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Dieter Amy called over the weekend to tell us to check out the new McDonald’s Strawberry-Banana Smoothie. Might it make the ZReboot or Z-Life list? You may have seen the tempting TV ads that launched McDonald’s latest product launch.

To their credit, McDonald’s does not use the word “healthy” to describe their new Strawberry Banana Smoothie. Their website simply calls it The Paragon of Smooth: McDonald’s McCafe Strawberry Banana Smoothie. It doesn’t get much smoother than strawberries and bananas blended with ice and low-fat yogurt.

HERE ARE THE INGREDIENTS

Strawberry Banana Fruit Blend: Strawberry puree, banana puree, water, sugar, concentrated apple juice, contains less than 1% of the following: cellulose powder, natural (botanical source) and artificial flavors, xanthan gum, citric acid, colored with fruit and vegetable juice, pectin, ascorbic acid (preservative).

If you have been paying attention, you know that all Plan Z Insiders translate “low fat” as code for possible “high sugar.” In this case, it’s not the yogurt in the smoothie that has a lot of sugar (only 3 grams in the 12 oz. version). Interestingly, the 12 oz smoothie has 45 grams of carbohydrate and 41 grams of sugar BEFORE you add the yogurt. Good news! The McCafe Wild Berry Smoothie has just 44 grams of carbohydrates, which includes 41 grams of sugars.

This is the 12 oz smoothie! A 16-0z Coke has 40 grams of carbohydrates and 40 grams of sugars. The good news?  The McCafe smoothie does not appear to have any HFCS. So, it’s got that going for it.

Make your own smoothie with this recipe. Save the money and elevated insulin levels that convert carbohydrates into stored, stingy, locked away fat.

Plan Z works because it gives you structure (some call it ZRules).

We are not “Food Police.” We are enlightening and empowering you to be police your own food choices. Watch TV yourself. E-mail me when you see a commercial for organic vegetables, grass fed beef or line caught yellow fin tuna.

In my role of VP of Anger Managment, I watch the NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams and yell at the commercials. There’s a woman can’t go more than a few miles without needing a bathroom. The next person can’t seem to have a bowel movement without Dulcolax.  Sally Fields has this one body and apparently it’s not in that great of shape so she is peddling Boniva. (I miss you, Gidget.) Grandma has “mild Alzheimer’s. The next guy has his COPD under control thanks to Advair. If Citrical can’t increase your bone density, then Smith-Nephew has a new knee replacement that will last 30 years. All this might make a grown person cry, but it’s hard to work up any real tears without Restasis.

You won’t last 30 more years if you eat the food they advertise between the drug ads. Last night (July 20th, 2010) the only two food commercials on the broadcast were for Honey Nut Cheerios to help lower your cholesterol and Red Lobster’s Crab Food Fest with decadent crab and shrimp pasta.

I’ll let you read the label on Honey Nut Cheerios to decide how healthy it is. And I challenge you to find the nuts in it. Any time you see the word “helps” in an ad, it means that it doesn’t help. Because if it helped, they wouldn’t have to say “helped.” They would say, “Lowers Cholesterol.”

Based on the ingredients, you should not be chewing on Honey Nut Cheerios. Chew on this instead:  General Mills owns Red Lobster, which they acquired in 1970. Who knows what interesting ingredients lurk in their decadent sauces? They don’t post the ingredients nutrition information online.

Here’s the good news. When you’re in ZLife, you can have any processed food you want, but you won’t want it anymore. Instead you will be as mad as I am when you see the way America’s food giants tempt you to put their high fructose corn syrup sweetened, artificially flavored and colored, starchy, gloppy foods in your mouth day in and day out.

When you’re on ZReduction, you quickly become aware of all the foods you cannot eat.  You can’t eat the new Caribbean menu at TGI Friday’s. You can’t have the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese even though “You Know You Love It.” And you definitely can’t enjoy the refreshing new Smoothies from McDonald’s. They’re on TV so they’re NOT on Plan Z.

Once you are on ZLife, you can have them. Our job is to make sure you don’t want them.

Part of my helping you Get Your Mind Right is to make you mad enough that you will not be tempted to eat this stuff. You’ve already eaten enough of it. That’s what contributed to your signing up for Plan Z in the first place.

Never forget that.