Monday, August 22, 2011

The Golden Arches: The Ultimate Fast Food Oxymoron

Hi All, I realize it has been a December Alaskan night since my last post but I have made it a priority to now keep this blog active, relevent and informative with regards to the world of health and wellness as seen from the eyes of an average, passionate, connected consumer.Thanks for checking us out and our hope always is that you become more informed, passionate and connected right along with us as you read each post we bring you.
                                               There couldn't be a better way to jump back into blogworld than to comment on what The Golden Arches are up to these days. Recently in our local paper, The Allentown Morning Call dated 07/26/11, a national article titled "Mc Donald's shift bears fruit" was published, and in it, Mc Donalds new focus on "healthier" menu choices was highlighted as a new fast food industry standard. Where does any proactive healthy person even begin to comment? First and foremost to even hold  Mc Donalds up as some sort of twisted nutritional sounding board for the rest of the take out, fast food world is beyond hilarious. A Mc Donalds spokeswoman, Danya Proud, is actually quoted in the article as stating, evidently with a straight face, "We know we're a leader and we know we need to be part of the solution but we can't be looked at as providing the only solution". Solution?? No offense Miss Proud, but if you think anyone in this country truly interested in eating REAL FOOD for  optimum health and wellness looks towards Mickey D's for guidance,  and a partial solution to the out of control obesity epidemic and  other health related food issues , please reboot! To look at a fast food megalopolis, who is at least part of the cause of these entrenched, home grown problems, as a start of a solution to said problems defies logic. Its akin to looking for the answer to world peace at a terrorist training camp! Please, as a reader, don't under estimate this statement or toss it aside as too radical a thought. To call or label anything a fast food franchise serves, a "real food", is an insult to true real food and the dedicated, small, sustainable farmers who grow, raise and bring it to us. "Real Food", health promoting and enhancing food, is grown, raised and brought to our tables, free from: pesticides, herbicides, synthetic chemicals, factory farm raised practices, pasteurization, homogenization, being deep fried in rancid oils, containing oxidized fats, being grain fed, and containing high fructose corn syrup, period! "Real Food" is not what Mc Donalds and the rest of the fast food world is about folks, no matter how many changes they make to their menus, who is selling it to you, and how they try to spin and market it to you. Fast food contains and consists of all the things mentioned above  and in the world of "Real Food" it is looked upon and considered as serious as a terrorist attack on the health and wellness of us all! It is responsible for causing or at least helping to cause much harm and ill health to each and everyone of you who regularly purchase and consume these foods. The fact that Mc Donalds is the take out/fast food leader worldwide should tell you exactly why we are in the shape we are in, in this country. A related story out of London has Mc Donalds boastfully announcing it will be opening the largest fast food restaurant in the world, in London, just in time for the 2012 Olympic Games. It's stats are the following, 2 floors, 32,000 square feet of retail space, 1500 seats and they anticipate serving 1.7 million people or1 out of every 5 total meals served during the Games in London. This being the largest gathering of the finest trained and most talented amateur athletes in the world, does anyone see the irony of this farce all in the name of T.V. ad revenue and corporate greed? The Fast Food giants need to stop trying to hide its true colors, which happens to be serving and selling cheap, unhealthy, over processed, dead food. This false, feeble attempt to paint themselves as a path to "part of the solution" for healthy eating is the ultimate oxymoron in  the world of food and drink. Mickey D's and  the rest of their kind need to just continue doing what they are comfortable and very good at, contributing to what's wrong with food and drink in this country and please leave the sincere and passionate work of educating and guiding us to real food and its health giving benefits to those who truly have led by example. The Michael Pollans, Andrew Weils, Marion Nestles, Jordan Rubins, Mike Adams and Nina Plancks of the world. Pure and simple, as a person you truly are what you eat, and as a restaurant you are what you serve and sell! Really think about that before you walk under the golden arches next time you crave a Happy Meal!          

No comments:

Post a Comment