The McDonalds Menu and Nutrition

McDonalds in a Public Relations Campaign to Raise the Bar on Nutrition
Standards...Huh?

The ever popular, omnipotent McDonalds fast food chain has been trying for a few years now to mend
the fences with activists and public service groups who protest the chain's marketing of nutritionally void
food. In the wake of lots of bad publicity, and a negative documentary profiling the adverse health effects
McDonalds menu can have on ones health, the fast food giant is desperately trying to regain public
approval. But is it working? And do most people care?

Well, the answer to one of those questions is that while most people who go to McDonalds know what
they are getting, and don't mind that it doesn't offer much in the way of waist-conscious fare, the new
company-initiated push for a nutritionally responsible menu and labeling seems to be falling on deaf
ears for the most part.

For example, the fast food giant recently unveiled its new nutritional information packaging at the winter
Olympic games in an effort to gain back some of the perceived public trust. Public trust that had been lost
through a wave of Supersize critcism, a tell-all documentary (that really told us all what we already knew
deep down anyways about consuming fast food) and an increasingly health conscious society.

Society now is starting to take notice of the overwhelming frequency of obesity, weight related disease
and death. Diseases that have recently been directly linked to poor nutrition, oversized portions for huge
appetites, lack of physical activity, and a society that looks at food as they look at money - the more the
better.

McDonalds also has experimented with various healthier fare. They even had a promotion involving
giveaways of pedometers with the purchase of a healthy salad. They are also currently offering a
healthier alternative to the traditional but miserably unhealthy breakfast of Egg McMuffins and the new
sugar soaked McGriddle, in the form of a tasty apple walnut yogurt salad. Ironically, this "healthy" salad is
loaded with sugar and simple carbs, which is actually a hypoglycemic nightmare, but you gotta give it to
them - they are trying to branch out and be more "nutritionally aware".

But does society really want them to or ask them to be more nutritionally responsible, or even be
politically correct? Aside from the ever present protesters crusading for better food offerings to the
general public, does the ACTUAL general public really want this - from McDonalds? I don't know about
you, but when I go to McDonalds, which is very seldom since I do try to watch what I eat, I fully expect to
get a very tasty Big Mac or Double Cheeseburger with a Super Size order of fries, enjoy every minute of
this guilty pleasure, and then be on my merry way to eating healthy the next day.

That's it folks - it's all gotta be in moderation. As long as you are not abusing the conveniences and
admittedly addictive culinary offerings of McDonalds, or you aren't trying to be the next Morgan Spurlock
(the Director/Guinea Pig for the McDonalds documentary "Super Size Me"), you should be just fine
indulging in fast food - once in a while. If you're looking for reviews of good diets for a lifetime of fitness
and health - visit our Diet Reviews page.