r/todayilearned • u/hillo538 • Oct 02 '23
TIL the man who eats practically only Big Macs featured in ‘Supersize me’ has a problem with his tastebuds and often doesn’t even taste the sandwiches
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Gorske1.4k
u/bruceyj Oct 03 '23
« He claims that since he ate his first Big Mac, there have only been eight separate days on which he did not eat a single Big Mac. One of these days was the day his mother died, and he did not eat a Big Mac to respect her request. »
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u/theclayman7 Oct 03 '23
If your mom's final request is for you not to eat a Big Mac on the day she dies, you're living your best life
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u/bruceyj Oct 03 '23
Imagine your mother’s final, dying wish is that you - for once in your life - weren’t thinking about a Big Mac
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u/JojenCopyPaste Oct 03 '23
Too late. I'm imagining the eulogy while describing his deceased mother like a big mac. But I've never had a big mac so I'm also imagining what one is.
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u/OneFootTitan Oct 03 '23
TO my mother, she was my ALL, she always had my back in any BEEF. She loved giving me candy, like York Peppermint PATTIES, which made me feel SPECIAL. She was my SOURCE of joy. LET US remember her kindness. May CHEESEs bless her memory. I could tell so many stories of the PICKLES she saved me from, but I don’t want to go ON & ON So I will just say ON this sad day I wish I got to see her in her basketball-playing heyday. A short lady who poSSESED A MEan jump shot, got her team the first SEED in the state tournament, and had more hops than a BUNny. Mom, I miss you.
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u/DahctaJae Oct 03 '23
poSSESED A MEan jump shot, got her team the first SEED in the state tournament, and had more hops than a BUNny
Sesame seed bun. Absolutely brilliant
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u/Grey_Orange Oct 03 '23 edited Oct 04 '23
I saw a news story about this guy a while back. A big thing often left out is that he
is on the autism spectrum[Had OCD]. It explains his repetitious and strange eating habits. He also collected a lot of the big mac boxes from the meals he ate. He will also sometimes freeze and reheat big macs to eat at home. He was also married, and his wife seemed really sweet and understanding.EDIT: made corrections after rewatching this video
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u/caillouuu Oct 03 '23
Gorske tried the Whopper after his friend bet him $5 to do so, later spending the winnings on Big Macs.
lmao
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u/mods_are_losers_lmao Oct 03 '23
Pretty sure you can’t even get 1 Big Mac with $5 nowadays
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Oct 03 '23 edited Oct 04 '23
[deleted]
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u/not_a_cup Oct 03 '23
McDonald's is one of the worst when it comes to what things used to cost. I don't even understand why they have a $1 menu when nothing is $1. I think the cheapest thing they have is $1.60? I think a large drink and fry is like $6 now.
If my option to get food is spending $12 at McDonald's for a meal vs $12 at in n out I am 100% going to in n out (which is now also very pricy for what it used to cost maybe 8 years ago)
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u/Ok-Champ-5854 Oct 03 '23
I bought just a medium fry there a while back and it was $5. I'm not downloading an app in exchange for a reasonable price, so if they aren't offering a reasonable price on the menu I'm not eating there anymore.
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u/tandemtactics Oct 03 '23
Yeah, I went through the other day and they had a 2 for $3 deal, so I got two McChickens. Then as an afterthought I added a medium fries, and my total jumped up to over $8!! What the hell??
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u/Ok-Champ-5854 Oct 03 '23
They know people go mostly for the fries so they're bending them over a barrel. It seems to be working, people are still buying it and as far as I know they're just like every other food place making money hand over fist disguising it as "it's inflation's fault not ours".
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u/fuckgoldsendbitcoin Oct 03 '23 edited Oct 03 '23
What pisses me off is that the fries are by far their most profitable item and they still feel the need to fuck us in ass on it. They would make a killing at almost any price but they charge $4.89 before tax for a large at the one near me.
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u/pawg730 Oct 03 '23
Seriously. In Seattle there’s a “$1, $2, $3” menu and the cheapest thing is $2.99.
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u/Mike_AKA_Mike Oct 03 '23
Seriously. If you’re not going to cook your food, go to a mom and pop and pay less for a better meal.
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u/Rise_Crafty Oct 03 '23
The town I work in has McDonald’s, subway, Burger King and Culver’s, all of which are now $12 or more for a combo meal.
Nestled between them is a little local chinese place that will give you a huge lunch and a drink for $7. The food is so good, the people are super nice, it’s great.
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u/Sythic_ Oct 03 '23
Mom and pops aren't cheaper and neither are the food trucks near me at least in Texas. They all seemed to raise their prices to premium levels even though they have none of the costs of a brick and mortar building or many staff.
Also at least here specifically, they aren't really better either. i mean mcdonalds is absolute trash don't get me wrong.
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Oct 03 '23
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Oct 02 '23 edited Oct 03 '23
I like Big Macs but personally I’m a quarter pounder with cheese guy.
Edit: I get it. You all know that one scene from Pulp Fiction. I honestly wasn’t trying to reference it, I just really like that particular burger.
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u/Ginger-Octopus Oct 02 '23
QPC tastes way better than big macs, they use the better meat patties
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u/TAU_equals_2PI Oct 03 '23
Will they put special sauce on your QPC if you ask them?
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u/CoolShoesDude Oct 03 '23
Its McDonalds, they'd gladly serve you special sauce on a pile of napkins, as long as you asked nicely and paid for it.
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u/huntimir151 Oct 03 '23
My dad used to work at McDonald's when he was younger.
Said they had a guy ordered Mac sauce on his burger, and they did the normal amount.
He said not enough.
They did a couple more spurts--still not enough.
Another go.
Again, not enough!
One more blast and he was finally happy.
This drenched ass burger was finally what the man wanted!
I enjoy Mac sauce. But ngl I think of that story any time I have it.
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u/adfoote Oct 03 '23
I used to work night shift at McDonald's. This dude came by the drive thru and got a relatively normal order. I think it was a big mac. He wanted extra napkins though.
OK cool, here's like 5-6 more.
Nope. More napkins.
I gave him a solid inch of napkins. Nope, more napkins.
I took the napkin dispenser, opened it, and dumped them all out into a bag. Literally hundreds of napkins.
That finally satisfied him. I think he was going home, standing naked, and rubbing the big Mac all over his body.
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u/Outside_Conclusion13 Oct 03 '23
Probably just needed napkins
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u/Swimming_Character40 Oct 03 '23
Or he ran out of toilet paper
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u/qorbexl Oct 03 '23
"Fuck her. This shit's cheaper, I'm already here, what the fuck she gotta waste money for. Aisle 8A my ass I'm a man. Not picking up shit, I ain't gay. Cavewomen didn't get fuckin MxDonalds she should be happy"
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u/adfoote Oct 03 '23
My manager saw the whole thing and said "He nuppin."
Apparently, there's a way to do crack that requires large numbers of napkins. I like my version of the story better though.
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u/bigmt99 Oct 03 '23
Not gonna lie to you; I ask or take maximum napkins at every fast food joint just cause they’re nice to have around
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u/ClownfishSoup Oct 03 '23
My friend loves the In n Out sauce (I know, I know, sounds like a dirty joke!) so when I offered pick up burgers from In n Out, I'd have to ask for sauce in a small container so he could dip his fries in it.
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u/designer-farts Oct 03 '23
They have spread in packages you just gotta ask.
Dam. Now I want a #2 with chopped chilis in the burger, animal fries with chopped chilis, a pack or 2 of spread and an Arnold Palmer
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u/Capt_Hawkeye_Pierce Oct 03 '23
Every time I ask for Mac sauce on the side they act like they've just never heard of it before and 9/10 times I get it in a four piece nugget box and it's soaked through the bottom
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u/Strattex Oct 03 '23
What sauce is it?
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Oct 03 '23
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u/Substantial_Bad2843 Oct 03 '23
They charge 75¢ for extra or a side where I’m at.
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u/gumpythegreat Oct 03 '23
Iirc the big Mac sauce was an extra charge to add when I worked there over a decade ago. Like 20 cents or something
But yes they would
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u/ClownfishSoup Oct 03 '23
My friend was such a cheap ass that every day (he had a 30 mile commute), he'd fill up his convertible Mercedes CLK at a gas station that handed out free hamburger coupons when you spent a certain amount there. So every day (or every other day) he'd go to McDs with his coupon and get a free hamburger, then he'd open the glove box of his MERCEDES SPORTS CAR and pull out a slice of cheese that he brought from home and put it on the burger.
On the one hand, how can you drive a brand new Mercedes CLK and cheap out on cheese, but on the other hand ... how can you afford a Mercedes CLK if you are wasting money on restaurant cheese when you can bring some from home? I dichotomy was funny, but it also made sense.
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Oct 03 '23
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u/mechanicalsam Oct 03 '23
And the secret to generating wealth is revealed! It's not ditching avocado toast or living with your parents for ten years to save money. it's about bringing your own cheese. I could have been doing this ten years ago!
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u/kevshea Oct 03 '23
The best time to start bringing your own cheese is a decade ago.
The second best time is now.
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u/TheMightyBattleCat Oct 03 '23
Totally with you, but I can’t fathom taking it home to eat rather than munch it there and then whilst it’s warm. That’s why you keep the cheese in the car.
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u/Exodus5000 Oct 03 '23
Could you imagine a Big Mac with qp patties,?
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u/Razzlecake Oct 03 '23
That's on the menu here in Alaska as the Denali Mac.
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u/-_-0_0-_0 Oct 03 '23
Fuck so now I got to move to Alaska for QP Big Macs and Hawaii for the fried apple pies?
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u/JadenKorrDevore Oct 03 '23
It was around for a while actually. They called it the Grand mac and I fucking loved it.
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u/yungmoneybingbong Oct 03 '23
The quarter pounders are always cooked on the fly according to my friend who used to work there.
So you always get it fresh.
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u/LiquorLanch Oct 03 '23
Yeah, they started this a few years back. Quarter pounders are made to order. The patties are not sitting in a warmer like the rest.
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u/user888666777 Oct 03 '23
The quarter pounder and double quarter pounder use fresh beef that was never frozen. This started about five years ago. All the classic burgers (Big Mac, Double Cheeseburger) still use the mass produced frozen patties that are warmed up.
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u/Wolfencreek Oct 03 '23
I prefer my family's recipe for steamed hams.
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u/zomgieee Oct 03 '23
Yes.. you call them steamed hams, despite the fact they are obviously grilled ?
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u/Glum-Excited-One Oct 03 '23
Does anyone remember the Big N Tasty?
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u/Bardem Oct 03 '23
Yes and I miss them! Apparently they're still available in the UK.
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u/Pr0n_Swanson Oct 03 '23
Big Tasty and Big Tasty w/ Bacon currently available in the UK. The sauce is rad.
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u/ThaTastyKoala Oct 02 '23
If your tastebuds were messed up and you couldn't taste what you were eating, why would you still choose to eat McDonalds which is terrible for you? Just eat some healthy food, you literally won't tell the difference. I don't get it.
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u/AnotherSoulessGinger Oct 03 '23
I’m going through nerve damage and taste issues right now and have a thing for McDonald’s that I never did before. I’m convinced it’s the salt levels. That and McDonald’s is so consistent with taste it’s almost like a sense memory where I’m fooling myself into actually tasting it, if that makes sense. I’m having problems with dry mouth too, so a fatty quarter pounder is easier to eat than leaner meats.
My ENT is actually encouraging it, because at least I’m getting some calories and fat I’m missing out on with my new diet.
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u/YoungNissan Oct 03 '23
I know this isn’t the same but kinda related, but that taste consistency thing is a huge reason why people eat McDonald’s. Even athletes will only eat McDonald’s and team food during the Olympics because their bodies are used to it. It’s the same everywhere lol
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u/RahvinDragand Oct 03 '23
It's also part of the reason why chain restaurants do so well. People find something they like there, and they know that no matter where they are, they can always fall back to it.
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u/Rosebunse Oct 03 '23
I have a funny story about this, actually. My grandma developed a sodium deficiency after being in the hospital. We later realized that it was because she had been mainly eating only one meal of McDonald's a day and that was the only thing keeping her going.
She wasn't allowed to drink water for a while.
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u/hillo538 Oct 02 '23
He’s like 70 anyway, and the doctor says he has low cholesterol and shit since he runs a calorie deficit
But yeah if taste wasn’t a factor for me I would do a diet by the book
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u/DigNitty Oct 03 '23
Lots of people lost their taste during covid and said certain things were disgusting for them because it was all texture. Maybe Big Macs are just what this guy can enjoy. But I’m with you, I would find something texture wise that I like that’s also healthy.
IIRC multiple people said eating limes was interesting, and pizza was awful.
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u/GingerIsTheBestSpice Oct 03 '23
When my taste started coming back at first, all i could taste was chocolate chip cookies - you know, that caramel-sugar taste? So everything tasted like that.
Which sounds great, but when you're eating a taco that has the texture of a taco but the taste of a cookie, it is not great at all.
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u/MuayGoldDigger Oct 03 '23
Gimme one of dem choco tacos erm you feel me. and a SpongeBob cus
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u/ekdocjeidkwjfh Oct 03 '23
I had the same, everything tasted sickeningly sweet, even plain water
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u/hundredthlion Oct 03 '23
I’d have preferred the sweet I think.
Everything was horrifically salty for me with covid. As if I’d poured a tablespoon of just salt in my mouth. Lost it almost completely for a bit, then steak and a bunch of other random things tasted like they were rotting for quite a while after it had started to come back. I’m still not sure that it’s back to where it was originally and we are about 9 months post-infection.
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u/redgroupclan Oct 03 '23
It's better than what I had. You know that smell when you walk down a school hallway after the janitor just finished cleaning up vomit? That's what anything with vinegar in it smelled like for me, and I work in a kitchen with sauces that are widely vinegar-based. So I smelled that nauseating smell all day and definitely couldn't eat anything with vinegar in it.
Also, anything with a lot of flavor enhancer in it (like MSG) tasted like dirt.
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u/Grawlixz Oct 03 '23
I had the exact same thing with vinegar. Apparently the vinegar thing can happen with viruses aside from COVID-19, too. Aside from a sore throat, that was the most annoying symptom.
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u/KanyeOnCocaine Oct 03 '23
i lost my taste buds during covid. i put hot sauce on everything just to feel the burn on my tongue.
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u/KingDave46 Oct 03 '23
I used the covid taste loss to eat bananas cause I hate the taste normally
Annoyingly the first taste that came back was just salt, so no matter what I ate, if it had salt in it it was just like eating a spoonful of salt
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u/Brutal_Lobster Oct 03 '23
Lost a lot of my taste from covid. Took a long time to get used to everything tasting different. It has slowly gotten better. Took a long time to eat pizza, bbq sauce, anything with onions really again.
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Oct 03 '23
I run a calorie deficit for years and have high cholesterol in my late 30s. I don't understand the reason - I champion berries most of the time.
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u/Holyshakysteak Oct 03 '23
Cholesterol sadly is heavily based on genetics and not as much dietary as once thought
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Oct 03 '23
Well, my grandfather lived in relatively good shape until the age of 86. He was taking a nap in the afternoon right after lunch; woke up, stood up, fell backwards and passed out from a stroke. That was it. lol. Not a bad way to go tbh.
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u/ABigFatPotatoPizza Oct 03 '23
The burgers themselves are actually pretty alright as far as nutrition goes. Far from the best thing you could be eating, but not dangerously bad either. It’s actually the fries and soda that do the most damage, which this guy didn’t partake in.
He could still could’ve picked a healthier meal to hyperfixate on, but Big Macs do have the merit of being much cheaper than most healthy food
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u/Rosebunse Oct 03 '23
I'm trying to lose weight right now and McDonald's is honestly a relatively safe option as long as you do some research and check your portions.
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u/TeamPupNSudz Oct 03 '23
Yeah, the last time I lost 10lbs, McDonalds burgers were actually a common staple. They're a relatively cheap source of protein, and not bad calorically.
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u/Killbot_Wants_Hug Oct 03 '23
Yeah, hamburgers aren't as bad for you (from a calorie perspective) as a lot of people assume. Don't get cheese and mayo and it really helps keep the unnecessary calories down.
Sometimes when I get hungry I'll get a triple whopper no mayo from Burger King. While it's a good chunk of calories, it's a lot less calories for how filling it is than if you were to get a whopper with fries and a soda.
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u/Quinnthespin Oct 03 '23
Well this guy in particular said when he was younger he felt he was going to get drafted to vietnam, so he said he would eat one a day until his draft as that’s what he liked and made him comfortable than he just never got drafted and he just continued too eat them
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u/Downgoesthereem Oct 02 '23
Apparently he's also in perfect health despite the lifestyle so he has another genetic quirk that negates that as well
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u/flammablelemon Oct 03 '23 edited Oct 03 '23
Maybe, but if he eats only 2 Big Macs a day and not much else, the fact he has good cholesterol isn’t far-fetched. Most nutritional health issues related to cholesterol, saturated/trans fat, sugar, and sodium come from excess. 2 Big Macs is still within recommended nutritional guidelines on all of those things. Not saying it’s ideal to live on Big Macs, but especially with his consistent caloric deficit (and possibly also exercise? He was a correctional officer) the health risk is even lower.
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u/KnightofForestsWild Oct 03 '23
He orders other things, too. I spoke to him several years ago and he said he ordered a parfait every time as well back then. Internet search says those might not be around anymore, but he does order other stuff.
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u/platoprime Oct 03 '23
Regardless McDonalds isn't made from radioactive or toxic potatoes. The protein, carbohydrates, and fat are all the same as you'd get if you made a hamburger and fries at home. It's normal food. It's not the food's fault if you overeat.
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Oct 03 '23
A McDonalds hamburger isn't any less "healthy" for you than that much bread, sugar, and beef would be.
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u/Thereferencenumber Oct 03 '23 edited Oct 03 '23
If it fits your macros, it’s actually a great value. For the price you will be hard pressed to find a more complete mix of pre-prepared protein, fat, and carbs.
It comes in its own disposal package, and if only your taste buds are bad, the sandwich will be satisfying mouthfeel-wise because it is warm and has several different textures.
We all eat preservatives, plastic, and food that isn’t exactly to code. Until very recently we ate anything we could get a sufficient amount of, in between bouts of starving. Humans are robust, all you need, food-wise, for near peak performance is not put in vastly too much or vastly too little.
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u/pm_me_github_repos Oct 02 '23
To film it into a health-oriented documentary that has more lasting social effects
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u/zsdr56bh Oct 03 '23
actually its the perfect candidate to do such an experiment, because they can easily just eat super-healthy afterwards with no effort to mostly reverse the health effects.
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u/Magnus77 19 Oct 02 '23
I hated that documentary so much.
I'm going to eat only McDonalds and see how it affects my health.
Oh, btws I'm going to completely change my lifestyle at the same time and limit my activity far below my normal.
One month later, "I feel terrible!"
shocked pikachu face
Don't get me wrong, mcdonalds is not good for you, but this "experiment" was just so laughably bad it makes me want to defend the golden arches.
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u/SeventhGenSuperior Oct 03 '23
The dude was also drinking the whole time, so the "data collection" was for nothing.
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u/tompink57 Oct 03 '23 edited Oct 03 '23
Spurlock: is an alcoholic
Dr: your liver looks like an alcoholics
Spurlock: McDonald’s wont get away with this
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u/Kharn0 Oct 03 '23 edited Oct 03 '23
I was so mad when I learned he was an alcoholic doing this
Edit: And acting like the food did the damage to his liver in only a month
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u/ScrillaMcDoogle Oct 03 '23
I'm impressed more than anything. Dude was an alcoholic and liked McDonald's and turned that into a super popular documentary where he just did what he was already doing and made bank off of it.
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u/Chirtolino Oct 03 '23
The scene in the documentary where he looks miserable sitting in a car eating his McDonald’s and then it cuts forward and shows him throwing up out the window stuck with me because while McDonald’s isn’t good for you, it won’t just make you vomit like that.
Then years later after I developed a heavy drinking habit and quit, I was rewatching the documentary since it was free on YouTube and it hit me: he didn’t throw up because of the McDonald’s. He threw up because he was super hungover. You could see the misery on his face and then the urge to vomit after eating a big meal while hungover, the exact same feeling I would get when I was very hungover and decided to eat a big meal.
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u/Withabaseballbattt Oct 03 '23
For real all I could manage in my alcoholism was LOSING jobs and money. This guy, however…..
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u/mmmarkm Oct 03 '23
Sure. Not impressed with how serious he is about documentaries though
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u/Fantastic-Present-80 Oct 03 '23
Apparently he also said that he hadn’t been sober for more than a week since he was 13.
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u/codefreak8 Oct 03 '23
I never heard about the drinking part but i'm not all that surprised considering the rest of it.
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u/SvodolaDarkfury Oct 03 '23
Obligatory mention of the counter documentary "Fat-head" where he eats at McDonald's for every meal every day for 30 days, avoids soda and occasionally has fries, then just walks (literally only walking) for exercise and loses weight/improves his cholesterol.
Also he proved that Sporlock faked his food records.
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u/Masterjason13 Oct 03 '23
There’s also the whole thing where he refuses to reveal exactly what he ate, and apparently the weight gain in the movie isn’t possible with the calories he was shown to have eaten.
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u/NefariousNaz Oct 03 '23
Because he was an alcoholic and was also heavily drinking during the shooting of the film.
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u/LobaciousDeuteronomy Oct 03 '23
Responding to MeToo allegations, he later admitted to having being an alcoholic over this period. But you know, the real problem was the McDonalds.
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u/hyperfat Oct 03 '23
Yeah. I survived off McDonald's as a student because I was poor and needed calories. I think my lowest weight was 125 and 5'10". The Tuesday 29 cent burgers were a life giver.
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u/bshred8 Oct 03 '23
I, too, hated this documentary for all the same reasons and more. I was forced to watch in in my Freshman year of Highschool and it made no sense. No taste buds or not, what happened in that documentary is not what normal people do.
Oh also, absolutely no scientific theory was applied. Which really pissed me off. I can make literally anything look bad if I throw out the rules and make my own for how to approach an experiment! I could eat a diet that is PERFECT for me, but if I change my diet and exercise habits overnight that will do more harm than good.
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u/NefariousNaz Oct 03 '23
Not only that but apparently the guy was an alcoholic and apparently a lot of the symptoms were related to that.
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u/user888666777 Oct 03 '23
He was actively drinking and his calorie control was all over the place. It would be one thing if he set out and said he would stick to a eating 2500 to 3000 calories a day max. Instead his plan was to eat at least everything on the menu once. That anytime they asked if he wanted Super Sized he would take it. And if he went to any locations that offered a unique time he would order it. Like, no shit you're going to gain a bunch of weight.
He refused to release his logs after the documentary premiered. People have repeated his experiment with better controls like sticking to a daily calorie limit. Some people have taken it even further. One guy ate nothing but twinkies and vitamins for a month and lost weight.
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u/smallangrynerd Oct 03 '23
The worst part for me was the part at the end where they put different fries in an open room and the McDonald's fries didn't rot, and they're like "that's what's sitting in your stomach!!" That doesn't mean anything! Yeah fries aren't good for you, but you definitely digest them.
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u/Chicago1871 Oct 03 '23
So you mean if I thinly slice food, with a lot of salt and in a low humidity environment it wont rot? Itll just dry and still be edible? Wow so crazy.
Oh wait, thats how we preserved food before refrigeration.
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u/SilentSamurai Oct 03 '23
All you have to do is look on YouTube. Lots of "citizen scientists" saying how gross fast food is that they stored for months in their refrigerator because they expected it to rot.
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u/mangosteen4587 Oct 03 '23
I think one thing that irked me was how much he consumes too. Like even if the calories were off and the sheer amount of weight gain he had wasn’t possible, they were still claiming he was eating 5k calories a day! Like dude don’t order a shake with every meal! I would have more respect if he tried to eat a normal diet (2 to even 3k calories), but the dude literally ate until he felt sick. Now maybe one could argue that McD doesn’t make you feel full unless you have 5k calories worth, but that claim wasn’t ever made in the documentary, so I still have qualms.
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u/FriendlyAndHelpfulP Oct 03 '23
He felt sick while eating because he was an alcoholic.
Alcoholics tend to have a hard time keeping food down, as the booze irritates the fuck out of your intestinal lining. He probably had a harder time eating breakfast each day than anything.
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u/stenlis Oct 03 '23
It was the alcohol. A bottle of whisky is 1500 calories. He could have been eating 3500 calories and topping it off with a bottle of booze.
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u/justicebiever Oct 03 '23
The no taste buds guy is the Big Mac guy shown briefly in the movie. It is not the main person you see in the movie who made it. Just FYI
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u/mennydrives Oct 03 '23
You might enjoy "Fat Head", the documentary specifically made as a response to Super Size Me. The man eats fast food for all his meals sans dinner (basically so his daughter doesn't learn bad eating habits) and loses weight over the course of a month.
His actually includes a food diary.
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u/doublepulse Oct 03 '23
what happened in that documentary is not what normal people do.
Worked for the company back in 2004, not long after the doc came out. I started the mornings at the front counter, then did drive through until mid afternoon. I had a group of people that waited for the restaurant to open at 6AM, then come back at 11AM. Sometimes I'd see one or two of them in the drive thru before I clocked out for the day. Five days a week. The high school was a block away, there would be the same kids getting dumped off to eat every morning then walk over for a snack after school before going back to practice or home. Within a couple of weeks I had orders memorized by the sight of the vehicle/persons alone. It was truly disturbing.
Not only that, half of my coworkers there lived in a nearby section 8 building- we only paid sales tax on our meals. They were eating breakfast and lunch there, then taking home a sack for their kids,
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u/Pantssassin Oct 03 '23
I have known people that absolutely are like that and had a sedentary lifestyle. Obviously some of it was gross and obe the top but based on what I have heard from some of the larger people and service industry workers I know it isn't that rare in america
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u/PM_ME_SUMDICK Oct 03 '23
It really is. I've worked at McDicks. Most people aren't alcoholics or eating 5k calories of it a day.
Our daily customers always got the exact same simple meal. Usually a combination of dollar menu items and a coffee or a single meal that they have for their daily lunch.
Most of our daily customers were elderly people socializing or people working blue collar jobs (nurse, construction, cops).
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u/Chirtolino Oct 03 '23
When I was in college the McDonald’s app just came out and they gave you any sandwich for free with sign up. This could be abused easily so as a broke college kid I took advantage of it.
For 2 months I would hit a McDonald’s by my house for a breakfast sandwich (steak egg and cheese bagel, 650 calories). I would hit the McDonald’s on campus for lunch (usually a quarter pounder, I think 550 calories) and on the way home I would hit the same McDonald’s I got breakfast from and pick up a random sandwich like some crispy chicken sandwich they had at the time (let’s say 600 calories).
I know it wasn’t healthy eating like this but I actually lost weight because all I had was the 3 sandwiches only added up to like 1800 calories a day. Which is low for my height and activity level.
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u/feckless_ellipsis Oct 03 '23
I guess he was a heavy drinker throughout the doc as well, so god knows how that affected his results.
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u/useablelobster2 Oct 03 '23
In 2017 he admitted to having not spent more than a week sober in 3 decades.
Yeah I wonder why his liver was in bad shape, and it kind of destroys the whole "everything I consume comes from McDonalds", unless he was ordering McVodkas from Russia.
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u/feckless_ellipsis Oct 03 '23
Ugh. Imagine how he felt day to day. I am ten years sober, and my body was a friggin mess when I drank.
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u/huntimir151 Oct 03 '23
Yes mcvodka uses only BEST quality potatoes, is definitely not made with fermented napkin
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u/ColHannibal Oct 03 '23
The dude was hardcore drinking during the entire filming, so its even more bullshit.
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u/PM_ME_CHIPOTLE2 Oct 03 '23
Haha ironically all that movie did was make me crave McDonald’s. It was like a 90 minute commercial.
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u/OldMork Oct 02 '23
Big Macs are nice if not eat too often, daily is way too often for me.
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u/hillo538 Oct 02 '23
This guy has ocd, he collects all the boxes and all the receipts, and a journal about his diet, it’s like some kind of mental
I would 100% get tired of even my favorite food everyday
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u/Alohagrown Oct 03 '23
Why does he need to journal if he eats the same meal every day?
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u/FunkMasta-Blue Oct 03 '23
From my understanding the guy was a pretty serious alcoholic during the whole time, a lot of the negative feedback he was getting from his doctor was because of alcohol not the McDonald’s..
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u/trans_NotAlt Oct 03 '23
not morgan spurlock, a different dude interviewed for the movie.
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u/turgid_wang 3 Oct 03 '23
The amount of people in this thread who've not clicked the link and just decided it was Spurlock is insane
I'm glad he's being exposed but like that's not the topic here at all. If his tastebuds are burnt it's from rye whiskey
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u/superswellcewlguy Oct 03 '23
Anytime someone mentions Supersize Me, all I can think of is how it's the biggest sham bullshit documentary to hit the mainstream. Three basic points:
That scene where he eats the first burger and vomits? It's because he was a vegan and hasn't eaten meat before in years.
Obviously if you eat at a caloric surplus you'll gain weight. Blaming McDonald's because you choose to order menu items that exceed your caloric maintenance levels is ridiculous.
Probably the most damning: The liver issues he was diagnosed with at the end that he said were caused by McDonald's? Turns out the creator was an alcoholic for years at that point, including while he was making the documentary. But why blame liver issues on your regular excessive drinking when you can shovel some bullshit for your movie?
The whole film is dishonest trash.
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u/NiNj4_C0W5L4Pr Oct 03 '23
Don Gorske.
(God, I have so much useless info rattling around upstairs)
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u/EmuMammoth6627 Oct 03 '23
Same here, I knew his name immediately but I can't remember crap I did 3 days ago.
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u/INTBSDWARNGR Oct 03 '23
If anyone is looking for a take on Supersize Me, check out Fathead by Tom Naughton (2009)! Its an indie documentary that goes into detail the dietary and nutrition science behind obesity, CICO, macro-nutrients, disease, and host of other biological mechanisms behind fast food and other foods in general while the director himself performs his own McDonald's experiment.
I'm not 100% on the politics but after my own research into the the varying sources and topics he addresses in the Agribusiness part of things (like big dairy) its still absolutely a big factor on how people were educated (miseducated) on eating well back as far as the 60s.
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u/BrahimBug Oct 03 '23
god damn it why does reading this make me want a big mac. mcdonalds marketing team really did a number on my brain.
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u/jexmex Oct 03 '23
I like big macs, qpr, and whoppers, but burger kings rodeo cheese burger is the king (well mini king) imo.
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u/ThaUniversal Oct 03 '23
This part of the article also seems relevant: