There’s no way to put this gently: America is fatter than ever before. Thanks to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and an abundance of unhealthy fast food options, obesity rates have steadily increased with each passing year. In fact, recent data from the CDC relays that more than 1/3 of Americans can be considered obese.
Part of the problem, as mentioned above, is fast food. After all, you can walk into almost any fast food restaurant in the country and easily consume a delicious 1,500+ calorie meal for less than $10.
That said, some fast food joints have taken impressive steps to increase the number of healthy food options available to consumers, with McDonald’s being a prime example. Over the past few years, McDonald’s has steadily introduced items like premium salads that curiously coexist alongside famously unhealthy items like fries and the iconic double quarter pounder with cheese.
In fact, it’s actually possible live on a McDonald’s diet exclusively and keep your arteries relatively clean.
In an interesting Quora post which tackles this very topic, Jonathan Brill explains how a selective diet at McDonald’s would actually be healthier than the average American diet.
You can buy grilled chicken, salads without dressing, fruit, dairy (without added sugar), and a variety of meat-based, low sugar breakfast dishes.
If you go easy on the buns, it would be possible for you to get your protein, vitamins, minerals, and water every day, with close to zero sugar, or at the very least, well under the new recommendation by the World Health Organization of 25g a day (of course the recommendation for Americans is twice that).
Now there’s no denying that a diet of extra large cokes, fish fillets, burgers, fries and tasty milkshakes is a quick way to get to the grave early. Still, it surprisingly possible to eat at McDonald’s and make smart dieting choices that will leave you relatively healthy.
Now do we recommend anyone eat exclusively at McDonald’s? Of course not. But the broader takeaway is that making smart menu choices is far more beneficial than struggling to avoid fast food spots altogether. Besides, unhealthy food can be found almost anywhere you go, from Subway to Whole Foods.
The full Quora thread, which has a number of interesting answers, can be checked out in its entirety over here.
