McDonalds is probably one of my favorite restaurants. I didn’t like it as much as a kid, due to fears of clowns, Ronald McDonald and his bright colored alien friends. But as I grew older I learned to overcome my fear, and no longer dreaded the monthly birthday parties to the world’s favorite fast food restaurant.
While mcdonald’s precios has its staple menu of Big Mac, Quarter Pounders, Chicken Nuggets and French Fries, it often tries to diversify its menu in interesting ways. For example, it introduced the Big Tasty a few years ago, which in my view was their version of Burger King’s Whopper burger. Personally, I was not a fan, though our Swedish developer used to eat them religiously after a few beers.
There are also regionally developed menu items, such as the McLobster in Eastern Canada and New England, the McCurry Pan in India, and the Shogun Burger in Hong Kong. These items are due to locally available produce as well as cultural sensitivities.
If you pop into McDonald’s for a quick lunch but the weather is hot and you’re like, wow, wouldn’t it be great if they also served cold beer? Unfortunately they don’t serve beer in America. The good news is, if you happen to be in one of the following countries, you can finally enjoy this Big Mac Meal with a tall pint of beer.
Help for My Obese Child – Fast Food, a Fast Track to Child Obesity
Each obese child suffers through their own personal pain. They each confront the increased dangers of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and early onset puberty as well as all the emotional issues of low self esteem and possible ridicule by other children. But with an estimated 1 in 3 children either overweight or obese, this is more than an individual problem for our society. As we have increased our consumption of fast food over the past 30 years so also has the number of obese children increased. There is ample evidence that a fast food diet is a fast track to child obesity.
Calories come in different forms. Some are gotten from fat or carbohydrates while others come from sugars. Our bodies absorb these calories in different ways that are important to your health, but the bottom line is a calorie is still a calorie. If you consume more calories than you burn off through activity you will gain weight. If you burn off more than you consume you will lose weight.
A child who consumes just a few more calories than are burned off through activity and normal growth will gradually become overweight. A very active 5 year old boy with a healthy body weight who is out playing and running around for more than an hour each day will need to consume around 1800 calories each day. If the child is not very active the required calories drops to around 1200 per day. For the same 11 year old boy the range would be from around 1500 to 2500.
- Now let’s look at some calorie information for common fast food items.
- Happy Meal has 555 Calories.
- Four piece Chicken McNuggets has 170 calories.
- McDonald’s medium French fries has 350 calories.
- McFlurry with M&M’s has 620 calories.
- Jack In The Box OREO Cookie Ice Cream Shake has 190 calories.
- Dairy Queen Chicken Strip Basket (6 piece) has 1270 calories.
- Burger King TRIPLE WHOPPER Sandwich with Cheese has 1230 calories.
- Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese has 770 calories
- Big Mac has 600 calories.
- McDonald’s 16 oz Triple thick shake has 580 calories.
- Burger King large chocolate shake has 850 calories.
So a meal at McDonald’s consisting of a Big Mac, medium fries and a Triple thick shake will have 1,800 calories. Add to that any other meals eaten in that day or snacks and you can see why even the most active child would have a hard time maintaining a healthy body weight. And McDonald’s is not necessarily the biggest offender. A similar meal at other mcflurry precio fast food chains could yield even more calories.