McDonald’s Isn’t ‘Healthy,’ Lady – Stop Lying

shutterstock_114016336The director of nutrition at McDonald’s would like to assure you that McDonald’s is a healthy choice for kids. She’s a liar.

Last week, a consumer group studied children’s meals at popular fast food restaurants and came to the conclusion that every children’s meal offered at the leading fast food chains “fell short of standards adopted by the center from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutritional recommendations.” Just days before that, Cindy Goody, director of nutrition for McDonald’s was asked by the Salt Lake Tribune if you could really make processed foods healthy – to which she replied, “Yes, absolutely.”

She insists that she lets her own kids eat McDonald’s, and that she has a steady diet of McDonald’s herself:

I’m a mom of a 2-year old and I gained the prerequisite 30 pounds and I was able to lose all that baby weight. I don’t have a fast metabolism and I eat at McDonald’s once or twice a day. Really. Plus I work out the recommended 5 hours a week. I may eat an Egg McMuffin and apples. My new thing is to have either a hamburger or a double hamburger, no cheese, two bags of apple slices and an oatmeal cookie and still keeping it under 600 calories.

I think we all know what happens when you eat McDonald’s once or twice a day. Does anyone remember the movie “Supersize Me?” I think it is all well and good to make the point that McDonald’s now gives apples in their happy meals and may offer whole grain buns in the future, but insisting that it is a healthy choice for families to eat regularly is just irresponsible – especially for a dietitian.

The only popular fast food chain that passed the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s nutrition screen was Subway.  All of their children’s meals “met the center’s nutrition criteria; kid-sized subs at Subway come with apple slices; and low-fat milk or bottled water is offered in place of soda.”

(photo: Bikeworldtravel/ Shutterstock.com)

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