Dr John M

cardiac electrophysiologist, cyclist, learner

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The solution that isn’t…

September 14, 2010 By Dr John

I am trying to get off the topic, of fatness, that is.

But just when it seems right to move on, to something less hopeless; we hear that even doctors can be felled by obesity’s resilience.

To the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group of well-meaning doctors who are buying expensive TV ads blaming McDonalds for heart disease, I have just 5 words:
McDonalds is not the problem!
Gosh. It is maddening to think that such smart people could be that misguided. A whole committee of doctors completely devoid of any master of the obvious is hard to fathom. 
Don’t misunderstand, I am not advocating McDonalds food as overly nutritional, but blaming MacDs for our obesity epidemic is like blaming guns for violence (for the record, guns scare me), brew pubs for alcoholism, or religion for war. (Sorry, that last one is a bad example.) 
Is a grilled chicken sandwich that bad? Is a hamburger sans cheese and special sauce that horrible?  How about orange juice, scrambled eggs or fruit yogurt?  No, we are not talking about 12$ organic avocados, or kale greens, or free range chicken (given novocaine before harvest), but it is also clearly true that one is not forced to gorge on McFlurrys, Big Macs and fries.

The medical community, no, society, will have to solve the obesity epidemic without annihilating fast-food restaurants.  We will have to live in harmony with temptation.

Doctors should know this.

JMM

Disclaimer:  Long ago, before there were blogs, I bought ten shares of McDonalds.  I still have them. 

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Filed Under: Healthy Living

John Mandrola, MD

Welcome, Enjoy, Interact. john-mandrola I am a cardiac electrophysiologist practicing in Louisville KY. I am also a husband to a palliative care doctor, a father, a bike racer, and a regular columnist at theHeart.org | Medscape

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For patients...Educational posts

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