McNugget Secret Ingredient: Molded Chicken Mush

The secret is out!

Welcome back!

July and August were hard months for me. Now I'm taking it back, getting rid of everything bad. Sugar, cheese, bread, etc. I'm back on my grind. Watch out!

May totals

Big numbers in March! Broken records..

Biggest month since I've been keeping track of workouts since 8/2010! 

Worked hard in January.

Numbers came in strong in January. Now ready to move forward on my skinny campaign. Between the holidays, birthday and other celebrations, I fell off my mark. I'm back in full effect starting tomorrow.

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.

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

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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.)

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.)

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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.

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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).

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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.

The McRib Is Actually The McPigIntestines

The McRib is only back through November 14th, but the internet has helpfully come up with a way to ensure you won't miss it much once it's gone: Analyzing the contents of the mysterious sandwich. The reconstituted pork-based patty probably contains tripe, heart, and scalded stomachs. That may sound a bit gross to some, but they're all edible meats already found in products like sausages. Surprisingly, the bun seems more troubling. It contains a tiny amount of azodicarbonamide, which is banned as a food additive in Europe and Australia. The flour-bleaching agent is often used in foamed plastics, like those found in gym mats and shoe soles. On the other hand, when one order a McRib it's for the novelty, not because it's the foundation of a healthy diet.

McDonald's Move May Make Healthy Business Sense

by Scott Neuman

Correction July 26, 2011

The original version of this story reported that milk would be included in Happy Meals by default. Milk will be among the beverages available with Happy Meals, but the choice will be left to purchasers.

A McDonald's Cheeseburger Happy Meal with the new apple slices option is shown Tuesday. McDonald's Corp. says it is adding apple slices to every Happy Meal, part of the chain's larger push to paint itself as a healthy place to eat.

When McDonald's announced Tuesday that it would make the standard child's Happy Meal more healthful, company officials said they were responding to the desires of their customers. But the move also makes business sense, analysts say.

"This is good publicity, and if you sell more Happy Meals, you're likely selling more Big Macs to the parents," says Peter Saleh, a restaurant analyst with Telsey Advisory Group in New York.
Sam Oches, an associate editor with QSR Magazine, a fast-food industry trade journal, says McDonald's won't say how many Happy Meals they sell, but they're rumored to account for about 10 percent of sales.
"They do more than $32 billion in sales every year, so Happy Meals are potentially a $3 billion chunk of that," Oches says. "That alone is more revenue than a lot of big restaurant chains."
For McDonald's, it's about holding on to a loyal customer base, one that has grown up being exposed to the Golden Arches.
"McDonald's has done great through the recession, they continue to grab market share and have had the cash to remodel their restaurants, while some of the other fast-food restaurants have struggled to keep up," Saleh says.
But the competition hasn't been standing still. The National Restaurant Association launched a similar initiative for healthier kids' choices earlier this month, pre-empting McDonald's. Among those signing on to the "Kids LiveWell" campaign are Burger King, IHOP, Denny's, Cracker Barrel and Sizzler.
And somewhere out there is an apple supplier who is even happier than the kids.
"The sheer size of McDonald's supply chain is kind of nuts, really," says Oches.
"You've got 14,000 stores, serving apples in every Happy Meal," he says. "You do the math. It's huge."
To be sure, healthier options at McDonald's have long been there for the asking. A parent could request fruit or milk instead of a soft drink, but most opted for the traditional meal by default. The big change is that the new Happy Meal will automatically include a quarter-cup of apple slices and about half as many french fries as before. Upon request, parents can hold the fries and get twice as many apple slices instead.
The move also should help ease criticism the company long has faced. In a study released in November, the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University listed the most nutritious Happy Meal at only 30th on a list of the healthiest meal combinations. The study was critical of the fast-food industry for its unhealthy kids' menus and for directing the power of its marketing at children.
"We found some pretty remarkable things," says Kelly Brownell, the center's director. "The average preschooler is subjected to 1,000 advertisements each year for fast food. No amount of education from school or from parents can compensate for that."
"It's a reasonable first step," Brownwell says of the changes.