Fast Foods are Famous
Before
I start, let’s watch a part of Super Size Me-kid’s opening song, filmed by
Spurlock. Then, you will know how famous fast food restaurants are.
“Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut,
Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut;
Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried
Chicken, and Pizza Hut;
Mcdonald's, Mcdonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and
Pizza Hut;
Mcdonald's, Mcdonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut.
I
like food, I like food, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut; you like food,
you like food, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut” (Spurlock).
Are kids singing about three famous fast food restaurants? Yes, they are! Don't doubt about what you just see and hear.
Have you think about why fast food restaurants are so famous in the United Stated? Let me tell you, as a foreigner came from China.
First, let me show you what we eat in China.
First, let me show you what we eat in China.
Breakfast in Guangdong. Picture from Baidu.
Hot Pot. Picture from Weibo.
Chinese Delicacies. Picture from Baidu.
Compare to Chinese foods, when I think about American foods, some words pop up in my mind without hesitation: French Fries, hamburgers, pizza, soft drinks, etc. In my point of view, American foods are equal fast foods.
Some
people just eat fast foods as their snacks. However, some people eat fast foods
as their normal meals. And some people even start eating fast food in the
morning as their breakfast. There is a very famous British proverb: “Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, supper like a
pauper.” If this is truth, I can’t accept that my day would start with fast
food.
Picture from McDonald's
Special Cases
However, when I did research online I found out some
articles say about McDonald’s breakfast is healthy, especially for those who
are in a rush. It’s unbelievable. Fast-food breakfast? Healthy? Sarah Dray
explains how to separate the daily calories intake from three meals which “breakfast
should contain about 25 percent of the total daily calories; on a
1500-calorie-per-day diet, the breakfast should be about 375”, and even most of
the McDonald’s breakfast contain more than 400 calories. It’s still ok as long
as you make adjustments to the rest of the day.
In Sarah Dray’s article, she says about the best choice and worst choice for McDonald’s breakfast. The best choice she believes is the sausage burrito because it only contains 300 calories and 16g fat (7g of saturated fat). See the table below.
If your really want to eat breakfast at McDonald's, then you should understand if
there is a best choice, then there should be a worst choice. In Dray’s opinion,
the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes is the worst choice in McDonald’s breakfast. 
This
Big Breakfast with Hotcakes contains 1090 calories, 56g fat, 2150 mg sodium,
etc. 1090 calories? 2150 mg sodium? The daily calories intake for a woman is
about 1940 and for a man is 2550. If a man eats the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes
in the morning, he already intake half of the calories he needs on that day. It’s
much more than 25 percentage of the daily calories. Also, the recommended
sodium intake per day is 2300 mg. 2150 mg sodium for a breakfast is too much.
Over intake of sodium won’t cause overweight, but will cause high blood pressure
and hypertension which is not health.
Besides McDonald's breakfast, I also found an article-Eating Healthy at McDonald's gives tips about how to eat healthy in McDonald's. First, when you are trying to select a sandwich, think small. Such as a regular hamburger. A regular hamburger contains 250 calories compare to Angus CBO, Angus Bacon & Cheese and Angus Deluxe with 790 calories.
Second, a Happy Meal maybe a good choice for you, even you are not a kid. You have questions about this. Why? Because a Happy Meal is a well-balanced meal for eveyone. Such as this combination: A juicy hamburger with kids sized world famous fries, apple slices and your
choice of fat free chocolate milk, low fat white milk or apple juice. This combination only contains 460 calories.
Third, salads are always good choices.
After
I researched about McDonald’s foods, I kind change my mind that it’s ok to
eat fast foods but not for everyday. Eat fast foods when you are in a rush because fast foods can save your time.
Do I Eat Fast Foods?
Yes, I do eat fast foods. Just like what I said in the beginning, when I think about American foods, only fast foods pop up in my mind.
When do I eat fast foods? To be honest, I eat fast foods several times a week. For the most times, I can't make choice by myself to eat fast foods or not because the dinning service of my school does not provide a lot of choices per meal and fast foods are essential parts of every meal. Since I don't like uncooked vegetables (I count tomatos as fruits), I can't bear to eat only salads for a meal. Sometimes, fast foods are the only foods looks barely appetiting to me. I know eating fast foods are not healthy, but I have no chioce. So, I force myself to eat somethings I don't eat before, such as boiled radish and broccoli to keep my nutritions balance. See photos below.
Photo by Huiwen Xiao
Photo by Huiwen Xiao
Photo by Huiwen Xiao
Photo by Huiwen Xiao
Besides those times eating at Morrill Tradition (a dinning service of my school), I sometimes get fast foods from other restaurants. This may relate to my personal opinion: if there is no traditional Chinese foods, I would rather get some traditional American foods which are fast foods. But I did not do this frequently, just one time a week.
Photo by Huiwen Xiao
Photo by Huiwen Xiao
Fast Foods are Unhealthy.
As fast food companies become more and more famous, fast
food restaurants are everywhere: gas station, shopping mall, airport, schools, and
even in the hospitals. Those companies are so smart. They make their stores
open 24 hours a day and people can drive through to purchase their products. People
do not need to get out of the car to purchase foods! I don’t know this is good
or not. On one way, those companies save people’s time. However, on the other
way, they make people become lazier because they don’t need to walk out of
their car and eat. The most important is fast foods will make you sick. Super Size Me is a great film to help understand why it's unhealthy to eat fast foods. If you don't have time to watch it, you just need to know as a result for the film, the then-32-year-old Spurlock gained 24½ lbs. (11.1 kg), a 13% body mass increase,a cholesterl level of 230, and experienced mood swings, and fat accumulation in his liver by eating only McDonald's for 30 days, from a health person to a person with so many health problems.
Photo by Huiwen Xiao at O'Hare Airpot
Maybe you will tell me purchase fast foods are cheaper than making sandwich by your own. It's a way to save money. Let me do a simple calculation. If a combination from McDonald's is about 8 dollars, and you get a meal for about this price for every meal, everyday for one year. The total price for your meals for the whole year will be about 8,760 dollars. Unluckily, you get sick because of eating fast foods. You get obesity. Then, you need to spend money on health care. Rick Ungar did a research on 9,852 men and 13,837 women ages 20 to 64 (28 percent of them are obese) and found out the annual medical spending for an obese person was 3,271 dollars compared with 512 dollars for the non-obses. Then, you are spending 8,760 plus 3,271 dollars, 12,031 dollars for total for foods and health care a year. If you are making sandwich by your own, a sandwich made of wonder bread, mayo, ketchup, tomato, lettuce, pickles, olives, cheddar, roast beef, and bacon will costs you 2.60 dollars (Sandwich Price Calculator). WHOA! It sounds delicious to me and it's cheap. Since soda drink it's unhealthy, I would recommend you buy a bottle of water or milk, and it will costs about 1.8 dollars per bottle. So, your total meal will be 4.4 dollars. It's actually cheaper to purchase fast foods. The more important is home made sandwiches are heathier than fast foods.
Conclusion
Points to remember:
1. Eat fast foods when there is a special case (time concern).
2. When you want to eat fast foods, think about a small size or foods with low calories.
3. French Fries are not really count as vegetables, you should get some fresh vegetables or fruits such as carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, etc.
4. Fast foods will lead to many health problems, such as obesities.
5. Fast foods are not cheaper than home made sandwiches.
At last, money or Health? It's your choice. For me, a good health is more important than money.
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