In the interest of healthy eating, what sort of message is this sending out?

“taste is important”
Ironic, considering that the meat on their burgers has zero flavour, and the only flavour comes from the sauce, which can be described only as “something”.

Reminds me of that one Jamie Oliver ‘school lunch’ show, where the children were disgusted at real strawberries, because they only ever ate artificial, chemical substitutes.

Just a typical marketing/advertising ploy.
I’m not a big fast food consumer, I do get onion rings now and then, a weakness, but, even though I can count on one hand how many fast food burgers I’ve had in the last few years, I would say that a Big Mac would win out over bleu cheese, wasabi or a mouthful of ginger. haha
They really picked some crappy tastes there as a no comparison thing.

Obviously they wouldn’t compare a Big Mac to a Lobster tail. lol

It’s just a conglomerate corporation with incredibly unhealthy food choices trying to keep people smitten with eating their garbage.

The more educated the public is with their health, the less they’ll consume their product, so Mickey D’s will have to dis healthier choices wherever they can, however they can. All about that money!

Pesto

Honey

Wasabi is a plant of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish, and mustard.
Ginger

Blue Cheese

That’s ridiculous. Utterly. Those are all condiments, simple flavorings, not actual food.

Do you like cinnamon rolls? I’m going to assume you do. Have you ever tried eating a spoonful of cinnamon.

Do you like pepper on your food? Have you ever tried eating a spoonful of pepper?

How about a spoonful of mustard? A spoonful of garlic?

I, personally, don’t think McDonald’s food is unhealthy. The people can certainly make unhealthy choices from the menu, though, such as ordering TOO MUCH. They can make those same unhealthy choices at any restaurant, or at home.

People are responsible for their own health and their own weight. Period.

I agree with @Dutchess_III.

The last guy’s face would look a lot different if he were tasting a cup of pickle brine, or a spoonful of those sesame seeds.

Also, my face does the same thing with blue cheese. Yuck.

I love drinking pickle juice. It is fucking delicious.

I find it odd that anti-McD’s folks are jumping on the bandwagon here, without truly thinking this through. How are any of those “foods” healthier choices, @Tea_Gryphon and @NerdyKeith?

@Dutchess_III Well the first reason is that they are generally less processed

Level of processing enough isn’t a terribly reliable way to determine “healthiness” of foodstuffs. Apple juice is barely processed (one step: remove juice from apple), and is basically liquid sugar.

Besides, look at the examples in the ad: Wasabi? 90+% of wasabi anyone outside of Japan (and a good percentage in Japan) is eating is actually grated, dried, then reconstituted horseradish with artificial color added.

Blue cheese is hardly picked off a bush; in fact, there’s a six-step process that includes adding penicillin and literally leaving it in a hot, wet room to mold over months.

I would also suggest, watching “Super Size Me” to understand how awful McDonalds is.

I’d also recommend reading up on the 10 Horrifying Facts about food in McDonalds.

Its not just the matter that McDonalds food is processed, but also how it is processed is pretty bad. I don’t have the best diet in the world, but I avoid McDonalds like the plague.

Even fresh eggs are “processed.” The hen must eat her feed, drink plenty of water, create the shell to surround the egg, lay it, and then it must have the chicken shit washed off before storing. Quite a process. lol

@NerdyKeith “Super size me” implies that it’s some how McDonald’s fault that people order super sized meals. Of course they push them because that’s how they make more money. And there is nothing wrong with that.
However, no one is holding a gun to people’s heads and commanding them to tell McD’s to give them super size stuff.
What excuse do they have when they go home and eat 3 times more food from home than they need or than is good for them? Who do they blame? Who do they blame for the stash of Oreos in the cupboard that they wipe out in one sitting?

I’ll address that conspiracy website that you linked to when I have more time.

McDonald’s food is just fine. It isn’t hurting anyone.

The stash of Oreos is entirely my fault.

The problem is not quantity, its the quality and the ingredients. McDonalds serve unhealthy food. I’m actually quite baffled that this is even something being questioned in this day and age. Judging from your assumptions, I don’t think you have watched the documentary. I suggest that you do. The man who went through the 30 challenge was also examined by medical professions. They examined everything from his heart rate, blood sugar level to his cholesterol. It was quite a revealing documentary.

Are you not aware that McDonalds had to discontinue the super size quantity? There is no conspiracy going on here, just solid fact. It is a solid fact, that the ingredients used to produce the food in McDonalds is unhealthy and quite frankly toxic. As a matter of fact if you don’t trust my previous source, you are more than welcome to view this additional source from a nutritionist website

And for what its worth, here is a short snippet from the documentary Super Size Me

I have seen the propaganda film documentary. I found it unconvincing. If I ate a dozen organic, free range eggs every day for 30 days I’d have cholesterol problems, too. Eating any kind of unvaried diet is going to be bad for you.

The occasional Quarter Pounder with Cheese (540 calories, 1110 mg sodium according to McDonalds’ website) isn’t going to kill a person any more than the occasional serving of Eggs Benedict (615 calories, 1500 mg sodium, according to MyFitnessPal)

They did not have to discontinue. They chose to, as a PR maneuver.

relevant video

@Seek Ok I have to admit that video was funny haha

I do totally agree that over eating any one type of food is going to be unhealthy. Yes we should eat everything in moderation. But most nutritionists will agree, that eating fast food even in moderation can still be harmful.

Its because of the chemicals that are used in the processing of their food. For example the high levels of dextrose (which is cited in the article I linked above). The problem with this ingredient is that when you are exposed to a high dosage of this, it has the potential to raise up your blood sugar level. And when your blood sugar level is raised too much, this can lead to:

Rapid heartbeat
Sudden mood changes
Sudden nervousness
Unexplained fatigue
Headache
Hunger
Shaking
Sweating

relevant video

Yes, if you eat sugar (dextrose) your blood sugar level will rise. That’s because your blood sugar level is measuring the level of sugar in your blood. Consuming sugar does that.

Dextrose is sugar. Just sugar. Please don’t tell you you’re one of those people who faint over big words that sound too scientific to be edible.

My husband gets all of the symptoms you list when he eats just pancakes and syrup, without other foods to absorb the sugar hit.

What do you think would happen to me if, say, I ate McD’s for breakfast almost every day for a month? What would happen to me?

I’d think you’d get sick of McGriddles really quickly. But then I’m not a fan of fast food breakfasts.

I’ve never had a McGriddle….

My point was that there is too much of it in McDonalds food. I know its sugar.

There are a lot of foods that McDonald’s serves that has lots of sugar. Lots. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out which ones, and avoid those foods. Same with any restaurant, same with the foods in your house.

However, too many people don’t think it through. They fall for the hype, they don’t think for themselves. Bad on them.
Case in point: My husband and I ran through McD’s a couple of weeks ago. I got a burger ($1.00.) My husband also got a burger as well as a strawberry / banana smoothie. He asked if I’d ever had one of their smoothies. I glanced at it and said, “Ew! No! Fat! Sugar!” (I’m a calorie counter from waaaay back. I don’t even have to count any more. It’s second nature to me to recoil from fat and sugar as a knee-jerk reaction, for the most part.)
He said, “It’s strawberries and bananas!” (IE: It’s good for you!)
I said, “I’ll bet there are 300 calories it that cup there!”
He got miffed, didn’t believe me, and I googled it. I was a bit off. There are 250 calories. They make it with yogurt and add sugar.
Very few people would eat straight banana and strawberry mush, so that was my first clue.

Anyway, back to my question: What do you think would happen to me if, say, I ate McD’s for breakfast almost every day for a month?

@Dutchess_III It simply is not the same amount with any other restaurant nor the same with the foods in my house. McDonalds foods have an especially high sugar content. More than most other foods (with the exception of other fast food restaurants). I will even go as far as to say that the amount of sugar McD’s inject into their food is unnecessary. Along with the preservatives that prevent the food from breaking down.

“What do you think would happen to me if, say, I ate McD’s for breakfast almost every day for a month?”
You would gain a lot of weight along with other health complications. This has been already demonstrated in Super Size Me.

You insist that fast food is inherently worse than what is in your house. Please back up this assertion with evidence. McDonald’s posts their nutrition information publicly on their website. Do you know exactly how much sodium, sugar, etc. is in your frozen pizza with added vegetables? or a burger you cook on your grill?

The very fact that McDonalds foods do not break down very much at all, sets off a red flag. I sourced a video a few responses back of a woman with a 4 year old burger from McDonalds. It has not deteriorated at all. If the food has not deteriorated at all. Where does it go when we digest it?

As it is I couldn’t even eat McDonalds food even if I wanted to, because their food makes me violently ill. I have not experienced that with food from any other fast food chain. Not even KFC.

I worked in a McDonalds for two weeks. I assure you, the stuff does break down. Most of those videos are scams.

When we digest our food, it goes the same place all the rest of our food goes. Yes, it’s high fat. Yes it’s high in sodium. No it’s not a farmer’s market. It’s junk food. But it’s not inherently worse than other junk food, be it Taco Bell or Hob Nobs.

Youtube and obviously biased documentaries aren’t exactly the best source of information. They’re entertaining and a good place to start learning about something, but it should not be your sole source of information. Logic must prevail.

My God. You believe all that ridiculous bullshit about McDonald’s food not breaking down and all of the other moronic claims ? Seriously? If you believe all of that is true you need to get with the FDA with your concerns. Oh wait..,the FDA and McDonald’s conspire to mislead the public, right?

And I agree with Seek. You can find any crazy thing you want on the internet. You are a fool if you believe everything you read. We’ll wait for some viable proof.

And you didn’t answer my question , really, as to what would happen if I ate McD’s for breakfast every morning for a month. I think you suggested I would get fat….is that right? What if I ate it every day for a year? Or two years?

Ok in the interest of this not really going anywhere. I’m going to move on from this and unfollow this thread.

Nothing personal.

Actually, it’s easy enough to recreate an experiment yourself. Buy a burger from McDonalds and let it sit out on the counter for a week or two. See what happens.