15 Reasons Never to Let Anyone You Love Near a McDonald’s

The Golden Arches: the ultimate American icon. Super Size Me taught us that fast food culture brings obesity, heart disease, hypertension and more. How bad do you really want that Big Mac? Here are 15 reasons you’ll never let anyone you love get near those Golden Arches.
Real food is perishable. With time, it begins to decay. It’s a natural process, it just happens. Beef will rot, bread will mold. But what about a McDonald’s burger? Karen Hanrahan saved a McDonald’s burger from 1996 and, oddly enough, it looks just as “appetizing” and “fresh” as a burger you might buy today. Is this real food?

You would have to walk 7 hours straight to burn off a Super Sized Coke, fries and Big Mac. Even indulging in fast food as an occasional treat is a recipe for weight gain…unless you’re planning to hit each treadmill in the treadmill bay afterwards.

Image

Containing less fat, salt and sugar, your pet’s food may be healthier than what they serve at McDonald’s.

Image

In 2007, the employees of an Orlando-area McDonald’s were caught on camera pouring milk into the milkshake machine out of a bucket labeled “Soiled Towels Only.” That particular restaurant had already been cited for 12 different sanitary violations. Though McDonald’s proudly stands by its safety standards, and not every restaurant has such notorious incidents, the setting of a fast food restaurant staffed with low-paid employees at a high turnover rate arguably encourages bending the rules. (McDonald’s isn’t alone in this, of course – Burger King is actually ranked as the dirtiest of all the fast food chains.)

Image

McDonald’s supports the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Much of the soy-based animal feed used to fatten fast-food chickens is grown in the Amazon. Are those chicken nuggets really worth acres of irreplaceable trees? (Especially considering how important carbon sinks like the rainforest are to halt global warming!) Fast food supports a completely unsustainable system of agriculture. It’s cruel to animals, unhealthy for humans, and bad for the planet.

Image

Even Prince Charles, while touring a diabetes center in the United Arab Emirates, commented that banning McDonald’s is key to health and nutrition. Don’t let the salads and chicken breasts fool you. The “chicken” at McDonald’s, by the way, comes with a whole lot more than chicken.

Image

As if feeding children high-fat, high-sodium, low-nutrition “food” weren’t bad enough, some Happy Meals in 2006 contained toy Hummers. It’s as if McDonald’s was encouraging a whole generation of kids not only to guzzle food, but to guzzle gas as well. Would you like a few barrels of petroleum with that?

Image

The processed fat in McDonald’s food (and other fast food) promotes endothelial dysfunction for up to 5 hours after eating the meal. Endothelial tissue is what lines the inside of blood vessels.

Image

For those who enjoy sex, take note: erectile dysfunction is connected to endothelial dysfunction. Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me commented that his normally healthy sexual function deteriorated in just one month when he ate only food from McDonald’s. Even his girlfriend commented on camera that “he’s having a hard time, you know, getting it up.”

Image

How many cows does it take to keep the world loaded with Big Macs? I had to do a some research and a little math, but according to a brief video inside one of McDonald’s 6 meat processing plants, about 500,000 pounds of beef is processed per day, per plant. If an average beef cow weighs 1,150 pounds, that means 2609 cows a day are turned into burgers. That’s 952,285 cows per year. And that’s just in the United States. Eating a hamburger may not be worse than driving a Hummer, but it’s bad. One hamburger patty does not necessarily come from one cow. Think about that. You’re eating bits of hundreds of cows.

Image

Maybe you just pop in for an inexpensive latte. Watch out for the caramel syrup (Sugar, water, fructose, natural (plant source) and artificial flavor, salt, caramel color (with sulfites), potassium sorbate (preservative), citric acid, malic acid) or the chocolate drizzle (Corn syrup, water, hydrogenated coconut oil, high fructose corn syrup, glycerin, nonfat milk, cocoa, cocoa (processed with alkali), food starch-modified, disodium phosphate, potassium sorbate (preservative), xanthan gum, artificial flavor (vanillin), salt, soy lecithin). Please don’t put that stuff into your body. Eat healthy cheap food instead – you can be well and still save cash.

Image

Are you a vegetarian with a French fry craving? You better skip McDonald’s because their fries actually contain milk (and wheat) and though they’re fried in vegetable oil, the oil is flavored with beef extract. (McDonald’s famously misled customers for years.)

Image

Do you want high blood pressure? Hit the drive-through. Eating a McDonald’s chicken sandwich (any of “Ëœem, take your pick) will give you about 2/3 of the recommended daily amount of sodium. And if you actually do have high blood pressure, that’s way more than you really need.

Image

Finally unveiled: the secret of the Big Mac’s “secret sauce.”
Soybean oil, pickle relish [diced pickles, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, calcium chloride, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate (preservative), spice extractives, polysorbate 80], distilled vinegar, water, egg yolks, high fructose corn syrup, onion powder, mustard seed, salt, spices, propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate (preservative), mustard bran, sugar, garlic powder, vegetable protein (hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat), caramel color, extractives of paprika, soy lecithin, turmeric (color), calcium disodium EDTA (protect flavor).

Image

Cheap oil and cheap syrup. Many people depend upon cheap food such as the sort offered at McDonald’s. So shouldn’t we be examining regulations that subsidize corn syrup but consider fruits and vegetables – the building blocks of a healthy body and green planet – to be “speciality” crops? Shouldn’t we be promoting urban gardening, community gardens and spreading information about low-cost farmers’ markets and CSAs? And focusing on the abundant choices of cheap food that are tasty and green?
Still not convinced? Maybe this 1970s trip through McDonaldland will give you enough nightmares to keep your loved ones away forever.

9 Surprising Secrets of Sugar!

Our foods are loaded with sugar so its no surprise we're eating way too much of it. If you cant stop craving the sweet stuff, you may have a sugar addiction. This can have serious implications for your health and your waistline. Read on to get the hard facts about sugar.

SUGARS RISKS ARE ANYTHING BUT SWEET

Excess sugar cause weight gain and tooth decay but whats more is that it also increases your risk for T2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and especially fatty liver. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons of added a sugar a day for women and 9 a day for men, but most Americans consume 22 teaspoons daily. Rule of thumb: take the number of grams of sugar per serving in your food and divide by 4—thats how many teaspoons youre getting.

SUGAR COMES WITH UNHEALTHY FRIENDS

High-sugar foods often bring bad friends with it, including refined flour, which lacks fiber and other nutrients. Foods with a lot of added sugar also usually contain unhealthy saturated and perhaps even trans fats, which are bad for the heart and possible high in calories.

FRUIT ISNT ALWAYS A GO

Although fruit is good for us, it contains naturally-occurring fructose and glucose. Many of our fruits are now much larger in size than they used to be so a serving now may only be half a piece of fruit.

HONEY ISNT A PERFECT NATURAL SUGAR

Although it has health benefits beyond those of ordinary sugar, including the ability to boost immunity, aid digestion, and reduce inflammation, it still has a relatively high glycemic index value, which is a standardized indicator of a foods carbohydrates, 52 versus sugar's 65. Raw and unfiltered honeys contain high amounts of antioxidants and most people can eat without a problem, however its still recommended that diabetics avoid it.

SUGAR SUBSTITUTES ARE SWEETER THAN SUGAR

Artificial sweeteners are synthetic sugar substitutes and sweeter than sugar. In the Unites States, there are 6 that are FDA-approved: acesulfame potassium, aspartame, neotame, saccharine, stevia, and sucralose. Interestingly, sugar substitutes wont necessarily lead to weight-loss. For example, aspartame-sweetened diet soda has consistently been linked to obesity and risk for metabolic syndrome.

THE NEWEST SUGAR SUBSTITUTE MIGHT BE THE BEST

Stevia, made from the leaves of the stevia plant, has garnered quite a following from the diet community because its thought to be an all-natural alternative to chemical sweeteners, and can be used safely in moderate or small amounts.

APPLESAUCE MIGHT BE THE BETTER SUBSTITUTE

Try all-natural applesauce in place of sugar to add sweetness without the high glucose level or artificial sweeteners. Similarly, you can use an equal amunt of applesauce in place of oil in recipes to cut down on calories and fat.

HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP GETS A BAD RAP

Its taken a lot of heat as a serious health risk thanks to its presence in many processed foods, but some experts think its no worse than table sugar. They both contain similar caloric content and mixtures of glucose and fructose and are metabolized similarly in the body, therefore some scientists and respected authorative bodies agree they are nutritionally equivalent. Still, this is a hotly debated topic and other researchers remain unconvinced.

SUGAR IN YOUR BLOODSTREAM PUTS YOUR HEALTH IN DANGER

Glucose, the name given to sugar when its in your bloodstream, is essential to your body and its cells. The health problems occur when you get too much. Anytime your blood sugar spikes above 120 mg/dL, your pancreas over-releases insulin and this causes your body to shift into fat-storing mode. The more blood sugar spikes you have, the more fat you store and this can lead to an onslaught of health challenges, including obesity, heart disease, and T2 diabetes.