McDonald’s Smackdown

It doesn’t get any better than this. In one corner was heavyweight Don Thompson, the CEO of McDonald’s, one of the world’s most ubiquitous and powerful corporations. In the other corner was lightweight 9-year old Hannah Robertson, whose mother is a kid’s nutritional activist. This match took place at the recent McDonald’s annual shareholder’s meeting in Oak Park, Ill.

It wasn’t even close. Hannah delivered the knockout punch in the first round. During the question and answer session she said: “I don’t think it’s fair when big companies try to trick kids into eating food. It isn’t fair that so many kids my age are getting sick”. Ouch—talk about being outed by a kid!

I recently reviewed the menu at McDonald’s. The only “healthy” options were apple slices and salads, but these choices were marred by dressings and sauces loaded with toxic sugar. In my opinion there is nothing—nada, zilch, zippo, zero–that is safe to eat at MacDonald’s. This has been evident to me since one of the first MacDonald’s in the state opened up near our high school in St. Louis Park Minnesota in the 60’s. Back then we thought it was cool. Now I see it as truly tragic.

We now know that excessive fructose mainly from sugar and HFCS is the driving force behind insulin resistance, obesity and type II diabetes. The menu at McDonald’s is a virtual sugartopia. Sugary beverages, specialty coffees loaded with sugar and bread products and sauces with added sugars—a true toxic mix. High glycemic carbohydrates mainly from grains seem to be driving a lot of our metabolic problems. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a “healthy” grain. Grains are loaded with phytates and anti-nutrients that raise havoc with your metabolic health and waistline. It seems like everything at McDonald’s is encased in a bun or breading.

McDonald’s also produces a lot of food loaded with omega 6 fatty acids from vegetable oils. Humans evolved with a diet containing equal amounts of omega 6 fatty acids and omega 3 fatty acids. Today we consume excessive amounts of omega 6 fatty acids. Our cell membranes are made of lipoproteins mainly containing omega 3 fatty acids. When you consume too many omega 6 fatty acids, these cell membranes no longer work as intended, leading to many adverse health consequences.

When you throw this triad of toxic food components together, you end up not only damaging your metabolism leading to insulin resistance, obesity and type II diabetes, you also end up frying your brain. We now believe that this type of food can eventually cause a form of food-induced brain dysfunction called Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome. CARB syndrome is likely behind the recent dramatic increase in common brain disorders like depression, ADHD, PTSD, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, bipolar II, autism, fibromyalgia, eating disorders and similar conditions.

Bad food leads to poor health and a brain that doesn’t work so well—if Hannah gets it, I think it’s time for the rest of us to fall into line. I love it when a 9-year old girl upstages corporate America and the medical profession. She sees the elephant in the room. Her friends and classmates are getting sick and nobody seems to care. She wants us to do something about it.

Don’t look to Don Thompson for answers. He has already sold his sole to the devil. He is willing to feed his own children the food that his company produces, when deep down inside he knows that this is not a good choice. Evil often follows the money. Hannah doesn’t care about money or power—she only cares about the health and well being of her friends. I find her perspective to be very refreshing.

Hannah gives me hope for the future in a world that seems destined to destroy itself with its own foolish decisions. Maybe it isn’t as bleak as I sometimes think. Hannah, thank you for your wisdom attained at a very young age, and thank you for giving us hope. I almost forgot—thank you for cutting the Don Thompsons of the world down to size.