Iowa's former science teacher, John Cisna, has visited about 90 schools, informing students how his "McDonald's diet" made him lost more than 50 pounds.
The previous teacher became a McDonald's 'brand ambassador' after being saddened by the ocumentary titled "Super Size Me," wherein a man documented how consumption of McDonald's food in his diet made him gain weight nad started to give him health problems.
Based on Mr. Cisna, the experiment wasn't a very good study and unfairly blemished fast food companies. The documentary became Mr. Cisna's turning point which brought him into a decision of experimentation.
The 280-pound teacher got on a 6-month-plan of eating only food from McDonald's, taking a limit of 2,000 calories a day and having regular exercise.
The results were mind-boggling: Sticking to his six months "McDonald's diet", Cisna lost 56 pounds, plunged four waist sizes and even made his cholesterol became lesser by a third.
His experience urged him to write a book and produce a video. After that he was quickly hired by McDonald's as a brand ambassador. More than 90 colleges and high schools all over the country have heard his story.
"I'm not endorsing fast foods,'' Cisna say to NBC's Today show Tuesday. "I'm endorsing that kids need to start using critical thinking skills when it comes to making the right choices of what they eat."
Cisna's touring of schools program, has sparked intense criticism.
Robert Weissman, president of Commercial Alert, a group dedicated to "keeping commercial culture within its proper sphere," told The Christian Science Monitor in an interview, " On one hand, it's a fairly transparent, pathetic effort to undo lingering brand harm from 'Super Size Me. On the other, it's an outrageously devious scheme to insert McDonald's advertising into school curricula.'"
Change.org created a petition that included "keeping McDonald's infomercials out of schools". The petition has received about 60,000 signatures.
McDonald's says the plan is not concerning its brand, but in relation to making superiority food choices everywhere.
According to Lisa McComb, McDonald's spokeswoman, "John's story is not a weight loss plan, and we do not recommend that anyone eat every meal at one restaurant every day for an extended period. "Rather, John's story is about making informed and balanced choices no matter where you choose to eat and incorporating exercise into your daily routine."
