Long live MacDonalds!!
So many people thought that it was the end of MacDonald's fast food restaurants after Morgan Spurlock's documentary "Super Size me" where he spent 28 days living solely on MacDonald's food. The effect on his psychological and physical well being was so dramatic on such a negative scale that it led to the common public agreement that MacDonald's was knowingly promoting poor nutrition that was both physiologically addictive and physically harmful for its own profit.
MacDonalds's responded to this documentary by discontinuing the Super Size meal and by promoting salad options in the store. Also the quality of meat and produce in their meals dramatically improved as well.
I don't think that they need have bothered.
Firstly, all people love what's bad for them. Cigarettes, chocolate, alcohol, a self-centred egotistical boyfriend (take comfort in the fact that you will probably grow out of this one. I did and eventually married an absolute honey but there were a few risky boyfriends before him I must admit) and most definitely fast food. There are times when a big mac to me is just the equivalent of a great big, giant cuddle and no matter how many revolting videos are put up on you tube about the contents of their burgers, I can quite easily block them out of my mind and stick my face in a gloriously salty bag of chips. There is no way that any video or documentary will stand in the average persons way when the craving for highly saturated, fatty food comes knocking at their door.
I really don't think that promoting Salads in MacDonald's was best addition to the menu either (although as a marketing tactic, it was probably genius) as if people want a salad, MacDonald's is not normally the place that they will chose to go to. People go to a fast food restaurant for one thing and one thing only and that is to treat themselves to a guilty pleasure. If you are on a diet, you tend to stay at home.
Secondly, I think that most people do know that if you eat nothing but food that contains fats and sugars for a month and do no exercise whatsoever that can expect a bit of weight gain and a few mood swings here and there. You don't necessarily have to eat MacDonald's to achieve this status. Pretty much any sort of over eating will produce these results.
And thirdly, it's just nice once in a while not to have to cook and yet spend very little money on such a satisfying meal. My hubby and I brought the two little ones to MacDonald's today as a treat and we really had such a lovely time. The restaurant was packed yet we had our food within five minutes of entering the building. This is a god-sent when you have a four year old and a three year old with you and your three year old is intent on giving every man she sees a big "Hello" and a cuddle and the bigger and hairier and scarier looking the man is the better (I'm not going to go on too much about this right now because her obsession with men at the moment is so disturbing that it deserves a blog entry all of its own).
We went upstairs to be seated and the staff cleared a table for us immediately. I went to sit down and being the clumsy oaf that I am, I spilt my chips on the ground and a staff member came over straight away and said that she would replace them for me free of charge and cleaned up the mess there and then. She was so nice and pleasant about it that I felt only vaguely mortified as opposed to the normal full blown humiliation that would usually visit me after such an event.
There was continuous cleaning going on around us the whole time we were there and the restaurant really was spotless. Andrew needed to use the toilet at one stage which made me groan as I really do hate public toilets but yet again, the toilet was immaculate and even more surprisingly had no smelly odour as most of these places tend to have.
The food was lip-smackingly gorgeous and it was lovely to see the kids sit down and eat their lunch and really enjoy it for a change rather than just nibble a corner off a piece of carrot from their dinner at home that I have slaved over for hours and then announce with a grimace "I'm finished!"
They each got a toy with their happy meal which wasn't just a piece of tat but could actually be played with and didn't break in two upon opening the packet. Hubby and I just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed our own lunch while the kids sat and played and ate their chips with a grin on each face from ear to ear. Only another parent can truly understand the bliss that a stress free, relatively silent meal can bring.
So here is my advice to you all. Try not to make MacDonald's your main source of nutrition like Morgan Spurlock did but once in a while, throw away the guilt, forget about your waistline, ignore the many "You'll never eat at MacDonald's again after watching this clip" videos that frequent Facebook and you tube and dive into a Big Mac at your nearest fast food joint. And if it cuts a few years off your life? Well, they'll be the few at the end which from what I hear are the worst ones anyway so you may as well just indulge yourself now. Go on, I insist!
MacDonalds's responded to this documentary by discontinuing the Super Size meal and by promoting salad options in the store. Also the quality of meat and produce in their meals dramatically improved as well.
I don't think that they need have bothered.
Firstly, all people love what's bad for them. Cigarettes, chocolate, alcohol, a self-centred egotistical boyfriend (take comfort in the fact that you will probably grow out of this one. I did and eventually married an absolute honey but there were a few risky boyfriends before him I must admit) and most definitely fast food. There are times when a big mac to me is just the equivalent of a great big, giant cuddle and no matter how many revolting videos are put up on you tube about the contents of their burgers, I can quite easily block them out of my mind and stick my face in a gloriously salty bag of chips. There is no way that any video or documentary will stand in the average persons way when the craving for highly saturated, fatty food comes knocking at their door.
I really don't think that promoting Salads in MacDonald's was best addition to the menu either (although as a marketing tactic, it was probably genius) as if people want a salad, MacDonald's is not normally the place that they will chose to go to. People go to a fast food restaurant for one thing and one thing only and that is to treat themselves to a guilty pleasure. If you are on a diet, you tend to stay at home.
Secondly, I think that most people do know that if you eat nothing but food that contains fats and sugars for a month and do no exercise whatsoever that can expect a bit of weight gain and a few mood swings here and there. You don't necessarily have to eat MacDonald's to achieve this status. Pretty much any sort of over eating will produce these results.
And thirdly, it's just nice once in a while not to have to cook and yet spend very little money on such a satisfying meal. My hubby and I brought the two little ones to MacDonald's today as a treat and we really had such a lovely time. The restaurant was packed yet we had our food within five minutes of entering the building. This is a god-sent when you have a four year old and a three year old with you and your three year old is intent on giving every man she sees a big "Hello" and a cuddle and the bigger and hairier and scarier looking the man is the better (I'm not going to go on too much about this right now because her obsession with men at the moment is so disturbing that it deserves a blog entry all of its own).
We went upstairs to be seated and the staff cleared a table for us immediately. I went to sit down and being the clumsy oaf that I am, I spilt my chips on the ground and a staff member came over straight away and said that she would replace them for me free of charge and cleaned up the mess there and then. She was so nice and pleasant about it that I felt only vaguely mortified as opposed to the normal full blown humiliation that would usually visit me after such an event.
There was continuous cleaning going on around us the whole time we were there and the restaurant really was spotless. Andrew needed to use the toilet at one stage which made me groan as I really do hate public toilets but yet again, the toilet was immaculate and even more surprisingly had no smelly odour as most of these places tend to have.
The food was lip-smackingly gorgeous and it was lovely to see the kids sit down and eat their lunch and really enjoy it for a change rather than just nibble a corner off a piece of carrot from their dinner at home that I have slaved over for hours and then announce with a grimace "I'm finished!"
They each got a toy with their happy meal which wasn't just a piece of tat but could actually be played with and didn't break in two upon opening the packet. Hubby and I just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed our own lunch while the kids sat and played and ate their chips with a grin on each face from ear to ear. Only another parent can truly understand the bliss that a stress free, relatively silent meal can bring.
So here is my advice to you all. Try not to make MacDonald's your main source of nutrition like Morgan Spurlock did but once in a while, throw away the guilt, forget about your waistline, ignore the many "You'll never eat at MacDonald's again after watching this clip" videos that frequent Facebook and you tube and dive into a Big Mac at your nearest fast food joint. And if it cuts a few years off your life? Well, they'll be the few at the end which from what I hear are the worst ones anyway so you may as well just indulge yourself now. Go on, I insist!
Nothing better than eating tasty food you didn't have to cook yourself and no kitchen to clean after too. Plus you get major brownie points from the kids! Win, win! If only it truly was healthier so we could do it daily!
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