McDonalds......unavoidable

Good for you for kicking the fast food habit but honestly you can find healthy options there. Take a look at the nutrition in advance, it's available online, and pick an option that seems better than the other options. So maybe not the big mac but they do some good salads, leave the croutons, or even there snack wraps are pretty good. hope all is well.

I always wonder how many calories I should log for just walking into McDs to use the bathroom.

Their salads are really good, and if you take off any chips and/or dressings, they are suprisingly low in calories.

get the salad and take your dressing in your purse. that's what I do!

I have kids so I have to eat there from time to time. LOL I eat a grilled chicken sandwich plain. nothing but chicken and bread and I eat the apples instead of fries. Total Calories is 335. I know the sodium isn't the best but it's not bad for Mcdonalds. The parfaits are good too. 6 nuggets are 280 calories as well. The paper in the bottom of their trays have all nutritional info on the back. Just FYI if you don't have time to look it up on the net. Just ask for one of those. You can compare everything. Good Luck and enjoy the party!

My only concerns with grilled chicken at fast food places are that they use the same grill that had the burger grease on it as they do the grilled chicken, and they don't clean it afterwards...so it's all just soaking up into the grilled chicken. At least, I know Sonic does that, as well as a couple of other places. Does McDonalds? I have no idea. It may just be me being paranoid...but just seeing grease makes me queasy. :noway:

it's on the same station but not the same side, and the grilled chicken is cooked in a ring so the greese from the burgers dont get in.

not all mcdonalds have enough room for 3 grills, but if they do, it's for the chicken. if not, the 2nd grill- one half for chicken and the other half for angus/quarter

Ahh, okay. I know I used to get a grilled chicken wrap from Sonic, until my friend who worked there told me to keep dreaming if I thought I was eating healthy, because they put it right overtop an uncleaned station with burger and fried chicken grease on it. It's kinda helped me steer clear of fast food altogether, with the exception of Chick-Fil-A, where I used to work, so I know what goes on in those.

Eat before you go and treat yourself to a vanilla cone as a treat...
or they serve their fruit oatmeal all day long...I love that

I would go for the wraps,I would normally get a chilli chicken or a spicy veg wrap with a side salad instead of fries for a meal option, or a grilled chicken salad, little bit of dressing for flavour. Not too bad calorie wise,but just watch cos the sodium can be 35-40%

As far as cooking in the same grease as burgers, son works in mcd's part time and they have different areas for cooking beef patties and chicken.


The good thing about mcdonalds is they have nutrional info on EVERYTHING readily available, so you can plan before you go, if only other restaurants would follow!

I refuse to let my weight loss keep me from social occassions or enjoying the food. What I do make is intelligent choices. Check the nutritional guide, but a grilled chicken salad with low cal dressing is always a good choice or the fruit parfait. Go and enjoy the party....the people and socialize. The party is about the people and occassion....not the food.

Pam aka Cherubcrnp

Eat before you go and then get the Fruit and Walnut Salad. Not a great choice, but there aren't any great choices there.

Sure there are - order Grilled Chicken Patties off the ala carte menu (tell the cashier that it's on the salad menu.) Calories: 120 Protein: 22 Carbs: 2 Fat: 2. I will often order 5-8 per meal while I'm out on the road on tour. (some McD's charge $1 some $1.50 per patty, pretty cheap protein source.)

I will probably be called a food snob for this one, but . . . if being hypervigilant about what I put in my body makes me a food snob, I'm okay with that.

Anyway, I won't buy / eat meat from any fast food place. The sourcing practices and ingredient lists scare me.

New Grilled Chicken Fillet

Chicken breast fillet with rib meat, water, seasoning (rice starch, salt, sugar, yeast extract, canola oil, onion powder, maltodextrin, chicken skin, paprika, flavor, sunflower oil, chicken, garlic powder, chicken fat, spices), sodium phosphates.

Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid soybean oil and hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, soy lecithin, mono-and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color).

I was on a road trip the other day and we were going to stop at McDonalds for lunch, so I pulled up the nutrition info on my iPad (thank goodness for the iPad and internet access!). I chose the grilled chicken ceasar salad (190) and the newman's balsamic vinegrette (35 - lowest calorie dressing option). I also added the croutons (60) for a grand total of 285. And it's a BIG salad so it was satisfying. Not half bad if Mickey-D's is your only option. If you need to add more calories to the meal, you can add a fruit and yogurt parfait or one of the real fruit smoothies, or other options but those are two favorites.

Not sure if anyone already posted the link to their nutrition info, but here it is if anyone needs it:
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/nutritionfacts.pdf

I will probably be called a food snob for this one, but . . . if being hypervigilant about what I put in my body makes me a food snob, I'm okay with that.

Anyway, I won't buy / eat meat from any fast food place. The sourcing practices and ingredient lists scare me.

New Grilled Chicken Fillet

Chicken breast fillet with rib meat, water, seasoning (rice starch, salt, sugar, yeast extract, canola oil, onion powder, maltodextrin, chicken skin, paprika, flavor, sunflower oil, chicken, garlic powder, chicken fat, spices), sodium phosphates.

Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid soybean oil and hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, soy lecithin, mono-and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color).

And it tastes good:)

I've worked at McDonalds for 7 years and reading through this thread there are so many menu items listed that I've never even heard of....Oh, America...you get so many better things than us, haha.

Eat before you go and then get the Fruit and Walnut Salad. Not a great choice, but there aren't any great choices there.

I disagree. Have you looked at a nutrition guide lately?? The grilled chicken is very good for you. The salads are healthy. The new bun for the chicken is whole grain. The parfait is made with vanilla yogurt and real strawberries and blueberries.

It's all about portion control. I eat at McDonalds 5 days a week. ( I manage one) I have lost an average of 2 pounds a week and have been to my Doctor and my cholesterol levels are fine and he said I am very healthy overall.

There are good and bad choices to be made anywhere you go, but as long as you stay informed and pay attention to what you eat and how much of it, it shouldn't matter.

Eat before you go and then get the Fruit and Walnut Salad. Not a great choice, but there aren't any great choices there.

I disagree. Have you looked at a nutrition guide lately?? The grilled chicken is very good for you. The salads are healthy. The new bun for the chicken is whole grain. The parfait is made with vanilla yogurt and real strawberries and blueberries.

It's all about portion control. I eat at McDonalds 5 days a week. ( I manage one) I have lost an average of 2 pounds a week and have been to my Doctor and my cholesterol levels are fine and he said I am very healthy overall.

There are good and bad choices to be made anywhere you go, but as long as you stay informed and pay attention to what you eat and how much of it, it shouldn't matter.

I believe that if you take into account the sources and ingredients of these foods, they cannot be considered healthy. What kind of life did that chicken have? What did it eat? (You are what what you eat eats.) Why must it be prepared with trans-fatty margarine? The cheeses, glazes, dressings, and other stuff added to the salads are full of additives and junk -- the only way around those is to eat only the vegetables. I am willing to bet that "whole grain" bun is full of high fructose corn syrup and preservatives just like any other commercial bread. The parfait has 20+ grams of sugar as well as additives and artificial flavor.

I do not mean to preach, but since my post was challenged I wanted to make clear why I believe McDonald's is never a truly healthy choice. Regardless of all of this, I am happy for you and your success.