It tastes awesome. But it also has 510 calories. One fifth of what you might need in an entire day.
(Side note: McDonald’s tastes freaking good every once in a while. I had it a few weeks ago as a late-night meal. I enjoyed it. It’s made that way. If it tasted like crap and was still bad for you, Ray Kroc would have only served hundreds, not billions. This is not some anti-McDonald’s rant.)
Millie and I watched “Supersize Me” last night. It’s Morgan Spurlock’s documentary where he eats nothing by McDonald’s for 30 days.
For me the interesting part is not how much he gained in a month, but how he drilled down to what could happen to the average overweight American in a year. Eating only at McDonald’s for every meal, Spurlock gained 25 pounds, shot his cholesterol through the roof, became lethargic, depressed and generally unhealthy.
So he ate 90 meals there in a month and did all that. Of course you say. Anyone who eats unhealthy for a month would gain 25 pounds.
(Side Note: No blame was assigned to Coke/Soft Drink Industry in this movie which I think is kind of lame. A quarter pounder with cheese has 510 calories, 42g of fate and 9g of sugar. Add a 32 oz. Coke to the meal and you tack on 310 calories and an incredible 86g of sugar. Coke should have received some of the scrutiny.)
Let’s assume you’re fairly brand loyal and only dine at McDonald’s.
Do you grab McDonald’s on the way to work on Monday because you didn’t have time to cook breakfast. Then on Thursday, the kids are coming home from soccer practice and you worked late and need a quick bite to eat. So you grab Mickey D’s again. That’s twice in a week. No big deal eh? But that comes out to 104 McDonald’s meals a year. 14 more than Spurlock ate.
I’ve had this discussion with Millie several times about how for a large portion of America, McDonald’s and fast food are the reality of a family meal. It’s quick and easy with food-like qualities and relatively cheap. Feed a family of four for $25? Can’t do that at Chili’s!
The second argument goes that prepping a huge home-cooked meal takes too much time and effort. We’re a nation on the go with little time for our health and can’t afford access to fresh fruit and vegetables. But I’m starting to disagree.We have a choice in this matter.
Millie and I are lucky to have a nice market nearby, it’s nothing special, but it’s a fun local grocery store that has some excellent choices in fruits, vegetables and meat. Our grocery bill this week was approximately $100. With that $100 we get a ton of vegetables, fruit, fresh healthy deli meat, whole grain breads, eggs, organic yogurt, organic milk, orange juice, Pellegrino water (4 for $5!) and a few other side items. We’ll be able to eat almost the entire week, about 12 meals total on that trip. For the two us, the total comes out to less than $10/meal.
Here’s an example…
Tonight’s meal consisted of:
Quinoa – 1/4 box. At $5/box that’s a cost of $1.25 (McDonald’s large Coke)
5 eggs scrambled. At $4.59/dozen that is $1.91 (Quarter pounder?)
Diced green peppers, red peppers, onion – We used about half of this, maybe cost us $1.50 total (Large Fry)
Fresh guacamole – $5/tub – I’ll be VERY liberal here and say we used 1/5 of it – $1 (Med. Coke)
Dash Shredded Cheese – Unknown, I think like $5/bag, we might have used 5% of it – $.25 (Ketchup packet?)
So our total meal cost was about $6 and it took 20-ish minutes to make.
There is this huge disconnect in America that makes people think that a decent meal that’s healthy and will provide sustinence for your body is some huge undertaking. You don’t have to shop at Whole Foods for grain-fed organic wheatgrass bison. If you can afford it, go ahead, but you don’t have to.
And I think that’s the point that Supersize Me is really trying to make. It’s not about McDonald’s, it’s about the shift in eating habits of an increasingly obese country that thinks, or doesn’t care, it can never be healthy. Sure McDonald’s has handed us a loaded gun, but they’re not saying we can’t go out and kill a turkey and have some nice healthy lean meat sandwiches for a few days. Nope, we just point it straight at our foot and pull the trigger.
We think somehow a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke constitutes a well-rounded meal and can be had in 90 seconds from the comfort of your car. If you came over to my house and said “I’m hungry” and I dissappeared into the kitchen and microwaved something for 30 seconds, dropped some potatoes in grease and poured you a huge glass of sugar water, would you think I was being a kind host? Would you think I had your health and well-being in mind? Of course not. So why do we mindlessly pull through the drive-thru and get handed coronary artery disease in a bag and pay $6 for it over and over?
Why is it we can then go home and carve out an hour to watch Dancing with the Stars and Survivor, but we can’t spend 20-40 minutes whipping up something quick and easy that won’t kill us?
Americans need to share in some personal responsibility in all this. You shouldn’t be able to sue McDonald’s because you fed it to your kid three days a week any more than I should be able to sue the CTA if I jump in front of a train.
