How do you choose a salad over a Big Mac?

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Replies

  • Nixi3Knox
    Nixi3Knox Posts: 182 Member
    Big Macs are nasty. So it's an easy choice for me. I find that McDonald's food leaves a terrible kind of almost sourish chemicalesque taste in the back of my mouth as well as nausea. I don't know what it is in their food, but I simply cannot eat it and not feel sick after. So a salad, most likely not from McDonald's would be perfect for me.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    edited October 2017
    Wow many comment. Well I think that if you crave junk like McDonald´s then you you don´t have healthy diet in general, am I right? Have you ever eaten fresh veggies two times a day with your meals, over a period of time? I used to crave junk for every meal but I´d never had a normal diet, so when my diet went from junk to home made with fresh veggies every time for about seven months, the cravings for junk stopped and it actually started to repel me.
    How I went about the change is I got a job at a farm and got two meals a day cooked for me by a chef... and this was in the country so there were no fast food places. That was a game changer for me to eat normal every day, for the first time in my life. Never went back to the old habits and lost a lot of weight.

    I eat vegetables with dinner most nights.

    I dont have cravings for junk food but every now and then I like to eat what you call junk.
    you know, variety in a balanced diet.

    Mcdonalds isnt my favourite place but if I were there for some reason - eg friends wanted to go there, was only place open, whatever - then i would get the Mcwrap - I dont know if it is lower calorie but I like wraps and I dont like their salad and I dont eat burgers

    My point exactly. If a person is struggling to pick the salat over the burger then it´s most likely not "once in a while" is it? I sometimes eat junk too, just like every one else. I don´t struggle with it... and never eat at MacDonald´s, it´s awful. Fried chicken is much better :p

    The thing is, almost nobody wants to eat a McDonald's salad, regardless. I'd have trouble choosing if my only options were that vs. the melted milkshake that dried on the side of the trash can. You're nmaking a pretty unfair assumption.

    Looks like ppl who were not raised on MacDonald´s don´t like it very much.
    http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/eat_and_drink/2016/08/23/mcdonald_s_not_on_their_way_to_iceland/

    I wasn't "raised on it." We made our parents fuming mad with begging every time we drove by a McDonald's. It was definitely a rare occasion to be blessed with chicken nuggets and sweet & sour sauce. I didn't consume it on any regular basis until I got my driver's license at age 18.

    It´s so funny how you keep confirming every thing I´m talking about but keep saying that I´m wrong. Any way best of luck to you <3

    I didn't say that you were wrong. Nice try at a clap-back, though. If anything, I'd be saying that the article you linked to only provided a small perspective. Problem is I followed that link and there wasn't much of anything there. Doesn't matter either way. I was sharing my experience.
  • ck2d
    ck2d Posts: 372 Member
    I go to Wendy's instead and get the chili when I want fast food.
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
    Try to stick to a low sodium diet for awhile, then try a Big Mac. It's easier to not want something if you can't stand the taste of it due to how salty it tastes.
  • Sunnybrooke99
    Sunnybrooke99 Posts: 369 Member
    ck2d wrote: »
    I go to Wendy's instead and get the chili when I want fast food.

    I worked at a fast food restaurant for a little while. The chili was a bag of sauce, with the burgers from that past day or so that got too dried out to sell, sitting on warming grill, and stuff at the end of the night. And the next day, we’d save all of the chili sitting in the crock pot for the next day. I’m sure it’s fine, but it’s mostly dried up burgers. I only worked at one place, but I’ve heard it the same anywhere. It’s a good way for them to use those burgers that would otherwise be trash.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    ck2d wrote: »
    I go to Wendy's instead and get the chili when I want fast food.

    I worked at a fast food restaurant for a little while. The chili was a bag of sauce, with the burgers from that past day or so that got too dried out to sell, sitting on warming grill, and stuff at the end of the night. And the next day, we’d save all of the chili sitting in the crock pot for the next day. I’m sure it’s fine, but it’s mostly dried up burgers. I only worked at one place, but I’ve heard it the same anywhere. It’s a good way for them to use those burgers that would otherwise be trash.

    Yep, I worked at Wendy's when I was in high school, and that was pretty much exactly how the chili was made. Only extra addition was a bag of frozen vegetables.
    I always hated washing those chili pots at the end of the night, too, from the chili that had been sitting in the warmer all day, caked on the sides. Ugh!
  • BurgerLovinBulker
    BurgerLovinBulker Posts: 38 Member
    Kathryn247 wrote: »
    I agree that if you go to McDonald's you should get a burger and not a salad, their salads are terrible and not many fewer calories than the burgers. If you're looking for general decision-making help, I found this Chris Pratt quote oddly helpful and on-point.731gcxek6ats.jpg

    I want to know what burger with 1200 calories he's talking about. And eat it.

    Ever heard of The Habit? Check out their nutrtional facts.....
  • invisibleman53
    invisibleman53 Posts: 20 Member
    I don't eat at McDonald's but breakfast, egg, ham, sandwich, hash brown and medium coffee, period. If I'm going to eat a wrap or salad, its Subway

  • jennydelgado09
    jennydelgado09 Posts: 119 Member
    Don't go to mcdonalds.

    Mcdonalds salads suck. When i go i never get their salads. I'll get chicken strips, nuggets, or hot and spicy. Because i think their burgers are nasty.

    If you know you'll give in to temptation then don't go there.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,316 Member
    McDonald's has always been a nemesis for me. I have stood in line, pondering if I should get a salad or McWrap instead of a Big Mac. 99.97% of the time, I choose the Big Mac....I did get the McWrap once. What I am looking for is "decision process information" that helps you choose the salad. What I mean by "decision process information" is any thoughts or reasonings that you have that lead to the decision to eat the salad.

    I just get the Big Mac. 540 calories. Get a side salad for 40 more if you don't put dressing on it, and a diet drink you are in for 580 calories, a not too bad amount for a meal. I don't see what the issue is.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I've chosen a salad over a big mac because I didn't want to blow all my calories on something that won't fill me up (fast food burgers typically don't).

    It's all about the mindset and counting calories and figuring out what will satisfy you the most for the calories you have left... sometimes it's the Big Mac (I prefer Mc Doubles, personally), sometimes it's the salad.

    I mean, I have a huge sweet tooth and would just eat dessert all day if I could get away with it... but it doesn't fill me up and I get hangry so it's just not worth it to me (considering that I also don't want to go back to 200 lbs).
  • sawyergarden13
    sawyergarden13 Posts: 15 Member
    Don't deny yourself something if you really want it. Maybe use your big mac day on a exercise day thus less guilt
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Don't deny yourself something if you really want it. Maybe use your big mac day on a exercise day thus less guilt

    there shouldn't be guilt over food ever, exercise day or not.
  • sawyergarden13
    sawyergarden13 Posts: 15 Member
    Very true there shouldn't be guilt around food. However when it comes to junk food it's a hard mindset to accept it's perfectly fine especially when u are well aware it's not the healthiest of choices. Personally for me a little bit if exercise makes me feel just that little bit better about my food choices
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
    The decision making plan is simple:

    Getting the Southwest Salad with grilled chicken is generally one of the few McDonald's items that fit in my typical calorie allotment. It's usually either that or the grilled chicken sandwich (no fries). Or maybe the egg McMuffin.

    Now if I've been hiking all day, done a particuarly fierce session of Zumba, haven't eaten all day or something like that...I can order a Big Mac.

    It is pretty much that simple. Easy? No. Not always.

    It has gotten easier for me as I've seen 46 pounds of me shrink though.

    One thing about Big Macs..turns out you can order just a regular burger and ask for the Big Mac sauce on it. I figured this out because my 10 year old loves Big Macs but we figured out it was really the sauce he liked, not the oversized meat sandwich as much.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    Kathryn247 wrote: »
    I agree that if you go to McDonald's you should get a burger and not a salad, their salads are terrible and not many fewer calories than the burgers. If you're looking for general decision-making help, I found this Chris Pratt quote oddly helpful and on-point.731gcxek6ats.jpg

    I want to know what burger with 1200 calories he's talking about. And eat it.

    Ever heard of The Habit? Check out their nutrtional facts.....

    I have not heard of them. But I looked at their nutrition facts and there's no single item that breaks 1000.

    https://www.habitburger.com/wp-content/uploads/Habit-Nutritional-Data-21140614-2.pdf
  • iamthemotherofdogs
    iamthemotherofdogs Posts: 562 Member
    I would skip McD's entirely. I think if you can break that bond long enough, you'll find it wasn't as good as you thought it was.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Back when I was getting my lunch every day from McD, my decision process management had one word, "Money". For $2.16 I could get a chicken sandwich and a side salad. I did that each day. During that time, I was not trying to lose weight. I was just going about my life trying not to spend 'too much' on food.

    IMO the problem is that you're in the wrong place. If you want to make it easier to chose a salad, you need to be in front of a menu where there are actually GOOD salads on the menu. Otherwise you're pushing a boulder up hill.

    True--but cheap food is very rarely healthy food. It's really hard to eat in a healthy way if money is really tight. (Yes, not impossible. But really, really hard for most individuals in such a scenario.) And if you're forced to eat cheap prepared food, (and there are people that this is best option given circumstances) you probably are not eating at a place with good salads.

    The point here was this person CHOSE to eat a chicken sandwich/salad combo instead of something else...that was really the point. I think.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
    edited October 2017
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    McDonald's has always been a nemesis for me. I have stood in line, pondering if I should get a salad or McWrap instead of a Big Mac. 99.97% of the time, I choose the Big Mac....I did get the McWrap once. What I am looking for is "decision process information" that helps you choose the salad. What I mean by "decision process information" is any thoughts or reasonings that you have that lead to the decision to eat the salad.

    I just get the Big Mac. 540 calories. Get a side salad for 40 more if you don't put dressing on it, and a diet drink you are in for 580 calories, a not too bad amount for a meal. I don't see what the issue is.

    The issue is it's pretty poor nutrition if done on a regular basis.

    We have no idea if this is a once a week thing, once a month, daily (hope not) or twice a day (please, no).

    Having a 600 calorie meal like this instead of a large extra value meal is certainly a smarter choice...even though it certainly isn't a nice salmon fillet with kale salad.
  • Sarahb29
    Sarahb29 Posts: 952 Member
    McDonald's has always been a nemesis for me. I have stood in line, pondering if I should get a salad or McWrap instead of a Big Mac. 99.97% of the time, I choose the Big Mac....I did get the McWrap once. What I am looking for is "decision process information" that helps you choose the salad. What I mean by "decision process information" is any thoughts or reasonings that you have that lead to the decision to eat the salad.

    I don't eat Mc Donalds salads. By the time you add the dressing the calories come out to more than a Big Mac. I take the Big Mac and pick off the buns.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    McDonald's has always been a nemesis for me. I have stood in line, pondering if I should get a salad or McWrap instead of a Big Mac. 99.97% of the time, I choose the Big Mac....I did get the McWrap once. What I am looking for is "decision process information" that helps you choose the salad. What I mean by "decision process information" is any thoughts or reasonings that you have that lead to the decision to eat the salad.

    I just get the Big Mac. 540 calories. Get a side salad for 40 more if you don't put dressing on it, and a diet drink you are in for 580 calories, a not too bad amount for a meal. I don't see what the issue is.

    The issue is it's pretty poor nutrition if done on a regular basis.

    According to the website, one Big Mac as served is:
    540 calories
    46g carbs
    28g fat (10g sat)
    25g protein
    3g fiber
    9g sugar
    950mg sodium
    10% RDA Vit A
    15% RDA Calcium
    25% RDA Iron
    2% RDA Vit C

    Not an everyday food in my personal opinion, but once or twice a week as part of a carefully logged diet doesn't seem like a problem to me.
  • midlomel1971
    midlomel1971 Posts: 1,283 Member
    It's hard for me, too, so I choose both. I'll have a regular cheeseburger and a side salad.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    edited October 2017
    The only time I eat at McDonald's is if I am starving, and have no other options - no time or traveling. Or if I had too much to drink the night before. (DC and a doublecheeseburger has always been my hangover recovery food.) Although that is not something that happens much anymore - probably been 2 years since I had that hankering. Oh, I did always stop and have a sausage McMuffin at 4am, before my half-marathons. That was sort of a tradition then.

    In any event, I have no issues with eating or choosing food at McDonalds, because normally, I am never eating there.