16 Miles To Walk Off A Big Mac

[Darlek]

The McCalorie counter

By Mark Prigg, Evening Standard, Science Correspondent

2 August 2004

It is the latest attempt by McDonald's to convince us that its menu is healthy.

Next week the fast-food chain launches an adult Happy Meal for £3.99, offering a choice of salads, a diet drink - and a pedometer to count the number of steps you take.

McDonald's hopes the campaign will improve its image. However, today we can reveal that:

# To burn off a Big Mac meal you would need to walk 16 miles - four and a half laps of Hyde Park.

# Even the healthiest salad would take 2.5 miles to walk off, according to experts.

# A chicken Caesar salad contains 530 calories and carries 18.4 grams of fat - compared with 299 calories and 11.5 grams of fat in a standard cheeseburger.

As concerns grow over Britain's obesity epidemic, McDonald's has come under fire in a documentary, Super Size Me, in which director Morgan Spurlock ate only its food for 30 days, seriously damaging his health in the process.

Over the 30 days, Spurlock put on weight, suffered depression, lost his sex drive and his liver began to fail.

McDonald's was also recently criticised for the fat content of its salads.

Experts warned today against the new menu. Nutritionist Natalie Savona said many high street salads were misleading.

"Salads in general are a bit of a myth," she said. "If you just eat the salad, then great, but once you've put the dressing with cheese, oil and bacon on it then it can become very unhealthy.

"It is also very important to watch for the salt content, as in many salads it can be very high. But it's not just McDonald's who are at fault here. Walk into any supermarket or sandwich shop and you'll see salads layered with mayonnaise. People think just because they are buying salad it is the safe option, but that is rarely the case. But something like a Big Mac meal is definitely one to avoid; it's your entire calorific intake for a day."

Miss Savona said to rely solely on fast food is to court disaster. "The key is to eat a variety of food. Relying on any one food or diets that restrict what you eat heavily is a bad idea."

[KevinN]

Quote,,A chicken Caesar salad contains 530 calories and carries 18.4 grams of fat - compared with 299 calories and 11.5 grams of fat in a standard cheeseburger.

Quote,,But something like a Big Mac meal is definitely one to avoid; it's your entire calorific intake for a day."

It didn't say how much you would get from a coke and French fries,but with them,tha cheeseburger would be about the same as a big mac meal I believe.

And isn't it 3000 calories a day for a working man and 700 a day for just staying alive.

If that is the case then there is not enough cals. in a mac salad to even keep your heart ticking,let alone getting fat.

It was said in something I read about the con. camps of germany that the jews and polls that they wanted to keep alive and work got 1100 cals. a day just to be able to live and work some.

I went for 4 months on a job where I would buy 2 big macs for lunch everyday,7 days a week with fries, eat 3 Mac. sausage bisquits for breakfast and then steak or BBQ prime rib for supper with beans ,spuds, garlic toast, and salad at a BBQ joint,,I never got over

171 pounds. and that is not over weight for 6 feet tall.

maybe Pepe will come and explain it.