McDonald’s remains one of the most popular fast food restaurants in America. It has also gained a surprising reputation for being one of the healthiest places you can eat. But the healthiest foods you can order there weren’t quite so healthy in decades past.
The menu has changed — but thankfully, it’s for the better. Even if you don’t love eating there as much as Donald Trump, you might change your mind after learning how much McDonald’s has actually done to make its food less terrible for everyone who eats it. (Page 5 might end up saving humanity.)
Please, don’t ‘supersize me’
- Did a documentary kill off McDonald’s “supersize” menu for good?
In 2004, the documentary Super Size Me followed Morgan Spurlock along a month-long McDonald’s-exclusive diet. Shortly thereafter, McDonald’s stopped serving extra-large fries and drinks, though it has never been confirmed which came first.
You don’t have to have fries with that
- McDonald’s added healthier side options to many of its signature items.
McDonald’s Snacks & Sides menu looks a lot different today than it did 10 years ago. While you used to only be able to get fries of any size with your main order, you can now get a small salad, apple slices, or yogurt instead.
The bun makeover
- McDonald’s only uses real butter in its quest to phase out trans fats for good.
It took awhile for the public to realize its favorite fast food restaurants were using deadly chemicals called trans fats. But McDonald’s figured out how to take them out of the equation, replacing margarine and its harmful oils with real butter, a slightly healthier alternative.
The bun makeover, continued
- The company no longer serves buns made with high-fructose corn syrup.
High concentrations of added sugars in a person’s diet can cause serious harm. Knowing this, the company took its healthy bun mission a step further, removing high-fructose corn syrup from its recipe. Now, when you eat a McDonald’s bun, it’s free of trans fats and bad sugar. Butter and real sugar is all you get.
Better chicken for the sake of humankind
- McDonald’s started serving chicken free of antibiotics.
Our population’s overuse of antibiotics could become a public health problem if we aren’t proactive. McDonald’s and many other restaurants have stopped or promised to stop serving meat treated with antibiotics to protect the planet from a superbug apocalypse.
Fresh — never frozen — beef
- The menu now features fresh beef cooked only when you order it.
Frozen beef is out. Starting in 2018, when customers asked for a quarter pound of beef between two buttery, sugar-sweetened buns, they got it fresh, not frozen. The company also promises its beef contains no traces of preservatives, additives, or fillers.
Far less happier ‘Happy Meals’
- To meet new nutrition guidelines, the company removed cheese from its burgers.
In 2018, McDonald’s also announced it would remove cheese from its Happy Meal burgers. This reduced the total calorie count of each “Melancholy Meal” to meet the company’s new health-focused goals. And this likely won’t be its last effort to market healthier food options to children.
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