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McDonald's senior director of culinary innovation sees nothing unhealthy on menu

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Boss Man

Member
I think he probably just has a narrow definition of "unhealthy" which amounts to "not toxic"

I did love the commercials they were running a while back to try and get on board with the whole 'organic' thing though. It was just so out of place.
 
Is this too much food?
tumblr_m5qpwkBT471qitz6do1_500.jpg
 

BigDug13

Member
Why do meals default to "medium" all the time? And if you want to go with a small fries and small drink, you actually pay more because you have to purchase it "a la carte".

The meal deal should be with a small fries and small drink. Or there should be a slightly lower priced "small" option with "medium" and "super size" still being available.
 
A lot of people don't know how to eat properly at McDonald's.

You can usually buy 4 or 5 cheeseburgers for the price of one Big Mac meal, giving you more than twice the amount of the delicious (well maybe not) meat in a Big Mac and you skip the unhealthy and yucky fries and soda.
 

kehs

Banned
A lot of people don't know how to eat properly at McDonald's.

You can usually buy 4 or 5 cheeseburgers for the price of one Big Mac meal, giving you more than twice the amount of the delicious (well maybe not) meat in a Big Mac and you skip the unhealthy and yucky fries and soda.

Stuffing your face with four or five buns is eating properly?
 

Nevasleep

Member
You can usually buy 4 or 5 cheeseburgers for the price of one Big Mac meal, giving you more than twice the amount of the delicious (well maybe not) meat in a Big Mac and you skip the unhealthy and yucky fries and soda.
That is pretty boring though. I'd probably only be able to eat like 3 cheeseburgers in a row.
 

Fun fact: Everything is made out of chemicals, and just because organic nomenclature can be long and convoluted doesn't make it somehow worse for you.

I'd much rather eat some (2R,3S,4R,5R)-2,3,4,5,6-Pentahydroxyhexanal then arsenic trioxide, even though it's harder to say!

...
......
.........

I'm out

Yes, aren't I hilarious. I'm no chemist and I dont always know what these things are. All my point was is that most process food has things in it that probably aren't good for us?

Call me stupid if I'm wrong, I got his point though. Thank you for reminding not to eat arsenic over glucose. Next time I have the munchies I'll make sure there isn't 'arsenic trioxide' in there.
j
 
Had one of McDonald's new grilled chicken sandiwiches a week or so ago. Was actually relatively impressed. The buns never used to be that good.
 

Petrie

Banned
You see, that's where this entire argument kind of butts heads. Eating healthy and eating healthy while enjoying it are completely different things. That's the real challenge in eating healthy.

You can eat healthy in a short amount of time, skinless chicken breast and steamed veggies don't really take much time. A simple salad with a few things on top, etc. However, it's nowhere near delicious as something that takes time to cook.

I mean, if you are eating simply because you need the energy to keep going, then it suffices. If you enjoy the flavors of food, the variety of dishes, and the vast number cooking styles, then eating healthy is difficult. That's why the folks trumpeting healthy eating as simple and fast can be irksome, a lot people that say that often go on about very uninteresting meals.

But as we've said, we are comparing to McDonald's, not exactly something with this array of gourmet flavors you're describing. It's boring food, it's just boring food you don't have to cook yourself that's available quickly.

Why everyone insists on trying to use gourmet meals as the barometer instead of the fast food we are actually discussing is beyond me.

What you're bringing up takes away the entire time and laziness issue, which is a huge part of this discussion.
 

SeanR1221

Member
Working until 11 tonight.

Made 2 eggs, 1 egg white, 2 pieces of bacon for breakfast.

Tuna over lettuce with 1 cup broccoli, 1 oz shredded cheddar and 2 hardboiled eggs for lunch.

Last night I made extra chicken sausage and asparagus so I'm taking that for dinner.

Maybe I'll stop somewhere for coffee on the road today :)
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Is the US worse than other countries for McDonalds? We've had pure chicken breast in mcnuggets for several years, and they don't salt the fries in happy meals anymore. Add in the salads and deli wraps, and porridge for breakfast, and they have some pretty healthy options.

Its up to you to manage what you eat of course.
 

JB1981

Member
There are no federal laws requiring your employee to give you a break, or provide you with a employee break area. http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm

Bartenders, depending on the state, are not required to take ServSafe or other food handlers certifications, (http://www.safeserving.com/web/credentials.php?siteid=3&pageid=566&) so maybe you're simply unaware that cross contamination is a state inspected item on any restaurant in existence. So, if you do not have a separate employee break room in a restaurant - that is used for nothing else - then yes, it is against the law to bring in outside food anywhere but the front end, and even that is heavily restricted.

So, if your restaurant has it's own separate dining area for employees, separate refrigeration, separate heating utilities, then depending on the state, it may or may not be illegal to bring your own food in as an employees. A vast majority of employers will simply not allow it to avoid even the possibility of misuse of restaurant equipment and possible cross contamination.

Now, that doesn't mean that we never ate on the job. What is technically legal and what actually happens are two different things. When I worked fine dining, I never ate on the job - you would be summarily fired. When I worked mid-range places, we'd slap something together and chow when and where we could. My wife's company allows her to eat out on the patio outside.

Once again, we're back to the "well, I can do it, so everybody else who doesn't live exactly like I do, even though they hold separate jobs, in different areas, must just be lazy." It's a ridiculous argument.

Really sounds like you are reaching here. Do you really believe that this is the norm? I have worked in several different restaurants as both a waiter and bartender, and I have many close friends who have done the same, and none of us were denied the option of bringing in food. In fact, a lot of times the restaurant would make us food if we paid for it. Hell, I would grill my own chicken in the kitchen sometimes. You are telling me that the kitchen at these places didn't have a microwave or an oven that you could put your food in?
 

beje

Banned
Is this too much food?
tumblr_m5qpwkBT471qitz6do1_500.jpg

Ugh, I eat a lot, and wouldn't probably be able to gulp all that down. Anyway, people really really need nutritional education. Just by looking at the photo (really big fries ration, big milkshake probably made with whole milk, something that looks like 5 strips of bacon, sauce everywhere) I can say that that meal is probably not under 1500Kcal, which would be manageable if you eat healthy for the rest of the day. I would even dare to say it easily surpasses 2500Kcal.

In the other hand, most people would think it's completely OK to eat one of those everyday because "hey, it has veggies and fruit, shouldn't be that bad".
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Really sounds like you are reaching here. Do you really believe that this is the norm? I have worked in several different restaurants as both a waiter and bartender, and I have many close friends who have done the same, and none of us were denied the option of bringing in food. In fact, a lot of times the restaurant would make us food if we paid for it. Hell, I would grill my own chicken in the kitchen sometimes. You are telling me that the kitchen at these places didn't have a microwave or an oven that you could put your food in?

How is linking to the regulations, while stipulating that not everybody adheres to them reaching? It's just facts that don't support or negate your, mine or anybody else's anecdotal evidence. It was posted in response to the bartender simply saying "you're wrong."

Which all came from the "if you don't eat healthy all the time, you're lazy and making excuses" argument that I find silly. I'm sure I can make equally unsubstantiated claims on others personal habits on a number of criteria. Don't work out 5 times a week? Lazy. Don't take continuing education classes? Lazy. Don't have a healthy relationship? Lazy. Etc.

There is nothing wrong with encouraging others to eat better. There is everything wrong with going about it in that way. There is just something about food that drives people to the holier-than-thou attitude that really just...irks me. Personal pet peeve, nothing more.
 

BobsRevenge

I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
home cooked meals can also be unhealthy, not just fast food.

I would argue that just about any meal you can get at a restaurant will be just as, if not more, caloric as a meal from McDonalds. It'd probably have better nutrition though.

I love McDonalds. Double quarter-pounder with cheese is the best.
 

SeanR1221

Member
How is linking to the regulations, while stipulating that not everybody adheres to them reaching? It's just facts that don't support or negate your, mine or anybody else's anecdotal evidence. It was posted in response to the bartender simply saying "you're wrong."

Which all came from the "if you don't eat healthy all the time, you're lazy and making excuses" argument that I find silly. I'm sure I can make equally unsubstantiated claims on others personal habits on a number of criteria. Don't work out 5 times a week? Lazy. Don't take continuing education classes? Lazy. Don't have a healthy relationship? Lazy. Etc.

There is nothing wrong with encouraging others to eat better. There is everything wrong with going about it in that way. There is just something about food that drives people to the holier-than-thou attitude that really just...irks me. Personal pet peeve, nothing more.

Lack of exercise is being lazy. Education and relationships are totally different areas that can be out of a persons control.

Last time I checked, outside of the fat guy in Se7en, no one is forcing food down your lazy mouth.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Lack of exercise is being lazy. Education and relationships are totally different areas that can be out of a persons control.

Last time I checked, outside of the fat guy in Se7en, no one is forcing food down your lazy mouth.

You should read up a bit on the availability of healthy foods in urban areas. Not everybody has equal access to healthy choices. There is also no real health education regarding food, so the information on what, and how, to eat isn't as available to everybody during the formative years. Food science progresses very rapidly. When I was in culinary school in the early...aughts (is that what we're calling them?) what we were taught during food science courses is totally different than what would be taught now.

Painting everybody who doesn't eat in the manner that you prescribe as healthy as "lazy" is well....lazy. There are many, many factors to consider and throwing down lazy is doing nothing but throwing down the "I'm better than you" card and walking away. It's not helpful, it's not polite, it's not anything, really. So why act that way?
 

JB1981

Member
You should read up a bit on the availability of healthy foods in urban areas. Not everybody has equal access to healthy choices. There is also no real health education regarding food, so the information on what, and how, to eat isn't as available to everybody during the formative years. Food science progresses very rapidly. When I was in culinary school in the early...aughts (is that what we're calling them?) what we were taught during food science courses is totally different than what would be taught now.

Painting everybody who doesn't eat in the manner that you prescribe as healthy as "lazy" is well....lazy. There are many, many factors to consider and throwing down lazy is doing nothing but throwing down the "I'm better than you" card and walking away. It's not helpful, it's not polite, it's not anything, really. So why act that way?

I work in Newark, not exactly the wealthiest urban area, and there is SO MUCH FOOD there. And such an amazing variety of food. I live in a suburban town about an hour from Newark and we don't have nearly the same quality and variety of food. We may have bigger supermarkets but healthy food is available in abundance there!
 

ToxicAdam

Member
The thing that unnerves me about McDonalds (and it's also an amazing accomplishment) is that their food ALWAYS tastes the same. It never varies from location to location. You never get one that has too many onions or too much ketchup. It's really feels like assembly line food. So, it feels like I am eating this product .. and not food.

Plus, I never feel good after eating there. I might feel full or satiated. But never that kind of content fullness you get from eating a burger at a family party or milkshake you get from an ice cream shop.
 
The chef's point is valid...eating ONE fucking meal at McDonalds isn't going to change you. Period. And that's fairly accurate. It's eating that shit constantly. Or eating that shit a little combined with eating other shit which means you constantly eat a whole lot of shit over a long period of time that does sustained damage.
 

bjb

Banned
There's a McDonalds right next to my workplace. I keep telling some of co-workers to stop fucking eating there 3-4 times a week. Most of them have put on weight or are in bad shape to begin with.

The response I get is typically the same. Something along the lines of "I'm not going to let TV Shows, the internet, or the government stop me from enjoying good cheap food".
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
There's a McDonalds right next to my workplace. I keep telling some of co-workers to stop fucking eating there 3-4 times a week. Most of them have put on weight or are in bad shape to begin with.

The response I get is typically the same. Something along the lines of "I'm not going to let TV Shows, the internet, or the government stop me from enjoying good cheap food".

Damn you, Obama!
 
What are you people doing in your lives where you only have 5 minutes to get food? I have two jobs and I can allot more time than that. It's just an excuse to eat shitty processed food.
 

Evlar

Banned
I wonder what would happen to McDonald's profits if their customers actually exercised their best judgement, as advised by this guy, and ate there at most once a week.
 

ToxicAdam

Member
What are you people doing in your lives where you only have 5 minutes to get food? I have two jobs and I can allot more time than that. It's just an excuse to eat shitty processed food.

It's quite easy to be responsible when you are only responsible for yourself. It's quite another when you are a family of 2-5 people who all have differing schedules/ time constraints that you have to juggle.
 
It's quite easy to be responsible when you are only responsible for yourself. It's quite another when you are a family of 2-5 people who all have differing schedules/ time constraints that you have to juggle.

My mom worked night shifts until I was 15. Did all of the housework and still managed to feed me, my dad and my grandmother. And when she couldn't, she would just take all of the left overs out of the fridge and have us choose what we wanted to eat that night. I think people could really help themselves out if they cooked in a manner that meant left overs in the fridge on supply when cooking or getting everyone at the table at the same time is hard. She also refused to let me eat crap growing up as a kid and made me lunches which were just as delicious but still also healthy for me.
 

ToxicAdam

Member
BOOTSTRAPS

Like I said, there are parents that work 9-5 and then have children that have extra-cirricular activities that can last 1-2 hours a night. Sometimes 3-4 nights a week. Then at some point you have to have time for bathing, sleeping, homework etc.

Fast food didn't get popular because people are lazy or because it tastes so good. It's because it's fast.
 
It's quite easy to be responsible when you are only responsible for yourself. It's quite another when you are a family of 2-5 people who all have differing schedules/ time constraints that you have to juggle.

That's just another excuse. You could get a slow cooker and look up recipes. You put everything into the pot in the morning and when you come home everything is ready. That's just one out of tons of other options.
 
... all well and good, but you've admitted yourself that you possess no scientific background, yet you're trying to argue a point that's based i .... I'm out too actually.

Cool, so then I'm wrong to think that processed junk food for the most part contains unhealthy, unnatural chemicals?

Guess I'm gullible.
 

ToxicAdam

Member
Slow cookers? If you want to risk a small chance of fire .. that's one way to go.

In 2005, an estimated 146,400 U.S. home structure fires involving cooking equipment resulted in 480 civilian deaths, 4,690 civilian injuries, and $876 million in direct property damage.

Ranges, with or without ovens, account for two-thirds (67%) of total reported confined or nonconfined home structure fires involving cooking equipment and even larger shares of associated civilian deaths (85%) and civilian injuries (82%). Portable cooking or warming devices had the third largest share of home cooking fires but the second largest share of associated civilian deaths.

http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/MbrSecurePDF/cookingfull.pdf
 
BOOTSTRAPS

Like I said, there are parents that work 9-5 and then have children that have extra-cirricular activities that can last 1-2 hours a night. Sometimes 3-4 nights a week. Then at some point you have to have time for bathing, sleeping, homework etc.

Fast food didn't get popular because people are lazy or because it tastes so good. It's because it's fast.

You just described normal life.
 
Which is why fast food is so popular and so pervasive ...


I described the normal life of a family. Not the life of a single person.

I always looked up to parents, but I had no idea they were goddam superheros! How did they find the strength to do what they did? How did the billions of other families that came before us ever manage? They must have not been busy at all.
 

Petrie

Banned
Which is why fast food is so popular and so pervasive ...


I described the normal life of a family. Not the life of a single person.

You described the normal life of a family with crappy irresponsible parents not looking out for the simplest of best interests of their children.
 
And Fat Head is a terrible documentary.

So we should switch back to transfats since they're not saturated and consume vegetable oils instead? And sugar isn't bad for you since your body runs on sugar only?

Lmao, no wonder this country is full of overweight people.
 

lopaz

Banned
BOOTSTRAPS

Like I said, there are parents that work 9-5 and then have children that have extra-cirricular activities that can last 1-2 hours a night. Sometimes 3-4 nights a week. Then at some point you have to have time for bathing, sleeping, homework etc.

Fast food didn't get popular because people are lazy or because it tastes so good. It's because it's fast.

boohoo. If you don't have the time to feed your kids actual food then don't have kids. Then the world wouldn't be full of lil fatasses :D
 
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