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

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15 Horrifying Reasons to Never Let

Anyone You Love Near a McDonald's

 

By Sarah Irani, EcoSalon

Posted on August 15, 2009, Printed on September 2, 2009

http://www.alternet.org/story/141959/

 

 

The Golden Arches: the ultimate American icon. Super Size Me

taught us that fast food

culture brings obesity, heart disease, hypertension and a whole slew of

other problems. 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.

1. 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?

2. 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.

 

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

McDonald’s.

 

4. 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.)

 

5. 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.

 

6. 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.

 

7. 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?

 

8. 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.

 

9. 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.”

 

10. 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.

 

11. 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.

 

12. 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.)

13. Do you want high blood pressure? Hit the

drive-through. Eating a McDonald’s chicken sandwich (any of “˜em, 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.

 

14. 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).

Yum. Cheap oil and cheap syrup. Many people depend upon cheap food

such as the sort offered at McDonald’s, whether due to the economic

conditions we currently face or low incomes. 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?

15. Still not convinced? Maybe this 1970s

trip through McDonaldland will give you enough nightmares to keep

your loved ones away forever.

 

 

 

 

 

© 2009 EcoSalon All rights reserved.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/141959