With all the reports of how unhealthy fast food is, why is anybody still eating it? The reality is, it is cheap, convenient and filling. The problem is that just one fast food meal can pack enough calories, sodium and fat for an entire day or more! Eating fast food on a regular basis can lead to a variety of different health problems including obesity. A recent study from Reuters revealed that fast food companies are increasing efforts to market themselves to children and toddlers with television ads and websites geared to kids. In fact, the fast food industry spent more than $4.2 billion in 2009 on marketing and advertising! Why do companies spend so much money on child-targeted advertising? Because it works. These commercials cause our children to hunger for these unhealthy foods. And with the average child exposed to over 40,000 commercials a year, there is no wonder children crave fast food.
Because of the childhood obesity epidemic, San Francisco passed a law regarding fast food. The law, which takes effect on December 1, 2011, restricts the fast food industry's practice of giving away toys with children's meals. Kid's meals must meet certain nutritional standards before they can be sold with toys. They must be less than 600 calories, contain fruits or vegetables and include beverages without excessive fat or sugar. Toys tend to lure children into buying these kid's meals so certainly this law will help.
Eating fast food doesn't have be a disaster. There are ways to make healthy choices. A study conducted by Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity looked into fast food and kids. The study states that healthy side dishes and beverages options for kids' meals are rarely offered as the default. So while the healthier choices are there, it's really up to the consumer to pay close attention while ordering. Here are a few tips to get started.
The nations obesity epidemic has focused attention on fast food restaurants. And rightly so! It is not easy to eat a healthy meal at a fast food restaurant. The good news is that many chains have begun offering healthier options. But they don't help unless you actually order them. So while it's not always the ideal choice to eat at one of these chains, with some knowledge and good common sense we can stay on track towards a healthy lifestyle.
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Kristin Kirkpatrick, M.S., R.D., L.D.: "Healthy" Restaurant Foods to Avoid
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Are Bars Always Bad for You?
Alcoholics can't be expected to change their ways, so I advise them that when they go to the bar they should choose the least harmful drinks, like a beer instead of a scotch.
Isn't it that usually it is the parents who are buying these meals for their children not that the children themselves are buying the meals?
What about the unhealthy breakfast cereals that parents buy for their children? Are they to be heavily regulated or outlawed also? Shouldn't the parents just make better purchase choices?
What about the average 50 gallons of soda per person consumed annually? Is this to become even more regulated over and above any proposed taxes on soda? A study published in Health Journal found that a a soda price increase of 10% results in only an 8% reduction in consumption. And while kids are purchasing their own sodas from time to time it is largely the parents who keep this stuff at home. Again, shouldn't the parents be making wiser choices?
The healthy stuff is available. We just need some grownups to take charge and buy it instead of the junk.
That said, once or twice a month when the weather is awful or I've had a bad day, I hit the drive through and indulge. I think of it as a treat, but I don't mistake it as a good choice and I don't live on treats. I know that I shouldn't eat it, and that I could make something healthier and probably tastier at home, but I do it anyway. I spend most of my life trying to make good choices, so maybe this is a bit of rebellion against responsible adult life.
I used to go to Wendy's or McDonald's almost every day, and then I looked online at what my Wendy's meal was made up of and was scared away from eating it. I was consuming half my daily amount of calories in one meal, so I looked at it this way: would you rather waste 1000+ calories on a crap.py burger, soggy fries, and a watered down coke, or consume a meal that is about 700 calories consisting of a nice steak and veggies? I still do have fast food every once in a while, but the difference is that now I know what I am sacrificin g by eating it.
Looking back, I think the only reason I ever ate fast food (and still do on occasion) is that it was CONVENIENT and CHEAP. This is a problem for a lot of America (and Canada) right now, being overworked and underpaid is the Colonel's Secret Recipe.
I used to go to Wendy's or McDonald's almost every day, and then I looked online at what my Wendy's meal was made up of and was scared away from eating it. I was consuming half my daily amount of calories in one meal, so I looked at it this way: would you rather waste 1000+ calories on a crappy burger, soggy fries, and a watered down coke, or consume a meal that is about 700 calories consisting of a nice steak and veggies? I still do have fast food every once in a while, but the difference is that now I know what I am sacrificing by eating it.
Looking back, I think the only reason I ever ate fast food (and still do on occasion) is that it was CONVENIENT and CHEAP. This is a problem for a lot of America (and Canada) right now, being overworked and underpaid is the Colonel's Secret Recipe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
In short, they use the meat scraps from the slaughterhouse floor, inject ammonia into it, and then mix it with beef to create some 60% of all hamburgers sold in the US.
Healthy??? What's the recommended daily level of injested ammonia? That's right, it's ZERO!
And to suggest that people eat it because it is cheap, where does this lie come from and why are you still stating it? Have you seen the prices at a FF restaurant lately? That Egg McMuffin cost around $2.99, plus the cost of something to drink. For that you could go to a sit down restaurant and get a fairly decent breakfast or better yet cook at home. If you have a family of 4 the price can get pretty substantial once it is said and done.
1) Sugar free drinks.
2) Salads instead of fires.
and, most important, 3) NO BUNS!
2.iron was never organic, we need that too.
if your starving to death and you eat fast food, you will survive. so its really not at all like skipping a meal.
2. iron is not a food nor do we sprinkle some iron on our french fries.
3. you will survive skipping a meal as well.
EVERYTHING IN MODERATION
The occasional consumption high-sodium fatty proteins and empty calories isn't going to seriously impair your health. But the regular consumption of liquid candy is very bad, and you do need the nutrient density of whole fruits and vegetables not usually found at fast food establishments on a regular basis.
Subway is among the best national fast food choices, but the sodium is still too high for regular consumption (the oven-roasted chicken is the least bad). This is a problem with deli meat in general (even most supermarket varieties). The meat industry bred most of the fat out of turkey breast and ham, and the processed food industry replaced it with salty brine to prevent the lean meat from drying out.
I don't