Mc Death!

Mc Donald's The History

In 1937, Patrick McDonald opened "The Airdrome", a food stand, on Huntington Drive (Route 66) near the Monrovia Airport in Monrovia, California.[4]Hamburgers were ten cents, and all-you-can-drink[citation needed] orange juice was five cents. In 1940, his two sons, Maurice and Richard ("Mac" and " Dick"), moved the entire building 40 miles (64 km) east, to West 14th and 1398 North E Streets in San Bernardino, California. The restaurant was renamed "McDonald's Bar-B-Q" and served twenty five barbecued items on their menu.

In October 1948, after the McDonald brothers realized that most of their profits came from selling hamburgers, they closed down their successful carhop drive-in to establish a streamlined system with a simple menu of just hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, shakes, soft drinks, and apple pie. The carhops were eliminated to make McDonald's a self-serve operation. Mac and Dick McDonald had taken great care in setting up their kitchen like an assembly line to ensure maximum efficiency. The restaurant's name was again changed, this time to simply "McDonald's," and reopened its doors on December 12, 1948.

In 1953, the McDonald brothers began to franchise their successful restaurant, starting in Phoenix, Arizona and Downey, California; the latter is today the oldest surviving McDonald's restaurant. The McDonald brothers created Speedee to symbolize the quick and efficient service system that they had devised. They later withdrew Speedee because the Alka-Seltzer mascot was named Speedy, and McDonald's did not want to be affiliated with Alka-Seltzer. Downey's Speedee is one of only a few remaining. His little legs, animated in neon, still run as fast as they can to serve the restaurant's next customer. The Speedee sign was erected in 1959 at Downey with its single giant arch and is a one-of-a-kind. It also hearkens back to the days of the postwar era when the roadside was filled with larger than life advertisements of all shapes and colors vying for motorists' attention: "Hey pull in over here, This is Your Kind of Place!" Designed by the architect Stanley Clarke Meston and his assistant Charles Fish, Downey's restaurant is the oldest operating McDonald's in the world. Since it was franchised not by the McDonald's Corporation, but by the McDonald brothers themselves to Roger Williams and Burdette Landon, the Speedee McDonald's was not required to comply with the McDonald's Corporation's remodeling and updating requests over the years.

Recognizing the historic and nostalgic value of the intact 1953 structure, the McDonald's Corporation acquired the store in 1990 and rehabilitated it to a modern but nearly original condition, and then built an adjacent museum and gift shop to commemorate the site. Inside the small museum are many McDonald's artifacts from over the years, and also a small display showing how the restaurant buildings evolved from the small walk-up candy striped stands to the large more common mansard-roofed restaurants.

In 1954, Ray Kroc, a seller of Multi-mixer milkshake machines, learned that the McDonald brothers were using eight of his machines in their San Bernardino restaurant. His curiosity was piqued, and he went to San Bernardino to take a look at the McDonalds' restaurant.

Believing that the McDonalds' formula was a ticket to success, Kroc suggested that they franchise their restaurants throughout the country. When they hesitated to take on this additional burden, Kroc volunteered to do it for them. He returned to his home outside of Chicago with rights to set up McDonald's restaurants throughout the country, except in a handful of territories in California and Arizona already licensed by the McDonald brothers. Kroc's first McDonald's restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, near Chicago, on April 15, 1955, the same day that Kroc incorporated his company as McDonald's Systems, Inc. (which he would later rename McDonald's Corporation). Ray Kroc's first McDonald's was then demolished after many remodels in 1984.

Once the Des Plaines restaurant was operational, Kroc sought franchisees for his McDonald's chain. The first snag came quickly. In 1956 he discovered that the McDonald brothers had licensed the franchise rights for Cook County, Illinois to the Frejlack Ice Cream Company. Kroc was incensed that the McDonalds had not informed him of this arrangement. He purchased the rights back for $25,000, five times what the Frejlacks had originally paid, and pressed forward. McDonald's grew slowly for its first three years. By 1958, there were 34 restaurants. In 1959, however, Kroc opened 68 new restaurants, bringing the total to 102 locations.

The Positive?

Fast food gets blamed for contributing to many of the United States' health problems including obesity, type 2 diabetes and increased risks of heart disease. According to "Fast Food Nation," typical fast food fare is high in saturated fat, calories and cholesterol. Examples of fast food restaurants include hamburger joints like McDonald's and Burger King, pizza places like Pizza Hut and Dominoes, family-style restaurants like KFC and Boston Market, sandwich shops like Subway and Quizno's, as well as any food found in shopping mall food courts. Other sit-down chain restaurants like Applebee's, Azteca, Chili's and Panda Express are also considered fast food restaurants. While fast food often gets a bad rap in the media, it has some advantages.

Convenient

According to Bill Myers Online, Americans spend more money on fast food than on new cars, college education and software because fast food is so convenient. Fast food restaurants are easy to find in cities and towns across America. They offer quick meals for busy lifestyles that are so quick and convenient, you don't even have to get out of your car to get them. An article in "USA Today" points out the convenience of drive-through windows, stating that many fast food places aim to have customers wait less than a minute. Since the 1970s, fast food drive-through windows have become ubiquitous, and restaurants continually employ new tactics to shorten wait times for their drive-through customers. The article ranked drive-through convenience by testing chains for order accuracy and speed. According to their research, the top ranking drive-thru are Wendy's, Burger King and Chik-fil-A while the lowest ranking drive-thrus are Jack-in-the-Box, Whataburger and Captain D's. Another advantage of fast food is that it is very inexpensive, notes MSN Money. It reveals data about how fast food sales stay consistent even in tough economic times in the United States. Brands that are well-known for inexpensive meals like McDonald's and Taco Bell recorded sales growth during the fourth quarter of 2009 as compared to losses at high-end restaurants. MSN Money ranked fast food cost-effectiveness by studying how much certain fast foods cost per calorie. The best bargains were White Castle Cheeseburger Slyders, which cost 41 cents per 100 calories and Taco Bell's Fiesta Taco Salad, which cost 48 cents per 100 calories.

Some healthy options

According to the American Consumer News website, fast food franchises are responding to consumers' desire for healthier fare. Many fast food chains now offer healthy options including low-fat, low calorie foods; fresh foods; bottled water; and salads made with fruits and vegetables. Some stand-outs in fast food nutrition include low-fat salads and sandwiches from Subway and grilled chicken from KFC. Other small regional chains like Burgerville feature sustainable local ingredients, fresh vegetables and organic grass-fed beef.

The "Golden Arches" have come a long way. Beyond burgers, fries and shakes, Ronald and friends now serve up chicken sandwiches, salads and a variety of sides. A bit of research and patience can make your meal here a happy one. 

• When selecting a sandwich, think small. A regular hamburger is your best choice, with 250 calories, 9 g of fat and 520 mg of sodium. Avoid larger signature sandwiches such as the Big Mac (540 calories, 29 g fat, 1,040 mg of sodium) and the Double Quarter Pounder with cheese (740 calories, 42 g fat, 1,190 mg of sodium). 
• Many of the chicken sandwiches--even if they are grilled--are higher in calories and/or fat than we prefer. Your best options are a Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich without mayonnaise (370 calories, 4.5 g fat, 1,110 mg sodium) or the Grilled Honey Mustard Snack Wrap (260 calories, 9 g fat, 800 mg sodium). 
• A Happy Meal is a well-balanced meal for anyone--not just kids. Try one of these two combinations:
  • Hamburger with Apple Dippers, low fat caramel dip and 1% low fat milk (460 calories, 12 g fat, 680 mg sodium, 20 g protein)
  • Hamburger with Apple Dippers, low fat caramel dip and Apple Juice Box (440 calories, 9 g fat, 570 mg sodium, 13 g fat)
• Salads are another good choice. A premium Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken (220 calories, 6 g fat, 890 mg sodium) with Newman's Own Low Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (40 calories, 3 g fat, 730 mg sodium) paired with a Snack Size Fruit & Walnut Salad (210 calories, 8 g fat, 60 mg sodium) can provide a very filling and nutritious meal for a total of 470 calories, 17 g of fat and 1,680 mg of sodium. 
• McDonald's provides nutrition info on its website.

The Negative
Morgan found out in his 2004 documentary Super Size Me. For 30 days, Spurlock ate only McDonald's food. Spurlock's doctors, were shocked at the amount that his health deteriorated in such a short time. Before the 30 days started,it was predicted what his health would be like What we did see in his weight, cholesterol levels, liver enzymes and other bio markers, but every one substantially underestimated how severely his health would be jeopardized. It turned out that in the 30 days, the then 32-year-old man gained 25 pounds, his cholesterol levels rose dangerously as did fatty accumulations in his liver, and he experienced mood swings, depression, heart palpitations and sexual dysfunction.

Some have said Spurlock was an idiot for eating that way, and it's true that he did himself some major damage in those 30 days. But the suffering he took upon himself by eating all his meals for that month at McDonald's was admirable, because it served to warn millions of the all too real health dangers of eating too much fast food.

Super Size Me struck a chord for a lot of people, as it became one of the highest-grossing documentaries of all time, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. And more importantly, it changed the eating habits of millions.

Now a group of physicians and other health professionals have produced a short (39 second) ad that may be one of the more controversial in advertising history. The Washington, DC-based group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)'s new "Consequences" ad takes dead aim at McDonald's high-fat menu. The provocative ad has become a story unto itself, because it has in only a few days generated nearly one million views on YouTube, and has been covered by newspapers and broadcast media around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, U.K.'s The

Although McDonald’s makes the effort to support children with life threatening illnesses, the

diet Guardian, CNN, the New York Times and hundreds of other media outlets.

The Ethical Problems Big Business

Domestically offered by this corporation and others contributes to obesity, heart disease, asthma, and possibly mad cow disease. What kind of message are we giving our children when we promote

healthy eating, and “at least 59 of the nation's 250 children's hospitals have fast-food

restaurants?” (Tanner, 2006)

Environmentally, McDonald’s practices are also questionable. Unlike a fresh ground beef

patty at a local butcher shop, “a typical fast-food hamburger patty contains meat from more than

one thousand different cattle, raised in as many as five countries” (Schlosser, 2004). This raises

the possibility of a particular patty containing contaminants of unknown origin. As noted

previously, instead of locally grown potatoes, the corporation uses their own genetically

modified potatoes. The practices of using food from extreme distances, is problematic

environmentally. From a public health perspective, the use of beef from multiple sources makes

contaminated sources far more difficult to trace.

Best-selling burgers and drinks popular with children at McDonald's restaurants are loaded with controversial chemicals, including some known to cause behavioural problems.

Analysis by The Independent reveals that Britain's biggest burger company pumps a total of 78 different artificial additives into its food on 578 separate occasions, an average of seven E-numbers per product. Although McDonald's emphasises its burgers are 100 per cent beef, the buns, cheese and sauces that go with them are high in E-numbers.

The Big Mac has 18 separate additives and a cheeseburger 17 separate additives, while a chocolate milkshake has eight different chemicals.

Additives are present in almost everything on the menu, including the grilled chicken and salads.

Health campaigners claim that certain E-numbers can cause side effects such as headaches and wheezing among some consumers.

At McDonald's, there is reason for specific concern because its Big Mac, cheeseburger and quarter pounder with cheese contain a preservative found to worsen hyperactivity in children. Artificial colours in several branded deserts and soft drinks sold at the company's 1,250 branches are also blamed for causing the problem.

After being made aware of the high levels of controversial additives, campaigners urgently called on McDonald's to make its food less reliant on chemicals. However, The Independent's research suggests that McDonald's aim of reducing E-numbers in response to public concern has not been successful. The firm's use of additives seems to have increased rather than decreased during the past year.

In the past four years, McDonald's has been seeking to ward off criticism that it encourages obesity and build a reputation for healthy eating by introducing salads and mineral water. Customers of the chain are told that its menu is based on staple foods such as meat, fish potatoes, eggs, milk and grain. They are assured: "The freshest ingredients are used..."

McDonald's British headquarters in East Finchley, London, refuses to disclose the number of additives it uses, to customers or to the media. But by analysing the 2,000 ingredients on the company's nutrition web pages, The Independent has established that McDonald's uses a range of 78 different additives on 578 separate occasions. Only 13 of its products such as tea, fruit bag and carrot sticks do not contain E-numbers.

Processed cheese squares contain acidicity regulators. Bacon comes with sodium ascorbate and the preservative sodiumnitrate, which is put in fertilisers and explosives.

Researchers at Southampton University have found that children who ingest certain additives are more likely to be over-active, impulsive and unable to concentrate. Four of seven E-numbers highlighted by the researchers are on the menu at McDonald's: sunset yellow (E110), quinoline yellow (E104), ponceau 4R (E124) and sodium benzoate (E211).

In a statement, McDonald's, which made global profit of 3.5bn in 2006, said it was conducting trials to remove sodium benzoate from its burgers, and added that a pickle was the only McDonald's own brand item with a Southampton additive. The company added it was in discussion with suppliers to reduce additives "where possible".

"We are continuing to work hard to reduce and in some cases remove completely the need for artificial colours and preservatives in our food," the company said.

On its website, McDonald's nutritionist assures customers that it is company policy not to use any artificial colours or benzoates in new products. But when The Independent first monitored use of E-numbers in September 2007, the total number used was 568. In October 2007, the date the ingredients list was updated on the website, the number had risen to 578.

Richard Watts, head of the Children's Food Campaign at the food group Sustain said: "We are very concerned that about the heavy use of additives in McDonald's especially the ones identified as harmful to health in the Southampton study." But, he said, E-numbers were "part of the business model" for processed food and would be hard to remove.

6 Specific Side Effects

1. Fast food has a very high energy density. About 65 percent higher than a typical diet and twice as high as recommended healthy diets which makes us eat more than we otherwise would. Energy density refers to the amount of calories an item of food contains in relation to its weight. Foods with a high energy density confuse the brain's control systems for appetite, which are based solely on portion size.

2. British researchers from the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Center and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have determined that repeated eating at McDonald's or KFC or Burger King, people are more likely to gain weight and become obese. This is because fast food not only contains many more calories than traditional food, but also is more likely to undermine normal appetite control systems.

3. By eating a Big Mac and fries, the body consumes almost twice as many calories as you would if you ate the same weight of pasta and salad. Fast Food restaurants feed the obesity epidemic by getting people to eat many more calories than they need through persistent advertising.

4. McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King menu items using nutritional data from the fast food restaurants' Web sites, found that when we eat high energy density foods, we don't reduce the portion size so we get a lot more calories than we need. Our current society possesses a weak innate ability to recognize foods with a high energy density. Food intake is assessed by the size of the portion, yet a fast food meal contains many more calories than a similar sized portion of a healthy meal. The conclusion is we are all being fooled into eating too much food.

5. People get fat eating regular portion sizes, but since the food has a high energy density, people gain weight. In evolutionary terms, the human appetite was designed for low energy density foods. In other parts of the world where these foods are still the dietary staples, obesity is virtually non existent. Our bodies were never designed to cope with the high energy dense foods consumed in the West. That is a major reason why fast food in contributing to the major rise in obesity.

6. Another fact is that fast food may speed up people's risk of clogged arteries that can lead to heart attacks. Researchers at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in San Francisco have demonstrated that a certain type of fat, called oxidized fat, can accelerate the buildup of plaque in arteries. And many types of fast food such as hamburgers, pizza and French fries are loaded with oxidized fat. The conclusion is fast food meals are high in saturated fat and low quality carbohydrates, white bread and lots of soda. Our bodies require fiber and more healthful types of fats. Fast food represents a dietary pattern that is the opposite of what is recommended for a healthy body.
   Although they have been around for about 75 years they are bad for your health. I would recommend that the next time your todler is screaming for some golden arches you drive on by and tell them to wave. Proceed to explain to them in your own way how unhealthy it is for them. Then go home and cook.

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