How gross is fast food to you

highervibes

I think this video shedding light on just what is in that McDo and Taco Bell, made by Jamie Oliver during his crusade against fast food chains using pink slime in their burgers and tacos, might help you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wshlnRWnf30
Pink slime is deemed to be unfit for human consumption until it is treated by ammonia to sterilize it - it is a gross gross thing...

you shut your mouth!!!

this made me laugh so hard. It reminded me of something someone used to say "shut your mouth when you're talking to me!" hahahaha

That's exactly how I meant it lol I hope the poster I quoted realizes I was being a ham hehehe.

cparter

I find fast food repulsive. I have not consumed it in five years. The cure for me.....looking at a line at Mcdonalds.....The place that had 10 people in line, and 9 were morbidly obese... Im not saying that is the case everywhere or that fast food is the cause of obesity; Im just saying due to my experience I found fast food was not innocent.

Nine out of 10 people in line at the grocery store are obese, too. Maybe you shouldn't shop there, either. :-)

Now I know why we are such good friends. Good point!

BeachIron

Ugh. I could not care less about the lack of nutritional value, the use of genetically modified mystery species, the high trans fat or the astronomical calories in fast food. It's the complete disregard for the unbelievably high sodium content that amazes me. RDA is around 2000 mg.

Big Mac 970 mg sodium
Whopper 1000 mg sodium
One (Chicken?) McNugget 100 mg sodium
One Papa Johns Chicken Wing 340 mg sodium
Taco Bell Crunchy Taco 480 mg sodium
One Pc Battered Fish LJS 700 mg sodium

People can eat and do whatever they want. Just don't ask me to donate my kidney when yours fails from high blood pressure.

It seems that someone is a bit out of date with their science in regard to the effect of sodium on heart health.

Wildflower0106

Ugh. I could not care less about the lack of nutritional value, the use of genetically modified mystery species, the high trans fat or the astronomical calories in fast food. It's the complete disregard for the unbelievably high sodium content that amazes me. RDA is around 2000 mg.

Big Mac 970 mg sodium
Whopper 1000 mg sodium
One (Chicken?) McNugget 100 mg sodium
One Papa Johns Chicken Wing 340 mg sodium
Taco Bell Crunchy Taco 480 mg sodium
One Pc Battered Fish LJS 700 mg sodium

People can eat and do whatever they want. Just don't ask me to donate my kidney when yours fails from high blood pressure.

Says the guy who was over his sodium goal 6 days out of the past week....

Edit: *which is also 500mg over the quoted RDA...

Yep and has a diary full of processed foods...hypocritical if you ask me.

rml_16

I find fast food repulsive. I have not consumed it in five years. The cure for me.....looking at a line at Mcdonalds.....The place that had 10 people in line, and 9 were morbidly obese... Im not saying that is the case everywhere or that fast food is the cause of obesity; Im just saying due to my experience I found fast food was not innocent.

Nine out of 10 people in line at the grocery store are obese, too. Maybe you shouldn't shop there, either. :-)

Now I know why we are such good friends. Good point!

:happy:

mojohowitz

Ugh. I could not care less about the lack of nutritional value, the use of genetically modified mystery species, the high trans fat or the astronomical calories in fast food. It's the complete disregard for the unbelievably high sodium content that amazes me. RDA is around 2000 mg.

Big Mac 970 mg sodium
Whopper 1000 mg sodium
One (Chicken?) McNugget 100 mg sodium
One Papa Johns Chicken Wing 340 mg sodium
Taco Bell Crunchy Taco 480 mg sodium
One Pc Battered Fish LJS 700 mg sodium

People can eat and do whatever they want. Just don't ask me to donate my kidney when yours fails from high blood pressure.

Says the guy who was over his sodium goal 6 days out of the past week....

Edit: *which is also 500mg over the quoted RDA...

Deserved. :ohwell: it's just hard to cut sodium. It sneaks up on you. Shaming works. Thanks for pointing this out.

Kilokato

When I walk by and smell the fries in the air I want to vomit. Said no one, EVER.

Stop lying to yourself and learn how to eat responsibly lol

That smell actually does make me nauseated.

I don't know how or why, but over the last five years I've been absolutely unable to patronize fast food restaurants. I used to practically live at Taco Bell when I was in college, but I just can't stomach any of it anymore.

What might have been my turning point was a few years back when I went with a friend to McDonald's (the Satan of the fast food hellscape). She took the bun off the top of her Big Mac to add some ketchup and half of the "burger" had rubbed off onto the bun. It was like this alien looking greyish-greasy slime smear all over the lettuce and bread. The meat stain had white chunks of what had to be fat or cartilage mixed through it. I started laughing, she gagged and threw it out. I haven't been back since.

I understand fast food when you're in a rush, or when you're really hungry and need a bite to eat. I get it. What I don't get, is why people think it tastes so delicious. Even when I was obsessively consuming Taco Bell twice a day, I never thought it was the best food on Earth. In fact, I thought it was rather disgusting; I can't remember eating it once without feeling a little sick afterwards. I ate it because it was quick, cheap, and I didn't have a kitchen.

At the end of the day, I don't judge people for eating fast food. Food is food. It's ultimately just a bunch of molecules assembled into a physical form capable of being ingested and broken down by the human body for energy. It's sustenance.

MY problem with fast food is more of an ethical gripe: They make money off of people who don't know any better, or can't afford to eat any better. Their business model revolves around feeding the poorest of the poor by pushing out the lowest cost food they can. When cost goes down, quality goes down. Think about the CEOs sitting around figuring out how they can get the cost of their meat patties down by $0.04 so they can clear an extra $8,000,000 off of their next 200 million burgers sold. Think about those same CEOs figuring out how to squeeze $0.02 out of each hamburger bun, or $0.15 per jar of pickles. Trust me, they're not lowering their profit margins to give you better food, they're decreasing their product quality to increase their profit margins. What this means, is that you're getting the absolute LOWEST QUALITY hamburger meat that the USDA will allow, the LOWEST QUALITY hamburger bun made with the most preservatives (for increased shelf life and color retention), and the cheapest possible outsourced produce with almost no nutritional value due to their rushed growing times. And they're making $3.95 off of a hamburger that only cost them $0.68 to make. All at your expense.

People with weight problems only have themselves to blame, I know how hard it can be to moderate and regulate. It takes self control and determination. Unfortunately, there are a growing number of people (especially in this country) who are raised on restaurants like McDonalds and don't know any better. Kids are given Happy Meals as treats, teens are fed Big Macs with large fries after football practice, and adults are subjected to unrelenting barrages of advertisements for their new high-calorie coffee drink or breakfast burrito. There's nothing wrong with a Happy Meal for a well-behaved kid, an occasional Big Mac for a growing teenager, or a Frappe for a really long night at work - but it takes knowledge, education and discipline to know when these things are acceptable and when they're not.

Sadly, the target demographic for these companies isn't YOU GUYS; they aren't driven, intelligent, self-motivated people who can decide when it's acceptable to eat junk food... They're typically poor, uneducated people who've been fed this crap their entire lives without a second thought. That's where the problem is, and that's why I refuse to patronize them.

But HEY! There are exceptions to everything! Look at a company like Panera Bread. They're rapidly expanding across the country, they're wildly popular, they make amazing food (with extraordinarily healthy options) and they're doing it RIGHT. They use high quality, locally sourced, fresh ingredients and they hold their employees to insane standards of cleanliness and product quality - and get this - they PAY their employees more to keep them motivated! SHOCKING, I know.

So hey, if you're worried about cleanliness and pubes in your food, you might not want to go to the restaurant that officially recommends that their employees get a second job and shut off their heat in order to survive. Frankly, if I worked there I'd be sneezing a lot.

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/dailydish/la-dd-mcdonalds-budget-guide-20130716,0,6051133.story

rml_16

it's just hard to cut sodium. It sneaks up on you.

Not really.

sarahertzberger

I have cut out all processed foods which is completely different from the way I used to eat and now if I go to a fast food place to eat it makes me sick so obviously if it's making my body feel like that and my body rejects that food it can in no way be good for me it took a long time for me to get to the point of thinking it was horrible food and actually not still going there to eat it I think it just takes everyone time and in your own time you will get it

Sondicalondi

My son watched Super Size me 8 or so years ago and has not eaten McD since. Fast food that is high in fat grosses me out. But I always find healthy on the menu. I will eat a McD salad but never a hamburger.

Sondicalondi

French frys do gross me out...so I may be crazy but double fried potatoes look like artery clogging heart attacks to me.

RGv2

My son watched Super Size me 8 or so years ago and has not eaten McD since. Fast food that is high in fat grosses me out. But I always find healthy on the menu. I will eat a McD salad but never a hamburger.

Super Size Me isn't exactly the best measuring stick.

Wildflower0106

it's just hard to cut sodium. It sneaks up on you.

Not really.

Of course it is hard when you fill your diary with subway, cici's pizza, dunkin doughnuts ect...

rml_16

it's just hard to cut sodium. It sneaks up on you.

Not really.

Of course it is hard when you fill your diary with subway, cici's pizza, dunkin doughnuts ect...

Well, yes, in that case! lol

TheSlorax

My son watched Super Size me 8 or so years ago and has not eaten McD since. Fast food that is high in fat grosses me out. But I always find healthy on the menu. I will eat a McD salad but never a hamburger.

Super Size Me isn't exactly the best measuring stick.

Also you do realize that most McD salads have about as much fat as their hamburgers?? Even the grilled chicken salads with their ranch or caesar dressing have over 20g of fat. A Big Mac has 29. Obviously there are a lot better hamburger choices than the Big Mac that will be well under the fat content of their salads. Eating a fattening salad does not make you healthier than eating a McD's hamburger.

MinnieInMaine

It never used to bother me, in fact part of my old eating habits included stopping at McD's on the regular for a cheeseburger (or 2) or McChicken and a diet coke (just because I don't like regular coke). Oh and those custard pies they'd have around the holidays...so glad they discontinued those!

But I got a burger about a month ago and let's just say it didn't agree with me. Won't be eating any more of those!

Now pretty much the only thing I'll get there is an ice cream cone. I don't know what it is about them, it's just the perfect little portion size for when I want a cool treat in the summer. About once a year, if we're doing a day trip, Hubs and I will stop there for lunch and I'll get a grilled chicken sandwich or wrap and fries.

The only other place I go to for fast food is Subway and that's only a couple times a year at most. My indulgences have more to do with sweets and pizza.

Sondicalondi

I don't eat dressing or I bring my own. Without the dressing it is ok in a pinch.

Sondicalondi

My son watched Super Size me 8 or so years ago and has not eaten McD since. Fast food that is high in fat grosses me out. But I always find healthy on the menu. I will eat a McD salad but never a hamburger.

Super Size Me isn't exactly the best measuring stick.

Also you do realize that most McD salads have about as much fat as their hamburgers?? Even the grilled chicken salads with their ranch or caesar dressing have over 20g of fat. A Big Mac has 29. Obviously there are a lot better hamburger choices than the Big Mac that will be well under the fat content of their salads. Eating a fattening salad does not make you healthier than eating a McD's hamburger.

TheSlorax

I don't eat dressing or I bring my own. Without the dressing it is ok in a pinch.

That makes sense then, but it is true that a lot of the time the supposedly "superior" choice is just as bad as the Big Mac. It drives me nuts when people are eating a salad with ranch slathered all over it and think they're being "healthy." I eat ranch salads all the time, but because I like them and have the calories/fat remaining, not because they're "healthy."

amandajones1978

What scares me, and what I find gross...people...and what people are capable of in the food industry and what they are capable of doing to other peoples food while preparing it and serving it.

See, I know this happens on rare ocassions, but I have worked in the food industry, the SO worked in it for years, my best friend has pretty much spent her entire adult life working in one restaurant or bar or both or another and none of us has ever seen this happen.

In the short time I was in the fast food industry, I have seen this happen...and had someone fired because of it. I know it doesn't happen everywhere or all the time, but it does happen.

I have done this...nothing disgusting I assure you. I was a shift manager at McDonalds during college and had this obnoxious customer be a complete @$$ to one of the cashier girls. He practically had her in tears...what was his complaint? Not enough tartar sauce on his fish sandwich. Really? REALLY?! So I came up, refunded his sandwich, and said I would personally remake it for him. I put quadruple the shots of tartar on that thing, there was more tartar sauce than fish and bun combined. All his friends laughed at him when he unwrapped it...and he did not come back up to the counter. So like you said, be respectful to the hired help, some of them are just trying to make a living.