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McDonalds: The Official Restaurant of the US Olympic Team

 

I want to talk about McDonald’s “healthy options”. The only thing I’d go near at McDonalds is a cup of water. Let’s face it Apples are on the dirty dozen list… go buy an organic apple at the grocery store, apples don’t need to be wrapped in plastic.

Premium Bacon Ranch Salad:

Chicken breast fillet with rib meat, water, seasoning [sugar, salt, sodium phosphates, modified tapioca starch, spice, autolyzed yeast extract, carrageenan, natural (vegetable and botanical source) and artificial flavors, maltodextrin, sunflower lecithin, gum arabic]. Battered and breaded with: bleached wheat flour, water, wheat flour, sugar, salt, food starch-modified, yellow corn flour, leavening (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, ammonium bicarbonate), wheat gluten, spices, corn starch, dextrose, xanthan gum, extractives of paprika.

Iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, spring mix (may contain baby red romaine, baby green romaine, baby red leaf, baby green leaf, baby red swiss chard, baby red oak, baby green oak, parella, lolla rosa, tango, totsoi, arugula, mizuna, radicchio, frisee), carrots.

Grape Tomatoes

Cheddar cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, annatto (color)], Monterey Jack cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), potato starch and corn starch and powdered cellulose (prevent caking), dextrose, enzymes, natamycin (natural mold inhibitor).

Pork bellies cured with [water, salt, sugar, natural smoke flavor (plant source), sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite].

With 870 mg of salt this is 36% of the maximum allowance for an adult in a day and about 60% of the recommended salt intake for a child 8 and under. 

 

Fruit and  (candied) walnuts:

Apple Slices and Red Grapes: Apples, calcium ascorbate (a blend of calcium and vitamin C to maintain color), red grapes.

Vanilla Lowfat Yogurt: Cultured pasteurized Grade A reduced fat milk, sugar, food starch-modified, fructose, whey protein concentrate, corn starch, gelatin, natural (plant source) and artificial flavor, potassium sorbate (added to maintain freshness).

Candied Walnuts: Walnuts (TBHQ and BHT added as a preservative), sugar, peanut oil, honey, salt, wheat starch, maltodextrin, xanthan gum, natural (plant source) and artificial flavor.

Sugar and honey on your walnuts. It’s just like at the health food store. 

Fruit and Yogurt Parfait:

Low Fat Yogurt (for Parfaits)
Cultured pasteurized Grade A reduced fat milk, sugar, food starch-modified, fructose, whey protein concentrate, corn starch, gelatin, natural (plant source) and artificial flavor, potassium sorbate (added to maintain freshness).

Strawberries, konjac flour (stabilizer).

Blueberries.
Low Fat Granola
Whole grain rolled oats, brown sugar, crisp rice (rice flour, barley malt extract, salt), dried high maltose corn syrup, honey, sunflower oil, salt, baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, apple puree concentrate, soy lecithin, cinnamon, crushed oranges, natural flavor (vegetable source).

The Parfait contains almost five teaspoons of sugar (23 grams)… a serving of chocolate Haagen Dazs has just 19 grams of sugar. 

Strawberry Banana Smoothie: Strawberry puree, banana puree, water, grape juice concentrate, clarified demineralized pineapple juice concentrate, sugar, contains less than 1% of the following: natural (botanical source) and artificial flavors, cellulose powder, pear juice concentrate, peach juice concentrate, xanthan gum, citric acid, pectin, colored with fruit and vegetable juice, ascorbic acid (preservative).

Cultured Grade A reduced fat milk, sugar, whey protein concentrate, fructose, corn starch, gelatin. Contains active yogurt cultures.

The smoothie has 44 grams of sugar, almost twice as much as a serving of chocolate Haagen Dazs.

Fruit and Maple Oatmeal:

Oatmeal: Whole grain rolled oats, brown sugar, food starch-modified, salt, natural flavor (plant source), barley malt extract, caramel color.

Diced Apples
Apples, calcium ascorbate (a blend of calcium and vitamin C to maintain color).

Cranberry Raisin Blend
Sweetened dried cranberries (sugar, cranberries), California raisins, golden raisins, sunflower oil, sulfur dioxide as a preservative (contains sulfites).

Light Cream
Milk, cream, sodium phosphate, datem, sodium stearoyl lactylate, sodium citrate, carrageenan.

This clocks in at 32 grams of sugar, only 9 grams more than my bowl of ice cream. 

11 thoughts on “McDonalds: The Official Restaurant of the US Olympic Team”

  1. funny they just sent coupons in the mail for their oatmeal.. I guess I won’t ask if you want them… cause we don’t 

    I would be careful with the water and only buy it bottled. I just don’t know how anyone unless maybe it is a ice cream cone eat there.

    1. This is the ice cream ingredient list:

      Milk, sugar, cream, nonfat milk solids, corn syrup solids, mono- and diglycerides, guar gum, dextrose, sodium citrate, artificial vanilla flavor, sodium phosphate, carrageenan, disodium phosphate, cellulose gum, vitamin A palmitate.

      And this is the cone:

      Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), tapioca starch, sugar, shortening [soybean oil, palm oil, soy lecithin (emulsifier)], leavening (baking soda, ammonium bicarbonate), salt, natural flavor (plant source), annatto (color), caramel color, corn syrup (processing aid).

  2. None of this bothers me because its fast food. I don’t buy it expecting a healthier alternative to making fresh food at home. Anyone that does is just a moron.

    trisha

    1. I think that’s unfair. McDonalds has launched agressive multimillion dollar campaigns to make America believe it’s food is healthy. I don’t think only a moron would believe that a fruit smoothie is healthy. I think that smart men and women who don’t do a lot of research might go for it. 

      1. come on really? is this like the people who claim the commercial for nutella made them believe it was a healthy choice? I disagree.. because we all deep down inside realze that it is not a healthy choice. what I will give them is.. I would rather see someone eat these options then a deep fried chalupa in a dorito shell

  3. I knew about the oatmeal being a horrible “healthy” food, and figured the rest weren’t really good for you either. Just didn’t know HOW bad.
    I’ll take the ice cream any day, =)

  4. Thanks for sharing that information. I hate that they are trying to pass off unhealthy food as “healthy” alternatives. People should stay away from fast food period. All of it. The less processed foods we eat, the better we feel and the healthier we’ll all be. 

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