Has Fast Food Become Healthier?
Low-calorie choices are becoming more common. But can we call fast food healthy?
By Toby Amidor | Contributor Oct. 21, 2013, at 2:05 p.m.
Has Fast Food Become Healthier?
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Although the words "fast food" and "dietitian" seem contradictory, I do indulge in a fast-food meal several times a year. When I was growing up, I had the Burger King crown and McDonald 's glass cup – to me, the childhood memories associated with these chains are undeniable. Nowadays, you can 't go down most highways or through most towns without these in-your-face joints lining the streets. From burgers to Chinese food to Mexican fare, there 's a multicultural adventure right in our backyards. In recent years, many chains have been called
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It 's defined as "of, relating to or specializing in food that can be prepared and served quickly." In the 1930s, Howard Johnson franchised a second location to a colleague as a way to expand his operations during the Great Depression. Once everyone owned cars, the idea of drive-thru was a novel concept and allowed more folks to grab food on-the-go. Over the past 60 years, the fast-food industry 's popularity has skyrocketed. According to National Restaurant Association forecasts, fast food restaurant sales are expected to total $188.1 billion in 2013. This is a 4.9 percent increase from …show more content…
Many fast-food offerings are high in calories, artery-clogging saturated fat and sodium. In 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unveiled guidelines for a mandatory menu calorie count to be implemented in March 2011 for all chain restaurants with 20 or more locations. Once these numbers were reported, there was no doubt that most choices at fast-food joints were just unhealthy ones. The demand for healthy fast food has led to changes throughout the fast-food industry. Here are some of those changes:
Chipotle. A public concern that has been addressed by this Mexican fast-food chain is food sourcing. Chipotle strives to achieve "Food with Integrity," meaning food that tastes better, is from better sources and is better for animals and the environment. Chipotle works with local farmers and ranchers to ensure their operations create as little impact to the environment as possible. The company sources 100 percent of their cheese and sour cream from pasture-raised cows, and 100 percent of their pork and beef have been naturally raised, which means they were raised in a humane way, fed a vegetarian diet and never given hormones. Despite the best efforts for food integrity, it 's easy to pack more than 900 calories when ordering a chicken and bean burrito. However, with careful planning and conservative ingredients you can create a 400- to 500-calorie
Fast food, while a quick alternative to cooking, has always been known to be less healthy than traditional preparations, but the extent of its health benefits or detriments was not known until a lawsuit came out which inspired documentarian Morgan Spurlock to engage in a 30 day experiment. The resultant documentary specifically targeted McDonald’s, the largest fast food chain in the world, which also happens to be a major recipient of lawsuits linking obesity and their food. Spurlock endeavored to spend a thirty day period eating nothing but food that came from the golden arches, with the rules that he would supersize only when asked, and every time he was asked, and that he would have everything from the menu at least once. In the 2004 film Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock explores the concept that McDonald’s contributes to the nation’s obesity problem through the utilization of statistics and scientific evidence as a logical appeal, comedy and repulsive qualities as an emotional appeal, and s...
Fast food restaurants in America can be located on almost every street corner in almost every city. The enticing aroma of a burger and fries can be found at several locations in nearly every city, town, or suburb. According to Alaina Mcconnel, the 5 most popular fast food restaurants of 2011 are McDonalds, Subway, Starbucks, Wendy’s and Burger King (Mcconnell, A., & Bhasin, K., 2012). Fast food joints have a ruthless history of being fattening, greasy, and unhealthy with films like Super-Size me and Food Inc. giving the...
One out of every three Americans is obese and the majority of these obese people in the United States have eaten regularly at fast food restaurants. As the obesity rate increases, the number of fast food restaurants goes up as well. Although it is not certain, many believe that obesity in the United States is correlated to eating fast food. Since the United States has the highest obesity rate out of any country, it is important for Americans to monitor the fast food industry that may be causing obesity. With the pressure to get things done in a timely manner, fast food became a big necessity. However, when creating fast food restaurants, the industries were not thinking about the negative effects such as obesity. Other than obesity, other harmful effects exist as well. Fast food restaurants serve unhealthy products such as greasy foods and artificial meat that lead to dietary health issues in many adults and children. A recent study showed that “Young children who are fed processed, nutrient-poor foods are likely to become unhealthy teenagers, and eventually unhealthy adults. Now twenty-three percent of teens in the U.S. are pre-diabetic or diabetic, 22% have high or borderline high LDL cholesterol levels, and 14% have hypertension or prehypertension” (May, Kuklina, Yoon). The food that they provide is made to be eaten quickly, causing problems for the digestive system. Also, the health problems lead to the use for health insurance, which adds to the costs of Medicare. Health care costs will only worsen an already failing economy. Therefore, the government should regulate fast food restaurants in the United States in order to repair the deteriorating health and economy in America.
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a stark and unrelenting look into the fast food industry that has ingrained itself in not only American culture, but in many cultures around the world. There is almost no place on earth that the golden arches has not entered. Aside from Antarctica, there is a McDonalds on every continent, and the number of countries that have fast food restaurants is growing on a daily basis. Schlosser describes in detail what happens behind the scenes, before the hamburger and fries come wrapped in environmentally safe paper and are consumed by millions of people daily.
Chipotle Mexican Grill’s strategic vision is “Food with Integrity” (Baylis, 2012). The company focuses on producing a product that is made from sustainable sources. The business also prides itself on selling products made with the finest ingredients. The concept of fresh food is important to the company because that is one part of the company’s vision, “Food with Integrity”. Chipotle’s product line consists of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads (Forbes, 2016). The company tries to differentiate itself through convenience of their products. It also uses higher quality ingredients in their food to show that the restaurant is different (Investopedia, 2015). Their environment is very modern and eco-friendly which also appeals to many consumers.
In conclusion, this essay has provided a variety of facts on how fast-food industry is becoming the new tobacco. In addition, how the poor eating habits adopted by Americans are at their worst and culminating to health complications. Therefore, there need be more medical interventions dealing with challenges such as diet drugs, food substitution, and alternative food restaurants. The government should also advocate for foods and services that are more informative to the consumer on matters nutritional characteristics and safety standards in foods, all in all it is common sense that majority of Americans have poor feeding habits in comparison to those who follow health diets making fast food the new tobacco.
Subway has just become the biggest fast food franchise in the United States. They advertise a healthy menu full of all natural ingredients. However a recent experiment by the Journal of Adolescent Health found people consume almost the same amount of calories at Subway as McDonalds (Lesser). Subway is not the only fast food advertising healthy options however. Despite the unhealthiness of fast food, these chains do offer some benefits. Natalie Stein,a writer for the live strong foundation, who focuses on weight loss and sports nutrition points out some crucial benefits of fast food. Stein acknowledges the convince of fast food in her article “What Are the Benefits of Fast Food?” She believes that having fast food restaurants on almost every corner is a good thing. This might be a good thing to some people, but what is too much? The conveyance of fast food chains has driven out grocery stores and ruined a chance at a healthy diet. With obesity growing in the United States maybe it’s time to rethink the actual conveyance of fast
Over the past 50 years, American diets have changed from leisurely family cooked meals that were usually prepared at home, using natural ingredients to today’s fast foods that are eaten on the run with little thought towards nutrition of content; at least one quarter of Americans eat fast food everyday (Harper 35). Eating out several times each week constitutes an important part of most Americans routines (Schlosser). The places as well as the foods consumed in eating out play an important role in fulfilling lifestyle aspirations. Compared to other foods
First, looking at high calorie, high fat content, and hidden sugar meals, have you ever took into consideration how fast food meals are prepared or for that matter what is the difference in how you would cook your own meals at home. Fast food restaurants, their meals are high calorie dense foods with added ingredients we would not knowingly truly put into our bodies. For instance, “fast foods from most major chains contain unacceptably high levels of industrially produced trans-fatty acids” (Stender S). The International Journal of Obesity did chemical analyses of 74 samples of fast food menus in 35 countries from 2005-2006, not all fast foods are created equal their findings revealed that “fat content of 41-65g at McDonalds and 42-74g at KFC” (Stender S). Preparing meals at home could cut the fat and sugar content in half. Sugar
Now, when you go to a fast food restaurant, the nutritional guide for the menu items are readily available in store and online. While it still remains that the calorie counts are very specific towards singular items, and sauce packets will still only state a skimped 3/4 of the packet 's calories, the information is there and it is up to the consumer to make use of it. Also, many schools do require a bare minimum health course which will at the very least discuss the topic of healthy eating, and will inevitably discuss the dietary horrors of fast food. Health education is becoming increasingly important, and a fast food diet is it 's first taboo.
Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society and has become nothing less than a revolutionary force in American life. Fast food has gained a great popularity among different age groups in different parts of the globe, becoming a favorite delicacy of both adults and children.
Chipotle competitive advantage or Strengths has come from the ingredients that come from sustainable sources. According to the MarketLine article about Chipotle Mexican Grill SWOT analysis "Chipotle serves food using naturally raised meat (pork, beef and chicken) and dairy cattle... in 2014 the company served over 155 million pounds of naturally raised meat." Chipotle cares for their customers because they are not giving us food that has hormones and addictive substances. Their competitive advantage has changed the company culture and mission Statement nowadays they called it now food with integrity, the idea that their food is made with the respect for the animals and the
Nowadays, it doesn’t take a scientist to know that fast food is not good for the human body. Yes, it is a quick and cheap (from restaurants offering a dollar menu) but it lacks the essentials one’s body needs to be refueled. Rod Baird, teacher and author of the article “Fast-Food Examination,” gives an assignment to his students. First he records the reactions of the students after he asks them if they would like fast food restaurants to serve food at their cafeteria. Then he let them research the nutrition facts from items off of menus. All of the children first ...
Hunger is one of the biggest issues that the world faces today. In America, when we hear of hunger, we think about third world countries like Africa, not knowing that we Americans face that problem right here under our nose. A Place at the Table is trying to show us how hunger is being unnoticed in America, and the movie “fed up” is trying to show the viewers how the consumption of junk food has led to obesity and how obesity has caused more deaths than starvation. Both movies shows us of how unhealthy food is being consumed and why people consume the most unhealthy food. Fed Up is more persuasive, because it shows that people lack the knowledge of what to take into their body, and some of the people are just used to eating in that
New nutrition laws are being created to help familiarize people with the high amount of calories in fast food. California was the first state to make a law requiring the calorie count of food to be posted on the menu boards (“Judge” par. 15). On July 1, 2007, the New York City Board of Health created a new regulation which requires the calorie count of the food to be on fast food menus (“New” par. 2). The New York State Restaurant Association is currently fighting to reject this law (“Judge” par. 2). The idea of putting the amount of calories on fast food menu boards is currently spreading...