Food quality is key at McDonald's. That's why we take pride in the foods we serve you and your family. We seek out fresh lettuce and tomatoes, quality buns and potatoes, pure ground beef, select poultry and fish and wholesome dairy products."
- Dr. Cathy Kapica, McDonald's Global Director of Nutrition.
If McDonald's food were really of good "quality," then Morgan Spurlock, director and star of the documentary, "Super Size Me," shouldn't have had so many health problems after eating it for 30 days straight!
Upon hearing McDonald's' claim that people cannot link their food to obesity, Spurlock figured he should be able to eat it harmlessly for a month. "But the last thing they want to tell you is that eating fast food is connected with disease, such as 'McDiabetes,'" Spurlock said.
After hearing Spurlock speak in Cohen last Wednesday night, I was inspired to take the liberty of researching McDonald's online. I wondered what was actually in the foods he was eating. Not to my surprise, the "food and nutrition" information verified why Spurlock's experiment resulted in incredibly dangerous health risks.
What Kapica isn't revealing is that the fresh lettuce and tomatoes are drenched in saturated fat salad dressing, that the buns are made of white bread as opposed to whole wheat or whole grains, and that the potatoes used to make fries are not the complex carbohydrate - high in vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6 and dietary fiber - but rather, are stripped of all nutrients and deep fried in partially hydrogenated oil.
The American Heart Association (AHA) states that hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils (trans-fatty acids) are directly related to studies that link trans-fatty acid consumption from processed foods to the development of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
In September 2002, McDonald's announced that it would reduce the trans fats in its infamous fries. In a small bag of McDonald's fries, the trans fat was reduced 47 percent to 1.8 grams from 3.4 grams, while saturated fat dropped 17 percent to 1.9 grams from 2.3 grams.
Now, the McDonalds fries you eat have less trans fat and saturated fat than they did before; however, they do not have fewer calories. Needless to say, a high fat intake, in general, can contribute to health problems. Since fatty acids aren't soluble in water, the liver repackages them for distribution to body cells and, therefore, to blood (which contains large amounts of water). Maybe this could be one of the reasons why doctors equated Spurlock's liver to a soft piece of p??t?©. Mmmm.
Kapica's claim on the "pure ground beef" is a load of beef, also. The notorious Big Mac has 600 calories, 33g of fat, 1,050 mg of sodium, 85mg of cholesterol, 50 carbohydrates, and 25g of protein. Great, so you've just eaten more than half of your daily required intake of sodium, and half of the daily value for fat, which, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is 65 grams for a 2,000-calorie diet.
Lean ground beef - not the beef in the Big Mac - has half the amount of fat and provides an excellent source of protein as well as zinc, selenium and B vitamins.
McDonald's poultry isn't the nice grilled piece of chicken served in the dining halls here. Oh no - The fried McChicken or McNuggets are battered, breaded and cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
You're not getting Dewick's fine Mahi Mahi, either, nor the other fish at the dining halls, like grilled tuna, salmon and halibut - all great sources of omega-3 fatty acids. The AHA believes omega-3 fatty acids lower the risk of heart disease, and recommends eating fish at least two times a week because it is a good source of protein without the high saturated fat.
Don't count on the fried McDonald's "Fish Filet Patty" (pollock or hoki - no, these are not names of your dogs, but rather of fish), drowned in our favorite partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and containing 20 grams of fat, four of which are saturated.
It's no wonder Spurlock said, "The Ronald McDonald clown never ate the food!" If the clown ate this crap, he'd hardly be able to stand up, let alone frolic with the kids.
If you have nothing else to eat at all, though, is it better to skip a meal or eat McDonalds? Skipping meals will actually lower metabolism since the body senses that food is in short supply. As a result, the next time you eat, there will be a larger-than-normal insulin response, in an effort to capture the calories coming in. Better to eat something at McDonalds than nothing at all.
Luckily, there are food choices you can make there that won't necessarily put your body into a pre-heart attack condition. Eating their Chicken McGrill sandwich without the mayonnaise is a much better choice than the French fries.
Spurlock left those of us who saw him at Cohen with a pertinent message: We don't think about the quality of calories that we eat. Dr. Cathy Kapica is correct in saying that "food quality is key." However, McDon't eat foods without understanding their nutritional value. This way, you can provide yourself with the answer to combating McIdiocy.
