Comedy | August 13, 2009 | 94 comments

USA Today dietitian recommends eating McDonalds, KFC, Taco Bell and Burger King

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/usa-today-dietitian-recom_n_258691.html

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On The Today Show, Matt Lauer hosted dietitian Elizabeth Ward to discuss how to make "healthy" food choices on a road trip. Virtually the only measure Ward used to evaluate what was healthy was how many calories is in it.

She started out with breakfast at McDonalds, stating she was a big proponent of eating eggs. She recommended scrambled eggs and an English muffin. (This item doesn't actually appear on the menu, but these ingredients are served at McDonalds -- maybe she was suggesting making a special order, or throwing out the rest?)

For the record, scrambled eggs at McDonalds, which one could easily mistake for being comprised of well, eggs, actually contain the following:

Pasteurized whole eggs with sodium acid pyrophosphate, citric acid and monosodium phosphate (added to preserve color), nisin (preservative). Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono-and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color).

She goes onto recommend Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC Grilled Chicken (HuffPost bloggers have had a field day with this "healthy" alternative) and processed and packaged snacks.

While Ward and Lauer tout the value of eating fruit as a healthy snack, for the most part this dietitian throws her support behind the idea that processed fast food, filled with additives, preservatives and factory farmed meat is good for us, as long as it doesn't exceed a certain number of calories.
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    Community,   Comedy,   humor
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    Diet,  Nutrition,  Fast Food,  McDonald's,  3 more
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94 comments // USA Today dietitian recommends eating McDonalds, KFC, Taco Bell and Burger King

  • Rachel_Haunschild
    • 0
      Rachel_Haunschild  

    • I watch the today show on most mornings, I watched this episode and couldn't believe what I was seeing. My husband and I take many road trips, some short some long and we always pack a few meals in a cooler and snacks. Sure we eat processed stuff, but we also don't have to stop and get fast food just to survive a road trip. I was just thinking this can't be real but she recommended fast food for ever meal of the day. I was totally disappointed in this episode..

    • 2 years ago
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
  • ayashe
  • Randle51
    • 0
      Randle51  

    • There is only one question I have for for Matt Lauer of The Today Show, "where did you find this one from?" The recommendation of Dietician Elizabeth Ward that eating meals at such fast food places as McDonalds, KFC, Taco Bell, and Burger King seems absurd, to say the least! It is conceivable how anyone who is trained in nutrition could endorse these processed foods with ingredients consisting of chemical additives, preservatives, TFA's, hormones, and other non-natural substances to be adequate in fulfilling the RDA for health; as long as these meals don't exceed a certain caloric limit. It would be interesting to know if Ms. Ward is really a "Certified" Dietician and where she got her training from; and oh by the way, since Elizabeth is recommending fast food restaurants, she certainly don't want to leave out Dairy Queen, and last but not least, Jack in the Box; noboby, I mean nobody, wants to see a grown man [Oops, I mean 'clown'] cry.

    • 2 years ago
  • msumonica
  • rockstarmillionaire
  • pinnella
  • chunche
    • 0
      chunche  

    • I saw that segment with my mom-well, after the dietician (if we should even continue using that term) rattled through the "healthy" breakfast options, we looked @ each other, rolled our eyes, and changed the channel. I love Matt Lauer, but what a load of crap.

    • 2 years ago
  • bubbletea
    • 0
      bubbletea  

    • It all starts at the source, right? I mean, USA Today-- promoting corporate fast food chains-- get outta town! It's a shame that this is the best information some people will get.

    • 2 years ago
  • Mancer
    • 0
      Mancer  

    • and the cycle of bullshit continues, tell people to eat healthy stuff, which is actually terribly bad for you, which undoubtedly will trick those people who are fat already, Helping cause more and more health problems which contributes to more healthcare costs!@!!!!!!Making doctors more and more money! The doctors of america should be ashamed.

      Around and around we go, when people will wake the fuck up that the people are merely sheep and being used as so, we shall never know. We need to storm the corporations and shut them all down. Enough is enough. We would live longer purely by eating fresh foods and NOT having to goto the doctors at all. Man I am so pissed off at our country of sheeples.

    • 2 years ago
  • Eri_Soulja
  • Mind_wide_open
    • 0
      Mind_wide_open  

    • EW.

      I don't understand how people in big offices get to decide what to brainwash the population with, based on who shells out the biggest bucks.

      It makes me sick.

      Probably just as sick as those poor people who shove that crap into their mouths everyday.

    • 2 years ago
  • ibrake4rappers13
  • jenuribe
  • RonenA
  • Leonidis
    • 0
      Leonidis  

    • Many people just can't get it through their heads that just because it has fewer calories doesn't necessarily mean that its BETTER for you!!!!! retards! Look at all the other crap thats in there. I can't believe people actually put this junk into their bodies. YUCK

    • 2 years ago
  • rebelution07
  • RuthRuthless
  • bonesmattingly
  • xiola
  • wmorrison13
  • tommic
    • 0
      tommic  

    • your better off not eating any meal at all if your only choice is McD, KFC or BK those companies care not a wit about any persons health. Its all about profits and exploiting the poor. You don't see healthy people eating at any fast food restaurant. Exploit the poor minorities, just look at the commercials they air, in 75% the actors are minorities shown eating the junk they call food.
      Want to eat healthy? Stop at any convienence store buy an apple, a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread.
      A PB&J and an apple is twenty times healthier for a person than anything they can buy at McD, BK, KFC.
      Advertising will kill those who fall prey to the lies.
      tom mcmahon

    • 2 years ago
  • michail77
    • 0
      michail77  

    • The focused just on calories, which is only a part of eating healthy.

      However, I had no idea the McDonald's eggs contained hydrogenated oil. What purpose could that possibly serve?? I thought they were trying to rid their menu of that after California and New York banned the ingredient.

      It's best to find a nice independent deli that serves breakfast. The kind of place that cracks real eggs open and asks you how you want them.

    • 2 years ago
  • RudyRudell
    • 0
      RudyRudell  

    • you guys are all reading the headline and ignoring the base of the article which is in regards to attempting to eat on the road.

      I have expressed my frustration on attempting to eat healthy while on tour in many of these types of health food threads. Seriously, what is the alternative when your living in hotel rooms or a tour bus every day and attempting to live on a budget as well.

      I challenge you to find me one, if you do I will follow it rigidly, I'm sick of gaining 10 lbs every tour I go on and then immediately losing it (this year I gained 13 pounds on the road, and in my 4 months off this summer I've lost 15).

    • 2 years ago
  • hawk5000
    • 0
      hawk5000  
    • RudyRudell:

      No we are not. I watched the segment on TV this morning.

      You are not restricted to eating shity food when you are traveling. you can go to a grocery store and get other alternatives.

      This story was a joke. And Elizabeth Ward is a fucktard sell out

    • 2 years ago
  • thestick
  • RudyRudell
  • Leonidis
  • Mancer
    • 0
      Mancer  
    • RudyRudell:

      its really simple man, when you go on tour, visit any local grocery store( and even sometimes 7-11!) buy fruit. buy fresh cut deli meats and cheese, buy vegetables you like. Keep them on the bus with you, take apples and oranges. seriously, you don't need a shitton of calories to stay alive. Avocados are a great choice also. Get protein from fresh cooked eggs and avocadoes. meat cheese. Dont even bother buying bread. For the love of god stop eating fast food. almost ANYTHING else is way better for you. Snack often on fruits and you will never be hungry and have tons of energy. Fruit and vege's are your friend!

    • 2 years ago
  • bubbletea
    • 0
      bubbletea  
    • RudyRudell:

      Go to a supermarket, plan ahead, look for restaurants that make their own food. It's as simple as that. All it takes is a little bit of effort bc why else do you think the super chains get the retail positions right off the freeway? They're targeting people just like you! Keep driving or ask someone and you'll be better off...

    • 2 years ago
  • xiola
    • 0
      xiola  
    • RudyRudell:

      Edamame are good to have around, especially if you have a little fridge in your hotel room or some way to keep them frozen. I don't love microwaves, but, in a pinch, toss some edamame in the microwave for just a little bit to defrost them. Sprinkle them with a tiny bit of salt, and yum! They're very hearty and filling, and they're loaded with Dietary Fiber, Protein, Thiamin, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Vitamin K, Folate and Manganese. Microwave them with the pods on, but don't eat the pod, only the bean inside. Now I'm hungry for edamame! :)

    • 2 years ago
  • Macol
    • 0
      Macol  

    • I just posted this at:
      http://www.expectthebestpregnancy.com/2009/08/healthy-eating-advice-on-the-today...

      "Do you have no heart?

      Or is it clogged with cholesterol?

      Wouldn't it have been better to suggest that people make sandwiches at home to bring on the trip? You know, fruits, vegetables, things that won't induce vomiting?

      Okay, maybe people can't make their own meals before leaving home but what about asking them to go to a local deli. Or a sandwich shop? Anything but fast food!

      The chemicals used in fast food is unhealthy and spreading a pandemic of overindulgence in this country. Worse of all you're suggesting it to pregnant women!

      I hope the check paid for your dignity because it can't be worth much now.

      Good job!"

    • 2 years ago
  • luthreads
  • Macol
  • xiola
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  

    • "crossmarketing" as it is euphamisticall called instead of the older term payola has become quite common. I think it likely that each of the resteraunts paid for their place. Oprah is the payola queen these days btw. It's one of the reasons she's so rich. If you recall that scandal a while back about the book "a million little pieces". One of the issue was she got paid several hundred thousand dollars for putting it on her show.

    • 2 years ago
  • GodsnLiberals
  • wmorrison13
  • alivein85
  • subject_2_change
  • feelg00dl0st
    • 0
      feelg00dl0st  

    • Tell me how many wheat grass drinking, 10-speed riding, lean mean health machines you've seen eating inside a McDonalds. I'd love to know. Has this dietitian ever seen Supersize Me? Fast Food Nation? What is done to the animals that are unfortunate enough to take part in fast food menus, not to mention the additives mixed up with them to for "taste" purposes, are in no way and never will be in anyway healthy to anyone. I'm surprised fast food employees aren't dropping dead left and right from merely touching the stuff.

    • 2 years ago
  • Vb86Vic
  • thestick
    • 0
      thestick  
    • Vb86Vic:

      count those calories too bitch. Hang her with her own shoe laces and get out the pull start-5 horse power didlo with the chain mail. hear that ginglin', Its gonna be a long night! WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

    • 2 years ago
  • TheJerryMadden
  • sirpaulmcdarkney
  • cbjones
    • 0
      cbjones  

    • It must be opposite day or something. This is supposed to be some kind of lame joke, no? The hosts forgot state that this isn't meant to be taken seriously, correct??

    • 2 years ago
  • lulu81
  • Tyrannous
  • hawk5000
  • madXmedic
  • Macol
  • hawk5000
  • Macol
    • 0
      Macol  
    • hawk5000:

      I just posted this:

      "Do you have no heart?

      Or is it clogged with cholesterol?

      Wouldn't it have been better to suggest that people make sandwiches at home to bring on the trip? You know, fruits, vegetables, things that won't induce vomiting?

      Okay, maybe people can't make their own meals before leaving home but what about asking them to go to a local deli. Or a sandwich shop? Anything but fast food!

      The chemicals used in fast food is unhealthy and spreading a pandemic of overindulgence in this country. Worse of all you're suggesting it to pregnant women!

      I hope the check paid for your dignity because it can't be worth much now.

      Good job!"

      Probably won't stick around for long...

    • 2 years ago
  • Leonidis
  • Macol
  • xiola
  • Macol
    • 0
      Macol  

    • I realize that this dietitian's message was bought and paid for but what about The Today Show?

      We already have "Truth in Advertising" (forgetting a moment about McDonald's "100% Beef" slogan) but shouldn't we have "Truth in Media"!

      I mean come ON! How can shit like this go unnoticed without a huge uproar from the average viewer, who must know to some extent, that this is a load of crap?

    • 2 years ago
  • hawk5000
  • PrettyUSANails
  • AreOh
  • CalgarC
  • trut
  • thestick
    • 0
      thestick  
    • CalgarC:

      that kid was fat before mcdonalds. thats not cool to make them the poster boys for anti-fast food. Look at that guy who ate nothing but big macs. he wasn't like that. More people are obese from a lack of activity. That dietician was a "payed to say this" deusch bag. that kid is handicapped

    • 2 years ago
  • rolffz
    • 0
      rolffz  
    • CalgarC:

      I don't think so. Even if they are 'handicapped' they're fat and eating the wrong things. Stop making lame excuses for what is actually child abuse!
      Get real idiots! That's not food, it's crap!

    • 2 years ago
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • pandaman2105
    • 0
      pandaman2105  
    • CalgarC:

      i dont see anything wrong with this picture.
      it SCREAMS truth. Parents satisfying the kids desires and constantly giving in, then they wonder why their child has an abnormal case of diabetes at 12!!

      You see it everywhere, I point it out and my parents think it's rude and radical. It's an observation of the fucked up reality!!

      and this woman is an ignorant disgrace to legit dietitians.

      haven't eaten mcconald's in 5 years and no new "healthy" menu additions are gonna get me to start again

    • 2 years ago
  • Wraak
  • CalgarC
  • mcjk
  • mario_a
    • 0
      mario_a  

    • hannahmcnoface visited Current SF today, and we thought this story was worthy of a webcam.

      by the way, i ate a burrito today. hannah had caprese, tomato, and mozzarella sandwich from specialties.

    • 2 years ago
  • TheBrownKid
  • lulu81
  • Hunnter
    • 0
      Hunnter  

    • Hahaha, oh god

      Hey, i love me some BK, McD and a KFC every now and then, but to outright claim that all the food is perfectly fine is just nuts.
      Whats with all the ingredients in the egg?? A preservative? Seriously? Eggs need preserving now? The egg poopers can pop those things out very frequently, there isn't exactly a shortage...

      Some processed foods are fine, but for the most part, they aren't anywhere near as good as fresh food, or even food kept in a fridge for a few days.
      And some are just downright dangerous to your health and somehow still manage to be sold.

      KFC, i'm not entirely sure on what goes on with their food, so i can't comment there.

      BK, the burgers are good, but burgers in general aren't the healthiest foodstuffs, and flame-grilled burgers being worse because the burnt parts are actually carcinogenic.
      I'll still eat the burgers there though, the ones around here make FANTASTIC burgers, best ones i've ever had.

    • 2 years ago
  • xiola
    • 0
      xiola  
    • Hunnter:

      While I agree that fast food is a not nutritious, and people should avoid it if possible, that KFC "mutant organism" thing is an urban myth.

      http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/kfc.asp

      The can call themselves "Kentucky Fried Chicken" and do so in the top left-hand corner of their web site.

      Again, I'm not saying their food is good for you, I'm just correcting false information. Thanks :)

    • 2 years ago
  • lu7cky
  • xiola
  • Maitereya
  • PsychoAlan
  • morirjedi
  • versasrev
  • PompanoMinded
  • versasrev
  • lulu81
  • RudyRudell
  • lulu81
  • Leonidis
  • lulu81
  • rolffz
    • 0
      rolffz  
    • lulu81:

      I agree. Drop your lazy ass ways and make a point of taking care of yourself by waking up 15 minutes early to run to the hotel ice machine and fill your little cooler with ice to refridge the food you spend another 10 minutes buying at a local grocery that's always near a major hotel.
      And for that mater, stay in hotels that have 'free' breakfasts. Those places usually have fruit, cereal, coffee and donuts if you MUST consume their processed and fried nastiness.

    • 2 years ago
  • Found_Avenue
    • 0
      Found_Avenue  

    • Since when does anyone listen to dietary advice from the Today Show? She's just some random dietician who clearly doesn't know healthy food from a bucket of corndogs. These "dietician interviews" are puff pieces, meant to fill time on a day that doesn't have enough stories about Michael Jackson.

    • 2 years ago
  • rolffz
    • 0
      rolffz  
    • Found_Avenue:

      "Since when does anyone listen to dietary advice from the Today Show? "

      You know, with a comment like that, I think it's people like you that you would be shocked at how many people DO take the Today show, and Oprah and so many others as the truth and the way things are today. It's sad that corps and people that control the media are so obsessed and use that power to benefit themselves and other big corps. They don't give a shit about your health, but rather about their own bank accounts. They're even using responses like these to make a determination on their next move.
      Beware!

    • 2 years ago
  • Found_Avenue
    • 0
      Found_Avenue  
    • Found_Avenue:

      I am not sure about your theory about them all spying us, but you're right, a "person like me" (whatever that's supposed to mean...?) is actually very shocked to hear someone say that people listen to the today show for advice on what to eat. I honestly don't know a single person who watches the today show, because I don't really know anyone who is sitting in front of a TV at that hour, and I honestly cannot imagine a person watching that crap on their ipod on the way to work, or TIVO-ing it for later. Now, I know that the people I know may not be indicative of a huge chunk of America, and I know that the today show gets zillions of loyal viewers, and maybe a "person like you" is one of those loyal viewers, maybe not. But my point is this: if you're a person who is honestly looking to the today show for advice on what to eat, and HONESTLY taking the non-facts you're hearing at face value, you may have bigger problems than your propensity to eat disgusting fast food for breakfast.

    • 2 years ago
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