Shadowing Practice: Doctor Reacts To The Lunchly Controversy - Learn English Speaking with Video
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107 sentences
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KSI, Mr. Beast, and Logan Paul have announced they were teaming up
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and launching a new food product called Lunchly to compete with the uber popular kids brand Lunchables.
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And the reception has been less than stellar.
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Many creators took to social media to criticize the product and the creators themselves.
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Logan and Jimmy were quick to push back on the critics with their own posts
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and in the process created newsworthy headlines like, YouTube stars are coming for your kids lunch.
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It's a move that has Mr. Beast, Logan Paul, and KSI teaming up to take on Lunchables.
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And I usually don't make videos discussing creators' products, but when terms like healthier or better for you get tossed around,
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I feel it's important to set the record straight.
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So in the spirit of avoiding personal attacks, let's take a look at the science of Lunchly, including a true issue with their kits.
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I don't think anyone has correctly pointed out yet.
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For those who may not know, Lunchables are basically these pre-packaged do-it-yourself meal kits they've usually got things like crackers,
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deli meats, cheeses, treats, and come with a little drink.
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And since their inception, they've been super popular with kids.
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However, it's been known, especially by experts, that while these kits are fun and tasty, their nutritional value is just not good.
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They're often too high in sodium, saturated fat, and added sugars, and don't use healthy whole food ingredients.
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And because they fall into the category of ultra-processed foods, they aren't healthy to consume often, period.
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Studies actually show that those consuming high amounts of UPFs can have up to 50% higher risk of developing obesity,
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and some specific UPFs are linked to increases in cancer.
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I see it even in my clinic.
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So many of my pediatric patients are over consuming UPFs and it's becoming a growing problem across the country.
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Consumer Reports even dedicated a special feature highlighting the problems with Lunchables
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and why they shouldn't be consumed regularly due to health risks.
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My own take on Lunchables, I don't recommend parents pack them for their kids on a daily basis.
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A low quality food with poor nutritional value.
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But now what about Lunchables?
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Starting with the first claim, in the press release announcing the product, Logan Paul was quoted as saying,
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Lunchables is a healthier alternative and that it's a better for you lunch option compared to Lunchables.
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In fact, throughout the Lunchly website and the social media promo posts, you'll see countless comparisons being made to Lunchables.
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To be honest, some of the comparisons are kind of cringe and don't make much sense to me, but maybe that's because I'm not the target demo.
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Flavorful combos versus standard picks?
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The meal kit combos are nearly identical to Lunchables.
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Big gestures versus mid moments?
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I certainly don't remember that lesson in my nutrition classes.
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I was more concerned with the nutritional comparisons being made anyway.
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So if someone was to make a healthy meal kit for kids, I would find that incredibly valuable.
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And in looking in the comparison, I'd be most interested in calories, which they have, protein, which they have, sugar, which they have, saturated fat,
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which is missing, and sodium, which is not only missing, but replaced by electrolytes.
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And unlike all the other macros, is only labeled potassium and only in the prime bottle in the kit, comparing it to the Capri Sun in the Lunchables.
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This is a pretty weird marketing choice to label electrolytes in food products.
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It's such a strange choice that it even stunned fellow doctor Brian Suterer,
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who tweeted, Sodium getting rebranded as electrolytes will be taught in marketing textbooks one day.
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And then sadly, it was a shame to see Logan attack instead of starting a meaningful dialogue with the doctor,
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given that 400 milligrams is not the amount of electrolytes in prime, at least in the image that Logan shared,
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400 milligrams of potassium plus five milligrams of sodium equals 405 milligrams of electrolytes.
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It's not about nitpicking, it's just about being reasonable and honest to help further the conversation.
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Look, if I wanna decide if a food is right for me, I like to be able to compare the entire electrolyte profile, which would have to include sodium.
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It's like having a PB&J sandwich label that says what's in the sandwich, you know, protein, fats, calories,
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but then the sugar line only tells you what's in the peanut butter as opposed to the jelly in the entire sandwich.
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I wanted to go further and do the comparisons myself using the nutrition facts from the Lunchables and Lunchly websites.
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And it's honestly really hard to draw perfectly clear conclusions for several reasons.
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One, I don't have nutrition facts for each part of the kits.
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For example, how many calories come from Feastables versus the food component?
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Second, some of the portion sizes aren't the same.
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The Turkey Cracker Kit from Lunchables is 82 grams, while Lunchly's is 72 grams.
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Three, there are so many varieties of Lunchables
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that just swapping out the flavor of Capri Sun cause significant differences in sugar and calorie content.
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What I was able to conclude is that Lunchly has less sugar and therefore less calories than Lunchables in comparable kits.
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That's probably due to the drink component of the kit, as Capri Sun uses sugar, and Prime is artificially sweetened.
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Lunchealy has significantly more potassium than Luncheables because of the Prime drink, which I guess is good,
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but not something I'd regularly use in deciding if a food is an ideal lunch for a kid.
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Lunchealy has slightly less sodium and saturated fat than comparable Luncheables.
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That's definitely moving in the right direction, however, both differences were fairly small.
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Lunchealy does use real cheese as opposed to cheese product, signaling that at least one ingredient is less processed than in Lunchables,
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but the entirety of the kit is still considered an ultra-processed meal.
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Lunchly has higher amounts of A and B vitamins, which can be good, but also can be problematic as vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin,
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and kids can easily over-consume it, leading to toxicity.
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Being that it's fat-soluble means that you can't just urinate excess out.
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This has actually been raised as an issue by experts with Prime in general.
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Despite these legitimate upgrades, Social media posts are slamming Lunch.ly for not being perfect.
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But Lunch.ly does not need to be perfect to be valuable for kids.
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It just needs to be significantly healthier in order to reduce risk.
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As a doctor, I use risk reduction all the time.
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Essentially taking something harmful and replacing it with something less harmful, but still imperfect.
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As an example, I would never recommend starting vaping, but getting someone to replace smoking cigarettes with vaping is generally a good step down in terms of health risk.
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Knowing all that, is it fair to say that Lunchly is healthier?
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I guess one can say yes, but honestly, probably more so as a marketing tactic.
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The reason why?
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Well, let's look at the recently passed nutrition standards set forth by the USDA for school lunches and see how Lunchly compares.
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Going line by line here.
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Less than 10% of calories should come from saturated fat.
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Lunchly turkey?
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23% of calories come from saturated fat.
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Less than 10% of calories should come from added sugars.
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Lunchly turkey, 10.4 comes from added sugars.
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But this is where things get really interesting and for some reason, no one has pointed this out.
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You see, USDA caloric guidelines say that a lunch meal for kids K through eight should contain around 625 calories.
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Kids need energy to function and calories give them that energy.
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Lunchly turkey contains only 230 calories, which would mean a kid would need to eat about 2.7 portions to consume enough calories.
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And if they did that, they'd get nearly 1300 milligrams of sodium, which is also significantly over the USDA standards.
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So they'd be either under eating calories or overeating sodium.
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Finally, the grain guidelines state that 80% of lunch meals must be whole grain, and Lunchly Turkey does not list any whole grain ingredients.
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It's clear Lunchly, just like Lunchables, misses the mark too many times to be considered meaningfully healthier, at least in my opinion.
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That being said, I do think many criticisms pointed at Logan, KSI, and Jimmy are unfair.
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Attacking them for trying to create a successful influencer product isn't inherently problematic.
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I just think if a company was truly interested in creating a healthier lunch kit for kids, the USDA standards should be the minimum starting requirements.
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Otherwise, we're simply propagating the problem even further.
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One of my hopes is that in navigating to future feedback on this company, the guys hire a health professional to guide them in making messaging more accurate.
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I just saw someone ask about heavy metal contamination
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and Logan responded with a video of an X-ray machine checking for foreign materials.
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That checks for stray objects accidentally getting into the meals, not heavy metal contaminations like we discussed earlier with Lunchables and lead.
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And saying a food has more electrolytes, therefore it must be better or healthier, just not true.
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Foods with an incredibly high sodium content, and electrolyte are not considered particularly healthy.
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In fact, many are considered unhealthy for that reason.
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I can't expect non-medical people to get this perfect, but if you're gonna stand by a children's food product being healthy, you need to hold your messaging to a higher standard.
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Eating a diet full of UPFs can lead to weight gain.
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Click here to see the harsh reality of life at 800 pounds, and as always, stay happy and healthy.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 107 sentences and 1621 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:02. The speaker talks at a natural 179 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- calorie /ˈkæləɹi/ (noun) — A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 kilojoules, that can raise the temperature of a kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. This is the unit normally…
- sodium /ˈsəʊ.di.əm/ (noun) — The chemical element (symbol Na) with an atomic number of 11 and atomic weight of 22.990. It is a soft, waxy, silvery, reactive alkali metal that is never…
- meal /ˈmiːl/ (noun) — Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
- consume /kənˈsum/ (verb) — To use up.
- kit /ˈkɪt/ (noun) — A circular wooden vessel, made of hooped staves.
- saturated (adjective) — Full; unable to hold or contain any more.
- nutrition /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ən/ (noun) — The organic process by which an organism assimilates food and uses it for growth and maintenance.
- compare /kəmˈpɛɚ/ (verb) — To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it…
- label /ˈleɪ.bəl/ (noun) — A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.
- versus /ˈvɝsəs/ — Against; in opposition to.
- creator /kɹiːˈeɪ̯təː/ (noun) — Something or someone which creates or makes something.
- grain /ɡɹeɪn/ (noun) — The harvested seeds of various grass food crops, especially wheat, maize, rye, barley, and rice.
- sandwich /ˈsæn(d).wɪd͡ʒ/ (noun) — A dish or foodstuff where at least one piece, but typically two or more pieces, of bread serves as the wrapper or container of some other food.
- vitamin /ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/ (noun) — Any of a specific group of organic compounds essential in small quantities for healthy human growth, metabolism, development, and body function. They are found…
- ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/ (noun) — One of the substances present in a mixture, especially food.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- come from (verb) — To have as one's origin, birthplace or nationality.
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- take on (verb) — To acquire, bring in, or introduce.
- come for (verb) — To search for someone with the intent to apprehend or cause harm.
- come with (verb) — To join and come along.
- fall into (verb) — To go into something by falling.
- get into (verb) — To move into (an object), such that one ends up inside it.
- look in (verb) — To visit a place or person briefly and casually.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 26 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, aren't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: nutrition /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ən/, nutritional /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ə.nəl/, contamination /kənˌtæm.əˈneɪ.ʃən/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, conclusion /kənˈkluːʒən/
- Long words — get the stress right: ingredient /ɪnˈɡɹiːdi.ənt/, nutritional /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ə.nəl/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, comparable /ˈkɒmpəɹəbəl/, problematic /ˌpɹɑ.bləˈmæt.ɪk/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like calorie, sodium, meal.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | been known · are linked · be consumed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have announced · has been · has correctly pointed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | those who may · sodium, which is · vitamins, which can |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.