Most fast food, like burgers, french fries, and even sodas, are loaded with simple carbohydrates. When your body breaks down a McDonald's meal, your blood sugar levels spike, and in order to deal with these spikes, insulin is quickly released to help bring the sugar levels down, leading to spikes in insulin itself.
Each meal from McDonald's is high in calories, high fats, and contains a lot of salt. Too much of all of that can be negative towards your health. It can cause heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, and many other health problems. Additionally, many animals have been killed in the process of supplying food for McDonald's.
This is already too much. According to Healthline, the daily amount recommended for calories is about 2300. This means that this one meal brings you within a sliver of the daily amount for calories. So yes, this meal is very unhealthy.
The research found that the calories, saturated fat and salt included within the items differed slightly in different countries — with Australia being deemed one of the most 'calorific' McDonald's in the world.
The result: McDonald's wins
While chicken is an obvious Men's Health staple, KFC's reliance on greasy oils and subsequent sky-high calorific content makes Maccy's an unlikely victor.
“Short term, for skipping meals, is low blood sugar, and you won't function very well. The better thing to do is eat something than to fast for a little while. Even if that something isn't the healthiest option.” On the other hand, eating poorly often results in health damage.
Here's a list of what you can expect once you stop this habit: You'll start losing weight naturally. Cutting back on junk food means you'll be receiving less amounts of fat, sugar and calories, which will naturally lead to weight loss. You'll feel more energetic.
Food typically takes 24-72 hours to digest, but the grease and trans fat inside a Big Mac means the digestion time for the McDonald's signature burger can easily go beyond three days.
What are the healthier options? If you only consider the number of calories for a healthier food item, McDonald's burgers are better than KFC ones.
You'll almost certainly gain weight
Most McDonald's items are notoriously high in calories. You can bet that all of their burgers and sandwiches, combined with a side of french fries and a soda, easily put you well over 1,000 calories.
Routinely consuming too much sodium, or more than the suggested 2,300 milligrams per day, may jeopardize your heart health long term, says the American Heart Association. Still, if you're only eating McDonald's once or twice a week, Brondo suggests you don't have to be too concerned.
Fast food is often high in calories, fat, and sugar but low in nutrients and fiber. While eating fast food occasionally isn't a problem, consuming it frequently may raise your risk of obesity, heart attack, and other health issues.
After a classic McDonald's favourite, the Big Mac, men would need to do 42 minutes of cardio or 57 minutes of weight lifting. Women are looking at doing almost an hour of exercise at least to work off the 490 calories in the famous sandwich, which has two burgers and three buns.
Remember that junk foods are okay to eat occasionally, but they should not make up more than 10% of your daily energy intake. In a day, this may be a simple treat such as a small muffin or a few squares of chocolate. On a weekly basis, this might mean no more than two fast-food meals per week.
Eating a fast food meal at a McDonald's, once a month, will have an insignificant, if not unnoticeable, effect on your overall diet, nutrition, and health indicators such as blood pressure and chemistry. Enjoy yourself.
The dishes of KFC are mostly deep-fried and are made using tons of oil. So, the regular consumption of KFC can make you gain weight. Therefore, continuous consumption of fast food, chicken, and meat that too with excess oil can lead to heart and fat-related issues.
Eating McDonald's regularly — and fast food in general — isn't a sustainable diet. The 2004 documentary Super Size Me followed documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock as he ate three meals a day at the fast-food chain for 30 days. He gained almost 25 pounds and was told he suffered from irreversible heart damage.
Looking at the overall meal, the Subway meal in terms of protein and sugar was slightly healthier than McDonald's and provided more vegetables, however it was higher in sodium. Remember both meals contributed the same total number of calories but on top of that, it was a large amount of calories.
Thai cuisine often tops the list of healthy takeaways. Unlike Chinese food, which is often high in sugar and salt, Thai cooking uses fresh herbs and spices to add flavour, while also maintaining a focus on fresh vegetables and good quality meat - meaning dishes are generally lower in calories and fat.
If you're looking for the "healthiest" McDonald's food in the world, you'll find it in Israel, which ranks lowest not only for calorie count, but also for salt and saturated fat, too.