Is McDonalds Finally Making Some Changes to Their Menu

I am not a fan of fast food restaurants, nor am I recommending that you rush out to get fast food. However, if I bust on fast food chains for doing all the unhealthy things like high sodium content, artificial colors and dyes, high levels of preservatives, and sugar content, just to name a few, then I should also report the good news. I found the following information most interesting. Due to consumer demands and a drop in sales in several quarters over the last couple of years, McDonalds will implement some changes.

As of August 1, 2016, McDonalds USA announced a few major changes to its menu.

Removing artificial preservatives from certain items, including Chicken McNuggets, pork sausage pat-ties, omelet style eggs served on breakfast sandwiches, and the scrambled eggs included in breakfast plat-ters

Removing the high-fructose corn syrup in its sandwich buns and replacing it with sugar

Transitioning to only serve chicken that hasn’t been treated with antibiotics important to human health

Even though this is a step in the right direction, there is a lot more work to be done. Let’s look at some of the changes and some ways to make them even better.

High fructose corn syrup has been linked to obesity and Type 2 diabetes so removing it from our foods, yes, please! However, it is being replaced with sugar. Too much added sugar has been linked to cardiovas-cular disease, cancer and obesity. It also causes inflammation in our bodies. Americans on average, con-sume about 10 percent of their average diet in added sugars.

Removing artificial preservatives is great, but many fast food restaurants, including McDonalds, fry their foods in a variety of oils, They use canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil and hydrogenated soybean oil. All of these oils are made from GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) that go through a significant amount of processing before they are okay for cooking.

The transition from chickens that have been given antibiotics to one where they are only given certain antibiotics may be a step in the right direction but why not remove the use of all antibiotics used on chick-ens? The rise of super bugs and antibiotic resistance is prevalent in our country. McDonalds and other restaurants use chickens that are treated with antibiotics that are not used on humans. Chik-fil-A announced in 2014 that they would work with their suppliers over the next 5 years to supply chicken with NO antibiotic use ever. If they can do it, other fast food restaurants should be able to as well.

Also, the term “natural” ingredients do not mean healthy. Food labeled “natural”, according to the USDA definition, does not contain artificial ingredients or preservatives and the ingredients are only mini-mally processed. However, they may contain antibiotics, growth hormones, and other similar chemicals. Regulations are fairly lenient for foods labeled “natural”.

I really say all of this to say that we as consumers must start insisting that our restaurants and grocery stores start offering healthier choices, and get rid of things that are negatively impacting our health. As you can see, consumers have spoken and restaurants are listening. Perhaps listening with their pocket-books, but nevertheless they are making some changes. You as the consumer deserve to know what you are consuming. All of the responsibility is not on our food providers, it is on us as well. Educate yourself, know what you are putting in your body, and refuse to buy the things that are compromising your health.

See you in the gym!