Shadowing Practice: Learn Real Life English with the Sad Truth About American Food 🍔 | Comprehensible Input - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Are you ready to learn some real life English with comprehensible input?
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Good.
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Because today we are going to explore a part of American culture that I do not really like.
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But it is something that many Americans do every day.
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Eating fast food.
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Let's go.
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Hey everyone.
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It is your English speaking friend Kyle.
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And in this video we're going to explore
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something that is huge huge in american culture
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that i think i think it is a very negative thing
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i think it causes a lot of damage here in the united states we're going to be talking about something
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that is part of the everyday life for many many people who live in my country eating fast food
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so why is this such a big thing here in the united states why do
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so many people eat this food even though everybody knows it's not good for you?
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Well, it's convenient, it's fast, and some people say that they don't have the money to eat healthy food.
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So that is another thing we're going to explore in this video.
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Is it really cheaper?
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Does it really cost less money to eat fast food
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or to eat healthy good food that will be good for your body?
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These are the things we're going to find out in this video.
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So today I'm going to be eating three meals.
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Three meals at fast food restaurants.
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But I won't be doing this all alone.
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I'm going to have some help.
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Hello.
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From my son Connor.
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Connor what do you think about fast food?
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I love it.
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He loves it and I'm pretty sure that almost every child here in the United States would agree with him.
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Why do you think so many people eat fast food every day?
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Because it tastes good.
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Because it tastes good.
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And better than some of the healthy foods.
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Because it tastes better than some of the healthy foods.
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All right, buddy.
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Thank you very much.
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You're welcome.
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Let's get this experiment going and try our first fast food.
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All right, guys.
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So our first stop is Dunkin' Donuts.
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And I come here often.
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I always get my coffee here.
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But I never eat the food.
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So today we're gonna see if the food is good, how we feel like after we eat like this all day.
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My son loves the food here, of course.
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Let's find out.
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How are you?
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Hi, can I get a large iced Americano black?
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Okay.
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A vanilla long john?
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Okay.
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A turkey sausage on an English muffin, please.
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Okay.
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And then, uh, can order the omelet bites and that'll be it.
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Very eatable for it.
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Alright.
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Thank you.
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Two minutes from now.
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Okay.
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Thank you.
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Okay, so they told me to pull up and it'll be out in two minutes.
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So they, I was at the drive-thru window.
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Sometimes when you have a big order with a lot of food, they have to cook.
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They'll tell you to pull up to the front of the building
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and you'll wait here for a few minutes until they can bring it out
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so that they can get the people with smaller orders keep them moving because I was in the drive-thru.
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So now we wait.
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Okay guys, we've got our breakfast.
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Now, Connor got something that children love and in my opinion that's the worst part about this whole part of American culture.
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I know, I know, I know.
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The thing is, a lot of times it's created for children to want it.
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Because look how delicious this thing is.
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Here, go ahead and get that.
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And it really tastes great because they have smart people designing these things to taste great
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and look good and then kids want them so show
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that as close as you can to the camera
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so guys that's called a vanilla long john a vanilla donut okay long john is just the name
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because it's long
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and look at him chowing down already chowing down means eating a lot eating some people say let's chow down
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so you could smell the vanilla in that it smells great
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and he loves them i don't let him eat those all the time.
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He gets upset when he can't because they're not healthy.
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I want him to eat healthy things.
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Now me, I got two things.
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I got breakfast sandwich.
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It has turkey sausage, egg, cheese, and it's on something called an English muffin.
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So I got that and I got these.
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These are made out of eggs.
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They're called omelet bites.
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That's an omelet.
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These are omelet bites.
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so this is actually a kind of healthier option i got
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the turkey sausage got the eggs i wanted to get a bunch of protein today
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so i'm not completely being bad to my body
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so guys what i got black coffee turkey sausage egg sandwich
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and a omelet bites that's a lot healthier than the average
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order might be most people would get something like this but normal sausage a bigger sandwich
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hash browns are very popular fried things yes I love hash browns see
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what they're just pater box okay buddy and a donut
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so this is a healthier option
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but we will see how it tastes let's try this sandwich
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want a try bite okay guys the sandwich is not bad salty the bread is nice
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and soft and the sausage tastes pretty good okay guys let's try one of these omelet bites So, pretty good.
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Tastes alright.
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At least there's some protein in it.
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Alright guys, I'll see you around lunchtime.
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It's still early in the morning.
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We had our breakfast.
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We're gonna relax and hang out around the house a little bit.
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When it's lunchtime I'll show you what we eat next.
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Okay guys, we're trying to get some exercise.
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We're here walking.
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Connor is riding his scooter over there.
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I want to get some extra exercise today because of the junk food we're gonna be eating.
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Anyway, let's do a couple of interesting and some are very disturbing facts about fast food.
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The first fact, I mentioned earlier how many Americans eat fast food,
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but the actual data says that over 36% of American adults eat fast food at least one time a day.
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The next is that kids meals.
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This is called a kids meal and most fast food restaurants have their own version of a kids meal.
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these meals are designed with bright colors they put characters from
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disney movies on them they are psychologically engineered to create brand brand loyalty in children
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which means that
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when the children see their favorite characters on here they see
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the beautiful colors it creates in their brain a connection between
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that fast food company and the good things that they love these characters, the movies they like.
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And it creates brand loyalty, making those children want to go to that particular fast food place.
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I think that should be illegal.
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Another disturbing fact, marketing.
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The marketing is the commercials, the advertisements, where these companies spend their marketing money.
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They often are targeting people with less money in poorer parts of the city, poorer neighborhoods
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and they are pushing the unhealthier foods much more aggressively to these people who have less access to education and money.
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It's really an evil tactic but they're taking advantage of these people who do not have the money,
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who do not have access to good schools to where they can learn that they should not be doing these things.
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They're taking advantage of the people who are already being taken advantage of in so many ways in society.
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It's really sick.
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Next fact, the serving sizes, the actual size of the food has grown so much over the years.
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In the 1960s, a large drink was seven ounces at McDonald's.
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Now the large drink is 30 ounces.
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It's grown five times almost and this has caused so much obesity, diabetes, and many other health problems here in the US.
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Next, chicken nuggets.
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A very popular option for these kids meals.
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They are often barely even made out of meat.
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Different studies have shown that sometimes only 50% of these chicken nuggets are actually meat.
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The rest of it can be bone, connective tissue, veins.
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All of the disgusting things that nobody wants to eat, they process them and process them until they look like that and then they feed them to our children.
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And the last thing I'll share for now, the ice machines, the machines that make the ice in fast food places, often have more bacteria than toilets do,
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because they are so poorly clean.
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The people working there usually are young people who don't really care that much about their jobs for that reason.
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There is often more bacteria in this than there is in this.
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Okay, Connor, what did you get from Chick-fil-A?
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Fries.
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Show... And nuggets.
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Show us what a chicken nugget is.
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This goopy looking thing.
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Are they good?
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Mm-hmm.
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What do you think about Chick-fil-A?
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I think it's the best fast food thing I've ever had.
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It's the best fast food thing ever?
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Mm-hmm.
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Okay, so show us.
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You got your chicken nuggets.
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What do the french fries look like?
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They're called waffle fries since they look like waffles.
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Can you turn it sideways so I can see?
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Okay.
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And what did you get to drink?
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Chocolate milk.
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Chocolate milk?
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Mm-hmm.
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Alright, one to ten.
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What is Chick-fil-A?
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Ten thousand.
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Ten thousand.
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Alright buddy, thank you.
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Okay guys, so you saw Connor's meal.
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Now let's see what I got.
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I got a wrap.
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To wrap means to roll something up in a tortilla, usually.
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Now this actually looks pretty decent.
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Pretty good.
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This is a cool chicken wrap.
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So it is chicken, lettuce, chicken, lettuce, the green thing is the lettuce, and some cheese.
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And it's wrapped up in this wrap that looks like a whole grain wrap.
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Guys, I'm going to tell you all some interesting things about this restaurant, Chick-fil-A.
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But this looks much healthier than the other fast food.
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They use much higher quality ingredients.
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I've got this avocado lime ranch.
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We're going to see how it is on this this.
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Pretty good.
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Connie, you want to try a bite of this?
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It's really good.
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You sure?
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Okay, so I would really honestly still rather eat at home and cook things, but if I had to eat fast food, this is a really good option.
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It tastes good and the ingredients are much better than other fast food.
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So the cool, cool chicken wrap is actually pretty good.
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Now I ordered something else.
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These are called grilled chicken nuggets.
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Let's see how these look.
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So these are not fried.
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They don't have a breading on them.
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They are just grilled chicken.
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Let's see how that is with a little bit of ranch dressing.
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Not bad guys.
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It's grilled chicken.
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Like I said this is an actually pretty decent fast food option.
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I'm getting my protein.
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I'm not getting a ton of extra calories from fat.
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It's not greasy.
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I feel pretty good about this one actually.
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The breakfast, I didn't feel like I was really eating real food.
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It was ultra processed, but this, this is real chicken.
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Chick-fil-a uses 100% real natural chicken breast, so not bad for our lunch.
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Okay guys, so I finished my Chick-fil-a and I actually feel pretty good after this meal.
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It felt clean and fairly healthy.
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I got some nutrients that my body needs in it so I'm happy with this meal.
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Connor's back there finishing up his his meal and he's happy.
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Now guys Chick-fil-A is actually a very interesting fast food restaurant
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and I want to tell you guys a little bit about it.
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It's closed on Sundays.
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Now a lot of people don't like this because they want Chick-fil-A on Sundays, but it's very good for the employees.
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It helps them get a little bit of rest, and employees at Chick-fil-A are the happiest fast food workers in the U.S.
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Now, why is it that this restaurant is closed on Sundays?
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Well, the owner is a devout Christian, and he does not believe that people should be working on Sunday or the Sabbath,
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So I think that's pretty cool that they stick with their beliefs, give their employees a break, and their employees agree.
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Next, Chick-fil-A puts a lot of hard work into their quality, and it shows.
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They are the most profitable per location, the most profitable fast food company in the United States.
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Which means that each restaurant individually makes more than McDonald's does, it makes more than Starbucks does,
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And guys, I believe that it's because the quality, all of their employees have a wonderful attitude,
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great customer service, cleanliness, and high quality ingredients.
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These things should be normal, right?
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But they're not.
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Guys, if you go into a McDonald's, most of the McDonald's in the United States that I've been into, all of the tables are dirty.
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The workers are not polite.
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They don't care.
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How can I help you?
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That's how they sound.
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How can I help you?
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They don't care at all.
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All right guys, that was our lunch We'll see what we have for dinner.
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See you in a little bit.
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Most People that eat like this do not just eat three meals.
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They're eating little things in between
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candies
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potato chips things like that and that's where a lot of the extra calories come in
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and why a lot of people here are very overweight.
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So after we ate our lunch at Chick-fil-A, Connor and I went inside of a mall.
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A mall is a big building where there's a bunch of smaller stores that sell specific things.
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There's shoe stores, jewelry stores, clothing stores, etc. etc. While we were walking around there to get a little bit of exercise,
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we saw a store that sells nothing but snacks.
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Snacks are those small foods that are usually not good for you that so many people eat in between their meals.
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Many people will eat breakfast, then one or two snacks, then lunch, then one or two snacks, then dinner, and then they'll have another snack before bed.
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That is terrible for you.
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Usually I eat twice a day but today we're doing three meals and a snack.
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So guys you may have seen this online.
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It was very viral.
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It was going around.
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This is called the Dubai Chocolate Bar and it's this one's a small one and it was super expensive.
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Guys I did not see the price on it and
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when I took it up to pay for it they told me how much it was.
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This thing is $15.
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Anyway shall we try this?
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Well come on up.
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That's what it looks like.
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So it has a pistachio cream inside.
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What is that?
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Let's let Connor try it first.
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Is it good?
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Worth $15?
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Okay.
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Let's try the viral Dubai bar.
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Mmm.
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Mmm.
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So we're going to save some for camera wife because if she sees this video and sees we ate chocolate without her, oof, she'll be very upset.
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Pretty good, guys.
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And you know what?
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It's not a lot of extra calories if I'm sharing it with my son and my wife.
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but most people would be eating this whole bar by themselves so all right guys see you for dinner
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all right guys now for the last meal of the day my giant burger from burger king
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so guys it's called a hamburger or if it has cheese it's a cheeseburger but everybody just says a burger
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oh i had a good burger from mcdonald's i had a good burger from burger king let's see what this looks like.
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Take a look at their Bacon King.
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So guys it has the buns, the burgers, cheese, bacon, ketchup, mayonnaise.
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There's so many calories.
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Guys it doesn't even look that big really now that I'm holding it but there's 1,200 calories in this.
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This has the amount of calories that a man my size, half of the calories for the whole day in this one burger.
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And the thing is guys most people don't just order the burger like I did.
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Most people will eat this a side of french fries and a large drink full of sugar.
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That's why there's so many problems with obesity here in the U.S.,
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but now a lot of other places around the world that companies like Burger King and McDonald's are getting into different countries.
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All right, let's try it, guys.
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So, guys, it's very salty.
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Here at Burger King, they say that they grill their burgers on fire.
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You could taste that smoky flavor.
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It tastes good.
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Like I said, there's teams of nutritional scientists working in laboratories to make these taste delicious,
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to trick our brains into wanting more and keep coming back
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and keep giving them that delicious money that they want so bad.
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So there's a reason it tastes so good.
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They've been developing these recipes for decades.
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A decade means ten years years.
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They've been doing this since the 60s guys.
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So there's a reason it tastes so good.
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But I've been eating this stuff all day and I don't feel right guys.
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I don't feel like my body's getting what it needs.
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Even after I eat this big sandwich maybe I'll feel full
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but I will not feel like I have good clean energy to use to work out, to exercise, to live a healthy life. And guys
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even though this stuff tastes good kind of I would much
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rather have a plate of rice a healthy meat some avocados
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and some vegetables but today we're showing you the American diet
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and this is what it consists of okay guys I'm gonna
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go finish my burger in the other room in the kitchen
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with the camera wife she's waiting for me I have one
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more thing to talk to you guys about after we're done with our dinner.
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So I'll see you in a bit.
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All right guys, that was a whole day of eating fast food.
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So let's find out, is it actually cheaper to eat fast food?
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You may be surprised.
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That is the excuse that I hear all the time.
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Sometimes I'll ask a co-worker or a friend, why are you always eating this fast food?
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The number one excuse that I hear is, I don't have money to eat healthy food.
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I don't have all that money to eat healthy food.
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Healthy food is too expensive.
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Well guys, that is not true.
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Today eating fast food we spent a total of $67.19.
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We spent $18 at Dunkin Donuts, $22 at Chick-fil-A, $16 on that ridiculously overpriced chocolate bar,
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and $10 on that big burger at Burger King.
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Now, how much healthy food could we have bought with that much money?
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Well, guys, with only $66.75, I bought all of this real healthy food.
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So as you can see, my friends, it is not a money thing.
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It's an education thing.
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people don't know or they don't care
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that they can buy all of this healthy food
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that will be good for them that will give their body
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and their brains the nutrients that they need with less money all this food
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that i bought all this healthy food could feed a family for several days
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and all the junk food that i bought only fed me
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and one little boy for one day and i did not even feel satisfied So guys, it is clear that that is a myth.
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A myth is something that people say that is just not true.
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It is absolutely 100% a myth that it is cheaper to eat fast food than it is to eat healthy food.
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Okay guys, now the last thing that I want to say in this video, I know that I spent a lot of money.
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I wasted a lot of money on junk food today and honestly I work very hard for my money.
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But I have to acknowledge that I am blessed.
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I'm blessed that I live in a place where I can have a good job, where I can work hard and make good money for my family,
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and where it is easy to get food.
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Even if you want junk food, fast food, all you have to do is drive your car up to a window, give them some money, and they give it back to you.
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But I'm also blessed that I live somewhere where I can go to the store and buy healthy food for my family.
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but I know that there are many people around the world or people who do not have access to good food.
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People who are hungry and people who are struggling just to survive every day.
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For that reason I've donated $100 of my YouTube earnings to the Zakat Foundation
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and what this organization does is they provide food to the
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people of Gaza who are really going through a rough time right now
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and according to the website with my 100 donation 20 people will be able to eat in gaza
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so i hope that's true that's all that i could do from
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so far away if i was closer i would look for more ways to help
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but this is just a small a small way to say
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that we are with you guys we are with you we stand with you
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and support you all of you guys over there who are going through such difficult time.
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So a special salute, a special shout out to our brothers and sisters over there in Gaza.
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I wish you and your families the best.
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Stay strong guys.
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Stay strong and try and get through these hard times.
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The Pensando Inglés team supports you.
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Okay guys, I'm going to put a link to the Zakat organization in the description below
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if you feel like you would also give to that cause.
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I think it's a way that we can do a little bit of good in the world.
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So I hope that that money actually helps in some way.
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All right guys this has been another cultural adventure here on the channel.
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Thank you guys for joining me.
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I can't wait to eat some real food.
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I did not enjoy this video but I enjoyed showing you guys a huge part of American culture.
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My son sure enjoyed eating the fast food.
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Yes I loved it.
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He loved it.
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All right guys see you in the next video.

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Speaking Goals for This Clip

This video helps you reach a key fluency milestone: discussing daily habits and cultural observations with natural flow. You’ll practice explaining "why people do what they do" (e.g., fast food choices) and sharing personal opinions—skills that make conversations feel real, not scripted. Perfect for moving beyond small talk to meaningful exchanges about everyday life.

Phrase Bank: Reusable Expressions

  • "Is it really cheaper? Does it really cost less money to..." – Great for comparing options in debates or casual chats.
  • "Let's get this experiment going" – A lively way to start a fun activity or challenge.
  • "I never eat the food, but I always get my coffee here" – Useful for contrasting habits (common in daily stories).
  • "What do you think about..." / "Why do you think so many people..." – Essential for asking open-ended questions to keep conversations going.
  • "Let's find out" – A natural transition to explore a topic or test an idea.

Fix Your Weak Spots: Pronunciation & Rhythm

This clip is ideal for mastering conversational rhythm—how to stress key words (like "huge," "negative," "convenient") and reduce unstressed syllables (e.g., "I think it is" vs. "I think it's"). Notice how Kyle says "a part of American culture that I do not really like" with a relaxed flow, not robot-like precision. Use the shadowing technique (repeat aloud while watching) to mimic his pace. Focus on phrases like "why do so many people eat this food"—the rise and fall of his voice here helps you sound more natural. Practice "shadow speak" with the dialogue to fix flat pronunciation and make your speech sound connected, not choppy. You’ll also learn to stress "even though" to emphasize contrast, a tricky area for many learners. Keep at it—this video is your shortcut to sounding more like a native!

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

StructureIn the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going onThey've been developing · They've been doing · I've been eating
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its resultif i was closer i would look · if you feel like you would also
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itare made · is called · are designed
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters nowhas grown · has caused · have shown

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →