Fast Food

filatina85

I was having a discussion with my family the other day about what fast food actually is. We all had differing opinions. I believe fast food is any food that has a drive thru. With that definition I have been fast-food free for a few months now.

Others seemed to believe that anything that consists of standard hamburgers, pizza, or junky food like that counts as fast food (e.g. BJ's, Red Robin, Chili's etc.)...With this definition, I technically had fast food last week (Red Robin).

In regards to nutrition, when dining out in general I feel like you always lose. There is so much sodium, fat, sugar, and calories that is packed in things that you order versus if you just try to buy ingredients and make your own version at home.

Sometimes dining out is unavoidable especially since it has been formed into a social activity, thus I like the fact that many restaurants offer nutrition guides so you can try to choose the lesser of the evils.

Anyway, despite my definition of fast food or any one elses, I think for those who are just trying to get into a healthier lifestyle, the best thing to do is try to start limiting when and how often you dine out in general. That has been one of the big contributing factors to flattening my belly and keeping my wallet a little thicker.

Any thoughts, comments, questions etc. are appreciated.

*Note: I am not a nutritionist or expert in this realm, I only speak from personal experience

Acg67

I was having a discussion with my family the other day about what fast food actually is. We all had differing opinions. I believe fast food is any food that has a drive thru. With that definition I have been fast-food free for a few months now.

Others seemed to believe that anything that consists of standard hamburgers, pizza, or junky food like that counts as fast food (e.g. BJ's, Red Robin, Chili's etc.)...With this definition, I technically had fast food last week (Red Robin).

In regards to nutrition, when dining out in general I feel like you always lose. There is so much sodium, fat, sugar, and calories that is packed in things that you order versus if you just try to buy ingredients and make your own version at home.

Sometimes dining out is unavoidable especially since it has been formed into a social activity, thus I like the fact that many restaurants offer nutrition guides so you can try to choose the lesser of the evils.

Anyway, despite my definition of fast food or any one elses, I think for those who are just trying to get into a healthier lifestyle, the best thing to do is try to start limiting when and how often you dine out in general. That has been one of the big contributing factors to flattening my belly and keeping my wallet a little thicker.

Any thoughts, comments, questions etc. are appreciated.

*Note: I am not a nutritionist or expert in this realm, I only speak from personal experience

You can eat perfectly healthy at restaurants, if you are the type to label isolated meals/foods healthy or unhealthy with no regards to context and amount. And if you're making your own version at home, if you are significantly cutting out fat/sodium/sugar it will not taste the same

geekette411

To me, fast food is any assembly line type of food, i. e. not from your kitchen and no chef in the place. Food the business can make fast and sling out to the masses.

figomezzo

I kind of consider fast food to even include like Chipotle...and subway.

I live in DC and so I don't really do chains because there are so many other places to choose from! So when I go out to a restaurant or something its hard to know what the calorie count is. I feel like it would be somewhat easier to eat at say...Chili's and then know the salad I'm eating is 650 calories or something.

So yes...when I go out its sometimes a lose- lose situation on the calorie front even though its a social thing and good for my mental health!

Big_Bad

It's kind of an arbitrary distinction if you ask me.

I'd rather think either in terms of how things are prepared in what I'm eating- fried, full of grease, etc etc.

Or in terms of how many preservatives and other chemical junk is in what I'm eating.

Either way you can get the components of a fastfood meal without eating traditional fast food.

Overall wellness and good nutrition, baby. That's what you gotta stick to.

megsi474

Fast food to me is anything that doesn't have a wait staff. I think of chain places like Chili's or Applebee's to be eating out but not fast food because of the service nature of their business.

filatina85

Thanks for all the commentary everyone! Definitely a lot to consider, but I think the trend is basically to be mindful of what you are putting into your body and paying attention to portions

RobynLB83

Fast food = any place where most of the food comes out of packages. i.e. most chain restaurants and a lot of independent ones too.

JisatsuHoshi

For me the wait time for a steak at Texas Road House is definitely not fast food friendly, but worth the wait.

missfitmt

I also think of fast food as any place that has a drive-thru. I do believe that it is possible to eat healthy when dining out though. It's unfortunate, but you usually end up paying more, only to get less. You can find the low-cal options on the menu, or if those still seem high in sodium and whatnot, you can customize your order (i.e. ask for a grilled chicken breast with no butter or sauce, and a side of steamed vegetables instead of fries).

neanderthin

I can make a 2 egg omelette in less than a minute. Fast food is just a convenient term to feed when time restrictions dictate. There's fresh whole foods coming in the back door and there's boxes of premade food as well. With standardized menu's, consistency, nutritional disclosure guidlines and mostly unskilled help, fast food dictates most of the prepackaged foods have already been partially cooked, or cooked and loaded with the cornerstones of the appealing attributes that make them competitive which is fat, salt and sugar in a quantity that is recognized as highly palatable............Taste apparently doesn't factor very high in that formula, imo. Anyway, fast food isn't inherently bad for us, just calorie dense for the most part and needs to be considered when trying to formulate a calorie determination.

healthytanya1

I consider it fast food when they cook out of the freezer. So almost any chain restuarant. Whether its a sit down or drive thru. The fresher the ingredients the better chance you have at it being healthier. I worked at taco time(in washington state) in high school and the only thing we got from the freezer was mexi fries. Everything else was super fresh. Meat was never frozen. It did have a drive thru but they had way fresher food than subway which I worked at also.