To think McDonald's isn't actually That bad...it's not cardboard and cows ears as people seem to think?

[WittiestUsernameEver]

Looking at the ingredients in most of it, it's fine??

They use organic milk, free range eggs, burgers are meat and salt, probably better quality stuff than the likes of Harvester burgers etc.

People talk about it like you're feeding your kids arsenic, rats piss and pig shit...

The posh pub down the road from me does a nice brioche burger and chips...I doubt their burger bun is vastly superior nutritionally than a McDonald's one.

Depends how often u eat there.

A sausage in pastry is ok occasionally too.

I avoid sugar as much as I can so I wouldn't have the chocolate apple pie for example but I have had the mcplant without fries and a quarter pounder without fries once every 6 weeks??

their fries aren’t just potatoes cooked in fat.

Here’s their fries ingredients list..

Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.

They explain exactly why they sometimes add sugar here.

You also seem to be (conveniently) quoting the American website, as the GB website for McDonald's lists the ingredients as:

Ingredients: Potatoes, Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed), Dextrose (predominantly added at beginning of the potato season).

From: https://mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/product/fries-medium.html#accordion-195fbb6d4a-item-fdf905567c

The US version says this:

Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.

https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/product/small-french-fries.html#accordion-c921f9207b-item-283bee7dbd

Try harder and look on the right country's website.

Ingredients: Potatoes, Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed), Dextrose (predominantly added at beginning of the potato season)

I don't know where you found that list but it wasn't mcdonald's UK.

Ha, x-post @Bjorkdidit .

@BlackPanther75 was conveniently quoting the US website. Not the UK one.

Yep i know, I’ve made bread for years.

It’s the amount of fat and salt and sugar they put into these processed breads to speed up the bread making process and make it last in the shelf longer, and to make it taste more. Because it’s processed so fast it doesn’t develop as much flavour so they need to compensate. It’s called the

Chorleywood bread process (CBP). It’s not how you make it at home, even if you use a bread machine

The worst thing health-wise in McDonalds is the fries. I think they might be the most unhealthy food on the planet.

Second worst is the sugary drinks, third worst is the bread buns.

Are you going to address the fact that you posted total bollocks upthread?

The worst thing health-wise in McDonalds is the fries. I think they might be the most unhealthy food on the planet.

Sounds exceptionally hyperbolic. 🍟

What's so unhealthy about potatoes, oil, salt and a small amount of sugar?

Alllllllllll of it! 🤷‍♀️🙄

I found out about Nestle and the breastfeeding debacle some years ago. I now avoid buying Nestle on principle.

Yup, agree! Hate snobbery around it, I am married to a head chef at a verrrry good restaurant and even he will happily indulge in a McDonald's. It's a treat and it's not the devil's food whatsoever.

Yeah my mistake. I wasn't conveniently quoting it 😂. Honestly the level of pettiness and nastiness on this thread is shocking.

Google told me that was the uk ingredients list, but when i checked after you reply if you click the link it took me to the actual uk ingredients. Google eh. You have to be careful .

it doesnt change the fact that mcdonalds food is ultra processed. Maybe the chips arent the worst. I dont like then adding sugar to make them look fresh (rather than grey) but the fact they are better than the old ones is good. I guess that’s from our days in the EU

im not saying don’t eat it. I just think people shouldn’t kid themself to think its not that bad because as far as food goes it is really bad.

someone compared it to a harvester and another their local pub. Basically any place that doesn’t make food from fresh ingredients on their local premises is going to be ultra processed on the whole as far as i am aware. Same as it will be at home if you buy frozen foods or use ready made sauces etc. That’s just how it is

Ha! The last time I ate at McDonalds was in France. At breakfast. Desperate for some protein. Had egg McMuffins. Did the job. Still vile setting & zero atmosphere. But there are moments when McDees fills the bill.

I think the bottom line with this thread is what do you really mean OP?

Is it that it just really isn’t that bad for you full-stop, to which my answer would have to be it really isn’t all that good, so to that extent, yes it’s bad.

But if you mean is it really all that bad compared with what people actually eat from supermarkets or elsewhere then I think the answer has to be no, not really. I am one of those judgy people who look at what is on the conveyor belt in front of me and am generally amazed at the crap. I always feel far from perfect but mine often looks like a vegetable garden compared with the person in front. Even the smattering of veg is often a tub of some wilted looking coleslaw drowning in mayo.

I haven’t seen anything or petty or nasty

If you’re going to post something that’s clearly not true in attempt prove a point, you can’t really expect not to be called out on it 🤷‍♀️

Had a Maccies breakfast this morning and it was glorious. Zero fucks given whether it's healthy or not, it was delicious.

I mean exactly what I said.

McDonald's really isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

Yes, its not health food. No one is saying that, but it really isn't the worst food around, and it certainly isn't as bad as it's made out to be. People think it's all sawdust and dust and E Numbers or something. People ignore the fact that the food quality is actually high, they conveniently ignore the organic milk used, the meat is good quality, the minimal processing/ingredients in most of the items they have - even when there's no reason for them to do so. They could provide a crappy beef patty with added flour, rice flours, sugar etc - but they don't. They could add all sorts of stuff to their chips to make them more crispy and tasty, but they don't. Their burger buns aren't any more UPF than any other burger bun readily available in supermarkets/restaurants or whatever. People complain about the calories - as if chips and burger are inherently low calorie options.

So yeah, any food is better than no food.

McDonald’s has masses of fat, salt, sugar, and empty processed carbohydrates

if you’re comparing it to other takeaways or other processed foods it’s probably not the worst. It’s amongst the worst, but not the worst

we actually eat there sometimes. but the food is basically overpriced, lukewarm, shit in a box. Albeit some of it ‘organic’ shit 😃

Golly calm down. Are you Ronald McDonald?

Im actually still not sure which of the two meanings you are giving it. I think it’s the latter, namely no worse than other commonly consumed things, in which case I’d agree with you. It really isn’t any worse than the loaves of processed bread, minced meat etc going through supermarket checkouts all day every day.

But if you mean “ not that bad” on a scale of how we should eat ( so whole grains, fresh fruit and veg, limited red meat ( organic or otherwise) zero white bread etc then clearly it really is pretty rubbish.

For all of the posters claiming otherwise - there is no 'bad' food. Food does not have a moral value attached to it. There is no food which causes weight gain, diabetes, heart disease. Food is food and I'm glad to be able to eat what I want when I want, including the glorious , delicious Maccy D's

I’m really not sure that’s accurate.

I agree that food is not a moral issue, and would extend that to the threads on here that cast judgment on obesity.

However, heavily processed foods, including white carbs but particularly food high in processed sugar ( ie, not sticks of sugar cane) have been strongly linked to many conditions.

I don’t say this happily: I love a crumpet and jam! I certainly wouldn’t judge anyone else for loving and eating them. Life is short. I also wouldn’t judge those who like McDonalds. But there’s a big gulf betwe food not being a moral issue and all foods being equal nutrition-wise, and I think food of low nutritional quality is what people mean by bad food.

Personally, I would consider a ‘food’ made almost entirely of emulsifiers, stabilisers, flavourings, thickeners etc bad.