Healthier Fast Food?

When people think of fast food, it’s rarely that the word “healthy” will cross their mind. Yes! “Healthy” and “fast food” can co- exist in what I called healthier food fast. Okay, let me explain to you guys the concepts of healthier fast food. I think at least in my life time I will not be able to see healthy fast foods, but we definitely have the power to eat healthier at fast food places. Living in a society like ours, fast food industry had already become an important part of our daily lives. Like the old saying says, “ If we can’t beat them, join them”. Don’t get me wrong, when I said, “join them” I don’t mean eat fast food everyday. What I mean was although fast food is bad, there are definitely healthier options. Below are few tips that I think would make your fast food visits much healthier experiences.

•  Portion size– I think almost everyone (including me) would think the biggest size is the best size. When comparing the ultra-supersize with medium or small, the ultra- supersize meal seem like a much better deal. In reality, the medium or small cost about the same when comparing to the large or X-large. It is just being advertised as a better deal when it fact it really isn’t. To be honestly, a medium size meal is more than enough for an average size individual.

• Avoid fried– Try to avoid anything that is fried or deep-fried. When giving the option between a crispy chicken sandwich or grill chicken sandwich, then definitely go for the grill chicken sandwich. The grill chicken sandwich is not necessary healthy but it is for sure healthier than eating a crispy chicken sandwich. The fried products are much higher in calories, fats, and sodium. If possible the best option is white meat chicken breast at any places.

• Special request(s)– Don’t be afraid to make special requests. Many items on the fast food menu will be much healthier with just some small changes. For example, when ordering you can ask for no sauce or sauce on the side. Ask for a different type of bun if you think the original bun isn’t really good for you.

• Beverages– Avoid soda and sweet drinks. Sometime a cup of beverage will have more calories then your whole meal combined. A large soda usually contains around 300 calories. So why not ask for water instead? Not only is water healthier for you but also it is free! Calories free, fat free, and risk free. Oh! I forgot to mention also avoid shakes! Shakes might sound healthy because they advertise it as fruit milk shakes, but in reality, real fruits are rarely found in those shakes. The shakes are mostly made from harmful chemicals and not to mention they contain as much as 800 calories on average.

•  Sides– Be smart about your sides. Again, just avoid sides that contain high calories, high fat, and high sodium. In general, just avoid fried and greasy sides such as french fries of any kinds, chips and coleslaw. Try to lean towards something like side salads (light dressing) fruit cups, and corncob.

All the tips that I gave above might sound like common sense but you will be surprised how many people just cannot understand it. Although you have the option to eat healthier at fast food places, but it still might not be the best option. In the end, my advice to everyone is keep fast food visits an occasional thing.

Don’t eat this book

Don’t Eat This Book is rather an interesting book that I came across while doing research on food fast. As suggested by the title, it is a fairly funny book. Unlike other books, which present the story in dull and complicated ways, Don’t Eat This Book presents the information using humors and jokes. The author, Morgan Spurlock wrote about his experience of eating nothing but McDonalds for thirty days. This book really reminds me of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle written by Barbara Kingsolver. Morgan Spurlock eats nothing but McDonalds for thirty days, while Barbara Kingsolver eats nothing but self produced farm products for a year. What I found interesting is that they approached the same problem from two completely extreme end of the spectrum.

Frankly, I don’t often find a book that I can read from start to finish, either I am too busy or lost interest in the book mid-way through (or just not a fan of reading). This book really caught my attention from page one. In this book, Morgan Spurlock put himself to the test. His goal primary goal was to find out why fast food can be so tasty, cheap, and addictive. I think this book really ties all my other blogs together. Not only did Spurlock goes into great details on how fast food manages to catch the stomach of Americans but he also explores the way that fast food industry is marketing their junk food to innocent young children. To his surprise, children are becoming the primary target for the fast food industry rather than adults. Even school cafeterias are replacing their food with fast food that contains high sugar, high sodium, and high cholesterol. School cafeterias are really being turned into an average food court. This really takes me back to the time I was in middle school. I could choose to eat the nasty school lunch or buy Gatorade and pizza instead.

Another interesting aspect of this book is that after thirty days of his “McDiet” he found that his health basically fell apart. He went from an excellent health individual to an “McSickness” individual. He was suffering from McHeadaches, McChest pains, and overall just couldn’t focus on his daily tasks. The physical and mental torture of fast food according to him is nothing compare to the 24.5 pounds he gained during those thirty days. When inspected by three different doctors, he stated that they were basically telling him the same thing; his cholesterol and blood pressure raised dramatically and his liver and kidney turned into fat.

I definitely highly recommend this book to anyone that is looking a reason to quit fast food (especially McDonalds) and while at the same time is looking for a good laugh. Pick- up this book is certainly the first step to prevent yourself from getting the McDisease. Oh, i forgot to mention. If you really hate reading(like me) then surely check out a documentary called Super Size Me. Both the documentary and the book are by the Morgan Spurlock. The book is basically a written version of the Super Size Me documentary.

living without fast food

A world without fast food is hard to imagine. Pizza, burger, and fries are what we consume on a daily basis as proud Americans. McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC are the places we go to for national pride. America without fast food is like a human being without soul. Fast food is so closely tied with our American culture that our society would never be the same without it. The truth is, we don’t really need fast food to live and breathe, but we need fast food to survive as a nation.

Many people nowadays would not know what to do without the accessibility of fast food. Waking up in the morning preparing a healthy meal or be on time for school/ work could be a tough choice. Most people think fast food is the answer. With fast food, you have the luxury of two minutes drive-thru and eating and driving. The convenience of fast food is everywhere. Most likely at the turn of every corners there will be a fast food restaurant waiting to take your order. Research shows that on average American eats a takeout breakfast eight times a year. Eight times a year may not sound like a lot, but that is eight more times you could be eating a healthier meal at home. Most people complains that the reason they eat fast food breakfast is because the shortage on time. Honestly, the one easy solution is waking up just 15minutes earlier and prepare yourself and your family a healthy breakfast meal. I know by now anyone reading this would say waking up 15minutes earlier is easier said than done. From my own personal experiences, the first few times might be hard to do but after a while it will just becomes a habit. There is no question in my mind that eating Taco Bell’s waffle taco with their 5%orange juice 95% Mountain Dew is healthier than preparing my own morning oatmeal, scramble eggs with a cup of fresh milk.

Without fast food restaurants we, Americans, would not know where to hunt for food. My advice on this issue is to start at a near by grocery store. As one problem with grocery store in our society is the price and distance. In all honesty, it might not sound like the smartest thing to drive miles and miles to buy a head of broccoli for 5 dollars and cook it when you can just get five dollars supersized meal next door at McDonalds. I promise anyone who is willing to take the extra step and walk the extra mile to eat healthier will be a winner at the end. In the long run eating healthier will not only save you money but will also save your health

Top 5 fast foods that changed the world

In today’s blog, I would like to talk about something different. Instead of bashing on fast food, I would just talk about 5 fast foods that I think had changed the world. Before I go into my list of top 5 fast foods, I would first like to define fast food, so there is no confusion. Most fast food lovers would say fast food is what gets us through the day. The sugar, salt, fat, and high cholesterol is just the energy boost that we need to get us through a tough day (love it or hate it we can’t live without it). I think the three most important elements of fast food (what makes fast food fast food) are:

• Ready when you need it
• Be able to eat with your hands
• Not make too much of a mess

What does those three all have in common? Convenience!

• Cotton Candy

Cotton Candy is one of everyone’s favorite at events like the carnivals. Cotton candy is just such a magical invention, invented in Nashville, Tenseness in 1897. The invention of cotton candy machine gives us the ability to transform sugar and air into the silk strands of sweetness that we all love and want.

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• French Fries

Just imagine a meal without French fries. Going to any fast food restaurant, a combo meal usually comes with French fries. If it doesn’t, then one would normal go up to the counter and tell the store “I think you forgot my French fries”. French fries is one of the most convenient food to eat while driving, which is one of the reason why they made up about 13% of all fast food sold. Unarguably, I think McDonalds have some of the best fries, which is why one out every three fries sold in the U.S came from McDonalds.

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• Pizza

What could be more convenient than ordering pizza for your movie night with friends or just feeding your family after a long day at work? First originated in Italy, now pizza is something that can be found in almost every country. Just to throw in some math, 94% of American eats pizza on a weekly basis. We eat so much pizza, in fact if we lay out the pizza we eat on a weekly basis next to each other, it could cover the whole Washington DC. A capital made out of pizza, Yummy!

 

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• Fried Chicken

A food that been so closely tied with the American culture. On average American eats 90 lbs of chicken yearly. We eat some much fried chicken, we don’t just buy it piece by piece but rather bucket by bucket (KFC if you know what I mean). Fried Chicken first originated in the southern US, now it not only popular in the whole United States but in the whole world. The second most popular fast food chain right behind the golden arches is the old man with his picture inside of the bucket of chicken, KFC.

 

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• Hamburger

Sadly there can only be one and only one top spot. There is no question in my mind that this spot belongs to hamburger. Hamburger is a food that revolutionized not only  America but also the whole world. Every fast food chain will have burgers even KFC. What would we do without hamburgers? Hamburger is just a perfect combination with anything. When you tell foreigner of American food there is no question in my mind that the first thing that comes to their mind is hamburger. Ending this post with a fun fact for everyone. Hamburger is so important that it led to the creation of one of the most important organization, Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, without the invention of hamburger we would not have the creation of FDA. On a positive note, thanks to hamburger we now have food safety regulations.

Advertisement and Reality

Advertisement is a powerful tool. Everywhere we go there are advertisements. We go to work or school we see ads, we go online we see ads, and even when we just want to relax and watch TV we see ads. In fact, I noticed when watching TV shows 50% of the time we are actually watching ads. Although everyone firmly states that they hate watching ads, but I know deep in every consumer’s heart ads is the thing to watch. That is why big corporations pay millions and millions every year on ads, so consumers can enjoy their ads and therefore better understand their products. Having a “better understanding” I mean how their beef patties are made from 100% fresh Angus beef and how their buns, tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese are freshly prepared everyday. Well… whether or not everything that they say in the ads holds true is very doubtful to me.

In current America society, kids are being brain- washed by all those ads on the day that were born. Turning on the TV and watching the first show of their lifetime on cartoon network and guess what they will be seeing? McDonalds Happy Meal! Over the span just three generations, Americans have come to accept industrial food as their main food source- only we accept it but we defend it as we would defend our American pride. If our country were a dictatorship then the fast food industry would be the dictator. It is constantly reminding us that we need to eat, eating healthy or unhealthy isn’t the case as I would assume from the ads that I am forced to watch everyday.

Unarguably, food fast advertisements had became a part of our daily lives. More clearly, fast food advertisments had became part of our American culture. Often when I visit other countries such as China people would assume all I eat in America is Big Mac, pizza, and soda. I really don’t blame people from other countries to think this way about Americans because often in American movies and TV shows we portrait ourselves this way. Talking about movies, sometime the entire 2 hours long movie is just a hidden advertisement. People often think advertisement only appear between T.V shows, but little do we know that advertisement are often hidden inside movies. For example, if you pay close attention next time you watch a movie you will notice when people drink soda they would often have the soda’s logo face out towards the camera.

Fast food advertisement had became an unescapable part of our daily lives. Endless messages  and informations are being threw at us everyday. Nevertheless, it is up to us to believe what is true and what is not(Red Bull will not give you wings). At the end of the day, I just want to remind everyone don’t believe everything you see on advertisements and use your own judgement.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year Of Food Life

In today’s blog, I would like to introduce a book that talks about human sustenance (a phase most people think that they are familiar with) called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle written by Barbara Kingsolver. Barbara Kingsolver is a very famous author that also written many other popular books such as The Poison Wood Bible (which most people read in high school for some english class). In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Kingsolver wrote about how she and her family moved away from her home in Tucson, Arizona to a small farm on the Southern Appalachia Mountain for a year. While on the farm they only eat what they grow/ raise and buy from the local farmers. Human sustenance as descripted by Kingsolver isn’t grocery store where you buy all the GMO products, or fast food chains where you get all the cheap and tasty food. Rather, Human sustenance is the very basic food and water that you would need to survive without chemicals or preservatives.

We have heard of carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore, but I bet locavore is a new word to everyone. Funny enough, just now when I typed “locavore” into the paper it is trying to autocorrect itself because there is no such word. According to rural diction locavore is a person interested in eating food that is locally produced. The reason why such word doesn’t exist in our dictionary is because only eating food that is locally produced is almost impossible. Most of the time we had our fruit, vegetable, and meats shipped from hundreds of miles away or even from cross the sea. Interestingly in this book, Kingsolver made a comparison with the ecological costs of growing food in what she calls “factory farms” with local farms. Eighty percent of the time, food transported thousands of miles away will have chemical preservatives added so the food will not spoil. Although the added preservatives will preserve the food but it completely killed all the nutrients of the food that we eat.

Another interesting point that I want to make about this book is harsh realities that their kids must face on the farm. If only relaying on eating food produced on farm, then where will the meat come from? In the book, Kingsolver talked about how her 9-year-old daughter, Lily, refuses to name the animals on the farm because she knows that one day the animal farms such as the chicken will either be killed and eaten or sold to other farms. If treating the farm animals as pet then Kingsolver know her daughter would never eat them. I think this is a rather sad reality about living on a farm.

Honestly, giving my own personal opinion on the book, I don’t think moving away from our home and live on farm for the rest of our lives is a reality. If that is a reality then won’t Kingsolver and her family live on that farm for the rest her life instead of just one short year. I feel like the book is little over the top, making people abandon their jobs and live on a farm with no income other then selling your farm product is just not real. Okay, rich people like Kingsolver can do it because she probably made a fortune from her books, but for average working class like us, I think we are better off living in the city.

GMO

Our society is constantly making major breakthroughs. The speed at which our society is advancing could be comparable to the speed of light. When I really think about it, I think the pace at which our society is advancing is way too fast. Well… at least too fast for me to catch up. Some people might argue that fast advancing is always a good thing. We are discovering new cures for certain diseases, finding “things” that are smaller than an atom, and going as far as our telescope can see in our never- ending universe. But of course, there are two sides to everything. In this post, I would just like to focus on one aspect of the negative side this issue. GMO, is there a need for me to define what that is when it is on every packaging of the food we buy? Okay, just to be safe I will define and explain what GMO is.

GMO is an acronym for genetically modified organism. According to rural dictionary GMO is an organism or microorganism whose genetic material has been altered by means of genetic engineering. Whether GMO is good or bad really depends on… well lots of things. Going back maybe just like 30-40 years ago, I don’t think anyone had any idea what GMO is except for some top tier scientists. Just a brief history for you guys, in 1935 DNA was discover and then in 1973 recombinant DNA was created in other words they discovered how to combine DNA. The combining of DNA is the birth of GMO. Hopefully today everyone know what GMO is, if you don’t then you might still be living in the Stone Age. To be fair, GMO is the biggest breakthrough since Thomas Edison invented light bulb. Just like the light bulb, it totally revolutionized the way we live. Genetically modified vegetables and fruits can grow in any season, have short harvest time, easier to take care of, cheap to produce, cheaper to buy, and etc. Genetically modified farm animals such as chicken for example have bigger breasts (because we all love healthy white meat), grow grown in just a matter of weeks, and countless “benefits”.

With all those added up what do we get? We get cheaper and more affordable food, but the question being at what cost? The answer is GMO is flourishing at the cost of our health. When combining DNA of two unrelated vegetables for example, not only the two vegetables lose most of its nourish value but it also creates harmful side effects, diseases, and who knows what. Just to throw in some statistics, when GMO was first introduced in 1996 the percentage of Americans with three or more chronic illnesses jumped from 7% to 13% in just 9 years; food allergies skyrocketed, and disorders such as autism, reproductive disorders, digestive problems, and others are on the rise.

Just to break down the good and the bad of GMO. I will start with the good side of GMO. With the help of GMO, on Thanksgiving with family of seven, one turkey — yet everyone gets a drumstick. The GMO turkey is clearly too big for a family of seven to finish, so the left-over can be used as nightlight for your kid’s room. The bad side of GMO is unarguably the potential health issue that it might be having.

When food kills- the story of Kevin Kowalcyk

If I tell you one bite of your favorite hamburger from your favorite fast food restaurant might kill you, would that make you give the hamburger a second thought before eating? Well, that was the case with the 2- year- old Kevin Kowalcyk who died 12 days later after developing Hemolytic- Uremic Syndrome due to eating a contaminated hamburger. I know if I straight up tell someone that they might die from eating a hamburger they would think I am out of my mind or just over exaggerating. Although the chance of dying from eating a burger from some fast food restaurant is extreme small, I still want people to know that the risk is still there. In this post, I want to share the story the 2-year old Kevin Kowalcyk and hopefully people would give fast food a second thought after reading his story.

It all begin in July of 2001 when his family took Kevin on a anticipated family vacation and it was by far the best family vacation they had ever been on only if they know what was in store for the family. After Kevin returned home he started having diarrhea and fever. When going to the hospital, he was diagnosed with E.coli 0157:H7.After doing some research, I found that E.coli 0157:H7 isn’t a deadly bacteria itself. A healthy adult should recover from E.coli 0157:H7 in 5-10 days with just mild symptoms of diarrhea, fever, and stomachache. Unfortunately for Kevin, the bacteria become a deadly one due to his underdeveloped immune system at the age of 2. The death of Kevin put tons of pressure on the family. What was more heartbreaking was when the local health department refused to follow up on the issue. It took Kevin’s family nearly six months and several threatened lawsuit for the local health department to take action. After three years of endless research they finally discovered that DNA of Kevin’s E. coli matched the meat recall in August 2001. What is more shocking was the fact that the recalled meat was produced by a subsidiary of one of the largest agribusinesses in America.

Sadly, Kevin wasn’t alone in this contaminated food crisis. Every year thousands of American suffer and die from preventable foodborne illness. After Kevin’s death, his mom, Barbara Kowalcyk, works endless to prevent the distribution of contaminated food. In 2006, Barbara Kowalcyk founded the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention (CFI). Barbara knows that there is a need for more research on food borne diseases and a safer food practice. Mostly importantly, she saw the need of improving communication to consumers about the risks associated with food and food borne illness, which is also the very reason why i decided to write this post.

I think if everyone take action like Barbara against contaminated food then our food system would be so much safer. I always think that a little contribution from everyone would make whole lots of difference. I want to end this post with a quote from Barbara and hopefully make people think if cutting down on unhealthy fast food is worth the sacrifice.

“Some people come into our lives,

Leave footprints on our hearts,

And we are never, ever the same”.

Fast Food Nation

As most people know that World War II is bad, millions of lives were lost during that war. A more chilling fact about WWII wasn’t how many lives were lost during the war, but rather how many MORE lives were lost after the war. I think the aftermath of WWII is far scarier than the war itself, but I am not talking about the cold war. What I want to talk about is the fast food industry. At this point, I would have guessed many people are going to ask, “What does that have to do with fast food industry”. Interestingly, the very foundation of fast food industry built on the basis of World War II as explained by Fast Food Nation written by Eric Schlosser.

As for those of you who read my previous posts, I mentioned Fast Food Nation many times. The reason why I mention fast food nation so many times was because it is just such a great book. The book is not only informative, but also very persuasive. I promise anyone who read this book will definitely have a second look at the food that they are putting into their mouth. What I found interesting about Fast Food Nation isn’t only the fact that it reveals and layout all the hidden secrets behind fast food, but also it shows how fast food chains are growing such deep roots in our current society from the start of WWII.

Okay, I am not going to lie, the reason why I picked up Fast Food Nation at the very first wasn’t because I was interested in the problem of fast food, but rather I was forced to read this book for a class assignment. But unlike other non-fiction book I read, this book really caught my attention. The book illustrates how fast food restaurants started out as family restaurant sort of thing but quickly turned into the big corporates, as we know today. Of course, you could easily guess that this transformation all started by two brothers known as the McDonald Brothers. Although big fast food corporations isn’t really my thing, but I got to give credit to the McDonald brothers for taking advantage of WWII and made a fortune out of it. If they were still alive today I would rank them equal to if not higher than Bill Gates for starting Microsoft.

Putting my bias aside, I really think the McDonald Brothers were two genius entrepreneurs. Fast Food Nation really did an awesome job describing how the two brothers took advantage of all the elements of WWII and started the “Empire of Golden Arches” as we know today. What I like best about the book was that it described how the two brothers were able to revolutionize the whole food industry by make their food as cheap as possible by cutting out the unnecessary cost such as carhop (waitress who carried trays of food to patrons in parked cars) by adopting the drive-thru system and using teenagers as cheap workforce.

So for those of you who need a reason to cut back on fast food definitely check out Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I highly recommend this book to everyone or just anyone who is planning to go on a diet because this book is guaranteed to make you lose your appetite!

 

The Hidden Price

McDonalds, Burger King, Chick- fil- A, Checkers or any other fast food chains all have one thing in common (other than the fact that they are all fast food of course).  The major similarity shared between all those fast food chains is their price. I mean who can beat their price? Taking McDonalds for example, currently 2 dollars for a juicy Big Mac or five dollars for 20 piece of the golden deep fried chicken Nuggets? If I am a busy working class that menu definitely sounds attractive. Before picking up Fast Food Nation written by Eric Schlosser I was like one of those naïve consumers that believe whatever price that is on the menu is the price that you pay. But after reading Fast Food Nation I discovered one thing. I discovered that buying from fast food places such as McDonalds is just like getting a cellphone plan. Although the dealers tells you that it would only cost 50 dollars a month for unlimited text, talk, and data, before you know it, your bill turns out to be 100 dollars from hidden fee such as state and local tax, the universal service fund, 411 directory assistance fees (no idea in hell what this fee is, but hey it is on all my monthly bills) and etc.

The point that I trying to make with the cellphone plan analogy was that although the price that you pay for a sandwich is only couple dollars, the hidden price is far more costly. The couple of dollars you spent now seem like a great deal but further down the road you will start paying with your health. An old saying states “ The greats wealth is your health” I don’t think I can’t put it any better myself. A research done by Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) found that more than one-third of the American population is classified as obese. Furthermore, the estimated annual medical cost for obesity alone (not counting other health issues caused by junk food) is 147 billion dollars and the medical costs for people were obese is 1,429 dollars higher than an average weight individual.

Ok, listing all those statistics above isn’t trying to prove that I a mathematician but rather I want people to be aware the fact that it is important to not only read but understand the numbers that is on the menu of fast food places. A dollar spent today on junk food might be 10 dollars down the road on medical bill. But don’t get me wrong; I am not saying one bite of the juicy Big Mac will give you obesity. Occasionally eating at fast food places is fine but eating at fast food places on a daily basis is not okay.

Ever heard of “ you are what you eat” or “eating well is living well”? Sounds familiar? Well, in our busy lives we tend to ignore or forget those wise old sayings. I just want to remind everyone that eating healthy and eating cheap can co-exist. Just because you are short on money or busy with your everyday things that doesn’t mean you should eat junk food all day.