48 HOUR CONTEST: Eat Healthy At McDonald’s

McDonald’s is committed to helping its customers – especially children and families – enjoy their dining experience while making wholesome food choices. McDonald’s offers a variety of choices from its menu including delicious Premium Salads, Real Fruit Smoothies, and of course, its World Famous French fries, just to name a few!

Tanya Zuckerbrot, RD, MS has teamed up with McDonald’s® Tri-State area restaurants to provide customers with ways to maintain a balanced diet while enjoying their favorite menu items.  Tanya is an accredited member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly known as the American Dietetic Association) and the Greater New York Dietetic Association. She is a member of Nutrition Entrepreneurs, Dietitians in Business and Communications and Weight Management Dietetic Practice Groups. As the best-selling author of The F-Factor Diet, Tanya has appeared on The View, The Today Show, The Early Show, The Rachael Ray Show and in many other local and national media platforms.

Here are some key ways to eat well, and healthy, at McDonald’s:

1. “Made for You®”: At McDonald’s, you can customize your meal.  You can always hold the cheese on sandwiches or bypass additional salt on the French fries.  Choose a Side Salad or Apple Slices as a side. Additionally, you can opt for beverages such as bottled water and diet soft drinks.
2. “All Foods Fit”: As part of a well-balanced diet, remember all foods fit when eaten in moderation. At McDonald’s, try Apple Slices, a Soft Baked Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, or Vanilla Reduced-Fat Ice Cream Cone!
3. “Go For Variety”: McDonald’s offers a wide range of menu options that can be combined to help you meet your daily nutrition needs.
4. “Wholesome Choices are Always on the Menu”: No matter what hour of the day, McDonald’s offers wholesome menu options. 

Options Include:

• Egg McMuffin   (300 calories)
• Fruit & Maple Oatmeal    (290 calories)
• Fruit & Maple Oatmeal without brown sugar   (260 calories)
• Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait with Granola   (160 calories)
• Apple Slices    (15 calories)

Lunch: Take time out of your busy day for lunch to re-fuel your body and help tackle your afternoon activities. McDonald’s offers a variety of lunch choices that deliver food groups from the USDA MyPlate.

Options include:

• Premium Southwest Salad with Southwest dressing with Grilled Chicken, Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait with granola, Bottle of Water (540 calories, 32 g protein, 7 g fiber )
• Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich & Side Salad with Low Fat Family Recipe Italian Dressing, Diet Coke (430 calories, 29 g protein, 5 g fiber)
• Ranch Snack Wrap (grilled),  Snack Size Fruit & Walnuts  and Premium Roast Black Coffee (480 calories, 20 g protein, 4 g fiber)

Dinner: McDonald’s is a great place to wind down your day with family and friends over a wholesome dinner. At McDonald’s, find quick, easy and balanced meals everyone can feel good about.

Options Include:

• Premium Caesar Salad with  Creamy Caesar Dressing with Grilled Chicken & Apple Slices, Diet Dr. Pepper (390 calories, 29 g protein, 4 g fiber)
• Premium Grilled Chicken Ranch BLT Sandwich, Bottle of Water and  Kiddie Cone (430 calories, 32 g protein, 3 g fiber)
• Cheeseburger and Side Salad with  Low Fat Family Recipe Italian Dressing and Bottle of Water (370 calories, 16 g protein, 4 g fiber)

New Happy Meal®: The McDonald’s Happy Meal has been updated to provide children with balanced options without sacrificing the taste they love.  All Happy Meals now automatically include Apple Slices and Kids Fries.  Customers also have the option of swapping in an extra bag of Apple Slices in place of the Fries, and a choice of 1 percent low-fat milk or fat-free chocolate milk. The new Happy Meal helps families to make wholesome choices.

Beverages: A tasty beverage goes great with any meal. At McDonald’s choose from many delicious and refreshing beverages.

Options Include:

• Bottled water and diet soft drinks (calorie-free)
• 1% Low-fat Milk (100 calories); Fat-Free Chocolate Milk (130 calories)
• McCafé® Premium Roast Black Coffee (small, 0 calories), McCafé Hot Nonfat Latté flavored with sugar-free vanilla syrup (small, 80 calories), McCafé Iced Nonfat Latté flavored with sugar-free vanilla syrup (small, 40 calories)
• McCafé Real Fruit Smoothies made with Yogurt (small) – Strawberry, Wild Berry, Mango Pineapple (210 – 220 calories)

In addition, McDonald’s New York Tri-State area restaurants recently launched the McDonald’s New York Metro Nutrition Network, a new community outreach initiative to provide funds to local organizations for grassroots nutrition programs. Through the program, New York Tri-State McDonald’s restaurant owners are offering seed money to help local organizations bring nutrition information and guidance to the communities they serve. This initiative is an extension of McDonald’s national commitment to offer improved nutrition choices.

In addition to providing seed funding to community organizations, McDonald’s will host a series of offline MeetUps throughout the Tri-State area where registered dietitians can engage directly with families and individuals seeking nutrition information.

One (1) Lady and the Blog will win the following coupons: 

• Fruit & Maple Oatmeal
• Small Premium Roast Coffee
• Happy Meal
• Premium Salad
• Medium McCafè beverage