What are the worst foods from Mc Donalds?
Is it OK to eat them on occasion, despite pursuing a ketogenic diet and lifestyle?
Mc Donalds is one of many restaurants I haven’t touched in years. In fact, its been so long it’s more like a decade or longer.
I got food poisoning from McDonald’s as a teenager, and haven’t come back.
Let’s talk about:
- The worst foods.
- The worst drinks.
- Desserts.
And the menu of McDonald’s, plus why it’s wise to avoid them for better health and prosperity.
1. Strawberries & Cream Frappé Large
34g of sugar, 39g of carbohydrates.
Even the medium version of this product is heavy on the carbs and sugars. But the large, which is common for people to order, is of course higher and unhealthier.
You usually don’t buy this by itself either.
2. Strawberry Milkshake Medium
57g of added sugar (12 tsp of sugar).
With practically 12 teaspoons of sugar in a medium version, just downing one of these will send your blood sugars off like a rocket headed to the moon.
All that fat will cause glycation as well. It’s one of the worst mc donalds foods to avoid on this list, especially for those new to keto.
3. Banana Milkshake Large
74g of sugar (80g of carbs).
If you thought the strawberry milkshake was bad, the banana milkshake has 74g of added sugar or 80g of total carbs.
That banana tastes good and I can remember the flavour after all these years. And that’s by design because of how it’s made and processed.
4. Spicy Big Tasty®
47g of carb, 46g of fat (I’ll explain the latter).
This spicy big tasty burger looks exactly as they preach it to be. Cheese, the regular lettuce, burger and what not.
What’s especially awful about this burger is the fat content is as high as the carbs, which is known to be extremely bad for your health when combined at this level.
5. Mango & Pineapple Smoothie Regular
43g of carbs, 39g of sugar.
Mango and pineapple are fruits. They have to be healthy, right? Plus it’s iced, so surely there are extra benefits to drinking this down.
Not even regular mango or pineapple in a serving is this high despite being “high sugar” fruits, which says a lot.
6. Double McPlant® (Vegan)
11g of added sugar, 43g of carbohydrates. And 32g of “fat”.
These products always confuse me, and the fact vegans promote them just because it has the “vegan” label is even more confusing.
The whole point of vegan is to be healthy, but eating this 43g carb burger with 32g fat is not the way to do it.
7. 20 Chicken McNuggets® Sharebox®
68g of carbs, 50g of protein, 43g of fat.
With the carbohydrates being so high, and the protein AND fat being high with similar ranges, it’s shocking anyone would eat this without thinking.
You can eat 20 of these nuggets within 5 minutes while watching TV, YouTube, Netflix, or any other passive activity.
It’s no wonder people don’t feel healthy or feel good about themselves.
8. McDonald’s Fries Large
Carbohydrates and sugar content: 55g.
Fries have to be my favourite food at McDonald’s (when I ate it). The salt, the fries, and the unique taste, no other restaurant similar to Mc D’s can compete with it.
But 55g of carbohydrates in a large portion (which is small in reality), is still a lot of carbohydrates.
I can’t imagine what the amount is in the USA.
9. Smarties McFlurry®
40 grams of this is carbohydrates, with 37g being added sugar.
Smarties were one of my go-to foods to eat from a convenience shop (corner shop). I had the sweets you’d pop the top off of and pour it all into your hands.
These Smarties mcflurry’s are just tastier versions of that with cream and all that “good” stuff.
Relevant: Looking For A Tesco Keto Shopping List? This Is It!
10. The Sweet Chilli Chicken One – Crispy
52g of carbohydrates.
For something so relatively small, and filled with so much salad and so-called chicken, you’d think this would be healthier but it’s not.
It’s the breaded chicken (fake chicken) and the bread itself that makes this meal problematic.
The salad is there for decoration because it’s too weak to buffer the high carb and the trash the food is loaded with.
11. Coca-Cola® Classic Large
53g of carbs, of which is 53g of added sugar.
For a large drink, this is surprisingly lower than something like Banana Milkshake. But 53g of carbs for a drink (which is pure sugar in this case) is still a whopper.
You’ll feel the effects alright. And it won’t be good.
12. Big Tasty® with Bacon
49g of carbohydrates, 10g of sugar.
This big tasty burger has bacon in it, so to someone pursuing keto it MUST be healthy since bacon is so good.
But nope. The bacon, the cheese, the meat, the salad – all of this is irrelevant in the face of the bun itself.
Not the worst food to avoid from McDonald’s on this list, but still a no-go.
13. Vegetable Deluxe (Vegan)
51g of carbohydrates, 7g of sugar.
Another burger promoted as vegetarian or vegan. It sounds promising, but all you have to do as usual is look at the nutrition profile.
This is how you know what you’re really getting, which is a bad deal in this case.
14. Egg & Cheese McMuffin®
27g of carbohydrates.
This is one of the many breakfast items on the menu.
It seems innocent because it has eggs and cheese, two things which are permitted on the ketogenic diet, but it’s NOT innocent.
The bread ruins everything, including the protein and fat, both of which are unhealthy when combined with carbs in this way.
It’s called glycation.
Related: Unhealthy High Carb Breakfast Foods I Used To Have
The best keto-friendly Mc Donalds foods and drinks:
- Coke Zero.
- Salads.
- Burger WITHOUT the bread.
- Water.
- Organic Milk.
- Sprite Zero.
- Condiments (most).
All the other mc donalds products are either still relatively high in carbohydrates and sugars, or they’re things that have sweeteners and more that should be avoided (regular Coke, no pun intended).
The bottom line is it’s so easy to ruin your ketosis, your ketogenic way of living, and your progress to better health when you eat out at restaurants like Mc D’s.
You need to think before you act, and this list gives you the insight needed to make more rational, educated decisions about your health (keto or otherwise).
–
Recommended:
10+ Good Nutrition Questions To Ask Yourself