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This guy has a cool face, among other positive qualities. Just wanted to make note of that.

Got a great hallucinogenic documentary on NetFlix too

Michael Pollan.

He is an outstanding writer, who wrote many excellent books about the food industry (in defence of food & Cooked are my personal favourites) then discovered he was interested in psychedelics and has been studying and writing about them for the last 5 or so years.

Cannot recommend him enough!

His whole talk being wrong isn't amongst his positive qualities though.

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/controversial-science-food-health-news/fear-fries

https://weehingthong.org/2021/10/05/debunked-michael-pollans-claims-about-mcdonalds-french-fries/

I’m not saying the debunking is wrong, but both of those articles are the same so posting them twice to perhaps seem like multiple sources is silly. Secondly, the use of that insecticide was only stopped in the US in 2009. Maybe it has stopped elsewhere but McDonald’s is a global brand - even this talk is in a country that uses the word ‘chips’ instead of fries - so an article debunking what someone says loses a lot of credibility when they themselves are using a blanket statement as the final nail in the coffin that is clearly just as exaggerated as what Michael pollen said in this video.

If it was stopped in the US it was stopped completely, even in this video he says those potatoes are only grown in Idaho. On an unrelated bit to the food discussion, that's actually why the Russian "not mcdonalds" doesn't have fries now, because they can't get suitable potatoes

Sorry, what do you mean by your first line that ‘stopped in US = stopped completely?’

That type of potatoe is only grown in one place in the US. If that one places stops using that pesticide for that potato then it's usage has been stopped completely

Ah Jesus, did I gloss over that part of the video and just forget it? If so my bad!

Happens to the best of us lol, it's all good

Looking at your reference, it says statements about the pesticide use and potato storage are misleading, and some are false.

The statements about how corporations cook your food, which is far less about McDonalds or even fries, still stand.

(Added some nuance for you)

I'm sure they replaced the pesticide with something very lovely like potpourri

My man out here simping for corporations

For people who, you know, actually want to do something about their diet, working with correct information is much more important than whether or not you "simp for a corporation."

It's not simping for corporations to acknowledge when someone has incorrect information. The links have very good points that makes the vid seem more sensationalist than science.

There is no way you are defending McDonald’s here. The articles you linked are total bullshit.

Never said I was defending McDonalds and I never will.

I'm saying that the person who put the links(which wasn't me) isn't a simp because they questioned the validity of a statement against McDonalds.

There is so much you could say about McDonald's, so sharing stuff that isn't true or is outdated isn't doing us many favors.

Deliberately misleading or mistakenly using old information? I need answers and I don’t care if they’re right!

Everything he said here is factual.

But go ahead enjoy your machine made junk food. Why not eat it for 30 days and film the results.

This guy also sold me on using hallucinogens

Link please?

It's the guy who is the main presenter in the Netflix show called "How to change your mind" where he tries different psychedelics.

That show is an adaptation of his book by the same name.

If you like shrooms, trying watch Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds on Amazon while tripping.

Thank me later ;)

I see you’ve seen that great video too lol

How to change your mind on Netflix

Hey OP I wan let you know this is a good post keep it up

Actually most of what he say's is totall bullshit. "Pollan’s notion about storing the potatoes for sixty days to off gas toxins is pure nonsense. Potatoes are routinely stored in large atmosphere controlled sheds because they have to be available year round. In any case, crops are monitored for pesticide residues and all such found on potatoes are way below established tolerance levels. There may be reasons to stay away from McDonald’s fries, but not because of any highlighted in this unnecessarily alarmist video. The fat content, the high glycemic index, the amount of salt added and maybe some of the compounds formed during high temperature frying are reason enough to make fries an occasional treat. And as a final point, the pesticide being talked about, methamidophos, has not been used since 2009."

And I should add this source is from McGill University, one of Canada's better research university.

The Harvard of the North!

Harvard is the McGill of the south

McGill is the Arizona state of the north

Mommy Trudeau, can I go to Harvard?

Mommy Trudeau: We have Harvard at home

His book on the matter was published around 2000. Maybe he needs to update his potato research.

I’m sure that McD’s is now super healthy and part of a well-balanced USDA breakfast.

Look, I get you are being facetious. But whether or not McDonald's is healthy or fattening isn't the argument here. It's that this dude is falsly claiming essentially poison is in their food, which is just a straight up lie.

Yup, he’s selling books and speeches based on (at best) old or (at worst) midleading information. And yeah, a simple walk into a grocery store’s produce department suggests that the average consumer may prefer uniform looking produce free of mold, fungus, evidence of being eaten by animals. Definitely gets some people whipped up (and probably makes then feel really smart) if they can just point a figure at a large company as the reason for their woes, but I would at least hope they would demand accurate and up-to-date criticisms so the argument makes sense.

It also depends on the McDonalds. When you get McDonalds in most places in the US its pure garbage, just cardboard tasting gross shit. Except the fries. God damn those are good. I don't even know how they make them that good. But the hamburgers are ominously bad in the US. When I was in Uruguay though we were getting on a boat and had limited time so I was like oh well, lets just get McDonalds. This fuckin place had a flaming grill with people cooking with spatulas. I leaned in there and said what the fuck, you guys have spatulas back there. She said Que Dices? I said nevermind. Holy shit that burger was good, so good! I went back to the US, I was stuck in this shitty airport called Dallas Fort Worth and I thought, hey, I should have another delicious McDonalds hamburger. I looked back there and they were pulling patties out of trays and warmers and I was like oh no, I forgot how shitty this place was. Yep, back to tasting like cardboard

Sound like Macdonald propaganda to me

McGill is aaaawfully close to McDonalds 👀

is it?

It is.

I bet there's an A&W closer, which, btw, is MUCH superior to McDoodies

Lol, came to say the same thing

It felt like bs.

In the Now is Russian state propaganda. Just wanted to add that.

Ok, Ronald.

Fine, Pete Davidson.

no studies, science articles or data mentioned by the author. credibility is at the same level as the dude from the video. just because the author has a phd doesn't automatically imply he doesn't have a hidden agenda, isn't being paid to promote certain (mis)information or that he's just talking out of his ass (phd doesn't mean you're infallible)

The person in the video also has a motivation to lie, outrage sells.

I would expect someone who invested rather large amount of time in their own education to be less prone to misinform than some random presenter.

Edit: based on the comments, the presenter also might have a phd? well whatever i guess

As a side-note, based on the amount of pixels, the video looks pretty old so maybe that pesticide was still used at that time ?

Thank you so much for this. I am not an expert in any way, but I always have my reservations for such videos and what they present. Just in the back of your head you kinda know they have some hyperbolic aspects. In any case, I believe it is crucial that there are also other viewpoints present when discussing such matters.

And there is also another subtle aspect that I would reexamine through reading the article. Specifically, using the word addiction for McDonald's fries is another thing that I was never too fond off. Like, I am not a fan of McDonald's either like the editor says as well, so an I immune to addiction? This wouldn't make much sense.

All in all I believe the reality is often just a bit less dramatic than what such videos want to portray it as, including in regards to actual health risks that different products' consumption poses to humans. On the other hand it is also important that we do exercise caution in what we eat and understand how it will affect our health.

Was looking for this post

Oh

Well if it was true id still eat at mcdonalds anyway

methamidophos has been banned in the UK since 2008 but it is still used in some countries like the USA and Spain but not sure if macdonalds uses it in those counties.

This video definitely looks older than 2009. Perhaps this talk is part of why the pesticide has fallen out of use?

Anyways that food is crap and can kill you

Phew, I guess I can eat the French Fry that I found underneath my car seat then.

Came to say this. Well said.

Really focuses on McDonalds and their fries, just confirms the toxicity of the pesticides with the exception of the need for ‘off gassing’ them. All in all, still very good reasons to avoid potatoes and other foods that have been saturated by pesticides. And McDonalds because they’re fries are crap.

Lots of big universities are deeply indebted to big corporate these days and lots of good universities produce crap research.

I don't know what kind of nonsense you're saying but the potatoes don't have to be "degassed" it's a complete lie. The gas he's referring too isn't even used in America anymore, the potatoes aren't even that difficult to grow (most widely grown potato in America), like the dude is just constantly bullshitting.

It's just bizarre to me that you think a university owes money to McDonald's (you have no evidence or reason to think this at all) instead of just "this dude may have been wrong due to the multiple factual inconsistencies)

Mcdonalds isn't good or healthy, but jfc this dude is obviously just being alarmist and misinformed and you're eating it up because... universities sometimes owe companies money? Lmfao what

Nitpicking details in a book over a decade old and arguing that there isn’t a long history of universities collaborating with businesses for funding are really weak arguments to me.

No one challenges his major premises. The corporations just try to bury them with the same nonsense you’re peddling.

You don't get to claim peer reviewed research from a credible source is null and void because of your opinion. You need to back that up with counter research or proof of your own.

Naw, all you have to do is read the piece you posted with my points in mind. It really does focus mainly on McDonald’s and it really doesn’t say that pesticides are okay. Although it does make the valise point that they are widely used.

You must have huffed too much of your own armpit to understand the logical fallacies you've put forward. Just do us all a favor and don't vote until you get your head cleared up.

The last resort of lost arguments is to troll users old posts. Sad.

"Corporations cook very differently than people do. They use vast amounts of salt, fat, and sugar, much more than you would use in your own cooking"

Meanwhile here I am staring down at my bagel pizzas with a side of toast with butter and cinnamon sugar

And it’s still way less than corporations use lol

Yeah I used to cook for a family owned Italian restaurant. The sheer amount of butter you got with every dish would blow your mind. It was about a half stick per serving of risotto for example, and we'd add cream at the end.

Cream in a risotto???

It's more likely than you think!

No really. You'd be surprised at the number of "creamy" things that are like that because they contain cream.

Yeah, restaurant food is always so incredibly rich. It turns my stomach.

But your butter is real butter daddy, you microwaved those bagels, you put the perfect amount of sugar!

You microwave your bagels? I never thought of doing that. I usually just cut them in half (if they’re not already) and toast them

Idk if the other guy is British but I'm gonna add that to the list of messed up Brit foods now haha

Im british and i dont think ive even seen a bagel before in my life

Wait really?

I might have seen one in a supermarket but ive never eaten one and ive never seen anyone eat one

Huh. Around me they're not uncommon. Not as popular as they are in NY City but people like them. Typically not microwaved though never heard of that before lol

Cut bagel in half, put ceddar slice in the middle, microwave 30 sec - 1 min. Enjoy.

Corporations still cooked most of that though.

They cooked the bagel, the bread, they fermented the cheese and they churned the butter.

Preparing food and cooking food is different.

I recommend reading (or listening to) this guy, Micheal Pollan’s book Cooked.

And apparently it's also not necessarily about the nutrients you consume or avoid. But the fact companies use too much salt fat and sugar. But it's not about the nutrients.

This video smells like bullshit to me.

Chefs do it too ...

Don’t bring uncle tony into a conversation about McDonald’s. That’s fuckin rude.

You didn't really cook any of that.

I bet you’re fat

A lot of the sodium in fast food is in the form of preservative, not salt. You get extra sodium that doesn’t even have the benefit of tasting nice.

Most Fast Food companies and yes that includes Mc Donalds don't use preservatives at all since you know, they don't need them.

Why would an fast food company with an very low to non existent shelf life need preservatives?

It amazes me how someone can be so confident yet so wrong about something that is a Google search away

Yes if you google search it you find a lot of sites saying that Mc Donalds and other companies uses a shitton of preservatives. Its an very popular myth. But and thats a big but, if you look at Mc Donalds own page, you see nothing of that sorts. Is Mc Donalds lying? I mean if yes that would lead to an massive lawsuit, not to mention the FDA has to look a bit deeper into that multi billion dollar company that lies about their food labeling. Or is it more likely that's its just an baseless myth?

Why would they need preservatives? Mc Donalds food has an shelf life of at most 60 minutes. And most of their products gets delivered frozen. Why the fuck would they need preservatives?

Leave a McDonalds burger out for a week. It doesn't mold, shit's weird.

Leave an self made burger out for a week and it doesn't mold too. The McDonalds Ham and Cheeseburger are just too small and too dry to start molding in the open. Put them in a jar so they can't dry out any further and they start to mold.

Michael Pollan is great

I vaguely remembered him by looks alone but his speech gave it away - thanks for confirming

His book, The Botany of Desire, is pretty great. Taught me that every civilization (except maybe the Inuits) used some form of psychoactive plant in their cultures. Pretty cool!

His book "In defense of food" is also amazing.

Also full of shit according to the top thread of this post.

He’s not perfect but his main points are solid words to eat by.

Remember when Jamie Oliver showed those kids how chicken nuggets were made and they all ate them anyway? Yeah, I’m the kids in this situation

I remember Jamie Oliver being an ass in this.

His take was not that it can be unhealthy, but that it is not made out of the desirable parts of an animal. Only the cheap, „bad“ parts, not the expensive nice ones.

If you kill an animal use all of it and don’t be an entitled brat about it.

The most ironic part was that the “bad” nuggets made by him were actually more nutritious and technically more healthy than if it was just meat from the breasts or thighs since they had all sorts extra nutrients from the bones, skin and connective tissue

He's a "flavor comes from expensive ingredients" type of guy.

Aha, a fellow folding ideas fan ;)

Same with the anti-GMO propaganda that was popular a decade or so ago. "Corporations have hired chemists and botanists to genetically alter crops to grow larger, more tightly packed, and change from their natural state to have more flavorful and edible parts!"

Like somehow that was a bad thing.

In my opinion, McDonalds fries are the best I've ever eaten. Addictive as F. Forget drugs. Give me some filet-o-fish and some fries.

Everywhere else is average in comparison. Not bad but always under.

I read both of his nuitrition books and this video shows the same problem I had with them. As I remember the books they were basically "GMOs are scary" but had no real reasons there.

The potato thing? What does that have to do with anything? Many pesticides are not things you want to breathe in. Once they are shipped out though, they are meeting FDA standards for health. So, what is the issue with that story? Seems like its just scare tactics.

In this video he is playing the "corporations are evil" card but qualifying the scientific statement by saying people who cook for themselves are healthier than people who let corporations do it. That's not what's happening with obesity though. If you had people cooking with the same amounts of salt/sugar/fat in fast food, obviously they would give the same health problems. So it just seems like a really roundabout way to say that junk food is unhealthy. Yeah, we know.

I have not read his book on psychedelics but the nutrition stuff just seems like its NPR bait.

If I could give you another upvote I would. Sensible response. Corporations are not out to get you. Sure, they have a very formulaic way of getting food to the consumer, which includes making their food tasty (and properly preserved), but most of what's said here isn't special or even all that directly impactful. It's just counting on people not knowing about the process, and playing up the stuff that sounds scary.

If his notion on cooking were true, it wouldn't be because people are cooking their own food, it's because they're making better food choices to begin with. Ironically, he says it's not about nutritional content or calories, but it's totally about nutritional content and calories.

I interpreted it more as a statement on how bad it is for the environment. Having such vast areas full of poison for weeks must wreak havoc on fauna, flora, ground water etc.

And bad for biodiversity. It takes a lot of farmers growing vast quantities of Russet Burbanks, and no other potato types, for McDonald's in order for those fries to be made. The way this video plays out makes his thesis unclear and fearmonger-y but in his book The Botany of Desire, the potato chapter is clearly about the challenges of monoculture, including heavy reliance on pesticides.

Possibly the case but then he should mention what it does to the environment. He just talked about cooking.

100%. For anyone bugging out about the pesticides better stop smoking weed because there’s literally a step in growing where you flush the plant over a period of time to rid it of all the nutes and pesticides you used during the initial stages of the growing process. (That being said, Eagle 20 is fucked up and persists no matter how long your flush is)

I haven't ever used pesticides on my weed but that's just me ayeee keep smoking that shit if you know who grew it ;)

Well, I grew it for most of the US, so you’re all safe! One last thing I’d like to point out, organic pesticides like neem oil are terrible for the lungs once combusted/vaporized.

That's nice, I still don't use pesticides on anything I grow and never needed to

also in my country chain restaurants are non-existent and mcdonalds is viewed as a luxury brand (lol). Also people prefer their home-cooked food since we're not that rich.

But people are still fat and unhealhty because they love their home made sausages and meat with absurd amounts of sugar, fat and salt. It doesn't help that people think they need to eat meat 3x a day and vegetables are for animals.

Which country is it, if you don't mind?

slovakia, we have very few mcdonalds (and they even started to bring food to your table). And we love our super greasy meats.

But it's getting better, but the majority of people still look at size of their meal when they're eating out. And drinking is a big problem over here so that it does not help with our health. And if you don't drink with people you're viewed as weird and antisocial.

He had real reasons GMOs are scary in his books but they were as much or more about monoculture, factory farming and effects on the environment as they were about individual effects on health.

Most of what he said is broscience.

“fast food is unhealthy” fuckin wow i never knew

I don't care if he is a professor is this peer reviewed or fact checked?

Nope, it's just a lecture

Well if I die from eating French fries I die happy.

I would like to know how the waiting periods are determined and what contamination remains after that time has passed. Does he have an actual point or is he being alarmist to sell himself? People who don't provide enough information infuriate me.

Freedom Fries mutherfugger—muricađŸ€™đŸœ

His message is really fuckin corrupted by disingenuous messaging as corporations being these evil fuckin boogeymen as if they aren't made up of humans. It's treading populism's border.

Removing the populist rhetoric would make this so much more marketable to someone like me, but populism sells I guess.

Maccas Australia uses Russett Burbank, Innovator and Russet Ranger Spuds. so no, not exclusively Russett Burbank

McDonald's fries in the UK are made from Pentland Dell, Russet Burbank, Ivory Russet, Innovator and Shepody potatoes.

Source: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/good-to-know/about-farming/potato.html

ok butnit fuckgin yummy::)

If supersize me couldn’t stop me, this guy won’t

The ‘everything-gives-you-cancer-anyway-so-fuck-it’ argument.

More like “have you ever had. A McDonald’s fry?” I won’t be getting fat. I live an 80-20 lifestyle and I can’t see myself ever turning down one of those delicious fries.

If you’ve ever had a good fry, I can’t imagine why’d you eat a McDonald’s fry.

Because even those with refined tastes still enjoy the hell out of a guilty pleasure, like a hot, salty,crispy, soft French fry

If you like hot, salty, crispy fries, almost any decent restaurant makes them better than McDonald’s.

Guy, I get it, you have Michelin star taste
 I will continue to eat McDonalds fries because I like them. You’re the hero we don’t need

Just asking to try something as elite and exclusive as your local independent burger joint. If that’s too much for you, keep on sucking up the slop at McDonald’s. That’s perfectly okay. Not everyone grows up.

I do eat at my local burger joint and I’d say their fries are satisfactory and my bloody preference is a god damn McDonald’s French fry. Do you understand how preferences work? Please continue to shame individuals for their preferences
 the irony is not lost on me.

Ugh. Please see your last post before you criticize me for what you do. I’m not surprised that hypocrisy pairs well with bad taste.

Apparently gas appliances can also, potentially, increase the risk of cancer. So
maybe cooking isnt all that’s cracked up to be?

If it makes you feel any better the Supersize Me guy faked a lot of his findings. Subsequent researchers who studied the exact diet shown in the film can't get anywhere near the calorie count or supposed weight gain that dude claimed to experience.

I said the same thing until I recently had mcdonalds cheeseburgers cause they were $4 for two. Tasted like cardboard. Gonna stop eating mcdonalds ...

... for a while.

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I'm curious about whether corporation cooking is the same as restaurant cooking, because a rich person certainly eats at restaurants often, but hardly eats at fast food (the corp)

If anything, the poorer person (that he said is healthier) is more likely to go to fast food than a rich person, as you said, that eats at restaurants.

I think this is one of the studies.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S009174351400468X

Of course science is about multiple studies, methodology, accuracy, etc. So take with a grain of salt.

I'm gonna go with "yes", simply because restaurants use the same methods - tons and tons of salt and fat and sugar. They care about you wanting to come back and eat more. That's why one of the secrets of amazing "restaurant" mashed potatoes is to use WAY the fuck more butter than you would ever dream of using.

Also, if you look at calorie counts and nutrition and compare fast food to sit-down restaurants
 the restaurant meals can easily get you above 2000 calories for a single meal at a lot of places, whereas fast food tends to top out around 1200-1500 (disclaimer: Adding a big shake will get you to 2000 calories with fast food, but we're typically talking the largest combo meal with large sides and a large full-sugar soda and then top it off with a large ice cream or dessert).

I want to say yes, because when I try to recreate some weird fancy dishes they can be so unhealthy. Salted pork chops for one, my girlfriend complained because the rice and veg had no flavour, but once the incredibly bad for you salt meat came into play. It was melt in your mouth deliciousness that took a year off our lives.

My normal cooking is loads better for me than anything restauranty.

Restaurant cooking is still full of fat, salt, and sugar because that's what tastes good. Probably not as much as fast food though.

This is total bullshit from start to finish. There are many different pesticides you can use for aphids. Not everywhere in the world you have these chips. For example in Europe, most places don't have these long potato chips. The blemishes don't just come from aphids. And the pesticides that are left on the potato are aired of to create a potato with 10,000 times less pesticide residue than needed to achieve LOAEL. Which is the lowest dose needed to show signs of any sort of physiological effects due to the compound tested. As per FDA regulations. This is why they are aired.

The farmers don't go out because they use this every year and its a precaution. Because when using pesticides farmers are most exposed and they have to therefore be extra careful.

The chips are safe. Perfectly safe.

I don't eat at McDonald's though because the food is unhealthy for other reasons. Like the high fat and salt content and the fact that all fried foods are usually done in palm oils and frying causes the creation of aldehydes which are harmful

So your argument is

"Perfectly safe to eat, but not really."

No. My argument is that its perfectly safe to eat but not to inhale the fumes of pesticides right after you applied them. Dipshit.

I don’t think his argument that pesticides are bad because it might hurt you when you eat the chip, I think he’s trying to say these pesticides are bad because they cause serious damage to the environment they’re used in.

In his books, he says you can argue about the danger of pesticides in your food but you can’t really argue about the danger of pesticides in the environment. They’re devastating on so many levels from monoculture to factory farming to harming other plants and animals.

His arguments and research on the topic are as shallow as his hairline.

There is so much more to it than that. Too much water can harm the environment. Farming harms regardless of how you do it.

He is not taking into account any context, any cost benefits of alternatives, nothing.

He rants about harmful pesticides yet is against bt corn and soy which reduce pesticide use massively. Just because bt corn is a GMO.

He's a fool.

You sound even narrower minded than him. You must be completely bald.

You are confusing criticism with not being open minded.

I merely stated he didn't take almost anything important into account and that this entire speech is made to mislead people.

Which is not close minded. He is the narrow one. And you are too for not exploring the possibility that he's incorrect.

Certain pesticides.

And I have a sorry truth for you. Pesticides are unavoidable if you want to grow food in anything larger than a garden.

The impact of not using them and needing that much more land to afford the losses is much larger.

It’s very simply to appeal to the masses by being anti corporation. It’s intellectually thin and dishonest.

Ask yourself. How is this guy making his money? Then you’ll understand his motives.

Not doubt the consumption of sugar, oils and overall calories has lead to a problem in this county with obesity but that isn’t on corporations it’s on people.

It’s relatively straight forward and honest compared to what the corporations are telling us. No one’s perfect but he lives his truth and the corporate farmers don’t.

Nothing he said was hidden by corporations at all. What did he shed ight on that no one knew about already?

He’s selling you books.

And the Corporations are selling you crap. I’d rather buy books.

Raise your own chickens and a garden.

You say that like it’s a bad thing. For anyone who can do it, it’s a wonderful part of the solution.

Corporations try very hard to bury the acknowledged facts. He’s just trying to dig out what they bury with millions in advertising and PR.

What facts did they bury? Nothing he said wasn't common knowledge already, or buried?

From the responses to this post, you can see how much they buried.

Nothing he said was hidden by corporations at all. What did he shed ight on that no one knew about already?

I gathered that in the first 3 seconds when "Author and Activist" was displayed by his name. I have a deeply held respect for scientists, science communicators and teachers, who do not necessarily need to have any fancy titles, but if they get referred to as author and activist... I might as well listen to someone who's primary source of information is Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. And if I see those people on a podium holding speeches I want to know who invited them, what is their background what sources they present.

I know a few activists who knew they are right and then got the education required to educate other people and that's a really great, respectable and inspiring thing. But we do not refer to them as activists or authors anymore they are referred to by their speciality: marine biologists, neurologists, geologists, city planners,... Author and Activist, doesn't give any credibility

Good find man, thanks for sharing it.

Yeah but then again whos selling the food you cook? Corpos, and let me tell you theres more in your minced meat than you would care to know.

I mean, they aren’t injecting sugar and salt and fat into your veggies or rice or chicken (meat depending on the processor?)

Meat is just tasty hormones

That's why I mince my own. I've read that processed meat alone is enough to increase chance of stroke/heart problems by 20-30%, so I'm trying to keep it close to natural until I can find a local farmer to buy from and a giant freezer.

I looked up MONITOR and it’s labeled as an herbicide, herbicides may kill an aphid but only because it is removing the vegetation it survives on. The 5 days the farmers stay out as he says is called an REI which is a re entry interval. Some is till dry and some might be 5 days but it’s nothing special.

The latter half is still very true though, but it pisses me off they wanna use that as the opener. The powder may cause the effects of bronchitis, according to the MSDS. Are you fucking kidding me? Just wow!

Yum yum

Who is this person? does anyone have a link to the "prepared by humans" study?

It makes intuitive sense, but I'd like to see how big of an impact it has.

Plant expert and food writer Dr. Michael Pollan. Here's think to his full talk: https://youtu.be/TX7kwfE3cJQ

And if you're really interested, I recommend his book "Cooked" which is a fantastic read into the history and impact cooking has had on us as a species.

That's basically my question as well.

It sounds intuitively likely to be true, but I'm nearly 50 years old and I've read a shitload of things in my life like this that sound intuitively likely to be true that haven't panned out.

Although I really am inclined to believe this. For me, after getting diabetes, I've come to the humble opinion that our worst enemy is sugars - carbs in general. We need some to survive and be healthy, but if you're poor, you tend to eat more carbs. Eating excessive carbs makes you more hungry so you eat more, and they put the hardest load on your insulin, which is what causes diabetes, basically.

So the idea that at home we probably use much less sugar and salt and fat than restaurants
 that seems reasonable.

But I'd really like to see some studies done, or see what's already been done, and see what seems like correlation and what seems like causation


Out of interest, are we talking processed carbs or just all carbs generally? Like would you include an apple or a baked potato in that camp?

Not being scathing, genuinely don't know anything about this from a diabetic perspective.

While I've had diabetes for 15 years, I'm not a doctor or nutriotionalist, of course. That said, what I've learned:

  1. The body does need some carbs to operate. Not that you'll die, but the body uses carbs to function. If you only consume protein and fat, it takes a while for the body to process those, so you won't have working energy for a while.
  2. But as Americans, most of us eat WAY too many carbs on a daily basis, and as a percentage of the carb/protein/fat wheel. Carbs are needed for short term, but to make it through the day, you need some protein.
  3. Refined carbs like sugars are processed very quickly by the body. Complex carbs like fruit with fiber (that apple) are processed slower, and fiber itself seems to slow the process down a bit. So it depends: Are you about to run a short race all-out? You need refined carbs. Are you about to work at your desk for eight hours? Some complex carbs and some protein and fat.
  4. The reason we get hungry after eating Chinese food (and plenty of other foods): If you eat a heavy carb load, your body gets tons of energy quickly - it pushed out a lot of insulin to process that stuff. Then it runs out of carbs to process, and with all the insuline out there, your blood sugar crashes and the body says "HOLY SHIT NEED MORE ENERGY!" making you hungry and crave carbs.
  5. If the above cycle repeats long enough and often enough, and especially if you have a predisposition for diabetes
 BOOM Type II Diabetes in a few years.
  6. I have found that if I limit my carb intake - not eliminate i.e. keto, but keep at 60g carbs per meal, 180g per day - my hunger level goes down. Instead of being constantly hungry, I eat actual portion sizes and am satiated.
  7. The quickest carbs are the sugars: sucrose, glucose, fructose. Medium carbs are starches like freshly cooked rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, etc. But if you cool those starches down, they slow down their speed. And then the slowest carbs are whole grains and fruits with fiber. So it's about balancing having some carbs, not too many carbs, and a preference for the right carbs where possible.

That's probably way more than you wanted, but I really hope it's useful and helpful. It may not be 100% accurate, although I'm pretty sure most of it is reasonably accurate. It comes from my own experiences, information from reading about diabetes, and things from doctors and nutritionalists.

But if I had to summarize that, I say "Carbs are the enemy, not fat" because the sugar industry basically released anti-fat propaganda for decades - certainly my generation grew up knowing low fat was the way to go - ironically many low fat products contain more sugar to make up for the flavour loss, making them sometimes worse than full-fat versions.

True but I'll also add that when you freeze food or try to make it keep for long periods of time, you tend to add more salt and fat as a means of preservation. When you cook fresh you add a little salt or fat and it is enough because it hasn't been frozen.

I'm sure he said a bunch of logical shit but mc nuggets never cheated on me. I'll die on that hill.

sips premade corporate tea

Well Eating outside meant to be a special thing, just once a month or on special occasions, but today eating at home is special the narrative shifted. An adult person should learn to properly prepare at least 4-5 basic meals so he/she is covered and thanks to the internet everyone can learn to cook, they show every step.

I was waiting for the joke, it’s just science

i will consume the radioactive fries/chips to sate my ever lasting hunger, no fact will stop me

Corporations doing bad things, color me surprised. I'm still gonna eat McDonald's and I guarantee 95% of the people that saw this and still are McDonald's up to this point aren't going to stop

Mf i only call that fries not "Fr*nch Fries"

My son wanted McDonald's and I have not eaten there in a long time. When we go I usually just don't order or get just a drink. Well I hadn't had anything to eat all day so I order a quarter pounder meal. The fries left this nasty tasting greasy film in my mouth that altered the taste of everything else. NOW I remember why I just stopped eating there.

Lots of broscience in his speech

There's a lot to like about this presentation, and a LOT of companies have various harmful requirements like this. We've done more damage to the ecology though pesticide use than from fossil fuel usage considering the number of bug species we've annihilated or forced into smaller and smaller forested areas. Or sorry, THEYVE annihilated. I'm not a "return to monke" environmentalist but I do know that the corporate world has been wrecking the planet and blaming the customers for it since the 70s.

Cloud seeding, mass pesticide use, mono-culture crops, the concept of corporate-level "water rights", single people buying enormous quantities of farm land to produce LESS healthy, LESS environmentally friendly meat alternatives...

It all needs to go away.

Sorry but this is very much not true. I'm from Croatia, and I work as an engineer in food growing sector. McDonalds here will buy only 1st class quality potatoes, but NOT only russet potatoes. Growing such potatoes does not necessarily mean using high amounts of dangerous pesticides. In fact, many pesticides are already banned, and farmers are encouraged to use new integrated methods of crop protection and reducing the use of pesticides to a minimum. I would call this a misleading activist propaganda video that just doesn't make sense.

Damn.... I want some fries now

All my homies hate monocultures.

Threw me off at first an American guy calling them 'chips'

McDonald’s fries are about the only potatoes I don’t fuck with. They leave a weird aftertaste in my opinion

say never again until next week.

don't care. gonna eat those fries

A potato always has to go in a shed for 6 weeks, coz it's a night shade.......😂💀

Damn, that’s crazy. Anyways, I’m going through the McDonald’s drive-thru, anyone want anything?

I'm sure

This is very true. One of the reasons I don’t eat fast food.

McDeath

The spray argument is poor, since most orchard and row crop insecticide/herbicides have a re-entry period of 2-5 days. Many, many crops utilize sprays with a period like this. It’s not uncommon, and it’s presentation of facts like this that are going to scare people out of eating vegetables.

You say it’s not what we consume that makes a difference but then go on to say it’s the amount of fat, salt etc that companies cook with that is the difference
so it IS what we consume.

This is probably the light stuff too.

I prefer Arby's curly fries followed by Wendy's fries.

Lmfao, this is SOP for every single crop in the world. Of course farmers spray pesticides, and of course they're not walking in their fields after spraying hundreds of gallons of pesticides.

Furthermore those giant sheds for potatoes? They're used by every potato farm for every type of potato. Not so they can somehow remove the pesticides over time but because potatoes are incredibly robust and can be stored and sold year round if kept in a climate controlled environment.

This is straight up anti-farming propaganda. It's like the GMO bullshit all over again.

Dude I'm trying to eat my chips...

Worth noting that not all countries allow mcdonalds to sell fries that have been made using those pesticides

And this isn’t new, a lot of people don’t know this

img

Already ahead of the game. I very rarely eat out, much less eat fast food. All human cooked baby! I also am 42 and still get ID'd for booze.

Can make any food taste or look bad with a stupid little "documentary". Believe it or not the so called "organic" crops use more pesticides than normal crops so they can get a decent yield

All that effort for French fries that turn into inedible cardboard after five minutes.

Wait a second: "it doesn't matter most which ingredients are in the food you eat so much as..."

5 seconds latter "corporations put bad ingredients into their food making it unhealthy"

I don't disagree but isn't it simpler to say "just avoid junk food"

Long fries ? Come on mine aren't longer than 7cm usually, you can do that with any race of potatoes

I’m now hungry for some McDonald’s French fries


Wait.. wait .. so you're saying processed, cheap, fast foods are not the basis of a nutritional diet?!? đŸ€Ż

Still not going to stop eating their fries. That's the only reason I ever go there.

Source?

My broscience alarm cannot get any louder

He makes valid points. Will still eat quarter pounders and fries.

/u/vredditdownloader

This guy doesn’t know what he is talking about

ou store potatoes to improve the taste any pesticides in their potatoes are well below the EPA standard

Read his books. In case you missed it, his name is Michael Pollan

Not to mention they’re deep frying the potatoes in engine lubricant

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Who would of ever known that eating in is more healthy than eating at fast food places

It's cooking WHOLE food and food unadulterated by caustic toxins.

I dont fucking care im hungry 😭😭😭

I waaaannnntttt McDonald’s now.

Absolutely false. I lived in Idaho and worked on farms that produced Russet potatoes for 15 years. This is absolute nonsense. And there are no cellars in ID the size of football stadiums
🙄smdh.

Haven't eaten McDonald's in 22 years, join me use the force 👍

I haven't eaten McDonald's in many years. Never will again. I'm currently on a journey to kick fast food completely, cause it's all the same garbage. I'm sticking to local joints and home cooking.

From Idaho here, and what he says about the insecticide Monitor is incorrect. It hasn't been used by Idaho potato farmers for many years. They still grow and sell Burbank Russet Potatoes to Mcdonald's though.

Oh wow McDonald’s is bad for you???? No way!!!!!

Good science, real science is verifiable! With that in mind and, being curious I tried to verify the claims in this video.

I won't go into the speaker and his work, other commenters have already done so. I'm only looking at his claims. Here's what I've discovered.

Yes. Mcdonald's does use russet Burbank potatoes. However, it is not the only potatoes they use. They use other potato varieties as well.

https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/good-to-know/about-farming/potato.html

The pesticide "Monitor" or Methamidophos does exist and yes, it is used in potato farming. Unfortunately, it is pretty much as bad as he says it is. Good news, as of 2009 methamidophos has largely been phased out of US agriculture. Brazil appears to be trying to follow suit. Regrettably, this hazardous pesticide is still in use in China and some developing countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamidophos https://archive.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/web/html/methamidophos_ired_fs.html

I could not find anything on farmers having to air out their potatoes to get rid of the chemical (didn't try too hard though, feel free to pick up that thread) however, 6 days is apparently how long it takes to breakdown in soil. For sand, it's 309 days.

Also according to this, FAO "Methamidophos had the third-highest ratio of handler poisonings per 1,000 applications in California". So airing them might be something very careful farmers would do but at this moment that is pure speculation on my part. (Someone pick this up)

The speaker's book, The Botany of Desire, came out in 2001 "Monitor" was phased out by 2009.

TL:DR: May have been true in the past. Definitely not true now. Even back then, the same measures he speaks about apparently ensured that there was likely little danger of pesticide poisoning from eating the fries. (I found no link between McDonald's and methamidophos poisoning). McDonald's might be bad for you but not because it will kill with with pesticides.

However, others have mentioned that his book/research was more focused on how bad corporation driven monoculture farming is for the environment. To that well... Wouldn't know! Haven't read it! Plus, the video doesn't show that.

Walter White Energy

joke

Trust the science

Hasn’t been used since 2009

yeahh idk I still want fries now

Stfu

McDonald’s fries sound so fucking good rn

[removed]

If I’m off body’s her southern

McDonalds is not healthy?but it has lettuce.. I'm chocked

Why would this make me not eat them? By the time they get to us they are perfectly fine

Fascinating

Is there full link for this or name of the conference?

Is that true 😳

I agree but my grocery bill doubled in the past 4 months and honestly sometimes it’s cheaper to buy two burgers and a fry from McDonalds than it is to cook every night. This wasn’t always the case for me but it is now.

Mc Donalds Potatoes Killing Off Tribal and Farm Land In Minnesota

I noticed this a few years ago.i opened i favorite burgers not going name them because

The dose makes the poison. It's amazing no one's dropped dead immediately after eating "poisonous" McDonald's french fries

.

Did he just point out that McDonald’s is unhealthy đŸ€Ż

Excellent

Wendy’s fries are better

Yea if you like em cold and soggy