McDonald’s Nutrition Facts, Calories, Fat, Protein and Diet Information
The truth is that McDonald’s has a wide range of choices. Eating healthy or not is up to you. Many famous McDonald’s choices are loaded with calories, fat and saturated fat, but other, more recent offerings have much less of all three. Here are some comparisons of different McDonald’s choices to help make conscious decisions about either sticking to your diet or indulging yourself once and awhile.
How many calories in a sandwich, fries and a shake at McDonald’s?
On the indulgent side, the Premium Crispy Chicken sandwich has 530 calories, 20 grams of fat including 3.5 grams of saturated fat. The Quarter Pounder with Cheese has 510 calories (a Double is 760), 26 grams of fat including 12 grams of saturated fat. Adding a large order of fries to either of these sandwiches boosts the count by another 500 calories and 25 grams of fat. If you want to cap this indulgence off with a large chocolate shake, add another 1160 calories and 27 grams of fat.
If you want to both indulge and economize, you can by changing your sandwich purchase. Your can buy two McDonald’s McDoubles for $2, less money than either the Premium Crispy Chicken or the Quarter Pounder with Cheese but the price in calories for the sandwiches goes up to 720.
The reason not to indulge too often? A single meal of one of these sandwiches (or two McDoubles), a large fries and a large shake far exceeds the number of calories many people can eat in a whole day without gaining weight.
How to make a better sandwich, fries and dessert choice at McDonald’s
Do you want a sandwich, fries and dessert at McDonald’s but you also want to better manage calories and fat? You can do it. First choose your sandwich more carefully. You can still have a Quarter Pounder, but take off the cheese and you instantly save 100 calories. Feel like chicken? Pick the Premium Grilled Chicken Classic instead of the Premium Crispy Chicken and save 120 calories. You can also save another 270 calories and still have some fries by downsizing to a small order. Finally, selecting Apple Dippers with Low-Fat Carmel Dip instead of a large shake saves you a whopping 1060 calories. In other words, it is possible for many people to have a sandwich, small fries and sweet dessert at McDonald’s and still eat two other diet conscious meals at other times during the day without putting on weight.
Is there an even better choice at McDonald’s?
By changing from a sandwich and fries to an entree salad, you can save serious calories and fat. For example, McDonald’s Premium Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken has more protein (30 grams) than a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (29 grams), yet is only 320 calories versus 510 for the Quarter Pounder with Cheese. You also save 17 grams of fat (9 versus 26 grams) and 4 times the saturated fat (3 versus 12 grams). By skipping the fries, you save 500 more calories and 25 grams of fat. You can still have the Apple Dippers with Low-Fat Carmel Dip along with, say, an iced tea and still finish well under 500 calories for the whole meal.
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