The Non-Evils of MickieDees

Recently I made a startling discovery at work. A sandwich shop called Specialty's had opened up downstairs and they made it super easy and convenient for us to get lunch by offering all sorts of ways of ordering your food, including placing an order and paying online and then running downstairs to pick up your packed baggie ready to go and waiting with your name on it in the cubby holes by the door.

I was placing an order for a sandwich when instead of clicking on the "add to bag" button, I accidently clicked on the image itself... and up popped the nutrition facts. I can't even remember what sandwich I had planned on ordering, but after seeing the numbers, I searched through their sandwich menu and chose the Napa Waldorf Chicken Salad Sandwich. Believe it or not, of all their sandwiches, this had the one of the lowest calorie/fat grams content.

What was I more surprised about (other than this being one of the "healthier" sandwich choices)? That this Vegetarian sandwich was unhealthier than the sandwich made with mayo!

I didn't even dare look at the "vegetarian" sandwich that was loaded with cheese and pesto sauce *grabs heart*! But the scariest of all... one of their sandwiches (the "Hot Italian") is actually a whopping 1153 calories and 72g of fat! For a sandwich! Whoever said sandwiches were healthy was lying.

Anyhow, the next day as I was heading back to the office, I decided to swing by good ol' McDonald's for lunch and ordered their 10-piece Chicken McNugget meal (without supersizing... or "going large", or whatever they call it these days). 

Mmmm. While I was enjoying the crispy tasty processedness of the "nuggets", I happened to glance on the side of the box and noticed the nutrition facts.

10-piece golden Chicken McNuggets: 460 calories, 29g of fat.

Medium order of delicious fries: 380 calories, 19g of fat.

Now... correct me if I'm wrong but... wouldn't that make my fast-food combo meal (minus my Sprite and the sauce of course) a total of 840 calories with 48g of fat? That doesn't look that much worse than Specialty's "Vegetarian" sandwich (and just the sandwich, no sides). In fact, after checking their entire menu, it appears that the "unhealthiest" sandwich on McDonald's menu is the Angus Burger with Bacon and Cheese, clocking in at 790 calories and 39g of fat... looking an awful lot like the values for the bland "Vegetarian" sandwich featured above.

Now, I'm not typically one to check the nutrition facts on everything I eat, but the realization that things you would expect to be a "healthier" choice is, in fact, the opposite.

Who knew?

Last (meat) Feast

I've failed to add stuff from over the past couple of weeks, but I'll post one today, in honor of Mardi Gras and the quickly approaching Lent season.

Although I'm not a regular church-attendee (forgive me!) I do have my beliefs and I do classify myself as being Catholic. As a kid, I always followed my parents' rules that from Ash Wednesday until Easter, you don't eat meat on Fridays, and I just accepted it. It wasn't until I started my religion classes that I understood why (but please don't ask me to explain in detail), and that in addition to not eating meat on Fridays, it was customary (or I suppose a better word would be 'respectful' or something of that sort) to give something up. As kids it seemed the most common thing to "give up" was soda. Or candy. Something like that. 

Coming out of those years of classes, I learned it as making a "sacrifice". So I altered my "giving up" list to a "sacrifice" list, something that would be a serious challenge (as I don't really have a sweet tooth). Meat. I love meat, I crave meat, the smell of meat cooking calls for instant salivation. Meat. That is my sacrifice.

And I don't mean just red meat. I mean all meats. Beef, pork, chicken... any type of animal. Although I will make the exception for dairy and eggs. So in a matter of minutes, the clock will strike midnight and it will officially be Ash Wednesday. And meat will be off-limits to me until Easter Sunday. I know I can do it, and I've done it for the past several years, but it still doesn't make it any easier to visit Ruth's Chris website.

As I left the mall this evening (making a quick stop to Sanrio), I eyed McDonald's from the escalator. A giant image of the new Mac Snack Wrap called to me. Try me, it said. You know you want to. C'mon, what are you waiting for? It's Mardi Gras. No meat for the next month and a half.

You had me at "Mac Snack Wrap". And, what the hey. Toss in a cheeseburger and an order of fries. Yum. 

The image doesn't really say "yum", but it really was. Something about it... doesn't look all that great but the taste does it. Maybe it's all the processing. That's some good processing. And you know what? The Mac Snack Wrap really did taste like a Big Mac. Except for the tortilla part. It has too much of it's own flavor to remind you that you aren't really having a Big Mac, but in fact, a wrap.