I'm Lovin it.

So I have decided to make healthier decisions when it comes to eating. No, it’s not tied into a New Years resolution; it’s called stepping onto the scale after a semester at Biola and a fattening Christmas and saying, ouch.

Upon this past week of trying to make healthier decisions I found sometimes life just happens and you have to grab some fast food. As I struggled with what to order in the McDonalds drive thru lane trying to make the healthiest in decision I chose a McChicken sandwich with no mayo. I then ate the sandwich with only one side of the bun.

I decided to go online and look at the nutrition facts so next time I would know what to order. I’m no dietician and I don’t know what fats are good and such and such, but if you are just counting calories, this may be some useful information.

I found that just a regular hamburger had 110 calories less than a McChicken. Calories wise, as far as sandwiches go, just a regular hamburger is the lowest coming in at 250 calories. The highest sandwich coming in at a whopping 790 calories was the Angus Bacon and Cheese. Also up in the 700s was Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Angus Bacon and Cheese, Angus Deluxe, and Angus Mushroom and Swiss. Also high was any chicken sandwich that was crispy. That’s going to cost you at least a hundred calories more instead of having it grilled. I found 3 Snack Wraps all under 300 calories; the Grilled Ranch Snack Wrap (270cal), Grilled Honey Mustard Snack Wrap (260cal), Grilled Chipotle BBQ Snack Wrap (260cal). A small order of fries is 230 calories, not including 15 calories per ketchup packet. Calories wise, 4 piece chicken nuggets looked good at 190 calories, but that doesn’t include the extra 50 calories in dipping sauce. So you are at 240 calories for chicken nuggets or 250 calories for a regular hamburger.

When I began to look at their salads, I thought not bad, until I looked at how much calories the dressings had. Your best bet, go for the Newman’s Own Low Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette, which is only 40 calories, compared to 190 calories of New Man’s Own Creamy Caesar Dressing. The croutons are also going to cost you 60 calories. The lowest salad was the Premium Caesar Salad without chicken (90cal). The second lowest salads without chicken at 140 were the Premium Southwest Salad (140cal) or the Premium Bacon Ranch Salad.

I’m not a big breakfast eater, so I won’t go too much into this meal. All I have to say is, stay away from the hotcakes! You will end up with about 1300 calories if you eat the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes! Lowest breakfast would be opting for an English muffin, or the Oatmeal all under 300 calories.

Desserts, oh where to begin! Oh how I lovveee McDonald’s desserts! Sometimes I just go there just to get dessert! The key to this, stay away from shakes and McFlurries. I know, I know, so hard! If you do opt for a McFlurry and can’t resist, choose Oreo over M&Ms, this will save you 130 calories, not much when you already having a lot of calories, but it’s saving something. Your best bet, which most of you already know would be Apple Dippers with low fat caramel or a Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait. I know, some dessert. Humph! If you must splurge, have a cookie. Having a cookie is way better than blowing it on a shake. A Baked Hot Apple Pie will also be a much better choice than a small shake.

The thing I am beginning to tell myself when I want something extra is, eating at McDonalds is already the splurge. If you want to splurge get a cheeseburger, instead of a regular hamburger. That costs you 50 calories and the splurge is the cheese, not feeling the need to add a small order of French fries. I’m also telling myself, if I’m already ordering a burger than a salad, that is the splurge. I don’t really want to buy a salad at McDonalds! Come on it’s McDonalds! Haha.

So my tips at eating at McDonalds. Hamburger, or Chicken Nuggets if you don’t opt for a salad. Not feeling up to drinking more water, have some iced tea! I love iced tea and love that it has zero calories! So if I ordered a hamburger, apple dippers with lowfat caramel dip, and an iced tea my order would total 350 calories. Ordering a Snack Wrap would also come out to about the same. Bad, but not too bad for eating out. I also totaled what would be my perfect meal at McDonalds, and that came out to 1500 calories! Point of the story, know what to order before you go through that drive-thru.