Is fast food really that bad?

[turbo6bar]

The other day my brother and I put in some time at the local Buddhist temple. We were really hungry and weren't prepared to wait for lunch inside the temple, so I ran over to the Wendy's fast food joint to pick up a few burgers. Hadn't eaten any fast food in probably 5-6 weeks (used to hit it once or twice a week). Whoa. That stuff tastes awful and my stomach doth protest.

Today's lunch was grilled shrimp, salad, and bread. Much, much better and costs less than Wendy's when prepared from scratch.

Is the bong messing with my head, or am I onto something? I'm giving serious thought to ditching fast food for good. Coke and Dr Pepper are next on the list. It'll be hard to give up the Sprite (maybe 3 or 4 cans per week).
jurgen

[MotoSook]

Local Buddhist temple?

[aigel]

Fast food is bad. Ask any nutritionist how often you should eat it. Their answer will be "never". That said, your body of course can take it if you go infrequently and eat well otherwise.

I drive to work around the same time every morning. There is a fat guy pulling out of the McDonalds drive through practically every day eating his breakfast in the car. That has to be bad - and it is obvious when you see him "wear" his saturn sedan.

George

[the]

I've oft wondered, what makes fast food so bad?

A Wendy's hamburger for instance:

Bread. That's not so bad.
Lettuce - good
Tomato - good.
Onion - not bad.
Condiments - negligible.

Meat - isn't that just ground beef?

Nutritionwise, how much different would that hamburger be from a steak, salad and piece of bread?

[VaSteve]

If I eat the fries, I feel like hell. I like them, but my body can't handle the grease.

[LeeH]

Rent the video "Fast Food Nation."

[VincentVega]

If that's all you get it's not so bad, http://www.wendys.com/food/Nutrition.jsp

1/4 lb'r w/ cheese and no mayo is 460 cal. Sure, roast turkey on whole wheat is better, but the burger in itself isnt horrible.

[YTNUKLR]

Low-quality vegetables, not that many vegetables, high saturated fat, high sodium, and simple carbohydrates (white bread and sugar).

FAR better off with more fibrous and/or more green veggies (which can be delicious), low-saturated fat (seafood, or chicken), Omega-3 fatty acids (fish, seafood), low sodium and whole grains. Whole grains are actually good at increasing metabolism and being utilized by the body, rather than converted to fat. Simples sugar also throws your blood sugar levels off--spikes up and down. It exacerbates that 'food coma' feeling.

Not that I never eat fast food, but I keep it infrequent. I feel like crap when I have McD's on a road trip.

[rammstein]

It is that bad. How old are you? When I hit 22, it seemed that all the sudden I couldn't put it in my body without getting ill.

[the]

I think if you took an average dinner from just about any restaurant, most would be surprised at how loaded it is with fat, sodium, carbs and calories. Portions are so out of control these days. Some places, like Claim Jumper, would I think, be shocking to see the actual numbers of an average steak or ribs dinner, basket of bread, potatos, etc.

[the]

I guess you can find anything on the internets, did a quick search:

But Ms. Denn skipped the extras and the monster dishes and simply ordered what looked to her to be an average Claim Jumper entree: the fried chicken dinner, which includes a biscuit and mashed potatoes.

Portland-based Food Products Laboratory reported back the results: 2,032.5 calories, 105.4 grams of fat, and 3,713 milligrams of sodium. The U.S. government daily reference values used in the Nutrition Facts labels on packaged food suggest no more than 2,000 calories, 65 grams of fat, and 2,400 milligrams of sodium for an entire day (these requirements vary by person).

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by LeeH

Rent the video "Fast Food Nation."

or Super Size Me.

[Rick Lee]

I think Wendy's is one of the less bad fast food places. Their meat is never frozen and, IMHO, pretty decent quality. They don't microwave it. They always have it on the grill and if it gets too well done and there are no customers in the store, they throw it in a bucket for making chili. I used to work there in high school.

I think In-N-Out Burger is probably the least bad of the fast food places. They cut their potatoes right there, their meat is also never frozen and their rolls are not potato rolls. Just went there today. Since moving out west where there's always a Sonic, Whataburger or In-N-Out nearby, I can't remember the last time I went near a McD's or BK.

[VINMAN]

The only fast food I will eat is a Wendy's Grilled Chicken sandwich.

[Tobra]

It is not so much what you do once in a while, it is what you do every day. During the summertime, I figure I eat enough home grown tomatoes that it evens things out

the fat and the sodium is what makes it taste good, for example, fried green tomatoes, makes my mouth water thinking about them

Whataburger, my wife goes there directly from the airport every single time she goes home to Texas, they make a fine burger

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Whataburger, my wife goes there directly from the airport every single time she goes home to Texas, they make a fine burger

No, they make a fine "spice/onion/cheese/bacon blend". The burger is only so-so, but it's wrapped in wondrous other things that make the sandwich great.

[the]

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

or Super Size Me.

I've seen that movie, to me it has little credibility.

The only credible point I think it makes is to point out how ridiculous the "Super Size Me" menu is (or was, do they still do that?).

For one person to eat that amount of fries in one sitting is ridiculous.

But even moreso was the soda size, and I noticed that he always got a full load of sugar soda.

From what I've read, he drank over a GALLON of full on sugar soda per day. Anyone is going to gain weight and feel lousy doing that, no matter what you eat. Had he not consumed that ridiculous amount of soda every day, he would not have had a movie.

IMO, if you ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDs every day, but (1) just ordered a regular sized meal, and (2) got a diet soda instead of regular, you might not feel so hot after 30 days, but the average person would not gain weight. There just aren't enough calories there to put on significant weight.

Big Mac 540 cals.
Small fries 230 cals.
Big Breakfast (Scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage and biscuit) 740 cals.

So BB for breakfast, Big Mac and fries for lunch, Big Mac and fries for dinner, along with water, coffee or diet soda would be 2280 calories. Most men would lose weigh eating that.

(If you threw in some filet o fish, mcchicken sandwhiches or even QP's with Cheese instead of the big macs every now and then, you'd lose even more, those are all substantially less calories, etc. than the big mac).

[Tobra]

the burger is the whole package to me Mike, I usually got the basic burger, no cheese, no bacon.

When I lived down there, I was craving a Carl's Jr western bacon cheeseburger, the ole want what you can't have.

For example, right now I could go for some good coonass food, some boiled mudbugs, red beans and rice, jambalaya and some Dixie Blackened Voodoo, fuch me I miss Pappadeux's(or even more this little shack in Conroe), I need to go to the store and put the wife to work on that, well except for the beer, go with some Sierra Nevada or Anchor Steam, though a Celi's would go down pretty smooth too

[Hugh R]

Try El Pollo Loco. It's very good.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by Tobra

the burger is the whole package to me Mike, I usually got the basic burger, no cheese, no bacon.

The spices they put in the meat is what does it for me. I also love Jack in the Box, their burgers have a certain...consistency...that is appealing. You don't so much as chew the Ultimate Burger, as gum it to death. They also use liberal amounts of mustard, which is a lost art in fast food burgers (Wataburger is good with their mustard as well).