Here comes McDonalds and the Family Dollar

[I-10east]

Blah blah blah, typical hippy-esque ultra-healthy lifestyle agenda within an anti-mainstream tirade on MJ. All fast food is Satan himself, gotcha....

[I-10east]

^^^Did you really need to pull up that plethora of Mc Donald's related nutritional fact charts? You surely don't have an agenda against Mc Donald's, Wal-Mart etc etc etc.. Thanks for that nutritional info spoiler alert, fast food is high in calories, who would have thunk it? 

[I-10east]

^^^LOL, you have no clue as to what you're saying. I watch Fox News? You're all over the place, from a Jax Mc Donald's being vilified with a myriad of nutritional facts, to getting political. BTW, I consider myself a democrat but DEFINITELY not a liberal.

[Jaxson]

Yes, inner cities tend to be food deserts.  But, IMHO, McDonald's and Family Dollar are doing what other companies still fear to do - invest in the urban core.  I myself see the hazards of eating fast food, but also believe that fast food was never meant to me a regular means of sustenance for folks.  When I was a child, my parents treated fast food like an occasional indulgence that could be enjoyed every now and then.  Same applies to carbonated drinks.  Today, it is the modern-day dining room for people.  I agree that it is a shame that Starbuck's failed.  It is bizarre that a major cash cow like Starbucks could fail in any location.  That said, an area like our urban core that is begging for more business does indeed benefit from more companies that have some degree of faith in our city...  I would gladly accept some infill instead of more sprawl.
P.S. - I weigh 140 pounds...

[Pinky]

thanks for the calorie info. Stephen, but how about the Egg McMuffin, the yogurt parfait, etc....sure there are lots of pretty bad-for-you choices on the menu, but there are also more than 20 food choices under 400 calories

http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/meal_bundles/favoritesunder400.html

and as for calories in coke, you might find it interesting to know that McDonalds also serves Diet Coke and water

Well its the High Fructose Corn Syrup that makes the Sodas terrible for you. TUFSU.

And what mcdonalds has available and what it pushes and promotes are pretty  much two different things.

Id prefer a Subway Sandwich shop or a Loop Pizza and Burger or even one of the local Camel Rider places personally.

I meant the post to be a bit flip, but it really is a valid point.

I think there is something absurd where we notice the graffiti because of the visual damage its doing to a corporate restaurant that is contributing to millions of deaths annually, childhood obesity and some of the most egregious criminal damage to the Rain Forests of Brazil in the long sad history of the country.

But hey, it's about priorities, I suppose.  And they are very popular.

In the long run the crackheads that the mcdonalds replaced were less dangerous to the children.

Subway???  Dude, seriously?  That crap is LOADED with carbs, fat and sodium. 

Lets look at a 6" BMT.  White bread, with lettuce, onions, tomato, oil and vinegar, and mayonnaise:

620 Calories, 340 from Fat.  That's 57% of your fat intake for a day, 50% of saturated fat.
65 MG of cholesterol.
1720 MG of sodium.  72% of your sodium intake for the day.
46 grams of carbohydrates.

http://www.nutritionix.com/m/U7F1Yx

That sandwich alone is a killer.  Add chips and a coke, maybe with a refill, and it's even worse.

And don't even get me started on Loop burgers, or any of the greasy slop the "camel rider" places serve.  If that's what you consider "healthy eating" I'm surprised you're not grossly obese and on blood pressure meds.

[fsujax]

Oh i love me a big mac. Who cares what they serve, if you dont like it dont go there. Simple as that. Destroying property is no way to get your point across. It is in poor taste, not to mention criminal.

Besides if Joe Flacco can eat there, then it should be ok.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1553646-joe-flacco-celebrates-record-breaking-contract-with-trip-to-mcdonald?hpt=hp_c3

[Pinky]

yawn pinky.

Try adding mayo, bacon and cheese to the simple big mac and see what happens to the numbers.  They actually skyrocket.

The funniest part about your post is that you are also mistaken.

Subway???  Dude, seriously?  That crap is LOADED with carbs, fat and sodium. 

Lets look at a 6" BMT.  White bread, with lettuce, onions, tomato, oil and vinegar, and mayonnaise:

620 Calories, 340 from Fat.  That's 57% of your fat intake for a day, 50% of saturated fat.
65 MG of cholesterol.
1720 MG of sodium.  72% of your sodium intake for the day.
46 grams of carbohydrates.

http://www.nutritionix.com/m/U7F1Yx

That sandwich alone is a killer.  Add chips and a coke, maybe with a refill, and it's even worse.

And don't even get me started on Loop burgers, or any of the greasy slop the "camel rider" places serve.  If that's what you consider "healthy eating" I'm surprised you're not grossly obese and on blood pressure meds.

The real answer is 410 calories as offered.  Which is 25 percent fewer calories than the Big Mac as offered.

There is no choice for white bread at subway anymore, incidentally.

Here is the accurate place to find your nutrition information on Subway:  http://www.subway.com/nutrition/nutritionlist.aspx

Since Ive been a medical Vegan, (and a tendency toward vegetarianism most of my life) my blood pressure runs about 115 to 125 over 75 on average.  Its also the reason that I eat a the veggie sub when I go there.  A 12 inch sandwich, as offered, literally stuffed with veggies runs about 460 calories, has no saturated fat, no cholesterol, and is packed with the full complement of vitamins and minerals provided by the various veggies.

If you choose the 6 inch variety it only runs 230 calories.

Of course you can make it healthier by leaving off the olives, the pickled ingredients like the pickles and the jalapeño and banana peppers, and ask for no added salt, just as you can make choices all along the way for every sandwich since each of them is custom ordered.

More than that, you can completely fill up on one sandwich, compared to the general dining experience at McDonalds.

In my personal life, I prefer not to eat fast food, and generally I don't.  But dispassionately speaking, a subway is way healthier (and better tasting) than a McDonald's.  If Im going to stoop to fast food, I will go there.  Ive always like the loop, its nowhere near as unhealthy as a McDonald's doesnt price its food to be consumed in mass quantities for children and poor people and certainly doesnt have the corporate history that McDonald's has. 

Im not sure if you have kids or not, but Cheryl and I made a lot of decisions based on what was available for Zorn and Aneize to eat. It will make you a lot more nutrition aware in general.

Subway quotes their nutrition figures without cheese or condiments, which is not how people eat in the real world.  And I didn't even bother going into issues like nitrates and preservatives.  My point was simply that places like Subway and the grease bomb Camel Rider joints are by and large not any better than McDonalds, which you seemed to be suggesting.

(Oh, and for clarity, the sandwich I cited as my example was configured using their "Classic Italian" bread, which is their most popular bread selection.)

Glad that Vegan diet is working so well for you, although you may want to ask your doctor about your fatigue; you sure seem to "yawn" a lot.     I also try to eat as cleanly as possible, and rarely let my kids eat fast food at all. 

[Pinky]

that might have been what you wanted to point out, but I think you failed fairly miserably. 

Gosh, there's a real surprise...   

Btw, how does a vegan chef prepare non-vegan foods such as the dishes you've mentioned in the past (I recall something about an Egyptian chicken dish as well as pork chops) without tasting them?  I can't cook anything without tasting it several times during preparation; I can only assume that a "professional" would do the same..   I'm sincerely curious.

[Pinky]

that might have been what you wanted to point out, but I think you failed fairly miserably. 

Gosh, there's a real surprise...   

Btw, how does a vegan chef prepare non-vegan foods such as the dishes you've mentioned in the past (I recall something about an Egyptian chicken dish as well as pork chops) without tasting them?  I can't cook anything without tasting it several times during preparation; I can only assume that a "professional" would do the same..   I'm sincerely curious.

I actually don't have a problem with needing to taste all the dishes.  There are some things that you have to taste while cooking---broth is an example, and occasionally the starches.

But the truth is that like many chefs, I have an extremely sensitive palate and olfactory sense.  I can just as easily smell how something tastes as actually taste it.

A lot of times I can smell a dish cooking and tell you the majority if not all of the ingredients being used.  Its a pretty important sense to pay attention to as its often the only trigger that signifies chemical changes while cooking in a sautee pan.

Its the same with many wine sommeliers.

Interesting..  It's gotta be tough to be around delicious food without eating it..  Sorta like a celibate pimp.   

Back to the topic, I saw the vandalism done to the new McD's, and my first impression was that it looks like something that a disgruntled contractor or something like that would do.  (The huge letters must have required a ladder or the like, and the paint thrown around suggests an intent to do as much damage as possible.). A knucklehead tagger usually wouldn't go to those lengths.  Somebody was clearly pissed off.

[PeeJayEss]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1365424/Subway-vs-McDonalds-The-artery-clogging-truth-favourite-fast-food-chains.html

[PeeJayEss]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1365424/Subway-vs-McDonalds-The-artery-clogging-truth-favourite-fast-food-chains.html

you have to admit thats a pretty dumb article, pj.

i can literally write the same thing about any thing.

You have. I suppose I would find an article dumb if it expressed an opinion other than my own as well.

[PeeJayEss]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1365424/Subway-vs-McDonalds-The-artery-clogging-truth-favourite-fast-food-chains.html

you have to admit thats a pretty dumb article, pj.

i can literally write the same thing about any thing.

You have. I suppose I would find an article dumb if it expressed an opinion other than my own as well.

You apparently do.  But I think that might be a basic difference between us.

The old "I'm rubber and you're glue" trick! You win.

[77danj7]

My kids could care less about the food...they just want the toys