Geez. Just get a McDouble and throw away the bun. Add a side salad with vinagrette dressing. Having McDonalds every once in a while isn't going to kill anyone. I think we all need to settle down a bit. I'm sure we unknowingly injest much worse things from time to time. Have fun and don't sweat this small stuff.

I'm from Chicago, and we have more Chipotles than McDonalds, especially in tourist areas. I'd say don't eat it! Go to Chipotle instead and just get a bowl of meat :).

I wouldn't eat McDonald's for anyone. If your in-laws are great, they should understand your lifestyle choice and respect that. I'm all for flexibility, but McDonalds? Never.

I would not eat the chicken. Fast food chicken is always full of MSG. So is McD's Angus Beef - but they claim that their regular hamburger patty is 100% beef, no fillers. From their website:

100% Angus Beef Patty: 100% Angus beef. Prepared with Grill Seasoning (salt, black pepper) and Angus Burger Seasoning: Salt, sugar, onion powder, natural (animal, plant and botanical source) and artificial flavors, spice, maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast extract, dried beef broth, dextrose, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce powder [distilled vinegar, molasses, corn syrup, salt, caramel color, garlic powder, sugar, spices, tamarind, natural flavor (fruit source)], spice extractives, beef fat, caramel color, annatto and turmeric (color).

100% Beef Patty: 100% pure USDA inspected beef; no fillers, no extenders. Prepared with grill seasoning (salt, black pepper).

Check out all their ingredients here.

Quarter Pounder without cheese (or double quarter pounder without cheese), no bun. Ask for leaf lettuce (not shredded). Use the lettuce as "bread". No ketchup.

Ice tea (unsweetened) or water to drink. Side salad, if you need a side.

This is an OK option.

That's my 2 cents worth.

Hi everyone, I'm just putting my two cents in because this hits a nerve with me. Other than recently diagnosed as gluten intolerant I committed to eating clean years ago. I once informed a traveling companion that I would starve before I would ever eat anything from a McDonalds. Nothing there qualifies as food in my book.

Lauren, feelings aside, can you not possibly have a talk prior to the trip with your family about how fast food does not agree with you or your eating lifestyle. After seeing the "ingredients" (soy, corn syrup, MSG just to name a few) should give you some courage to defend your desire to not spend the trip or any time thereafter sick. Maybe it is because I have a family that would NEVER ask/force me to eat anything that makes me uncomfortable, ill, or just outright gags me that I don't understand how feelings come before personal preference or health. To me, there is no eating at McDonald's, no matter who is footing the bill.

Take the advice that says bring your own food and snacks. I would stay home before putting myself in a position that compromises my lifestyle and my digestive health. And yes, I felt that way long before the gluten intolerance. My dad is celiac, and my mother is thrilled I have turned her on to Paleo. It is so celiac friendly. I would use this as an opportunity to at least try to educate these nice people about how clean eating could make the trip much more enjoyable for everyone. If it is a matter of finances, I would start setting money aside so that you too can have a say in where meals are consumed.

Please forgive my soap box, but I am a firm believer that no one dictates all or most of the venues at another persons expense. My stomach has already turned inside out at the prospect of having to even enter one of those establishments.

You have my sincere sympathy.

Don't eat at McDonald's. Pack snacks in your bag: tins of sardines, tuna and salmon, gluten-free jerky, nuts, fruit, chopped veg, hard-boiled eggs. A bag of root veggie chips would even be better than McD's fries. There are lots of snack and travel-friendly options that have been posted here in previous posts-do a search.

Toss the bun, toss the bun... pfft, just eat the bun assuming you're not celiac or allergic to wheat! It's a couple meals over a couple days, out of your entire lifetime. You'll get over it, you'll "recover".

For the money: McDouble with only cheese and extra pickle. Toss the buns. McDonald's just quit using pink slime, patties are 100% beef seasoned only with salt and pepper, cheese is 70% milk products (not bad, considering what I expected).

Each McDouble contains 20g protein. Three makes an easy meal.

Not ideal, but if you have to go that route (sometimes you do), you're getting 60g all-beef protein for $3.

Side note: I JUST ate this, and it has never made me feel ill (as nearly anything else I've eaten there typically does).

Kudos on the Chipotle idea...so much better

1) Any 100% beef patty (NOT ANGUS) with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion

(ketchup and mustard optional - NO MAYO)

2) apple slices

3) bacon

4) sausage patties

Everything else is cooked in margarine like the eggs or uses soybean oil

Stay away from the chicken - typically has wheat, soy, MSG, and/or other fake foods!

A "trick" I've learned over the years: when having to go for fast food and yet not wanting to partake, bring supplies. Get a coffee, a tea, a water, and have some portable snacks that work as a meal (jerky, macadamia nuts, tinned fish, hardboiled eggs...) and if you want you can order a salad... or not. Totally up to you.

It's generous of the family to take you out, but that shouldn't mean you have to compromise all of your needs. Yes, "go with the flow" to some extent, but plan for not having many options. You can almost always get a salad. Just don't make a huge deal out of it, and your loved ones won't either- that's the key to now coming across as preachy and unappreciative :)

Have fun!!

Is there a specific reason your in-laws insist on eating at McDonald's?

There are a couple of things everyone--even the world's biggest McDonald's fans--agree on: (1) is that the food is unhealthy and (2) they don't have much variety. I don't see how it would be disruptive at all to suggest the group eat at a restaurant with a little healthier fare and a little more variety.

Besides, my rule on vacations is you should always eat somewhere you couldn't eat at home. You're on vacation. It's supposed to be an adventure where you experience new things. My guess is you have plenty of McDonald's at home. Try nudging with the line "we're on vacation, let's go somewhere we couldn't go at home" whenever they suggest McDonald's.

Some good answers here - especially on not needing to be perfect every time. If you can get them to agree to a good supper option, how about doing some intermittent fasting in addition to the advice on hacking the meals. I was traveling recently with family and friends and no one really balked at my comment, "No thanks, nothing for me now, I'm just not that hungery. I'll eat later."

Heres my two cents...I'm all for keeping the peace. Its not a life or death matter, it's a family/respect matter, so honestly I would just get a grilled chicken salad or burger sans bun warped in lettuce and not sweat what I would consider the small stuff. Focus on family and not "food" rules and enjoy the days. You can clean it up after you're home and get back to it.

Breakfast:

round eggs (made fresh rather than from a liquid) with a side salad with sliced apples

Lunch and Dinner:

Side salad

Quarter pounder (no fillers in beef), with lettuce and extra sliced onions

Fruit and walnut salad (apples and grapes), skip the yogurt and walnuts

Water with extra lemon and use the extra lemon over the salad

Not to be insensitive, but...really?

"They would be hurt if I did and I won't hurt them for the world."

Hurt if you won't eat poison? Ridiculous.

Bacon and eggs at breakfast. Burgers (toss the bun). Salads (toss the dressing and don't get breaded meat). That is about the best you can do.

Just eat one of their salads with chicken or a burger without the bun. It's one meal!!! I can't believe that some of the nut jobs on here are advocating having an insane and offensive conversation with the in-laws about personal eating preferences. When someone else, particularly a family member, is offering to buy you a meal you don't spit in their face by giving them a lecture about your own weird food habits. You also don't bring your own food. This is a diet people! It's not some religious dedication and most of you have self-diagnosed food allergies. Let's face it- paleo is a cool diet that helps alot of folks lose weight. Ultimately it works by restricting carbohydrates and consuming lots of protein (which unless you are really starving you won't convert into energy or store as fat) the way several other diets do. The various other claims are shakey at best. Keep in mind that our paleolithic ancestors rarely lived beyond their 30s and that evolution doesn't "design" organisms to eat in any particular way. So settle down and eat some fries with your in-laws- it won't kill you and the benefits in family harmony more than outweigh breaking your diet one time.

I would stick to salad

The only thing I feel comfortable with at McDonalds is the coffee. I haven't been there for years, so even that may have gone downhill by now.

fruit at breakfast. grilled chicken sandwich toss the bun and condiments. Salad toss the crutons, dressing, and whatever other crap they might throw in there.

....and drink plenty of water to dilute some of the antiobiotics, hormonse, pesticide residue, and any other toxins you might be ingesting at the time.

Ive een working at mcdonalds for the past three years, only reason is because im in collage and cant afford another job. Its mconalds, common sence its gunna be bad. But get a southwest salad, balaamic dressing amd grille pr no chrcken. Its not gunna kill you. People eat tjis food everyday(truat me we have out fat regulars) and they are fine (maybe a bit chunky haa)

Obviously I'm not a fan of McD's, but come on -- sometimes you have to take one for the team to be polite and gracious. One or two lunches won't kill you. I wholeheartedly believe that taking any one meal this seriously or being rude and worrying about hurt feelings is NOT healthy. Order a burger, toss the bun and a salad. Don't sweat it. Have a great vacation.

Nothing at Mcdonalds is paleo or healthy, however sometimes exceptions have to be made escpially when traveling. the closest thing to paleo would probably be a salad with no dressing or a burger with no bun. Moes or Chipotle is a much healthier fast food option that has paleo-friendly food, so if possible try to eat there. Their food also tastes good and does not make you feel like crap after you eat it. One time after my friend ate mcdonalds he threw up a ton in the parking lot

If you eat at Mcdonalds, eat everything they serve you. Tossing food hurts more than not eating it, and can make you look like a fool or someone with ED. Either refuse to eat there and pack snacks or eat someplace else, or pick something nice off the menu and enjoy it. You can focus on recovery later. No point in making both you and your in-laws feel bad.