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Fast Food Weight Loss - Is Eating At Mcdonald’s The New Path To Weight Loss?
By Tracie Johanson
Is eating at McDonald’s the new path to weight loss? Can fast food burgers, fries and sodas fit into your diet and weight loss program? For years, the answer has been a resounding NO. But lately, Wendy’s, Burger King and many other fast food chains have made changes to help consumers stick to a healthy diet.
Why have fast food companies finally started to pay attention to healthier food choices? Simply stated, because it’s good for business. Americans are trying everything from the newest weight loss pill to Weight Watchers to lose their extra fat, spending “…..more than $40 billion in 2004 on weight control pills, gym memberships, diet plans and related foods, estimates Marketdata Enterprises, which studies the weight loss industry” (Source: cnn.com; 1-14-2005). Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that 80 percent of overweight individuals and almost 87 percent of obese individuals are trying to lose or maintain their weight.
Any fast foods company that’s paying attention to public sentiment and trends has made changes to make their menu more palatable to the health and fitness enthusiast. McDonald’s, long an industry leader, has made tremendous strides in this area culminating in their recent announcement that all fast food packaging will soon include nutritional information. But have they gone far enough?
-> Fast Food = Fat Food:
No matter how many healthy new products are introduced onto the fast food menu boards, the problem is that their core products are high in fat and calories. Consider these typical meals from McDonald’s:
* Big Mac, Large Fries, Large Coca-Cola, Hot Fudge Sundae = 1,730 calories, 99% of daily fat, 108% of daily saturated fat, 86% of daily carbohydrates
* Chicken Selects Breast Strips (5 pc), Large Fries, Large Coke, McFlurry with M+M’s Candies (12 oz.) = 2,290 calories, 151% of daily fat, 131% of daily saturated fat, 100% of daily carbohydrates
* Bacon Ranch Salad/Crispy Chicken, Newman’s Ranch Dressing, Large Coke, McFlurry Oreo (12 oz.) = 1,390 calories, 73% of daily fat, 81% of daily saturated fat, 69% of daily carbohydrates
(Source: mcdonalds.com)
Some consumers, in an attempt to reduce the number of calories and fat they’re eating, have opted for salads instead of traditional burgers and fries. Unfortunately, some fast food salads are almost as bad for us as a Big Mac. A California Cobb salad with Newman’s Own Cobb Dressing from McDonald’s, for example, boasts 490 calories and 42% of your daily fat. Compare that to a Big Mac, which has 560 calories and 47% of your recommended daily fat.
Although chastised in the movie ‘SuperSize Me’, McDonald’s isn’t alone in offering high calories foods. The Original Whopper with Cheese from Burger King will cost you 800 calories and 49 grams of fat. Make that a Double Whopper with Cheese and you’ll consume an incredible 1,060 calories and 69 grams of fat. The Big Bacon Classic from Wendy’s is better with 580 calories and 29 grams of fat, while the Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger from Jack In The Box is the highest on the list with 1,094 calories and a tremendous 78 grams of fat.
Clearly, high calorie fast food has become a problem. With approximately 65% of Americans classified as overweight, people are pointing fingers of blame. “In a lawsuit filed in 2002, two Bronx teenagers accused McDonald's of making them fat by serving them highly processed food that affected their health. A judge tossed out the case a year later, but an appeals court reinstated part of the suit earlier this year, according to published reports.” (Source: cnn.com; 10-20-2005).
McDonald’s isn’t the only chain being accused of making people fat. “A New York City lawyer has filed suit against the four big fast-food corporations, saying their fatty foods are responsible for his client’s obesity and related health problems. Samuel Hirsch filed his lawsuit Wednesday at a New York state court in the Bronx, alleging that McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and KFC Corporation are irresponsible and deceptive in the posting of their nutritional information, that they need to offer healthier options on their menus, and that they create a de facto addiction in their consumers” (Source: foxnews.com; 7-24-2002).
The fast food industry initially responded by arguing that customers have a choice of what to order when going to a restaurant. "It's senseless, baseless and ridiculous," National Restaurant Association spokeswoman Katharine Kim said. "There are choices in restaurants and people can make these choices, and there's a little personal responsibility as well." (Source: foxnews.com; 7-24-2002).
Our elected officials seem to agree with that assessment. “The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would block lawsuits by people who blame fast-food chains for their obesity. The ‘cheeseburger bill,’ as it has been dubbed in Congress, stems from class-action litigation that accused McDonald's of causing obesity in children” (Source: cnn.com; 10-20-2005). This bill is not yet law, having passed the House but not yet the Senate. In the last Congress a similar bill passed the House, but the Senate never acted on it. About 20 states have laws similar to the ‘cheeseburger bill’.
-> Fast Food Makes A Change:
To their credit, McDonald’s and some others in the fast food industry have made changes to their menu making it easier for us to stick to our diet program or weight loss plan.
McDonald’s allows consumers to substitute Apple Dippers with Caramel Dip for the french fries in their meal, cutting calories from 350 to 100 and reducing fat from 16 grams all the way down to 1 gram (comparison vs. medium fries).
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