Day 41 - McDonald's

McDonald's is one of the world's leading fast food chains. It was first started by two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald when they decided to open a drive-in Bar-B-Que in Bernardino, CA in 1940. In 1948, the brothers decided to close down their shop for three months in order to make some major renovations. Three months later, the McDonald's restaurant reopened as a self-service drive in restaurant with a reduced menu featuring the 15 cent hamburger, and added fries to the menu just one year later.

First McDonald's

In 1954, salesman Ray Kroc met with the McDonald's brothers and realized his future with the company as their nationwide franchising agent. Kroc opened his first McDonald's store in Des Plaines, IL the very next year. In 1956, Kroc hired in a counter man named Fred Turner who would later become the McDonald's Company's Chairman. Then in the next three years, McDonald's reached two major goals: the selling of the 100 millionth hamburger and the opening of their 100th restaurant in Fond Du Lac, WI.

Ray Kroc

McDonald's continued to grow and expand over the next decade. In 1961, McDonald's first opened the Hamburger University in Illinois. Students, also known as store managers, would go to the Hamburger University in order to obtain their degree in Hamburgerology. McDonald's hit another major milestone in 1965, when the company celebrated its 10th anniversary by offering the first public stocks at $22.50 a share. The first appearance of Ronald McDonald occurred in TV commercials in 1966. Ronald became an almost instant hit! In 1967, McDonalds finally went international, selling their first stores to Canada and Puerto Rico. Today, the company is located in 118 countries world wide! One year later, the all famous Big Mac was first introduced on national menus in McDonald's after being developed by store owner Jim Delligatti. Finally, in the last year of the 1960s, the McDonald's logo underwent a major upgrading where more emphasis was placed on the famous, widely recognized golden arches.

In the 1970s, more products began to appear on the McDonald's menus. The Quarter Pounder made its debut in 1973, the first breakfast menu featuring the Egg McMuffin in 1975, and the Happy Meal appeared on the kids menu in 1979. In addition to adding more menu items, the McDonald's company also opened their first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia, PA. More Ronald McDonald Homes, where children can stay while being treated for major sicknesses like cancer, are located throughout the United States today.

In 1984, Founder and Senior Chairman of the McDonald company, Ray Kroc passed away in January. But that did not stop the company from further growth and expansion in the years leading up to today.

In the 2000s, more and more food products were added onto the McDonald's menu; such as the Big N' Tasty in 2001, Premium Salads in 2003, and the McCafe Coffees in 2009. In addition to growing the food products, the McDonald's company also began their new marketing campaign, "I'm Lovin' It" in 2003, added nutritional information onto product packages in 2006, and launched their most comprehensive global packaging design in the brand's history in 2008.

While McDonald's continues to make new products on their menu, I think that it is important for consumers to be aware of the nutritional facts of the more famous products. So the rest of today's post will be dedicated to talking about the nutritional values of some of McDonald's more famous food and drink items!

One of the first best selling items to appear on McDonald's menus was the Big Mac. This burger contains about 540 calories and 29 grams of fat, 10 grams of which comes from saturated fats. While you can find some vitamin contents and 3 grams of dietary fiber in the burger, you will also find 9 grams of sugar and 1040 mg of sodium! That's a LOT of sodium for one burger!

Big Mac

For chicken sandwich lovers, McDonald's offers their McChicken Sandwich, containing 360 calories and 16 grams of fat, 3 of which are saturated. In addition to the calories, the McChicken also has 2 grams of dietary fiber, 5 grams of sugar, and 830mg of sodium.

McDonald's famous French Fries are another of the company's top sellers. In a small order of fries, you will find 230 calories (almost as much as that chicken sandwich for a small size!) and 11 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of which are saturated. These small fries also contain 3 grams of dietary fiber and 160mg of sodium. If you were to get the large size fries, your values would be upped by a lot! The large fries has 500 calories alone (MORE than some sandwiches) and 350mg of sodium.

Most kid customers love the McDonald's Chicken McNuggets. For a 4 piece portion size, consumers are getting about 190 calories and 12 grams of fat, 2 of which are saturated. The 4 piece Chicken McNuggets also contain 0 grams of dietary fiber and 400mg of sodium!

Egg McMuffin is one of the main featured items on the McDonald's Breakfast Menu. In this egg sandwich, you will find about 300 calories and 12 grams of fat, 5 of which are saturated. The sandwich also contains 2 grams of dietary fiber, 3 grams of sugar, 260 mg cholesterol, and 820mg of sodium! This breakfast may not be the best one for starting out your day...

Egg McMuffin

One of the newer McDonald's Breakfast items is the Bacon, Egg, and Cheese McGriddle. This McGriddle features a whole 420 calories and 18 grams of fat, 8 of which are saturated. In addition to this, the Bacon, Egg, and Cheese McGriddle also has 2 grams of dietary fiber, 15 grams of sugar, 240 mg cholesterol, and a whopping 1110 mg of sodium!

The McDonald's McFlurry with Oreo Cookies is one of the top selling desserts found in the restaurant. For a 12oz serving of this dessert, you will be consuming about 580 calories and 19 grams of fat, 10 of which are saturated! On top of this, consumers will also ingest about 3 grams of dietary fiber, 73 grams of sugar (more than a soda!), and perhaps surprising to some of you 340mg of sodium.

With the addition of the McCafe menu, one of my favorite coffee items is the Non-Fat Vanilla Latte. In one  12oz cup, we consumers are getting about 180 calories, 37 grams of sugar, and 95 mg of sodium.

Recently, McDonald's has also added a smoothie section to their menu. In the Strawberry Banana Smoothie (Large size), you will find about 330 calories, 10 grams of fat, 4 grams of dietary fiber, 70 grams of sugar, and 55mg of sodium.

One last item that I would recommend if you ever have to stop into a McDonald's for something to eat (which I hope you don't have to do) is the Fruit and Yogurt Parfait. In this 7oz cup of fruit and yogurt, you will get about 160 calories and 2 grams of fat, 1 of which is saturated. On the down side though, it only contains 1 gram of dietary fiber and it has high amounts of sugar (21 grams) and sodium (85 mg).

I hope that you will take into account the high caloric values of many of the food products found at McDonald's as well as the extremely high amounts of sodium. Next time you feel like having a good burger, stick to the homemade kind; making sure to get yourself lean hamburger meat!

Exercise: Today I was not feeling well so I did not do a workout, deciding to give my body a rest instead. For those of you who are feeling up to it, today is an IM swimming workout. That means to practice all four competitive strokes and try to make your workout for a mile's worth of distance.

Eat: Today at work I enjoyed a small pasta salad that has these noodles called fusilli in it. This is a thick pasta that is made from corn and is completely gluten free. It is perfect for cold pastas! Definitely take some time to look it up. My favorite cold pasta made with fusilli is a southwest pasta; including crushed red pepper, chicken, and some kind of sauce. I get it at my work!

Relax: To relax for the day, take thirty minutes or more to eat your dinner. Just sit an enjoy it with some pleasant conversation. I know when my days get too overly busy, it is nice to just sink into my dinner chair while enjoying my meal.