Fast food - can we live without it?

[Earniefan]

askme - I'm worried that you believe skipping lunch altogether is a healthy choice. But then that's a whole other conversation.

The only fast food we eat is from Quizno's. And even then it's whole wheat bread and turkey with extra tomatoes to try to get as much veggies in as possible. The only other place I eat is Runza when I'm home visiting once or twice a year, and even then they use real beef and make alot of their own foods in store. I've never felt sick after eating there like I did when I used to eat McDonald's and such. Personally I'd like to see all of the fast food joints put out of business by stricter laws that would prevent them from poisoning America with all of the crap they put in their food. However, one look at the obesity rate in America and one can see that this will never happen. It should be illegal to make any product with any amount of trans fat in it, after all it's not really even a food. It should be deemed a foreign object by our FDA.

[skivino]

I wouldn't miss it at all!!
My children have never eaten at McDonald's and only at Burger King twice (once as that was all that was open and another time a friend took them). They eat at Wendy's about 6 times a year. I haven't eaten at McD's in over 13 years, I only eat salad or chili when I go to Wendy's.
I can't stand the fact that they SUPERSIZE everything either. The few times we do go to Wendy's they always ask if I want the Value meal, I say no, as I don't need at gallon of junk or 5x's as many fries. They say "well it's less and you get more" I say I don't care, I'll pay more and get less

[happymom4]

I love fast food..I eat it when I'm out doing errands and I'll treat my kids about once a week for dinner...other than that, I'm cooking. But fast food is a real treat

editing to add that chick fil a and zaxby's are our fast foods of choice..and sometimes sonic...ok, I'm making myself hungry

[deerislesmile]

Let's be honest- every single fast food chain has a healthy (or healthier) option available for us to choose. Most people just don't want to choose it. I am a nutrition educator, and I will admit without shame that there have been weeks where I find myself eating at McD's 2 or 3 times, due to my travelling all over my county and not always having the option of packing a lunch. HOWEVER... I usually get a bacon ranch salad with grilled chicken and a lo-cal dressing (or have been known to carry my own fat-free dressing in my purse! lol..), a fruit and yogurt parfait, and a bottle of water. I usually walk away having eaten an entire meal (hitting all of the food groups except grains) and still not exceeding 15 fat grams or 450 calories. By contrast, if I were one to think of artery-clogging food as a treat or reward, I could go with ordering the
-5-piece Breast Strips (630 cals, 33 g fat)
-creamy ranch sauce (200 cals, 22 g fat)
-a large french fry (570 cals, 30 g fat)
-a large strawberry shake (1110 cals, 26 g fat), and polish it off with an
-apple pie (270 cals, 12 g fat).....

(Not a completely un-typical meal at McDonalds...) and walk out of there having consumed 2780 calories and 123 grams of fat, likely almost all saturated (unhealthy) fats. It all about what you want to eat.



And yes- I could live without fast food. I live an hour from the nearest one, so I don't hit them all that often anyway. But even when I do go through those drive-throughs, I still have an option to eat healthy (or healthfully) enough that I don't have to feel guilty about what it is that I am eating. My son LOVES getting the mandarin chicken salad at Wendy's, which is a lot more healthy than the kids meals. I do end up eating at a place at least once a month, but I don't think I would be devastated if I never ate at one again.


All that being said- no food or food facility is evil. I don't condemn people who eat at ff joints, but I highly encourage them to read one of the nutrition facts brochures before ordering again- there are some heart-attacking inducing numbers on those charts, and everyone shoould at least make themselves aware of what it is they (and more importantly- their kids) are consuming. For better fast foods with little effort... invest in a crockpot.

And P.S- I have given up wondering why people think that it's just fast food places that are bad.. I encourage anyone to truly find out and add up the nutrition facts for the foods they eat at any restaurant and likely the numbers of fat, calories, sodium, and sugar are as high, if not higher, than any fast-food place, and usually the portions are much bigger, too. Just because it's a "real" restaurant, it doesn't make all of the high-fat, nutrient-poor foods any healthier..