There's no denying that McDonald's is pretty damn delicious.
But when it comes to watching your waistline, Big Macs and McNuggets are by no means your friend.
As society becomes increasingly health conscious, it seems like more people are ditching the drive-thru for healthier food options. But now McDonald's is trying win back the hungry hearts of its former fast foodies by introducing some healthy changes to its classic collection of menu items.
That's right. McDonald's is tweaking the ingredients on more than half of its menu items, which means most of your favorite snacks will probably be affected by these subtle changes.
But don't worry. It turns out your beloved french fries were spared from the food reform.
Here's what's in store for the new and improved McDonald's menu:
Nixing the use of chicken treated with antibiotics.
Menu items, such as Chicken McNuggets, McChicken sandwiches and Premium Buttermilk Crispy Chicken sandwiches will be made with chicken that has not been given antibiotics prescribed to humans.
This is a great change since giving animals lots of antibiotics can play a role in bacteria resistance and make medicine less effective.
Mixing red leaf lettuce and carrots in.
McDonald's will be adding these two veggies to all of the salads on their menu. In addition to making meals more colorful, this new change will add a greater range of vitamins and minerals to the chain's salads.
Swapping out high-fructose corn syrup.
High-fructose corn syrup will be replaced with sugar in the buns of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, Filet-O-Fish and McChicken sandwiches. Whether this change will result in healthier buns is yet to be determined, since there is still considerable debate over whether or not sugar is actually healthier than high-fructose corn syrup.
Eliminating artificial preservatives.
Artificial ingredients like chicken skin, safflower oil and citric acid will be replaced with natural preservatives like pea starch, rice starch and powdered lemon juice in Chicken McNuggets, McGriddles, sausage patties, breakfast sandwiches and breakfast platters.
However, the new food formula doesn't change the fact that these items all contain a high amount of calories and unhealthy saturated fats.
Replacing margarine.
McDonald's will be swapping out margarine for butter in some of its breakfast items including Egg McMuffins, biscuits and bagels. While this change eliminates unhealthy trans fats that can cause high cholesterol and heart disease, it's important to keep in mind that butter still contains a high amount of unhealthy saturated fat.
Citations: McDonald's Is Changing 50 Percent of Its Menu Items in a Super-Subtle Way (Cosmopolitan)
