous and unnecessary and I encourage all U.S. citizens who feel that personal responsibility is the answer to our perceived "obesity epidemic" to contact their Senator and voice support for this bill as it passes through the Senate. Introduced by Rep. Rick Keller (R-FL), the personal responsibility bill is designed to protect restaurants and food producers from being harassed by trial lawyers with their costly obesity lawsuits.

I applaud Rep. Keller and those in the U.S. House of Representatives who voted in favor of the bill for standing up to questionably motivated trial lawyers like John Banzhaf and food nanny wannabes such as Marion Nestle whose only interest is in power over American citizens and cold hard cash. Damn the public interest and personal responsibility, these people not only want control over your life through twinkie taxes and regulations, they want to take away your freedom of choice. As Americans we are duty bound to prevent this from happening or we will no longer live in the "Land of the Free".

DAILY DIARY – DEBUNK THE JUNK, APRIL 5, 2004
Soso R. Whaley

"A gentleman never eats. He breakfasts, he lunches, he dines, but he never eats." - Anonymous

Day 5. I've lost 3 pounds!!!!! Now let's not get excited, but I did visit the doctor today for some more tests and stepped on the scale out of curiosity only to find that I had actually started losing weight. (Despite these early results, I caution my readers against going on a diet like this, limiting your food choices is not a wise thing to do.)

I'm surprised but delighted at these early results just based on calorie counting. I'm not really looking at things like fat or sodium while I do the diet but I am trying to be wary of how and when I eat beef or the fried foods because I'd like to lower my cholesterol during these 30 days which came in at 232.

To be honest, I'm not really that bored with the menu yet because I usually only eat certain items at McDonalds as do a lot of people it seems. Choosing a familiar favorite might be a safe choice but it does tend to keep one in a rut so trying new things like the McGriddle Sandwich or the Yogurt Parfait have led to wonderful new taste discoveries. Go ahead be brave, try something new today at your favorite eatery.

I must admit that I'm a bit gassy lately with this diet change but I attribute that to my eating more roughage and fruit than I normally would and expect it to settle down any time now otherwise I feel energetic and alert. One other problem I've encountered is the calorie count of the food I'm eating. I will use the McDonalds web site nutritional information for this test but may have to locate some calorie counts on the web as they are not provided by McDonalds at least for some individual items, such as 2 strips of bacon which I had this morning with the pancakes.

My eating patterns are still off and I'm eating later in the morning and afternoon because I'm just not hungry. But I assume that will get better in a few weeks. My only mistake today was that I chose a Big ‘N Tasty with cheese for lunch and then had a hamburger for dinner, I'll have to make up for it tomorrow with some wiser choices. In the meantime I find it very stimulating to have to "think" about my food choices. Gives my brain something interesting to do.

DAILY DIARY – DEBUNK THE JUNK, APRIL 4, 2004
Soso R. Whaley

"I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it. At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves." (Robertson Davies, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, 1947, XIX, unday.)

The 4th day and I now have the added challenge of rearranging my biological clock to come into synch with time which we spring forward this time of year. Daylight Savings Time (DST) has come and some of the citizens of the world have turned their clocks ahead in order to "conserve" daylight. Changing both the mind and body to come into line with our human concept of time and gaining or losing an "hour" can be a challenge to even the most stoic of us. But how many of you out there can tell me who proposed the concept of daylight savings time? Or why we insist on changing our clocks twice a year?

A quick Google search and you come up with plenty of Web sites that will enlighten you about this interesting concept of pushing time forward or backward. You'll find bits of trivia like countries near the equator do not usually change their clocks and ultra-Orthodox Sephardic Jews would like to eliminate daylight saving time because they recite prayers at a particular time of day during the Jewish month of Elul. More importantly you will learn more about when the United States started DST and the rich history of this controversial manipulation of time.

Despite some protest about DST a U.S. Department of Transportation poll indicated that it was popular with Americans because "there is more light in the evenings/can do more in the evenings." 2.7 million New South Wales citizens were surveyed and 68% liked daylight saving. And interestingly enough studies done by the U.S. Department of Transportation and power companies in New Zealand seem to indicate that DST saves energy.

However, The National Sleep Foundation's (NSF) 2002 Sleep in America poll, seems to indicate an "epidemic of daytime sleepiness" that can impact people very negatively including hormonal and metabolic changes that mimic the effects of aging, and an increased risk of developing diabetes among other things. Lisa Kramer, a finance professor at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management has studied daylight savings time and its effects on our lives and even found an interesting correlation between this bi-yearly time shift and a very, very large drop in stock markets the day after. (It will be interesting to see what happens Monday, April 5th.) Considering all that evidence, I believe that this fairly radical shift in time perception, even if only 1 hour, can have a negative effect on our eating patterns.

Control. Janet Jackson sang about it and humans in general tend to think that they have some sort of control over their world. We even want to control time. Why not? Time is a human concept and I suppose we are entitled to move it forward or backward as we see fit. So why is it that a large number of us do not seem to be able to "control" what we put in our mouths? It's up to the individual to contemplate such personal matters.

DAILY DIARY: DEBUNK THE JUNK – APRIL 3, 2004
Soso R. Whaley

My academic journey has not been easy. Fortunately I have always been very inquisitive and love reading so that combination has led me to acquire titles as diverse as The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett, The Myth of Monogomy, by Barash Lipton, Doc, My Tiger's Got An Itch by John G. Martin and The Ultimate Einstein by Dr. Donald Goldsmith. I own hundreds of books, on many different subjects, I've read and collected both the mainstream and the unique.

Some books are for fun (I'll admit to being a big fan of Stranger in a Strange Land and other books by Heinlein) but most feed my hunger for knowledge. I always want to know more. After leaving school I never really felt as though my education came to an end. Academic degrees should not be a reason to stop learning and thinking.

Unfortunately, many people are poorly equipped to evaluate the information which they are inundated with every day so they just ignore it. I don't blame them. Critical thinking is not a subject that is broached very often in the public school system, in fact it is often discouraged by a very rigid academic system which these days tends to concentrate more on test results than creative thinking. But this lapse of common sense on the part of our educational system doesn't have to stop anyone of any age from rebooting and refreshing their minds. It's fun, give it a try. Look up "critical thinking" on the web if you like surfing or pick up a good book like Statistics You Can't Trust: A Friendly Guide To Clear Thinking About Statistics in Everyday Life by Stephen Kent Campbell, et al.

Once you've learned a few techniques for recognizing things like junk science and alarmist propaganda you can then separate the wheat from the chaff and make more informed decisions about your life. Thinking and becoming more aware of your surroundings is an exhilarating experience but don't forget to exercise your body while working on your mind, brain cells thrive on oxygen.

NOTE TO MY READERS

Murphy was right, if anything can go wrong it will, and I'm not surprised it happened at the drive through window, but I do not blame McDonalds, this was simple human error, nothing more. I was given the wrong receipt for my lunch yesterday and my error was in not checking the receipt. It's not the end of the world, I had hoped to recover the receipt by relying on the computerized cash register system but the registers had been cashed out and I had missed the cycle. The manager was kind enough to note my actual meal on the incorrect receipt and fortunately I had taken a picture of my double cheeseburger and medium coke. MORAL: Always check your purchase before you leave the drive through window

DAILY DIARY - Debunk the Junk Report – APRIL 2, 2004
Soso R. Whaley

"Even when all the experts agree, they may well be mistaken." – Bertrand Russell

Alar is a chemical which farmers used from 1969 to 1989 to help apples stay on the tree longer, promoting a better harvest and more appealing fruit for the public. Retailers also benefited from a longer shelf life for their apple stocks. It is amazing that a simple, seemingly harmless chemical was painted as such a dangerous substance, at least according to activists like Ralph Nader and organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

In 1973 "researchers" discovered that laboratory mice fed large doses of Alar developed a rare form of cancer. The EPA dismissed these reports because the doses were absurdly high and this was a correct response because to duplicate the results seen in the mice a human would have to drink 19,000 quarts of apple juice every day for life! So why did the Alar scare ultimately inspire such panic and fear? School districts pulled apples from their menus, people stopped buying apples sending the industry into a tail spin, and one mother even sent the local police to her child's school to retrieve an apple product from the youngster's lunch box.

As revealed in the book Junk Science Judo by Steven J. Milloy, after years of wrangling to have Alar banned, all the panic and eventual banning of the chemical only happened after the NRDC hired PR firm Fenton Communications to promote a campaign to demonize this "dangerous" chemical. Steven writes, "Was the Alar scare about public health and safety? A memorandum from Fenton Communications about the scare revealed its real purpose. The memorandum stated in part: "A modest investment by the NRDC re-paid itself many-fold in tremendous and substantial revenue. The PR campaign was designed so that revenue would flow back to NRDC from the public."

So what have we learned from the so called "Alar scare"? Do my readers have any input? Do you remember the media hype and were you ever made aware that a human would have to ingest massive amounts of apple juice to develop the same medical conditions that the mice did? (Mice which are specially bred to be more susceptible to diseases, but that's a topic for a different day.) Personally I feel that most of the confusion comes from a media frenzy over the initial scare (if it bleeds it leads) and then very little if anything reported once the research has been debunked as junk.

Let's face it people love to be scared, look at the incredible number of roller coasters being built at theme parks to attract patrons, and horror movies are some of the most popular films today. On the other hand you never see theme parks trumpeting the opening of their new, state of the art merry-go-round and you rarely see quiet, thoughtful films such as The Russian Ark promoted and talked about as much as the latest action flick. It's more fun to be scared than to work a few brain cells, humans thrive on that sudden rush of adrenalin, even if it's vicariously, it's hardwired into our brains, its part of what helped us survive and evolve. Maybe the time has come, though, to balance that "need for speed" with some quiet reflection and occasional study about the information imparted to us every day no matter what the source.

DAILY DIARY - Debunk the Junk Report – APRIL 1, 2004
Soso R. Whaley

"You go girl," "The food will make you sick," "How can you eat 3 meals a day there?" "You're Crazy!" Just a few of the responses from friends about my decision to eat only at McDonalds for 30 days. And what, you ask, would cause a person to engage in such behavior? Morgan Spurlock did it and documented his adventures in a new film called "Super Size Me." Eating massive amounts of food Spurlock claimed to have "proven" that McDonalds food is bad for you and causes all sorts of medical problems. This anti-corporate, anti-fast food take on the "evil" McDonalds is nothing more than simple junk science and should be relegated to the comedy section at Blockbuster once it is distributed. To be honest, I've had it with all the doom and gloom, alarmist, anti-everything attitude of certain individuals and organizations who want to control my life, your life, everyone's life with little regard for individual tastes, freedom of choice and personal responsibility.

Sure, I would have preferred that Mr. Spurlock had chosen some 5 Star restaurant but McDonalds will do. I grew up eating their food and cannot honestly attribute any ill health effects to eating there over the last 49 years. Once praised and respected as a food producer that made cheap, decent food available to the masses at a low cost, today the Golden Arches are a major target of all sorts of groups from animal rights to environmental to anti-capitalists. I'm not surprised that this filmmaker chose one of the most maligned fast food operations in the world. Picking on this corporate giant is guaranteed to attract attention and continue a long history of the "little guy" going after the big, bad corporation to right some perceived wrong. Poppycock. Mr. Spurlock chose a topical story, performed the simple task of eating massive amounts of food, and now too many people actually believe that his film is actually some sort of landmark scientific discovery.

I, on the other hand, am motivated to eat at McDonalds for 30 days to show just how easy it is to skew the results of any test to reflect your preconceived notions and come up with just exactly the results you want to see. In my case I'm going to use some of the same parameters Mr. Spurlock used, but I would rather see results which show I can maintain a healthy lifestyle and actually lose weight at McDonalds so I will not be scarfing down Double Quarter Pounders with cheese. My real purpose is not to prove something, rather, I see this as a unique opportunity to explore food and weight issues and separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to what is reported about our health and well being in the media and other sources. However, I would not attempt such a feat without being properly prepared to use critical thinking skills while engaging in this adventure so I ride into battle with the help of Steven Milloy, author of Junk Science Judo and founder of JunkScience.com. I encourage anyone who has not read his book or been to www.JunkScience.com to spend a little time exercising those brain cells. For those who are familiar with Mr. Milloy I challenge you to pick up a non-fiction book and start exploring your world. My current favorites The Natural History of the Rich by Richard Conniff and The Professor and The Madman – A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester.

posted by prof_booty | 04:28 PM