It appeared unusual when in 2013 McDonald’s McResource website advised its employees of the potential health risks collocated with its popular McMenu. According to CNBC, the website warned that "fast foods are typically high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt and may put people at risk for becoming overweight". Additionally, the McResource website, created by independent third-party experts, states that a “cheeseburger, fries, and soda is the unhealthy choice and a sub, salad, and cup of water is the healthier choice”. Such sensible dietary advice coming from the fast-food giant – often ridiculed by its unhealthy menu – seems astonishingly unreasonable. In response, McDonald 's said that it agreed with the third-party advice …show more content…
Avoid ordering the restaurant’s conventional meal, basket or combo options; rather, have it your way. Fill your plate with heaps of fruits and vegetables; choose baked and grilled vegetables over fried. Fresh salads generally have a fraction of the fat and calories than a typical cheeseburger. For example, McDonald’s Big Mac cheeseburger has over 550 calories and 29 grams fat – that’s already 49% of your daily value -- versus their Premium Asian Salad with Grilled Chicken which has only 260 calories and nine grams fat. Also, look for key words like “whole grain”, “low-fat”, or “all natural” to recognize healthier choices. For example, order your pizza topping with low-fat cheese and lots of all-natural ingredients including: broccoli, spinach, mushrooms and plenty tomato sauce. Ham, sausages and bacon are highly processed foods and contribute little to a healthy diet. Adding an abundance of veggies to any meal gives you plenty of carbs with very little fat and calories. Many restaurants are starting to offer more dishes made with whole grain, like McDonald’s Fruit and Maple Oatmeal. The bottom line is, recognize the foods that are high in calories and fats and avoid them. Rather, choose to fill your plate with larger portions of veggies and non-processed …show more content…
Then try something else – elimination. Cutting high calorie condiments from your meal can shave off hundreds of calories. Have you ever thought of excluding the cheese and sauce on your Subway? Doing so could cut on average 150 calories and 15 grams fat from your next Footlong. Now chew on this, ordering your large french-fries sodium free at McDonalds will purge 300 grams sodium – that’s only 13 percent of your daily value, but a large sandwich can easily contain over 60 percent of your daily value. Thus, any small purge adds up quickly. On the other hand, not taking the sundae that comes with your Five Buck Lunch combo at Dairy Queen will keep your total calories from exceeding one
Super-size was a 2004 documentary film directed and stared in by Morgan Spurlock, who wanted to prove that like cigarettes, fast food “McDonalds” is just as harmful to The American population of the United States. He got the idea from two girls who were in a lawsuit with McDonalds, They blamed “McDonalds” for having gained so much weight, and they were also blaming “McDonalds” for corrupting their eating habits. The lawsuit failed and that was the reason Spurlock, decided to take on his 30 day diet of “McDonalds” food eating it (meals) three times a day, to show the probability he would gain a lot of weight and prove a significant point to “the citizens of United States of America.”
Zinczenko shares his personal story about how fast-food restaurants such as Taco Bell and McDonald’s led to a weight problem during his high-school years. He claims that the ease of accessibility and lack of healthy alternatives make it all too easy to fall into the cycle of unhealthy eating. Zinczenko also contends that the lack of nutrition labels on fast-food products leaves the consumer in the dark about what he or she is actually consuming. At the time Zinczenko wrote his article, fast-food restaurants were not willingly disclosing nutritional values of their products. Today this has changed. Fast-food companies, including McDonald’s, have put the full nutritional information of their products directly on the packaging and wrappers. All other fast-food establishments either post it on the menu board (Panera), offer easy access to pamphlets containing all nutritional information of their menu in store, or have it easily accessible online (Taco Bell, KFC). I am sure that this is a helpful step forward toward educating the public as to what they are consuming, but has this new knowledge to consumers had a dramatic change toward ending obesity? No. People have always known that eating a Big Mac and fries with the giant soft drinks that McDonald’s and other chains offer is not healthy; putting the nutritional labels on these items has done little to nothing to stop people from eating these high-calorie meals. This again leads back to the point that people as consumers need to be more accountable to themselves and stop blaming others for what they willingly choose to put in their
Since McDonalds is aware that people are more concerned with the healthiness of their products, they have added few items such as salads and fruits to gain a better reputation. Many high ranked officials even claim their food to be among the safest. “McDonald's is considered one of the best, if not the best, company in the United States when it comes to food safety” says Weisman. This claim, however, does not at all account for the poison...
When Ray Kroc opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, the famous chain was born. The company has become very successful with having sold over one billion hamburgers within just eight years of business (McSpotlight - History of McDonalds). So if this chain is so popular, why has McDonalds been criticised so much lately? Mostly because their food options are very high in calories and fat. The most caloric item on their menu is the Triple Thick Chocolate Shake - 1160 calories, 27g of fat, 168g of sugar, and 510mg of sodium. The most fattening menu item is the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese - 740 calories, 42g of fat (19g Saturated), and 1380mg of sodium! “It delivers the highest calorie, fat, and sodium content of any sandwich or burger at McDonalds.” The other three most unhealthy foods on the top five list are: Chicken Selects with 660 calories, Grilled Chicken Club with 570 calories, and the Big Mac with 540 calories (Fitzpatrick). Only seven items on the McMenu contain no sugar - fries, sausage, coffee, Chicken McNuggets, hash browns, Diet Coke, and iced tea (Super Size ...
Since our health is controlled by our diet, we highly need to consider the type of food we consume. Most of us shop for food that is tasty, but not necessarily healthy. Most our food today has a large amount of fat, salt, and other ingredients that can be unhealthy.
Subway has just become the biggest fast food franchise in the United States. They advertise a healthy menu full of all natural ingredients. However a recent experiment by the Journal of Adolescent Health found people consume almost the same amount of calories at Subway as McDonalds (Lesser). Subway is not the only fast food advertising healthy options however. Despite the unhealthiness of fast food, these chains do offer some benefits. Natalie Stein,a writer for the live strong foundation, who focuses on weight loss and sports nutrition points out some crucial benefits of fast food. Stein acknowledges the convince of fast food in her article “What Are the Benefits of Fast Food?” She believes that having fast food restaurants on almost every corner is a good thing. This might be a good thing to some people, but what is too much? The conveyance of fast food chains has driven out grocery stores and ruined a chance at a healthy diet. With obesity growing in the United States maybe it’s time to rethink the actual conveyance of fast
David Zinczenko states numbers and facts that open the eyes of his reader along with state his position of how fast food states no warnings that it could make someone obese or develop type 2 diabetes. His first statement is telling his readers a little background about how fast food affected his life and how he was once obese because he consumed such meals. Zinczenko explains how the increase in diabetes (specially type 2) were linked to the high consumption of fast food meals. He then goes on to address how much money is being spent to help take care of the mass amount of children with type 2 diabetes, showing how the price has gone up substantially over the past couple decades. The author then claims how the restaurants don’t give any healthy alternative and how its easier to find a McDonalds in American than an healthy alternative such as fruit. To wrap up the article he shares how he feels that obese kids who sue these fast food restaurants have good ground to do so since these places don’t put warnings on their foods; From Zinczenko himself “I say, let the deep fried chips fa...
People have come up with the conclusion that fast food is to blame for the obesity in America. But is this really true? A McDonald’s Big Mac contains 540 calories, a medium fry has 380 calories, and a large sweet tea has 280 calories. So these meals are highly processed and very unhealthy for the human body. And eating this on a daily basis c...
The food menu of McDonald’s is mainly created of unhealthy meals and drinks. Even McDonald’s try to add healthier choices in its food menu, but it still mainly focus on burgers and fried
You order a big mac meal and make it a large. Even with the nutrition facts on the boxes and wrappers now people still ignore what they are putting in their mouths. You could eat the daily calories recommended in one meal at one fast food restaurant, adding unneeded sugar, fat, and sodium that you didn’t need. After people started talking about fast food chains and Super Size Me came out healthier choices became an option. Some didn’t see it but some of the so called healthier selections weren’t so much healthier. Trying to find a well-balanced healthy meal out at a fast food restaurant may be difficult and take some time. You need to look closely at what you are ordering when out. It only brings on the calories that you shouldn’t eat all for one meal. Do you even know what you are eating? Fast food is dangerous both evident and concealed that the public is either unaware of or is choosing to
McDonald’s, one of America’s fastest growing fast food restaurants, has made more than its share of money within the last twenty years, serving more than 46 million people daily. They have twice as many restaurants as Burger King and more restaurants than KFC, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell combined. Often children have the dream of eating fast food for every meal of every day. Well, Morgan Spurlock took the challenge to see how dangerous it would be to eat McDonalds for every meal. He also took the challenge in response to a lawsuit against McDonalds by a family whose children became obese by the contents of its meals.
When researching McDonald’s through online sources, it is clear that nutrition is a major concern of the public visiting the fast-food chain. Secondary research conducted shows that there are several case studies and other secondary source searches around the same topic. McDonald’s has often been the center of nutritional attention within the fast-food industry. Secondary research shows that the restaurant has recently made changes to the American Happy Meal to reduce the amount of French fries offered and replace the portion with fruit (Strom, 2011). In a study conducted by McDonald’s a secondary source reports the meal cuts calories by 20% for the children’s meal (Strom, 2011). This is a critical move by the organization on children’s obesity is currently a hot topic within food chains and attention is driven by the Obama administration. Secondary research also shows that although the public has major health concerns with the food chain, profits are increasing during a high point of an economic recession (Dahan & Gittens, 2008). Acco...
One way the population of America can overcome the issue of obesity is by simply eating healthier. Further explained, people can start making healthier decisions on what they decide to eat. An example would be choosing to eat an apple over a bowl of ice cream. This is often easier said than done. Sugars and sodium counts are very high inside the foods that can only satisfy a sweet tooth. The ingestion of carbohydrates, saturated fat, and trans fat are very easy to overlook. The food pyramid is a great visual of what people should be eating daily in order to maintain a healthful way of life. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and protein should become the main focus at every meal. Another way to eat healthier is to follow the suggested serving size by eating smaller portions. By law it is required for food-producing companies to place a label on their products with a listing of the serving size and ...
If you have ever gone somewhere and needed a quick meal you went to the nearest fast food place to pick up a burger and a large fry. Even though fast food is convenient and cheap, those that have jobs that require lots of traveling have to live off of these unhealthy food these places provide. Traveling jobs eat more fast food than desirable, because they lack the resources and time to make their own food and have fast food near wherever they go at their convenience and at a poor nutritional level. The difficulties here are trying to eat better food by planning ahead and recognizing the struggle for traveling jobs like semi-truck drivers and many positions that require flying or driving.
What motivates people to eat at fast food restaurants? Could it be that they just enjoy fast food? I believe there are three goals that consumers attempt to balance when deciding what and where to eat. Consumers have switched to fast food because of social pleasure, eating pleasure, and lifestyle support.