I love a McDonalds for a quick fix but how many McDonalds is acceptable to eat in your diet? There has been a lot of bad press recently especially in Europe for families eating way too many McDonalds and it effecting their children’s health. For me though the idea of fast food is for special occasions and should never be taken to these levels.
I love all kinds of fast food outlets but my favourites are McDonalds, KFC and Pizza hut. I am not much a fan of Burger King as I don’t find their food that nice.
I was sat in the shopping centre in Portugal about a month ago and we were eating at the salad bar and it amazed me how many British holiday makers were eating huge amounts of food just from the fast food outlets. The Portuguese like us and had opted for the alternatives. Whether it be a healthy Chinese or a salad buffet and its seeing images like this that makes me understand why Britain has such an obesity issue whilst other countries in Europe look great in comparison.
But when you are on holiday it is classed as acceptable for you to visit McDonalds and co every day of the week for your meals. However if you was at home social services would come knocking at your door if you took your children to McDonalds 4-5 times a week.
But what is an acceptable level of fast food visits over the course of the week?
For me I would say that 1-2 visits a week is acceptable as long as the rest of the week you eat healthy and then you will have reached a great balance. Its like the perfect diet idea you have five days of being good and then two naughty days to get in the bad food that your body craves. If you don’t enjoy the bad things in your diet you will end up binge eating which will result in weight gain and other related problems. If you enjoy the fast food that much make it yourself and turn it into a much healthier version. Make your own homemade cheeseburgers and grill it instead of frying it and fill it with a huge salad instead of just fatty sauces. Then have oven chips instead of getting the frying pan out.
The other benefit of making it yourself is that you can control what your kids eat. We all know that the salt levels are way too high in fast food and you will now be able to reduce this.
I am not suggesting that you should cut down on your McDonalds just consider what it is doing to your diet and if you are concerned make your own.
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To your food heaven
Dominic