I’ve Never Acquired Clinical Food Poisoning At McDonald’s But Is It Good For Athletes?

“It’s Not What You Know, But What You know That Isn’t So That Gets You In Trouble” By Old Geezer [and we really don’t know much about individual nutritional needs, whatever the experts say – addition by FitOldDog]

Hi folks,

The universal sign of McDonald’s, known over the world for consistency.

There are a lot of food experts out there, but do they really know what they are talking about? When it comes to nutrition, we are dealing with a highly complex network, with individual-specific set points (normal level in that particular body) for each and every metabolite (chemicals that make up your body). For instance, I am severely hyperlipidemic, with a resting (non-exercised, regular diet, no statin treatment) triglyceride level of over 2000 mg/dL (should be less than 200, apparently) and an HDL (so-called good fat, but this is a gross simplification like most things people say about nutrition) level of 19 mg/dL (ought to be over 40, the experts say). According to the wise medical people of the world I should probably be dead by now. One and only one thing really works to bring my blood lipids into the ‘healthy range,’ Ironman training. Light training helps, but not like the kind of thing we do to prepare for endurance sports. Maybe this is why I’m yet to have my first heart attack (quickly touches wood). Ironman certainly saved my life when it comes to my aortic aneurysm, so why not blood fats?

I had a great meal at the Orchids Restaurant, on Bluff Street, St. George Utah

We all have something to take us down when it comes to our genetic makeup. My Ironman triathlete son, Nigel, for instance, has a problem with hydration, whilst others have a tendency to develop heart disease or cancer. It really pays to find your weak spots and fix them before they take you out, which brings me to the McDonald’s fast-food restaurant chain and my dietary preferences. I suspect that our body knows what it really needs, but we don’t listen to our bodies or we misinterpret the messages. I do take great pleasure in fine dining in high quality restaurants, like the Orchids on Bluff Street in Saint George, Utah, but I also really enjoy the McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin With Egg, which comes with cheese. In addition, I partake of one or two hash browns and a large coffee with cream (plenty of cream). This sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it? But I always feel great afterwards, never have digestive disturbances, I’ve been eating them for years, and my ticker is still ticking at the age of 68. This, however, does not mean that a sausage McMuffin is good for you, it just seems to work for me, and that is the key – FitOldDog’s advice is to find what works for you?

I enjoy my rare McDonald’s breakfast of a Sausage McMuffin with egg, hash brown, and a large coffee, but it creates waste for the landfill.

When I tell people who are into ‘health food,’ whatever that is, that I like to eat this McDonald’s breakfast they look at me as if I’m crazy, and say, “How can you eat that junk, and it’s cruel to animals?” My answer is, “I’ve had clinical food poisoning from all sorts of food, including a ‘healthy spinach salad,’ but never from McDonald’s.” I think that McDonald’s is getting the message that the public want healthy food from humanely treated pigs and chickens, though I don’t know what humanity has to do with eating them. I’ll ‘steer’ clear of that subject for now, which also interests me a lot, and just mention my real concern with the McDonald’s meal, the waste that ends up in the landfill. This is a problem for all of us, plants and animals alike, I suspect.

I see old guys meeting for breakfast at a reasonable price in McDonald’s all over the world. Is this a good thing? On balance, I think so! (They said OK to use the photo – nice guys!)

One redeeming feature of McDonald’s is that it provides a great meeting place for older people on a strict budget (my meal at Orchids, above, cost me 10x my McDonald’s breakfast, but the goals were different, so the price was right in both establishments). Their coffee is now the best on the road in my opinion, and there is plenty of light with a good atmosphere, which has recently been ruined for me by the totally unnecessary and disturbing presence of televisions. Why did they do that? No one watches the damned thing, and they make a bunch of crazy noise, whilst distracting people from conversations that are needed for real communication. McDonald’s, will you please remove all those televisions from your otherwise excellent establishments?

OK! Time for lunch. Wonder where I’ll go?

-k @FitOldDog