McDonald’s Nutritionist: Our Food Is Healthy


Just days before a study from the Center for Science in the Public Interest lambasted fast food restaurants for the nutritional failures of their children’s meals, McDonald’s director of nutrition, Cindy Goody, defended the chain’s menu offerings as healthy.

“We’re making nutrition more mainstream at McDonald’s today,” Goody told The Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday. She noted that in the past few years, McDonald’s has added oatmeal dishes, chicken sandwiches with buns that boast 8 grams of whole grains and a new Happy Meal with apples and a smaller portion of fries. Chocolate milk, once 1 percent fat, is now fat-free.

“All of that came from careful listening to moms in particular and recognizing people are becoming more mindful about what they’re putting in their mouth,” she said.

Goody went on to declare that processed food could “absolutely” be healthy, offering up examples from her own diet:

I’m a mom of a 2-year-old and I gained the prerequisite [sic] 30 pounds and I was able to lose all that baby weight. I don’t have a fast metabolism and I eat at McDonald’s once or twice a day. Really. Plus I work out the recommended 5 hours a week. I may eat an Egg McMuffin and apples. My new thing is to have either a hamburger or a double hamburger, no cheese, two bags of apple slices and an oatmeal cookie and still keeping it under 600 calories.

Goody spoke to the Tribune as part of McDonald’s promotion of its new McWrap line. Earlier this week, Advertising Age wrote about an internal McDonald’s memo that referred to the McWrap has a “Subway buster”; McDonald’s hopes to chip away at its rival’s popularity with millennial customers. Depending on whether one chooses grilled or deep-fried chicken, the wraps range from 360 to 600 calories.

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest study, Subway’s eight children’s offerings are exceptions to the usual fast food fare for kids. All met the center’s nutrition criteria; kid-sized subs at Subway come with apple slices; and low-fat milk or bottled water is offered in place of soda.

Also on HuffPost:

Loading Slideshow...

  • Pizza Hut’s “Crown Crust Carnival”

    If regular pizza crust has you bored stiff, venture to the Middle East for a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/pizza-hut-middle-east-crown-crust-carnival_n_1448413.html”Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust pies — filled with cheeseburgers and chicken fingers/a. They’re aptly named “Crown Crust Carnival” pizzas.

  • KFC’s “Mac Cheese Bites”

    a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/kfc-philippines-mac-and-cheese-bites_n_2058375.html”KFC’s introduced “Mac Cheese Bites” to the Philippines/a earlier this year. The bite-sized snack has a crunchy outside filled with macaroni and a creamy cheese.

  • Pizza Hut’s Hot Dog Stuffed Crust

    a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/09/hot-dog-stuffed-crust-pizza-hut_n_1412110.html”Hot dog-stuffed crust from Pizza Hut/a is a very real thing, but unfortunately only in the U.K. Drat.

  • McDonald’s “Gracoro” Burger

    We love croquettes, but on a burger? McDonald’s Japan recently unveiled a a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/mcdonalds-japans-gracoro-burger_n_2129343.html”burger with a croquette-esque patty of macaroni, shrimp and white sauce with a breadcrumb crust/a called the “Gracoro” burger

  • Pizza Hut’s Cheesy Bites Pizza

    First there was Pizza Hut U.K.’s hot dog-stuffed pizza. Then there was the Pizza Hut Middle East’s hamburgers and chicken strips-stuffed crust. And then, crazy stuffed crust came to the U.S. with a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/pizza-hut-cheesy-bites-review_n_1459361.html”Pizza Hut’s Cheesy Bites Pizza/a.

  • KFC’s “Cheese Top Burger”

    Yes, this is real: KFC Philippines is offering something called the a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/27/kfc-cheese-top-burger_n_1631452.html””Cheese Top Burger,”/a a fried chicken patty sandwich with garlic Parmesan dressing and a slice of cheese melted atop the bun.

  • Pizza Hut’s “Double Sensation”

    Available only in Singapore through the end of December, a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/20/pizza-hut-double-sensation_n_2338263.html?utm_hp_ref=food”Pizza Hut’s “Double Sensation”/a pie featured two crusts and two different rings of toppings. It’s like two pizzas in one!

  • Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos

    Doritos Locos tacos were a big winner this year, becoming Taco Bell’s best-selling product ever. It sold about 100 million in roughly 10 weeks, and its popularity hasn’t dimmed yet.

  • Burger King’s “Premium Kuro Burger”

    Colored hamburger buns are the new big trend abroad, it would seem. Burger King Japan is the latest to join the ranks of alternative-color buns with its a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/24/burger-king-japan-kuro-burger_n_1910213.html””Premium Kuro Burger,”/a which aptly translates to “Black Burger.” The buns are colored with bamboo charcoal that’s mixed into the dough. The ketchup is black, too — it’s flavored with squid ink.

  • Wendy’s Decadent Lobster And Caviar Offerings

    Wendy’s Japan brings us two offerings you’d scarce believe are on a fast food menu: the Lobster Surf Turf Burger and the Premium Caviar Lobster sandwich. The Lobster Caviar sandwich features both claw meat and lobster salad topped with a mustardy mayonnaise and sprinkled with caviar. The Surf Turf Burger is a classic Wendy’s burger topped with whole pieces of Canadian lobster.

  • Burger King’s Bacon Sundae

    Bacon fever came to a head this summer with a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/burger-king-bacon-sundae_n_1590522.html”Burger King’s bacon sundae/a, which although only a limited-time offering, earned a permanent place in our hearts and stomachs.

  • Pizza Hut’s “Kit Kat Pops”

    a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/pizza-hut-middle-east-kit-kat-pops_n_1912387.html”Pizza Hut Middle East serves up an interesting dessert called “Kit Kat Pops,”/a which look to be Kit Kat bars baked into sweet pizza dough. They come in a cheese variety, as well.

  • Pizza Hut’s “Cone Crust Pizza”

    As if Pizza Huts in the Middle Eastern didn’t already serve enough over-the-top pizzas, the chain now serves a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/24/cone-crust-pizza-hut_n_1911029.html?utm_hp_ref=food””Cone Crust Pizza.”/a The pie features Parmesan-crusted dough cones where a normal crust should be. The cones come stuffed in either Philadelphia cream cheese or honey mustard chicken.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • email
  • StumbleUpon
  • Delicious
  • Google Reader
  • LinkedIn
  • BlinkList
  • Digg
  • Google Bookmarks
  • HackerNews
  • Posterous
  • Reddit
  • Sphinn
  • Tumblr
  • Tumblr
  • Tumblr