One interesting new thing that hit my desk was an article on America’s worst french fries. Better yet, this article gives you suggestions on what you should eat instead. However, some of these fries are so bad for you, that in one case an order of chicken fingers is a better bet, and in one odd case you would be better off making your burger a double and skipping the fries altogether!

For the record, the absolute worst fries in terms of calories and fat is Chili’s Texas Cheese Fries with Jalapeno Ranch, coming in at 1920 calories and 23 grams of pure fat.

Surprisingly, the best fries in America from a calorie standpoint is found at the Golden Arches — a McDonald’s small order of fries is a mere 230 calories. Of course that’s only 20 calories less than their regular hamburger. So it does turn out that — if you can limit yourself to a “Happy Meal” — you can actually eat at McDonald’s for under 500 calories. And you even get a toy surprise!

That brings us to yesterday’s news from New Zealand, where McDonald’s is teaming up with none other than Weight Watchers. Specifically, “Three meals: Chicken McNuggets, Filet-O-Fish and a chicken wrap will be labeled with the Weight Watchers logo.” Each of these combo meals will be 6.5 Weight Watchers points. The arrangement is already coming in for criticism as “a marketing ploy that doesn’t promote healthy eating.” It is worth pointing out that all 3 entrees have more calories than the regular hamburger, and that many of McDonald’s salads have more calories than their small order of fries, particularly if you add salad dressing.

So the take away lesson is that you can eat a healthy diet and still have the occasional fast food meal, but only if you pay attention to actual nutrition information instead of marketing hype.