Fast Food: A Rant

mponeil1982

I eat fast food, on VERY rare occasions, even now on my weight loss journey. Unfortunately, it’s unavoidable. But there is one thing I know to expect when I get that combo I know I shouldn’t, it’s that it’s NOT nutritious for me. It’s a quick fix to the hunger I feel at the moment and time I presume I lack to prepare my own meal.

I heard something on the radio this morning on a Runza commercial. They used the phrase ‘nutritious meal’ in their ad. I heard this commercial at 7AM and it’s STILL on my mind. Forgive me Runza, but I’m tooting the ‘false advertisement horn’ on you. Nutritious, as defined on Dictionary.com:

nu•tri•tious
adjective
providing nourishment, especially to a high degree; nourishing; healthful: a good, nutritious meal.

Hmm. When I’ve eaten at Runza before in the past, I usually end up saying “Man, I feel fat!” Not ONCE do I ever recall saying “Wow, I feel healthfully nourished now”. I know, I know, some of you will say ‘But they have salad’. I don’t know about you, but I never went to any of these places thinking “I think that salad looks delicious”. No. I’ll make my own. It’s quicker to chop lettuce and throw cherry tomatoes on it at home than sitting in that drive-thru waiting for others to get their ‘nutritious’ meals. I’m not even going to mention salad dressings.

It’s not just Runza either. A long while ago I saw, on the McDonalds website, a note about their nutritionists. REALLY?! McDonalds has trained nutritionists? If I were a nutritionist who HAPPENED to be employed by McDonalds, I would have told them to close their doors and stop foolin everyone. It would have been the shortest job I would have ever had, but I would have been honest.

We all have moments where we find ourselves in those drive-thrus. It’s going to happen. We do have the option to make a ‘better’ choice when we do end up there. Will we? Hard to say. But that’s okay. I’m not judging anyone here. I just think these places need to be a little more honest with everyone.

bluefox9er

you might find this video by Morgan Spurlock on youtube to be of interest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ljW5YEdao&feature=related

beccau_20

I have no idea what Runza is, but Fast Food is the devil. The deliciously amazing, but evil devil. Even Subway, which is supposed to be "healthy" is full of unhealthy options and unless you're getting the Veggie Delight, you're probably getting a lot of sodium too.

I swear they put addictive chemicals in fast food that make you crave it. I have to avoid it at all costs or else it's a slippery slope.

dragonbug300

Nice observation.

I almost never eat at fast foods, but I can say that the menus now look much more nutritious than those of the past. Regardless of whether you'd prefer to prepare a salad at home, the very fact that these places DO serve salads is admirable. If I'm out with family and they want to go to Wendy's, at least I have a decent option over the burger and fries.

Places like Arby's have pretty good ideas as well, providing sandwich options that come on wheat bread.

McDonald's is serving oatmeal and smoothies. No, it's not steel-cut oats. Yes, both have added sugar. However, it's a big step up from the pancakes and McFlurries.

I commend these places for at least attempting to 'healthify' their menus. You can't fault the advertisers for saying that these menu items are healthy, because compared to traditional drive-thru foods, they ARE.

Now, if I see BK, Wendy's, or McDonald's advertising their brand new "Nutritious beef-fried potato nachos", then I'll take issue with their use of their adjective use.

LaDiablesse

Did you see where McDonald's is going to cut the size of the fries down & give apples with every Happy Meal? That makes it all better doesn't it? {Could you sense the sarcasm there?}

alyssamiller77

The thing you have to remember with fast food is that consumers are driving as much of the problem as the companies themselves. Consumers expect to get a burger, fries and drink for less than $5.00. Well to do that McDonald's has to use a lower grade beef and then fattier cheeses and sauces to help cover up the taste of the meat itself and make it more palatable. If McDonald's thought they'd be more successful using higher quality ingredients and charging $10 for that meal, I'm sure they'd do that. But just like people complain about Walmart but then demand all that cheap chinese made merchandise, the consumer demands cheap and quick meals from outfits like McD's. The consumer has to make high quality and nutrition a priority over price before you'll see any real change from these franchises.

bluefox9er

Did you see where McDonald's is going to cut the size of the fries down & give apples with every Happy Meal? That makes it all better doesn't it? {Could you sense the sarcasm there?}

still legalised homicide in my opinion..

lmarshel

The thing you have to remember with fast food is that consumers are driving as much of the problem as the companies themselves. Consumers expect to get a burger, fries and drink for less than $5.00. Well to do that McDonald's has to use a lower grade beef and then fattier cheeses and sauces to help cover up the taste of the meat itself and make it more palatable. If McDonald's thought they'd be more successful using higher quality ingredients and charging $10 for that meal, I'm sure they'd do that. But just like people complain about Walmart but then demand all that cheap chinese made merchandise, the consumer demands cheap and quick meals from outfits like McD's. The consumer has to make high quality and nutrition a priority over price before you'll see any real change from these franchises.

Agreed! These places would not stay in business if consumers demanded better quality or better nutrition. Vote with your money, people! Like anything else in life, they wouldn't be selling it if no one was buying.

tripitena

Over the last probably three years my husband & I got so junked out on fast & other convenient junk food we both put on serious pounds. We cut it out altogether a month or so ago. I started to see weight loss pretty much right away, even before I started to seriously change my diet.
I think there is a certain addiction type quality to it. It's fast, easy, pumped full of fat, salt & sugar so it tastes good. Now that we haven't eaten any for a little while there isn't that desire or craving. I went to the website of each of our favorite fast food places and printed the nutritional info on our "usual" and it blew us away. We were consuming more than a days calories (and 2 days fat) in one meal alone at some of these places. Then add the stuff we ate the rest of the day and no wonder I was feeling like the Michelin Man!! ;-)