It seems like I have had a lot of conversations with friends about the dangers of fast food. I hear the usual argument of corporate America feeding the public fattening meals and making money off poor, ignorant people. I am, quite frankly, tired of McDonald’s bashing. Criticism of the fast food industry has been around a long time but worsened when “Supersize Me” came out in 2004. It was the documentary of a man who ate at McDonald’s three times a day for a month and gained weight. How can you eat 5000 calories a day and not gain weight – if it’s McDonald’s or Dunkin Donuts, or some fancy French New York City restaurant like Le Cirque? I’m amazed to find people quoting that movie like it proves anything other than the well known fact that overeating makes you fat. School children know this.
Here are some interesting facts. McDonalds and most other fast food restaurants publish the calorie and nutritional content of every single item on their menu. When was the last time you went to your favorite upscale restaurant and got the same information? Why is the food at a French restaurant smothered in butter better for you? The number of calories in a dinner at such a restaurant probably far exceeds a Big Mac and fries – no matter how you supersize it. For example, a marinated salmon carpaccio with green apple and dill appetizer once served at Le Cirque had 361 calories and 26 grams of fat. Yes, I said appetizer. That’s before the bread basket, pre-dinner drinks, bottle of wine, entree, and dessert. Most sit down restaurants have more calories than fast food places. Can you gain weight eating at “finer” establishments? Absolutely. The author of “Julie and Julia” (the now famous tome and movie of a woman who cooked her way through Julia Child’s cookbook every day) gained 20 pounds that year! Also, upscale restaurants have fought legislation to publish the calorie content of their menu (this has happened repeatedly in New York City). All of a sudden, the fast food industry is looking more transparent and honest to me.
Fast food restaurants have tried to bend to the focus groups that said they wanted a healthy alternative. This has resulted in failed products because regardless of what people say, they do not want healthy burgers when they pull up to the window (remember the unpopular McLean Delux?). Published calorie counts only changed menu choices in 1 out of 6 people. The other 5 didn’t read it or didn’t care. That’s not the fast food industry’s fault. We are an obese nation because we make poor food choices – even when the information is readily available.
Just something to think about the next time you are at your favorite bistro and a friend mentions how bad fast food is for you.
Agreed! I had a coworker who decided she needed to lose weight to fit into her wedding gown (totally ignoring the fact that she needed to lose weight because she was sloppy overweight), so she put herself on the “Subway diet.” Only she didn’t leave off the condiments or cheese as are necessary to make those sandwiches healthy. The results? No weight loss, and she wasted $7 (or more) per day just on lunch. Then she bitched about not having enough money. She’s the poster child for poor choices – not just in diet, but it life.
I get where you are coming from, if you are only looking at the “calories-in-calories-out” model, which many people do. If that is the case, then, yes, the fancy bistro and Micky-D’s run neck in neck. From a nutritional standpoint, however, most American fast food is not only lacking, but is also disease promoting– high fructose corn syrup, damaged fats, highly processed “meats” and a sheer lack of plant matter wreak havoc on any human body (not the occasional kids’ meal, of course). The salmon, apple and dill– even drenched with butter– are whole foods, recognizable and minimally processed (expensive at that restaurant, no doubt!) so even if they are high in fat and calories, they are the types of fat and calories the body can recognize, process and handle– and that are even beneficial– not like the mystery meat from Micky D’s.
Thanks for writing this…I love to hear what people think about food!
Kris,
I agree that the quality of food at a “fancy” restaurant is far different. However, we as a society have far more stringent standards and expectations from the fast food industry than non-chain places. Then, we berate them for the published facts. While quality matters, if you put on twenty unwanted pounds eating out it hardly matters where that occurred. We can delude ourselves into thinking we are eating ” healthy” at upscale places. The healthiest food is what we cook at home. An occasional donut, Big Mac, or salmon carpaccio is not a bad thing.
Thanks for taking time to read and comment! It’s an interesting topic!
Sand In Shorts 
Agreed! I had a coworker who decided she needed to lose weight to fit into her wedding gown (totally ignoring the fact that she needed to lose weight because she was sloppy overweight), so she put herself on the “Subway diet.” Only she didn’t leave off the condiments or cheese as are necessary to make those sandwiches healthy. The results? No weight loss, and she wasted $7 (or more) per day just on lunch. Then she bitched about not having enough money. She’s the poster child for poor choices – not just in diet, but it life.
This reminds me we should have lunch soon! Bring on the calories.
I get where you are coming from, if you are only looking at the “calories-in-calories-out” model, which many people do. If that is the case, then, yes, the fancy bistro and Micky-D’s run neck in neck. From a nutritional standpoint, however, most American fast food is not only lacking, but is also disease promoting– high fructose corn syrup, damaged fats, highly processed “meats” and a sheer lack of plant matter wreak havoc on any human body (not the occasional kids’ meal, of course). The salmon, apple and dill– even drenched with butter– are whole foods, recognizable and minimally processed (expensive at that restaurant, no doubt!) so even if they are high in fat and calories, they are the types of fat and calories the body can recognize, process and handle– and that are even beneficial– not like the mystery meat from Micky D’s.
Thanks for writing this…I love to hear what people think about food!
Kris,
I agree that the quality of food at a “fancy” restaurant is far different. However, we as a society have far more stringent standards and expectations from the fast food industry than non-chain places. Then, we berate them for the published facts. While quality matters, if you put on twenty unwanted pounds eating out it hardly matters where that occurred. We can delude ourselves into thinking we are eating ” healthy” at upscale places. The healthiest food is what we cook at home. An occasional donut, Big Mac, or salmon carpaccio is not a bad thing.
Thanks for taking time to read and comment! It’s an interesting topic!
We definitely agree…the healthiest food is what we cook at home. Cheers to that!