I'm loving' it - but should I?

As parents of two "always-hungry" children, McDonalds has literally become our second home. My wife always wishes that they would have some kind of loyalty program because we could have collected enough miles by now to enjoy a nice round-the-world ticket for two, and perhaps a second retirement home, by the time our children get over the craze of McDonalds.

Yes. We are aware that McDonalds food is not good for them. Eating this type of food on a regular basis is a sure-fire ticket towards obesity. Unfortunately for our children, we happen to be a working couple living in a country that lives on a fast-food culture. And neither of us are good at cooking.

But is their food really that bad? McDonalds now publishes the nutritional values of all their food items. I recently picked up a copy to see what to make of it. I have segregated the data between main items, salads, dressings, and side dishes; and I have sorted the items from the most calories to the least.

Main Items	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
Chicken Big Mac	593	32	47	29
Spicy McChicken	583	35	40	27
McArabia	566	30	50	24
McRoyale	540	31	38	30
McChicken	537	31	40	24
Qtr.Pounder w/Cheese	530	30	38	28
Big Mac	500	26	42	26
Veggie Burger	485	27	50	10
Fillet-O-Fish	470	26	45	15
Chicken Burger	317	14	33	14
6-pcs Nuggets	310	13	12	10
Cheeseburger	299	13	31	16
Beefburger	254	9	31	13

Salads	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
Chicken Ceasar Salad	157	4	5	26
Green Salad	118	8	4	8
Caesar Salad	56	3	3	5

Dressings	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
1000 Islands Dressing	205	17	13	1
Caesar Dressing	194	15	13	1
Light Vinaigrette	40	0	10	0

Side Orders	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
McFlurry Kit Kat	349	13	48	9
Sundae Hot Fudge	323	11	49	7
Sundae Caramel	319	7	59	6
McFlurry Oreo	296	10	43	8
Sundae Strawberry	259	6	46	6
Apple Pie	220	12	26	2
McFries Regular Size	210	10	26	3
Icecream Cone	150	4	23	4

The following items (though available at McDonalds) are not available on their nutrition sheet, so I pulled it off from the calorie counter database.

Drinks	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)
Orange Juice	140	-	33	2
Coca Cola Classic(M)	210	-	58	-
Coca Cola Diet	1	-	-	-

They also have a Tuna salad that I eat regularly, but I can't find the nutrition information on it. But based on similar salads, I expect it to be 192 calories with 9g fat, 10g carbohydrates and 16g of protein.

So now we have all the nutritional information, what to make of it?

Well, first of all, not ALL of the food at McDonalds is bad. If you have:
   a. Chicken Caesar Salad  (157 calories). Throw the dressing away.
   b. Cheese Burger (299 calories)
   c. Diet Coke (1 Calorie)
You actually have a decent meal (457 calories) with a nice balance between Carbs (36 g or 25% of your daily allowance), Proteins (a healthy 26g) and Fat (17g or 25% of your daily allowance). A 25% portion of your daily needs makes perfect sense since it's one of your main meals.

The culprits are those where the food is fried (Chicken Big Mac, Spicy McChicken etc.) or where the food has a lot of mayonnaise and other dressings (most of the big burgers), and of course, the empty calories (fries, ice-creams and sodas).

So it is possible to eat healthy at McDonalds. It's just damn hard to do so.