Fast Food Healthy
Can fast food be healthy?
Making fast food healthy seems impossible if you want more than just a salad. There is a way eat healthier for those days when fast food is the only option. Not only are there many of different fast food restaurants but such a wide variety food that they offer with many different options.
There are the normal fast food restaurants that you think of for example: McDonalds, Burger King, Arby’s, Wendy’s, Subway and KFC. Then there are your other fast food places that don’t look or act like fast food restaurants but is considered fast food for example: Five Guys, Panera, California Tortilla, and Chipotle. Many different places and many different options there have to be some way to get a healthy meal out from all of them.
Taking a deeper look into these fast food places they are changing the way they advertise. These days with the weight problems in America, people blame the fast food restaurants. So they are changing the way they want people to look at their food.
The changes happened fast; it started with Subway, with their spokesperson Jared Fogle “The Subway Guy”. He lost a lot of weight by changing his eating habits from junk food to eating at Subway. Where he ate smaller portions and cut out fattening condiments that helped to his weight loss; Fogle lost 240 pounds. This was a big break for Subway and a lot of other fast food restaurants because Fogle was a walking talking billboard for how fast food can be healthy.
Then from there fast food restaurants had to change their way to fit people’s needs. Not only is about still being fast and easy but now to offer them a nice healthy meal for all ages. Commercials for McDonalds have gone from just selling their cheeseburgers and happy meals, to advertising a healthy meal for the kids.
Where now kids can get a side of apple slices and juice with their burgers and or chicken tenders, instead of just fries. They now also have many different salads on their menu as well.
Wendy’s fast food has changed as well. Now the side options have changed as well, instead of just fries you can order a side salad, fruit, chili, and baked potatoes. Also now Wendy’s has changed up their fries to “natural cut French fries with sea salt”, which is known to be healthier.
KFC has also changed their way to a healthier balance. They now offer grilled chicken. The fried chicken is in their name, it’s what they are, but to keep up with the healthy trend they moved to grilled chicken.
When looking on the fast food websites, they all have a tab called nutrition so that everyone can look at the nutrition facts for each item on the menu.
When looking on McDonald’s website they have a page called “balancing act”. They state on their website that they “you to have fun, enjoy the food you love, and, if you’re watching your calories or have diet- related concerns, stay within you goals for the day. We’ve come up with some ways to change it up, switch it out, and enjoy the variety of our menu.”
“Since 2004, McDonald’s has been an active member of Produce for Better Health Foundation, working together to raise awareness about the importance of eating more fruits and vegetables.” As stated from their website. On McDonald’s website they also have a sample menu of what to eat if you eat their three times a day. Kevin Miles, a 23 year old from Frederick, Maryland relies on fast food almost every day for lunch. “I have to be at work by 7 in the morning, and I don’t get home till 6 in the evening. I don’t have time or the energy to make lunch for the next day. “ There are those days that sometimes you do not have the time to make lunch, or have dinner ready every night. “I think that fast food can be healthy if you take the time to think about what would work for your diet that day.” “I try to pick my meals so I don’t feel too guilty eating out every day.”Fast food may not be the most healthy choice or something that your doctors would tell you is something that will “keep them away” but as Miles stated “as long as I am not eating big Macs every day with large fries and a large soda or the very delicious but deadly sweet tea, I feel like now a days I have more of a choice when it comes to fast food.” “I think to try and stay away from your normal fast food place like McDonalds and Burger King, I like to go to places like Chipotle where it’s still considered fast food but I get the burrito bowls” Miles stated. “I also eat a lot at Subway, where I mix up my subs I like that I don’t feel like I’m eating plain lunch meat.”“I live a really busy life and all I have time for is to grab something fast from a fast food restaurant, I like that I can get more of a variety of food that I can choose from that is still healthy but its more than a salad” Said Miles. (MORE)