McDonalds & Coke: Tomorrow's Dinosaurs Today

We go (screaming downwards) together

Sometimes it takes a lot of work, time and patience to read cultural tea leaves -- you have to live it and breath it to become a proper cultural weather vane. I'd like to think my 5+ years ruminating about food on blogs, graduating from culinary school, a few years of professional cooking experience and some studious time with nutritionists have given me a little bit of radar in this department. But low-hanging fruit is low-hanging fruit, and you don't need to be a wizard to analyze where our food dollars are going. Two megalithic standard bearers of all that is wrong with American food and American nutrition are seeing what may be the beginning of a long downward trend in their fortunes:

McDonald's has been failing badly for a while now — this was the second straight quarter in which they reported losses across the board, and nothing is stemming the bleeding: sales fell 3.7% in August and 3.6% in September. August's figure represents the worst monthly drop for the company in a decade. In the US, the decline is blamed largely on millennials seeking out fast casual options like Chipotle due to people suddenly being willing to trade a (somewhat) higher cost for a huge perceived jump in both quality and healthiness.

Tainted meat in China and Russian national pride shutting the Golden Arches down lately haven't helped their cause, either. Desperation moves find management adding more and more things to the menu in hopes of finding the next "McNugget" or "McMuffin" break-through, but instead are just slowing down operations, taking the "fast" out of fast food, and cheapening their brand with dollar menus and anti-burger stuff like salads and parfaits.

Seeing a corporation groveling and trying to change the subject is kinda sad in a weird way, like a child (a very powerful, amoral child with shareholders) who doesn't quite understand how the world works so is hoping to somehow change reality by pleading it's case with very limited/specifically chosen facts. Does McDonalds have any pink slime in any product? No, they say confidently. Did McDonalds have pink slime in most of it's meats as recently as a year ago, and only removed this profitable but disgusting habit when it was exposed in the media? Oh, wait, those facts are inconvenient to redefining the brand.

On one hand, some new competition does take on an aspect of what made McDonalds groundbreaking: Chipotle keeps their menu small and their service fast even at high-demand times. On the other hand,  there are plenty of new franchises like 5 Guys and Shake Shack who keep the menu focused like an old school McDonalds: just burgers really well done. On both sides, they do something that McDonalds is way too old, slow and giant to do: market to the healthfulness of their food with organic ingredient, declarations of environmental friendliness, and the like. McDonalds can try, but after all this time, no one believes them. Despite the options for milk, juice, water, fancy coffee and the like, the main drink of choice at a McDonalds is a coke product:

Coca-Cola, meanwhile, doesn't have any similar franchising issues or international scandals to blame for their falling stock — they're just losing money hand over fist. They're dealing with the same health issues McDonald's faces, as Americans don't seem to be into the idea of high sugar drinks as much as they used to, to which their solution has been to introduce lower-calorie drinks like Coke Zero.

It's been said over and over again that the #1 leading source of excess calories is by drinking sugar dissolved in flavored fizzy water. The best way back to better health, away from metabolic syndrome and all the diseases that accompany it, is by simply consuming less/none of it. Of course, Big Soda (and the Big Government that is in thrall of it's money) says, "Hogwash, keep consuming more and more, just 'balance' your time with a hell of a lot more moving!"

As a cyclist who does measure calories in and out on rides to assure efficiency and health, if I were to "reward" myself with an acidified carbonated high-fructose solution after every ride like the dorks in the video, I'd be either vomiting on the regular, 50 lbs heavier, or probably both. A calorie is not just a calorie if the calorie is from high fructose corn syrup, but that's another entry.

Marc Bittman had a recent editorial that touched on the trending down of McDonalds matched by the 'healthier' options like Chipotle. He names three sources where real change in food policy and increasing public health can come from: Food Business, Government, and Consumers. The first two are  both in thrall and enslaved to the money that the third party supplies. So the best, most efficient and likely way to improve our world of food is to personally follow two rules:

1. Stop eating junk and hyperprocessed food. This eliminates probably 80 percent of the stuff that is being sold as “food.”
2. Eat more plants than you did yesterday, or last year.

This, of course, is a continuation of everything Bittman has written up to this point, but it still holds it's power. If someone were to ask me how I lost 40+ pounds and kept it off for over a year despite set-point fear mongering, I'd honestly have to say, I ate more real food, less food-like substances, and more plants. Though in honesty I hit up McDonalds a few times a month to satisfy my children's McMuffin cravings (and my need for convenience and peace), over all in the past few year's I've eaten vastly less McDonalds-like food, and drank literally gallons less Diet Coke and sweetened beverages. Guess my eating lines up pretty well with the cultural weather vane.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2763

OK eating week, life in a weird state of flux, good things, bad things, anxiety and hope. Regardless, the kids are happy, healthy and living a stable, loving life and that's the real measure of how things are, so I shouldn't complain.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2910

SLEPT: 9pm-6am, 1:30pm-2:45pm, 10.25 hr
Good quiet day. Good to have a sleep room at work to help catch up on sleep from the weekend.

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am,  Steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, cream of mushroom soup, health salad, pickles, 810 cal 
Pickles slightly off. Have a small amount left, still think I'll not buy the full gallon of pickles next time. Maybe 3/4.

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, momma salad, Grazebox nut mix , 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, tilapia, asparagus, poppa salad with Ceasar dressing, 680 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, popcorn, +/- 300 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, kind bar, 200 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 3030

SLEPT: 9pm-12:30am, 1:30am-5am, 1:45-2:45pm, 8 hr
Chill day.

AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, whole fage with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, mushroom curry,  pickles, 620 cal 
New pickles.

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazeboxseed mix , 270 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, sautéed chicken breast,  roasted brussel sprouts, poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 630 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, 2 kind bar, 400 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, peanut butter & chocolate syrup, one child chocolate chip granola bar, +/- 500 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2876

SLEPT: 9pm-4am, 1:30-2:30pm, 8 hr
Bumpy morning with rain and sorting out kid travel, but somehow we survive.

AM SNACK: 4:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am,  Steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa,  pickles, 635 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox cracker mix , 230 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm,  poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, soba in soup with shrimp, 2 shrimp dumplings, a spoonful of ice cream, +/- 500 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, 2 kind bars, cashews and chocolate chips, ritz crackers with cheese spread, +/- 800 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2535

SLEPT: 1pm-5:30am, 6.5  hr
Excellent meal at Hearth with a new friend.

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, whole fage with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45am, chicken sausage, sauteed mushrooms and onions, pickles, 515cal

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox wasabi peas , 210 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm,  poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 7pm, bread and butter, ribolita & roasted fall veg, cod & chestnut cannelloni, gnocchi, 1 glass alcoholic cider, herbal tea, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, cookies, +/- 200 cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 670 cal
FRIDAY COUNT: 2465

SLEPT: 11pm-3am, 1pm-2:30pm, 5.5  hr
Early AM ride, felt good, as this coming weekend's only ride is on the big bike with kids.

AM SNACK: 3:15am, iced green tea, 150mg caffeine, granola bar, 275 cal

BIKE SNACK: 4:45am, granola bar, 275 cal

BREAKFAST: 7am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, fruit smoothie, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:15pm, sardine and avocado on whole wheat toast, health salad,  pickles, 615 cal 

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6pm, Pad Thai, fried tofu, diet soda, +/- 1000 cal