McDonald’s has been a part of American diets for over 50 years, but how much is too much?
Last month, New York City schoolteacher Drew Singleton wondered exactly that, and decided to see just how bad McDonald’s is for you by embarking on a marathon of an experiment: He committed to eating nothing but McDonald’s for an entire meal.
Before starting, Drew laid out a few basic rules:
Get a medical checkup both before and after the meal
All McDonald’s for the entirety of the meal
No cheating with other food during the meal
Against the advice of his physician, Drew was determined to follow through on his experiment by eating a whole Big Mac combo meal. He didn’t have to wait long to start feeling the physiological effects.
“The first few bites were fine, but just a quarter of the way through the experiment, I already felt sluggish and like I had to puke,” he said. “It had stopped tasting like food, and I hadn’t even touched the fries. It took a lot of willpower not to quit.”
Amazingly, Drew made it through the meal in one piece. Still, calculating the sheer quantity of McDonald’s that Drew ate is harrowing. Over the course of his meal, Drew consumed 43 grams of fat, 1,200 milligrams of sodium, and 1,070 calories. Do the math, and that averages out to more than 200 calories a minute. Insane.
Unsurprisingly, a comparison of Drew’s pre- and post-meal vitals showed that his blood glucose levels had spiked significantly. He had also gained more than half a pound.
For his part, Drew said he hopes his experiment helps Americans look at their own diets and is glad he stuck with it, although he doesn’t plan on putting himself through a McDonald’s-only meal “ever, ever again.”
