McDonalds Anyone?

I love McDonalds fast food, but I also realized it was a large benefactor in my weight gains. I have become the once a week, Mac snack wrap with a diet coke, nothing more. We look at the calories, carbs, and protein, sure I can work on that, but the sodium levels are extremely high, water weight will occur. I eat McD's at the beginning of the week, to curb my cravings and also give myself the rest of the week to stay on track. Soon McD's will lose another patron.

I only go there once a month (if that), and managed to resist the temptation today. But I normally have 6 chicken nuggets, small fries and water.

AFTER reading this I really do not want McDonalds...


McDonald's said this week that it was no longer using the controversial ground beef additive known as "pink slime" in its hamburger recipe. Taco Bell and Burger King have also reportedly repudiated the "slime," which consists of spare beef trimmings that have been treated with ammonium hydroxide to make them safe and at least semi-palatable.

The move came after "Food Revolution" and "Naked Chef" star Jamie Oliver made public calls for chains to abandon the "slime," which has been manufactured by Beef Products Inc since 2001. Some are pointing to his advocacy as a central factor behind McDonald's decision.

Even if Oliver was the most prominent critic of "pink slime," though, he wasn't alone. The New York Times raised serious doubts about "pink slime" in a 2009 investigation of the product. It was also criticized in the 2010 documentary "Food Inc."

Part of the criticism stems from a general sense of disgust. People don't like hearing that they're eating spare trimmings of beef from strange parts of a cow. Nor, for that matter, do people like to hear that they're eating ammonia.

The USDA, for its part, approved of the ammoniated beef trimmings. In 2007, when it mandated increased testing for most ground beef, it specifically exempted "pink slime," even though the ammoniated beef comes from the parts of the cow most likely to harbor pathogens. The USDA argued that the beef's ammonia treatment would kill any bacteria lingering in the beef.

And there's some evidence that the USDA wasn't wrong to call "pink slime" safe. Indeed, a Jan. 9 editorial in Food Safety News argued that the public backlash against pink slime had more to do with fear-mongering on the part of figures like Oliver than with any rational assessment of the product itself.

That said, the Times found evidence that linked Beef Products' ammoniated beef to dozens of cases of salmonella and E. coli, so there's at least a fighting chance that it's less safe than conventional beef. Moreover, using "pink slime" only cuts the price of ground beef by about three cents a pound. Aren't you willing to pay less than a penny more for your quarter-pounder to avoid gambling with your health?

You can eat for weightloss or you can eat for health, which results in weightloss. I choose to eat for health therefore wouldnt eat at McDonalds. Know what your putting in your body, if you can't pronounce it or it isn't a food ingredient - don't eat it. That's my philosophy.

I don't like fast food, Wendy's is the only one I can eat without feeling meh afterwards. haha

I'm with you! I do believe their new fries top McDonalds any day! I would eat fast food some and always end up feeling like crap! Guess it is better that way anyway!

I go weekly - LOVE IT!
The food is fabulous, That's why they always make money - even in the worst of times.
I wish I had the money to invest on a McDonalds.

McDonalds is to food, the way that the hardest of hard-core porn is to sexual attraction.

As a vegetarian, it is pretty easy to avoid McDonalds because they have so little to offer me. I do enjoy their side salad with the balsamic dressing...quick, tasty, only $1 and there are a good variety of more colorful greens in there - not just iceberg. Even buying those makes me feel guilty though because I'm supporting a company that is responsible for an enormous amount of animal cruelty. It's one of my New Year's resolutions to avoid doing that and it should be easy - it's not like salads are hard to find.

I love the Southwest grilled chicken salad. That is all I ever order from there now days.

I usually get their parfait, fruit and walnut salad, small ice cream cone (SOOO GOOD!!), grilled chicken sandwhich (WITH mayo!). I don't get their salads because they is NOTHING there. I will go to wendy's for an awesome salad!! Their apple pecan chicken salad is my FAV!

I have to watch the beef at fast food places. The last time my boyfriend and I went to Wendy's, I had a kids cheeseburger meal and got very sick. I don't eat red meat as it is but try to get it in once or twice a month.

Every now and then I will get a kids' hamburger and apples. Not bad calorie-wise, and it doesn't taste awful, but I just don't care to eat McDonald's much.

Fast food = sodium sodium SODIUM sodium!

I can't partake because high blood pressure is one of those things that I'm try to cure. I'm currently running around 116/76, so, I'm doing pretty good.

BUT, I will hit a taco bell for a few hard tacos or soft chicken tacos (no friggin hot sauce though). That's about it though... I miss taco bell more than I miss mcdonalds...

Chicken Classic, grilled no mayo. Under 300 cals and absolutely nothing wrong with it. Love the egg mcmuffin. But they dish up 290 of my 300 grams of cholesterol for the day. So I keep those rare. The oatmeal and salads are great too.

McDonalds has bad stuff for sure. But it gets a bum rap. There are options.
/quote]

There are definitely healthy options available and nearly anything you choose in moderation and balancing it in with your actual caloric counts and proper exercise is not going to damn you! I have always loved their fries and continue to treat myself to a small or medium serving once in a while and it doesn't set me back at all.

I don't usually go anyway anymore, after reading this I want to even less. Can't help a subway every few months though lol x

Read the part of this article that describes the ingredients of nuggets. You will lose your urge...I did

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/chicken-nuggets-how-bad-are-they

I believe this SO much - the aftertaste of those nuggets was enough to make me NEVER eat them again. Very unnatural tasting, didn't even TASTE like real white meat chicken. It reminded me of the smell of McD's dumpsters on a hot day when you go through the drive-thru and roll your window down....that smell is horrible, but the scary thing was when the chicken nugget aftertaste reminded me 100% of that smell. Cannot be good...at all.......LOL.