Bunless burger vs. the fluffernutter

Fast-food restaurants are launching new "healthy," diet-friendly foods -- including a McDonald's adult happy meal. How do they stack up to some of our lunchtime favorites?

By Scott Lamb

May 5, 2004 | On May 11, McDonald's will debut the newest offering of its line of health-conscious menu options: The Go Active Adult Happy Meal. Along with bottled water and your choice of a "premium salad," this happy meal also offers fun toys for grown-ups: a Stepometer -- clip it to your belt and track the steps you take each day -- and a fitness booklet titled "Step With It."

This is just the most recent entry into the growing field of fast-food "health food," spurred by popular taste and fads like the low-carb Atkins and South Beach diets. But it also follows lots of bad press, including lawsuits from customers claiming that fast food causes obesity to the health woes of Morgan Spurlock, the director of the upcoming documentary "Super Size Me," whose on-camera McDonald's consumption led to disastrous results and may or may not have caused McDonald's to discontinue its super-size portions. McDonald's, though, isn't alone in taking this healthier road: Last October, KFC announced it would allow customers to order fried chicken without skin or breading, and in February, Burger King started serving Whoppers without the bun, for carb-conscious customers.

Salon has assembled a survey of some of these healthy meals, along with a comparison to some of our very own lunchtime faves (Mmmm, fluffernutter...). They're displayed on the next page in order of total calories -- from least to most -- and we've included carbohydrate, fat and protein information. The order may indeed surprise you. But a caveat: We are not suggesting that candy is in any way a healthful alternative to mass-produced salads covered in high-calorie dressings. Happy eating!

Next Page: How many carbs in a fluffernutter, you ask?

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