In an article by Daily Mail, fitness model and personal trainer Dan Rayner talks about the healthy alternatives on the menu of fast-food chains like McDonald’s. Personally, I’ve never quite understood the concept of healthy eating in a fast-food chain.
Healthy fast food
The chicken and bacon salad is a very healthy option with just 184 calories and 24g of protein. A McChicken sandwich has 388 calories and 17g of protein, so it’s a leaner meat choice and one of the lowest calorie options out of all the burgers, with a good amount of protein. If you like fish, a Filet-o-Fish burger comes in at 329 calories and 15 grams of protein.
Dan Rayner
It’s nice to read about the proteins in a McMuffin with bacon and egg. Or the nutritional value of McDonald’s oatmeal [1].
The fact that we don’t have the latter on the menu of Dutch McDonald’s, I don’t see as a loss. The idea of healthy eating in a fast-food chain is something I’ve never quite understood myself. It’s a bit like going to a brothel for a lap dance and a peck on the cheek. I have a different view on that, at least when it comes to McDonald’s. If you sin, sin properly. Granted; I have it easy with a Mac-menu-sustainable six-pack, but I hope the choice would fall on not sinning rather than “lightly sinning”. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve also ordered that Caesar Salad with grilled chicken, but then as a side dish next to a Big Mac menu, with a large Coke, of course, regular, no zero.
I also came across a similar article by Dana Leigh Smith with strategies from various nutritionists to eat as healthily as possible at McDonald’s [2]. Things like removing the buns and sauce on your grilled chicken filet. Really!?
In the article, Dan Rayner says he doesn’t recommend eating at a fast-food establishment daily, but there are sensible options for people who want to watch what they eat. His best argument for going to a fast-food place for healthy food is when convenience and speed suit you at that moment. However, if you have developed, like the experts in Dana Leigh Smith’s article, whole strategies for a healthy visit to the Mac, then apparently you’re often looking for the easy and quick solution. Maybe you should consider changing that and plan your diet a bit better.
Personally, I thought more about the situation where, as a parent, you’re sitting among screaming children and happy meals at a birthday party. If you actually don’t want to be there but once there, you have to eat something. After all, screaming children cost a lot of energy, and it’s a bit strange to sit in McDonald’s with your Tupperware container of sweet potato, broccoli, and chicken fillet.
Token salad
But I think that doesn’t explain my initial irritation when reading these kinds of articles. Yes, there are healthier alternatives in fast-food chains, and they can make a big difference if you eat there regularly. I understand that not everything with a golden M is bad. I just see risks when the terms “healthy” and “fast food” are mentioned in one sentence. I’m always a little afraid that people will deceive themselves.
A symbolic salad is, of course, good for sales [3]. Suddenly people don’t have to feel guilty anymore when they drive through a MacDrive now that they can stick a McMuffin Fan sticker on their rear window, or “I Brake for salads”.
McDonald’s protects its image as a chain with standards and values by offering healthy alternatives and is no longer seen as the evil genius behind the global obesity epidemic.
If I happen to order such a salad myself, I don’t do it with the thought that my meal is suddenly healthy. Yes, I’m adding some protein, vitamins, and minerals to a meal that already consisted of 1300 calories mainly from fats and sugars. Does it make it a healthy meal? Yes, if I was 1300 calories short that day and wanted to gain weight. In this context, however, I also have difficulty with the terms “healthy” and “unhealthy”, even though I use them here frequently. I’m from the old ‘If It Fits Your Macros’ generation. I don’t see tasty cheeseburgers and fries on the menu boards, but rotating tables with nutritional values, like Neo sees code in the Matrix.
Sort of…
“I want to lose weight so I’ll have a salad.” Or: “Give me a Coke Zero with my quarter pounder menu (with extra fries sauce) because I’m on a diet.” They really exist, people who think they lose weight by eating certain foods and don’t understand that this only works when it replaces other, more calorie-rich foods.
Such a “symbolic salad” or sugar-free drink can lead to compensatory behavior. A healthy part of the meal as justification for the less healthy parts. I’ve written before about the creativity with which people can apply this “moral compensation”, even to things that have nothing to do with each other.
“I just did environmentally friendly grocery shopping, so now I can cheat during a test.”
Really, I’m not making this up.
‘Yogurt with crunchy muesli’ at the Mac? The world is confusing enough. Let junk food just be junk food. Then at least you know you’re indulging.
“French fries fraud”
While writing this article, of course, I’ve gotten a huge craving for a Quarter Pounder menu. However, if I drive towards the Mac now, apparently, this will yield a bit less than the promised 1300 calories. Also, during the writing of this article, Telegraaf published an article revealing that you’re being deceived with the French fries [4].
The employees would receive instructions to fold the cardboard trays in such a way that fewer fries fit in. Fantastic news, of course! Coincidentally, today I wrote an article about the fact that our sense of hunger is influenced by what we think we’ve eaten and not necessarily by the amount we’ve actually eaten.
Therefore, I don’t understand why an employee felt ashamed when he was approached by a customer about the French fries fraud. He should have just indicated that psychological research has shown that the customer feels like they’re getting as much to eat, but consuming fewer calories with this trick. Beautiful service from McDonald’s. Proof that the company has its heart in the right place.
However, unfortunately, the message doesn’t sound entirely credible even though it’s the Telegraaf. The employee would still see the face of the ‘duped’ man who got too few fries after 7 years. Show me a world where this would be classified as a traumatic experience, and apparently, you’ve found paradise. Where the biggest concern is the amount of French fries in your cardboard tray.
References
- dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-4883358/What-fitness-guru-order-FAST-FOOD-chain.html
- eatthis.com/what-diet-experts-eat-mcdonalds
- forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/07/25/healthy-food-options-in-the-core-menu-can-drive-revenues-for-mcdonalds/#3c7e2617726f
- telegraaf.nl/buitenland/29247718/___Minder_friet_truc_McDonald_s____.html
