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Hey there,So I made this site just to give people the facts on fast food. It really upsets me how much the fast food industry is killing us... I actually used to eat these fatty foods going on 2 years ago until I was ready for a change! I was tired of always feeling depressed,lazy,and just FAT! It was time for me to stop eating junk food/fast food,and trying to find that magic diet pill or the other one was the low carb diet intaking about 15-20carbs in a day. Eating all the meats and the greens I wanted,yeah sure that sounds really healthy,NOT! Of course the greens,and some meat is ok in moderation that is. Also no meat is good for you in large quantizes all day long. because all of this is going to end up really hurting your body in the end. They make it seems like CARBS are just the devil when really its what the restaurants serving us. Carbs are fuel they are your energy. Your body needs 55% carbs,25%protein,and 20% fat.Another thing is portionMy name is Carolyn Bowman and I use to eat all of the junk food-Papa Johns,Domino's, Burger King,McDonald's,Cheese cake,Cake,Cookies, whole fat ice cream, candy man did I have one hell of a sweet tooth! Back in the day a meal for me would consent of 5lb container of twizzlers, brownies,cheese its,dortios, anything that was in seven eleven. I could go on and go and my brothers would do the same as well and we didn't think anything was wrong with it because that is how we ate kept trying all kinds of the diets I mentioned. Trying to find out why we couldn't lose any weight or if we did it would come back twice as much. Until one day I had enough! I was working out at the Y.M.C.A one day and a friend of my mind came across a flyer about learning how to eat right and exercise on top of getting a trainer once a week. The program was two months long for $40.00!!! Practically a steal! Well from that day on it has changed my life!! Made me think this is what life is supposed to feel like. Also it was a contest for whoever lost the most weight and inches in 8 weeks and would win a trainer for 3 times a week for an hour or 2 times a week for an hour and then 3rd a place once a week for a hour. I was like I'm going to win this you watch!! Needless to say it was the hardest and best experience of my life!! My body went through hell just because I was so out of shape. Let me tell you it was all worth it, in the end because I did win 2nd place!! Never won anything big like that in my life it was a huge huge deal plus had this amazing body afterwards. Muscles I never knew I had! Needless to say I was hooked on being healthy and wanted to help everyone feel alive again!! My weight used to be 180 now I am around 125-130. My brothers saw the change in me and so did my parents. So, I showed them how to start eating and got my mom down to a size 6 which used to be a size 12-14. One brother started working out a lot and he got hooked on seeing results he was around 300 now is in the 100's high hundreds of course, and other one was suicidal due to his weight and no one was there for him but me until going on almost a year he was over 400lbs and now is down is the 200's he has lost 111lbs and is still going he is amazing! This journey turned me into being a personal trainer today. I want to help all of you and see life for the first time or be reborn again. Trust me I was there know what it feels like and sometimes you just need to listen to how you feel and what you want out of life. I'm here to listen and make those pounds and cravings dis sapper. Email me today and find out how I can change your life.I live in Orlando, Fl but is willing to travel.Here is a great site to check out :)http://www.shapefit.com/
May I “super-size” your order, please? How about “biggie fries” or better yet, “king-size” fries? Would you like a “combo,” it’s cheaper? If these clichés sound as familiar to you as “paper or plastic,” then the advertisers of the major fast-food companies have done their job well. Fast-food restaurants are now a prominent part of the American dietary landscape, with their numbers now exceeding 300,000. And like most Americanized slogans, the fast-food chains vigorously promote “bigger is better.” Is bigger really better? When it comes to fast food, a more fitting question may be, “Are more calories and fat better?” Fast foods may indeed be fast—a fast way to become overweight. In this article, I discuss the proliferation of the fast-food industry in the U.S. and its possible effects on America’s dietary habits. I’ll also discuss the marketing strategies of the fast-food chains and their influence on America’s youth. Strategies to avoid fast-food fallacies will be provided at the end of this article. Do fast-food companies contribute to overweight and obesity in America? Together, we’ll explore the answer to this question.
An Economic Cost ComparisonWe have seen much media attention given to the tobacco companies over the past few years. Many states have filed law suits against the tobacco companies to help cover the staggering tobacco-related health care costs. Tobacco-related illnesses contribute to an estimated 400,000 deaths annually in the U.S. alone. Comparably, obesity-related illnesses contribute to more than 300,000 deaths a year in the U.S. According to a report by the National Institutes of Health and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the total cost attributable to obesity amounted to $99.2 billion in 1995. Approximately $51.6 billion of these costs were direct medical expenditures and represent 5.7 percent of the total U.S. health care costs. The indirect costs attributable to obesity were $47.6 billion, comparable to the economic costs of cigarette smoking.
The Target MarketMany groups have criticized the tobacco companies for targeting America’s youth to become consumers of their products. Fast-food companies follow a similar strategy, albeit much more bold and direct. From Ronald McDonald to Jack, advertisers bombard children’s television programs with tempting lures. If the food doesn’t appeal to the kids, perhaps a Beanie Baby®, Hip Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, or some other toy will elicit the anticipated response from the child. Teaming up with popular toys and movies is now the norm in the fast-food advertising arena. Again, Americans’ children are the primary targets.
Burger King’s® Richard Taylor recently wrote, “Providing kids with twice the number of toys during this month-and-a-half time period doubles the reasons for kids to visit our restaurants.” Brian Gies, manager of Burger King’s Youth and Family Marketing Division said this: “Kids of all ages will be able to share in the excitement generated by the MIB [Men in Black] phenomenon . . . what kid would want to be without the official Men in Black gear or other official MIB toys that will be offered with every kid’s meal?” Ronald McDonald is known to children around the world, and he now speaks more than 20 different languages. McDonald’s® recently posted this to its website: “Hip Barbie meets Hot Wheels in one of the coolest Happy Meals ever! It’s Barbie friends and family with Teen Skipper, Barbie, Eatin’ Fun Kelly, and Bead Blast Christie!” McDonald’s claims that Ronald McDonald is now recognized by 96 percent of American children.
Without question, these and other fast-food advertising campaigns are directed toward children. What impact does this marketing strategy have on obesity in children and adolescents? More importantly, what is the overweight and obesity status of America’s youth? The answer is staggering! By some estimates, approximately one-third of all American children and adolescents are overweight—this may even be a low figure. This trend will most likely continue as fast-food restaurants such as Pizza Hut® and Taco Bell® are now beginning to appear inside the schools. If you’re alarmed by this, you should be.
According to a survey of more than 400 schools by the American School Food Service Association, school kids love pizza for lunch. Pizza in school lunch lines ranks No. 1 as the most popular entree by 66 percent, followed by chicken nuggets at 20 percent. The younger generation is brand conscious, and the competition for branded fast food as a school lunch is fierce. Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza® are major competitors in the school lunch market.
McDonald’s is the largest of the fast-food chains. In 1996, McDonald’s had 7.7 percent of the fast-food market share and spent in excess of $588 million on advertising and promotion. One-eighth of the American work force has worked at McDonald’s, which employed more than 500,000 people in 1998. Every day, about 43 million people eat at a McDonald’s restaurant somewhere in the world. Seven percent of the American population eats at McDonald’s every day, and about every 10 hours, a new McDonald’s restaurant is opened somewhere in the world. With this kind of growth and market share, it’s difficult to argue that McDonald’s does not have a major impact on the dietary habits of the American population.
Fast Food and the Obesity EpidemicWhat is fast-food’s commitment to improving the nutrition, health, and well-being of the American population? Global domination, market penetration, increased sales, and more stores are the terms used by America’s fast-food chains to describe their mission or vision. Words like improved nutrition, health, and well-being do not appear. Because McDonald’s is the largest of the fast-food chains, let’s look at its corporate vision. McDonald’s corporate vision statement reads: “McDonald’s vision is to dominate the global food service industry. Global dominance means setting the performance standard for customer satisfaction and increasing market share and profitability through successfully implementing our Convenience, Value and Execution Strategies.” I may have read that fast, but I don’t recall seeing anything in McDonald’s vision statement about nutrition, health, or well-being. Did you? Faced with this type of evidence, it’s little wonder that the World Health Organization recently identified obesity as a global epidemic. According to information recently released by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) approximately 55 percent of the U.S. adult population is overweight or obese. What part do the fast-food companies play in this staggering figure?Fast-food restaurants have become very creative in their pricing strategies, menu selections, locations, and marketing schemes in response to the fiercest competition ever in the industry. Fast-food companies in the U.S. are driven by market forces, and those market forces are the American people. As long as Americans have fast-paced lifestyles, work long hours with no time to prepare food at home, and continue their insatiable hunger for new fast-food concepts, the creative and aggressive fast-food companies will flourish. Sadly, so will the prevalence of overweight and obesity. How did we get in this predicament? Let’s go back in time and review how humans have changed their diet and activity patterns.Human HistoryHumans have been around for about two million years. During most of this time (about 99.5 percent), humans survived by hunting animals and gathering berries, fruit, roots, and other vegetation. To delight in a 2000 calorie meal during this period required a great deal of energy expenditure. Then, around 10,000 years ago, humans began to domesticate both plants and animals. They stopped roaming the grasslands, settled in fertile valleys, and began raising animals and crops. During this Agricultural Period, a 2000-calorie meal still required much work and expenditure of energy.The 19th century saw the dawning of the Industrial Period. This period marked the introduction of steam and internal combustion engines to provide energy for transportation and manufacturing. This energy no longer had to be provided by humans. More and more, people began to cluster in cities where manufacturing and service-related jobs were in demand. The Industrial Period began to have a profound effect on human energy expenditure. No longer did a person have to be physically active all day in order to eat. In fact, a professional worker (e.g., lawyer, accountant, etc.) could sit in a chair all day—earning enough to buy a 2000-calorie meal with no other energy expenditure required. Think of the impact this change had on the human body.Now, enter the High-tech Age. In the last 40 years, we have witnessed more technological evolution than during the entire history of humans. Our population is even less active now than during industrialization, and labor-saving devices pervade almost every aspect of daily living. The two- million-year-old human body has adapted by gaining weight.Visualize American life just one-hundred years ago. At the turn of the century, the demand for human energy expenditure was great. America was crossing the bridge from an agricultural era to a more industrialized period. Even then, the energy required to work on the farms or in the plants and factories was high. Overweight and obesity were not a public health problem. Times have changed, and today, things are different—dramatically different. In many respects, we are still hunters and gathers today, however, the landscape has changed. Instead of wandering the grassy plains hunting and gathering food, we travel the streets and highways looking for the drive-thru line—or worse, we stay home and flip through the yellow pages for home delivery. The energy expended today is from our cars burning fuel while we wait in line or from our fingers flipping pages and dialing telephone numbers for home delivery.Let’s Go Hunting and GatheringToday, humans still go hunting and gathering, albeit much differently than our ancestors. I recently took my son on a hunting and gathering adventure to compare with the hunting and gathering adventures of our ancestors. Instead of spears and baskets we now use cash and credit cards. Instead of spending hours or even days on our feet hunting and gathering, we ride in the car for about 10 minutes. Within a 10-minute ride from our house, we had more than 25 fast-food restaurants to choose from.On this particular day, we were hunting fish and a Happy Meal®. We had heard these could be found at a place called McDonald’s, and sure enough, it was easy to find. As we closed in on prey, my son immediately caught sight of his meal—a Happy Meal, complete with a Hot Wheels® car. As we got closer, I became more confused as I gazed at the more than 10 different “combos” from which to choose. Finally, there it was, the Fillet-O-Fish. Although the drive-thru was available, we decided to go inside. While placing our order, we were continually asked questions like, “Could I super-size that for you,” “Wouldn’t you rather have the combo,” and “How about an apple pie to go with that.” After a few minutes in line, we sat down at a table to enjoy the bounty of our long hunt. But first, we decided to inspect our meal and see exactly what we were getting. The figure below shows the nutritional content of our hunting and gathering activities. Can you guess how many calories we expended on this hunt? Not much—far less than what we captured!Hunting and Gathering at Mcdonald's
Dad
Fist Fillet Total Calories 470 Fat Calories 234 % Fat Calories 50 French fries super-sized Total Calories 610 Fat Calories 261 % Fat Calories 43 Soft drink super sized (32oz) Total Calories 384 Fat Calories 0 % Fat Calories 0 Totals 1,464 Calories, Fat Calories 495, % Fat Calories 34
Kids Meal
Cheeseburger Total Calories 330 Fat Calories 126 % Fat Calories 38 French fries (small) Total Calories 210 Fat Calories 90 % Fat Calories 43 Soft drink (small) Total Calories 150 Fat Calories 0 % Fat Calories 0 Totals 690 Calories, Fat Calories 216, % Fat Calories 31
As you can see from the numbers in this figure, a seemingly innocent stop into McDonald’s can mean calorie devastation to the overweight person—particularly if one succumbs to the pressures of a good sales clerk and big-business advertising. My super-sized meal totaled almost 1500 calories, of which 495 calories were from fat. My son’s Happy Meal totaled almost 700 calories—216 from fat. With an estimated 7 percent of the American population eating at McDonalds every day—and they’re not eating salads—what would we expect from this type of diet? Let’s now explore some ways to overcome the advertising lure of the fast-food chains.
Strategies to Avoid Fast FoodsCertainly, not all fast food is bad. But like most things that are easy, simple, and taste good, we tend to make them more of a permanent part of our dietary patterns. Let’s face it, today’s food companies have learned what tastes good and what the American people will buy. There are, however, strategies that may help avoid the fast-food fallacy.
Develop an Attitude One strategy is to develop an almost “militant” attitude toward fast-food advertising and other ploys to get you to come in. Think of the advertising ploys as a way to get you to stop in, eat more, and gain more weight. Dr. Kelly Brownell of Yale University has used this strategy to help clients avoid fast-food restaurants. Think of the sales clerk—instead of asking you, “Would you like a combo,” think of him or her really asking, “Would you like more calories and more fat to eat?” Think of the sales clerk—instead of asking you, “Would you like to super-size that order,” think of him or her asking, “Would YOU like to be super-sized.” Any form of recasting advertising slogans or promotional ideas that make you angry will help you develop this attitude and avoid the fast-fat restaurants.
Plan Ahead Make a list of those fast-food restaurants that you will absolutely avoid and others that you may patronize, provided you have planned your meal in advance. It is always a good idea to play your meal before going in and sticking with it. You can get a copy of the restaurant’s menu with nutritional values by looking on the Internet, calling the corporate headquarters, or requesting one at a restaurant location. Carefully go over the menu and determine before hand what you will order when you go in next time. Check the total calories and fat calories of your planned meal and write it down to carry with you. The next time you plan to go to a fast-food restaurant, use your list and order from it. Politely tell the clerk “No, thank you” when he or she asks you to order something larger or something that you do not have on your list.
Avoid the Meal Deals Meal deals and super-sizing will always add more calories and fat to your meal. When was the last time you saw a “salad meal deal” or a “fruit meal deal”? The best strategy here is for you to decide what you will and will not order at a fast-food restaurant. You decide—do not let the sales clerk decide for you.
Carry Food with You Sometimes it is difficult to totally avoid eating at a fast-food restaurant. Lunch with the guys and gals is often hard to pass up every day. For these occasions, carry fresh fruit with you to eat with your meal or for dessert. Low-fat yogurt is another option if you have a way to keep it cool. Fresh-cut vegetables are also good to carry with you to help balance out a meal at a fast-food restaurant. See if you can come up with your own list of healthy foods to carry with you for such occasions.
SummarySo, I ask you once again, do fast-food restaurants contribute to overweight and obesity in America? With the disproportionate selection of high-calorie, high-fat foods available in American fast-food restaurants, it’s hard to argue that they do not. For many, the answer may be simply to say “NO” to fast foods. In fact, “Just say NO to fast food” may be an appropriate new slogan. Remember that our hunting and gathering ancestors burned most of the calories they ate in the hunting and gathering process itself. Today, you don’t have to burn many calories at all. If the drive-thru is too exhausting for you, some fast-food restaurants now deliver food to your door. Let me leave you with one final thought. As a human, you have the power to choose the foods you eat—not your spouse and not the fast-food companies. As you make your food choices, make them wisely and healthfully!
AuthorDavid L. Hager, M.B.A., is Publisher of American Health Publishing Company in Dallas, Texas. His work is devoted to bringing science and its practical application to the general public.
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