The Wake

For a limited time, McDonald’s is offering a guide for a healthy, exercise-filled lifestyle with the new Go Active! Happy Meal for adults. Instead of getting a toy, however, McDonald’s is offering a virtual personal trainer.

The meal includes any Premium Salad, a Dasani® water or medium or larger drink and one of four 15 minute exercise DVDs from Yourself!Fitness featuring Maya, the virtual personal trainer. The offer is part of a campaign launched in May 2004 called the McDonald’s Go Active! American Challenge.

But 15 minutes might not be enough, since many of the salads offered are not necessarily a healthier alternative to the other menu choices—though they can be if chosen wisely. Take the Bacon Ranch Salad with crispy chicken. That alone is a total of 48 percent of one’s recommended daily intake of fat—340 calories and 16 grams of fat from the salad itself and another 170 calories and 15 grams of fat from the dressing. One could choose to have grilled chicken for 37 percent of a day’s fat (or no chicken at all) but there’s no question that the crispy chicken makes a Bacon Ranch Salad complete.

A McDonald’s statement shows that in the United States more than 200 million Premium Salads were served in 2004. According to a McDonald’s press release, McDonald’s served an average of 35 million people every day in 1995. Though figures could not be found for this year, since 1996, McDonald’s has nearly doubled its revenues, with almost $20.5 billion in 2005. In comparison, the 200 million salads sold in 2004 isn’t that much, and it’s the other high-fat meals with which McDonald’s appears to have run into enough trouble to need the first-ever adult Happy Meal to hand out exercise DVDs.

In 2004 Morgan Spurlock conducted an experiment for his documentary Super Size Me after hearing about two overweight teenagers who brought a lawsuit against McDonald’s for their conditions. Spurlock ate McDonald’s three meals a day for 30 days, causing his cholesterol to rise 65 points and putting him at risk for numerous serious diseases, in addition to 24.6 pounds of weight gain.

A few subsequent studies only supported the claims in theory, including one at the University of Miami, which showed that just one high-fat meal—in the case of the study, breakfast at McDonald’s—can cause measurable damage to the blood vessels in less than a day.

In light of findings and accusations that numerous fast food chains are key contributors to America’s growing obesity problem, McDonald’s has made some efforts to provide alternatives to the high-fat meals and guidance for a healthier lifestyle.

Working with Bob Greene, Oprah Winfrey’s personal trainer, McDonald’s launched its Go Active! American Challenge in May 2004, when Greene bicycled and walked more than 3,000 miles in 36 days. McDonald’s has also teamed with various nutrition experts to provide tips for the company and consumers for better American lifestyles.

In the new Nutrition Information Initiative, by the end of 2006, McDonald’s plans to have these facts in easy-to-read formats in-store worldwide, on table tents, tray liners, brochures and packaging, in addition to the nutrition and food section of their Web site.

“Our goal is to provide customers with options and information that prove smart health decisions can be great-tasting, affordable and, above all, fun,” said nutrition expert Dr. Cathy Kapica in a statement on the McDonald’s Web site. “It’s especially important for people to achieve the right balance between the amount of calories consumed and the amount burned off through physical activity.”

Though the McDonald’s menu includes a range of options and serving sizes for balance, variety, and moderation, even with nutrition facts available, it’s still difficult to sort through the options without exceeding the recommended numbers for one meal.

Simply trying smaller portions isn’t as easy as it may seem. How about a cheeseburger and a small fries? With 35 percent of the daily value of fat, 540 calories and 23 grams of fat it would seem like a pretty average sized meal. But what adult could be filled up on a kid’s Happy Meal?

Try for a little healthier combination—say, the McChicken. Make that an Extra Value Meal with a medium fries and a Coke®. That certainly doesn’t seem like it could be too bad, but it’s 49 percent of the day’s fat. Hope that filled you up enough to go without dinner.

We’re right back where we started. The Bacon Ranch Salad with crispy chicken, please. And that shiny coaster with the virtual chick.