Salad & Diet soda at Mc Donald's & Co.

[Jimi75]

I always find it very funny when I have poeple in front of me in the row at MC Do who order like three burgers, fries a diet soda and a salad. I have never whitnessed someone at MC DO who ordered just a salad and a water...

Of course it could be that someone likes diet soda better than normal soda and that someone just wishes some "fresh" salad with his burger, but all in all I am very sceptical about all this SALAD stuff at a burger ranch...

Could this maybe be part of a huge educational campaign?

[Spudman]

Personally I would never drink the diet soda but the salad I would do.

I don't know if Europeans are seeing the shift that we in the States are but one of the reasons you even see salad on the menu is because there is serious backlash towards the unhealthy menus these restaurants have. These guys have to start offer more healthy alternatives if they are going to stay in business.
http://www.obesityfocused.com/articles/obesity-issues/obesity-and-fast-food.php
Here is one of the warnings you will find at McDonalds. Warnings? On food? Something isn't right here. Many fast food chains have even had a lawsuit against them because their food is shown to cause cancer. (http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11351)


http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w149/srspud/Junk/mickydsign.jpg

[Jimi75]

Thanks for the answer Spud! Indeed, drinking diet soda is not the best thing you can do. I try to avoid it, too.

Interesting about the warning....something's terribly wrong...:thwap:

[marnold]

Something isn't right here. Many fast food chains have even had a lawsuit against them because their food is shown to cause cancer. (http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11351)
That's one of those cancer warnings that I take issue with. This substance is produced when browning potatoes. It seems that the hotter the cooking temperature, the more is produced. Of course, what's going to do you in first: the sodium, the cholesterol, or the cancer? But then, if you eat them raw, that can poison you too--watch out for the green bits kids! So if you eat potatoes you are basically screwed seven ways to Sunday.

By the by, the same cancer warnings have been issued for barbecued meats--especially those cooked over charcoal.

As a parent, I'm glad to see that they are offering other options for the kids meals. I remember half-jokingly commenting to my wife when we were eating at a McD's on vacation and my kids were having nuggets, fries, and pop that this must be some form of child abuse. These days you can get milk and applesauce or apple slices as sides, which I'm much more comfortable with. Of course, we only go out to a fast food place once in a blue moon so it's largely a non-issue with us. Beside potential health issues, I wonder how in the heck people afford to eat out as much as they do.

[Robert]

See this article - http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/3851

No link between acrylamide and breast cancer or acrylamide and endometrial cancer (whatever that means).

[SuperSwede]

Especially McDonalds are advertising a lot for their "green meals" here in Sweden.. I actually like their various salad offerings.

[Spudman]

See this article - http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/3851

No link between acrylamide and breast cancer or acrylamide and endometrial cancer (whatever that means).

Interesting. Still I think the issue to be most aware of is that many foods found at fast food chains is of generally poor value as evidenced by the other link in my post. So this begs the question 'why are they changing their menu options?' They've always had the ability to off healthy choices but haven't until recently.

[piebaldpython]

The problem in the USA is two-fold:
1 We use preservatives and high-fructose corn syrup and those two things do more to PREVENT digestion than anything. Europe by and large doesn't use preservatives to the same extent that we do. Our stay in Germany for 6 weeks confirmed that. I came home with a new digestive tract after eating over there. aha

2 PARENTS---PARENTS---PARENTS. Missus PBP has worked in our local elementary school for 13 years and for the most part, the SNACKS and JUNK FOOD these parents put in their kids lunch-boxes is mind-boggling. No wonder the kids are FAT and bouncing off the wall from the sugar high. Unbelievable.

[markb]

This is what happened in the UK when the government (oh, and Jamie Oliver) attempted to introduce healthy school meals. At one school mothers were pushing fish and chips through the fence to their (not so) little darlings.

[Robert]

That link nearly blew up my computer markb, very bad popup/malware crap. Any other link you can use instead?

[Ch0jin]

I have a sneaking suspicion I've told this tale before, but I'm being paid to sit at an empty desk right now, so meh, here we go anyway....

A few years ago I attended a conference where one of the keynotes was the guy McD's USA put in charge of launching the chain in Australia. He gave a very interesting explanation of the business model and role of marketing and strategies and so on. As he was approaching the conclusion he actually said before he took questions he'd like to speak about some of the common questions he has been asked over the years. The hot button topic of course being the newly introduced (at the time) "Healthy Choice" menu.

I obviously can't give his speech verbatim, but the general sense of it was that, yes, the Healthy Choice menu was a marketing ploy and unashamedly so. As the crowd mumbled with moderate amazement that a McD's employee was here telling us the healthy options were only introduced to offset the negative image of "fast food" he went on to explain that from a business point of view, the menu is very, very well refined to suit demand. There have been plenty of trials of new menu items that have either stuck (Filet of Fish) and plenty that failed (Fried Chicken), but the high volume money makers have always been burgers and fries. With the introduction of the Healthy Choices, they (McD's) found that people would come in with the best intentions to buy salad and water, but end up with burgers and fries and coke. End result is that the customers that had maybe moved away from McD's to be "healthy" were coming back, and more, they were buying good old Burgers and Fries.

Also as a side note, want to know the two most successful innovations McD's implemented in their model?

Drive-through and McCafe.

[markb]

That link nearly blew up my computer markb, very bad popup/malware crap. Any other link you can use instead?

Whoops, should have known not to use a Murdoch link (Times online). Here's the story from the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/oct/03/2

[Ch0jin]

I always find it very funny when I have poeple in front of me in the row at MC Do who order like three burgers, fries a diet soda and a salad. I have never whitnessed someone at MC DO who ordered just a salad and a water...

Of course it could be that someone likes diet soda better than normal soda and that someone just wishes some "fresh" salad with his burger, but all in all I am very sceptical about all this SALAD stuff at a burger ranch...

Could this maybe be part of a huge educational campaign?

With regard to what you guys call "Diet Soda" I'm one of those guys. The sugar in "regular" coke makes me break out and is obviously not good for the waistline so I switched to Diet years ago. Now I drink Coke Zero (IDK if you have that or not, it's basically sugar free coke that tastes more like regular coke than diet). The result is I can't even stomach the taste of "real" coke anymore so even if I'm having a blow out with Pizza or Burgers or whatever, I'll take it with Coke Zero instead of "regular".

I've had people say to me "Oh why bother with the diet coke when your eating a hamburger, thats so stupid" Oh really? Paranoia about artificial sweeteners aside (because thats never their angle), whats better for your cholesterol and blood sugar and body fat? A burger and a coke with great big handfuls of refined sugar in it, or the same burger with a sugar free coke? If I wanted to be super healthy I'd be eating a tofu burger on wholemeal with a glass of water, but if I want a burger, at least I can effect some degree of harm minimization.

[BluezOldy]

McDonalds sell healthy food compared to this joint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKRSYAuSNg



(I couldn't the YouTube code to work for this link - tried several times.)

[Jimi75]

This is what happened in the UK when the government (oh, and Jamie Oliver) attempted to introduce healthy school meals. At one school mothers were pushing fish and chips through the fence to their (not so) little darlings.

I've heard about this. It's too crazy, isn't it!?! We as parents really have the highest responsability in showing our kids what's good for them to eat and what not, which of course implies that we shall not only tell them but also practice what we preach.

By the way, my wife met Jamie Oliver recently in Frankfurt and had a nice small talk with him.

[Kazz]

McDonalds sell healthy food compared to this joint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKRSYAuSNg



(I couldn't the YouTube code to work for this link - tried several times.)


I could only watch about half of that before I felt queasy. The nurses are very hot tho.

[Spudman]

"Hey this is bad for you and it's gonna kill you." at least it's honest and should be at 8,000 calories. Heck, I'd go just to have a coke...and ogle the nurses.

zbKRSYAuSNg

[sumitomo]

[QUOTE=piebaldpython]The problem in the USA is two-fold:
1 We use preservatives and high-fructose corn syrup and those two things do more to PREVENT digestion than anything. Europe by and large doesn't use preservatives to the same extent that we do. Our stay in Germany for 6 weeks confirmed that. I came home with a new digestive tract after eating over there. aha

You are right one the money Pie,I make my own juices and try to keep my bodies P.H. up to 7.0,but every time I travel to South America takes about a week for my body to adjust to the new parasites and bacteria from the natural foods.(ones with no bug posions ect. on them) our systems here are not very resistant due to our foods.Sumi:D