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This week’s lesson: Nutrition
Brought to you by — who else? — McDonald’s

McDonald’s splits their Web presence into two “sites”: one for kids and one for adults. While the kids innocently match broccoli and pasta to their appropriate food group in the “Pyramid Game” (suspiciously topped by the “fats, oils and sweets” group), the adults get down to the serious food “facts.”

A Q&A with McDonald’s “ in-house registered dietitian,” assures readers that “all foods can fit into a healthful eating plan, because it’s the total diet that counts…there are not good or bad foods.”

But the USDA might have a thing or two to say about that. Its 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest that no more than 30 percent of your total calories should come from fat.

According to McDonald’s own Nutrition Menus, 30 out of 35 single menu items (not including drinks, desserts, or sauces/salad dressings), exceed the USDA recommendations. Your low-fat options?

  • A McGrilled Chicken Classic (plain) — 13% of its calories come from fat;

  • An English Muffin — 14% of its calories come from fat;

  • Hotcakes (plain) — 19% of its calories come from fat;

  • Hotcakes (2 pats margarine & syrup) — 25% of its calories come from fat; or

  • A Fat Free Apple Bran Muffin — 0% of its calories come from fat.

Even a garden salad weighs in with 43% of its calories coming from fat. And that’s without salad dressing…!

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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