Man, those Presbyterians are into everything, aren't they?

(Via Techbargains.com.)

McCrazy? This diet catching on fast
By Jessica Heslam

Here's a diet craze that just sounds crazy:

A growing number of "McDieters" insist they've shed pounds by eating nothing but McDonald's food for weeks at a time.

The most recent was a North Carolina mother who said she lost 37 pounds by eating strictly McDonald's – mostly burgers and salads – for 90 days.

Closer to home, a New Hampshire woman, Soso Whaley, has released a film about her own weight loss while "McDieting."

"You can eat healthy if you make good choices. It's really amazing what they are offering now," said Whaley, 50, who lost 28 pounds while eating just McDonald's.

The fast-food "success" stories come as a backlash against the 2004 film "Super Size Me," in which New Yorker Morgan Spurlock gained 25 pounds and suffered liver damage while eating just McDonald's for a month.

Although Spurlock ate 5,000 calories a day, Whaley consumed just under 2,000 calories a day.

But even if you cut calories and stay away from fries, some nutritionists said, only McDining for weeks at a time isn't healthy.

No kidding! Really? As long as everyone's attacking Super Size Me in this bizarre game of corporate protectionism, let's consider Spurlock's rules:

During the journey, Spurlock also put his own body on the line, living on nothing but McDonald's for an entire month with three simple rules:

1. No options: he could only eat what was available over the counter (water included!)
2. No supersizing unless offered
3. No excuses: he had to eat every item on the menu at least once

Even our friends at CSPI note that McDonald's now serves some healthier foods, though as director Michael Jacobsen put it in a statement on McDonald's 50th anniversary, "for every new healthy menu item, they seem to add at least one unhealthy menu item, like the McGriddle."

CSPI does good work, despite the restaurant industry's decade-plus campaign to label them as the "food police." By threatening a lawsuit and having the resources to follow through, CSPI just got Pinnacle Foods to relabel Aunt Jemima Blueberry Waffles because there are no actual blueberries in the product. The group also got PepsiCo to relabel both "Tropicana Peach Papaya" and "Tropicana Strawberry Melon" drinks to identify them as "Peach Papaya (or Strawberry Melon) flavored juice drink/from concentrate with other natural flavors", because neither drink has any more real fruit or juice than a little pear juice concentrate - no peaches, papayas, strawberries, or melons of any kind. And don't miss today's revelation about the insane amounts of salt in some processed foods in the same categories - one brand of hamburger buns has more than twice the sodium as a competitor for no significant difference in taste.

Anyway. The point of Super Size Me was not that everything McDonald's sells is bad for you. The point was that much of it is bad for you, including the most popular items. The point was that McDonald's "Super Size Me!" marketing made it cheap and easy for people get too way too much bad food. Spurlock spent most of his month eating "value meals," and ate all of the food provided as part of his purchase (though I believe the condiments were optional).

It's a testament to the short attention span of Americans: people can successfully defend McDonald's menu by pointing out that if you don't eat the most popular and heavily advertised items, it's not quite as bad for you. Jacobsen said it better:

What was once an occasional treat or convenience has morphed into a once-, twice-, or thrice-a-day indulgence. Billions of dollars of advertising make this all seem normal. No one should think that McDonald's genius was in satisfying a demand for meals of burgers, fries, and Cokes. Its genius was creating that demand in the first place.

(Via Romenesko's Obscure Store.)

ABC drops Jennings' name from "World News Tonight"

ABC News president David Westin says: "Of all people, Peter insisted on accuracy. As much as we would have it otherwise, from now on 'World News Tonight with Peter Jennings' will be known as 'World News Tonight.'" The network "is not close" to discussing a Jennings successor, a spokesman tells Peter Johnson.

(Via Jim Romenesko's MediaNews.)

Someone is ragging on engineers.

That's a classic engineer for you. To understand why Turley doesn't understand iTunes, you have to understand the way engineers think. Simplicity is bad, because a simple device doesn't do enough, and can be made to do more. Complexity is good, because one device can do 183 different things.

Someone needs a time-out and a cookie.