McDonald's fails at healthy food, makes kale salad WORSE than a Double Big Mac

Friday, February 12, 2016 by: Sarah Landers
Tags: McDonald''s, kale, unhealthy choices

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(NaturalNews) McDonald's has jumped onto the superfood bandwagon, and has added healthy and popular vegetable kale into some of its menu items. The move comes as part of an attempt to reinvent the McDonald's image – but some health experts are saying that the new nutrient-enhanced meals are actually on the same scale as junk food.

One of the new kale salads seemingly has more calories, fat and sodium than a Double Big Mac – with various other new menu items also being questioned for their health kick claims.

What is kale?

Kale is a leafy green vegetable that is packed full of vitamins, and has recently become a trendy superfood. There are thought to be many benefits to eating kale, including lowered cholesterol, high fiber content and lowered risk of cancer.

Kale has also been recognized as providing comprehensive support for the body's detoxification system, with over 45 different flavonoids in the vegetable, which offer both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

In Canada, McDonald's recently started to toss the green into breakfast wraps and a new line of salads, boasting on its site that the "Keep Calm, Caesar On" chicken salad contains "real parmesan petals," and "a nutrient-rich lettuce blend with baby kale."

Tossing kale into meals doesn't make them healthier

Once you add the accompanying Asiago Caesar dressing on the "crispy chicken" version, the salad's nutritional profile isn't good at all. In fact, according to McDonald's own numbers, the salad tops up at 730 calories, 53 grams of fat and 1,400 milligrams of salt. That's the equivalent of three traditional McDonald's hamburgers, and a Double Big Mac actually has fewer calories, less fat and less salt.

Health Canada recommends adults should not exceed 2,300 milligrams of salt per day, but by consuming that salad you would be eating your sodium for the entire day.

McDonald's made the headlines in 2015 when it announced it would be adding kale to menu items, after sales were starting to lag and new CEO Steve Easterbrook announced plans to turn the chain into a "modern, progressive burger company."

But obesity expert Dr. Yoni Freedhoff says that the chain is trying to appeal to a consumer need to feel as though they are not making terrible meal choices, by using words like "kale." However, there isn't really much difference between a salad and a burger when both have similar salt and calorie content.

The lightest salad on the new McDonald's menu, "I'm Greek-ing Out," has 420 calories, 26 grams of fat and 1,080 milligrams of sodium – making it practically the same as a Double Cheeseburger. McDonald's states that the customer has the option to modify the menu items and make them healthier – for example, having a salad without the dressing, or having grilled chicken instead of crispy.

It is worth noting that the kale salad nutritional information found online excludes the dressing that they are served with – you'll have to find this information separately under "condiments." While this does show that McDonald's can fit into a balanced lifestyle, the menu items you choose may not be as healthy as you first thought.

No amount of public information can make up for the fact that restaurants as a general rule do not serve healthy enough food. Adding more vegetables to the menu is definitely a step in the right direction for McDonald's, however, just because something contains kale, doesn't automatically make it a healthy choice.

Sources include:

CBC.ca

WHFoods.com