If you are interested in making one, simple, but monumental, change in your health, STOP EATING FAST FOOD. When I say fast food, I don't just mean Burger King or McDonalds. Think about the 'healthier' options as well, Subway, Panera Bread, or the "healthy" menu from Taco Bell. I know, I know.. fast food is, well it's fast, easy, and can be tasty, but it is a nutritional nightmare. I'm talking more than sodium content, calories, and fat - if that isn't enough to scare you away, and let's be honest it isn't for most of us. Let's talk about ingredients and what we are putting in our bodies. I will warn some of you, this may change the way you think about fast food. Once you learn this, you cannot take it back. Don't say I didn't warn you.....
Subway, the largest fast food chain in the world boasts the slogan, "Eat Fresh", entices us to have a quick, healthy meal . Who hasn't eaten there? How healthy is Subway? Check out an excerpt from an investigation on Subway from one of my favorite bloggers, Food Babe: "The 9 grain wheat bread might look and smell freshly baked but it contains close to 50 ingredients including refined flours, dough conditioners, hidden MSG, refined sugars, etc. Could bread this processed ever be real food? Certainly not, when it includes a chemical ingredient called azodicarbonamide, which is banned as a food additive in the U.K., Europe, and Australia, and if you get caught using it in Singapore you can get up to 15 years in prison and be fined $450,000. Azodicarbonamide is more commonly used in the production of foamed plastics, however, it is allowed in the United States as a food additive, a flour bleaching agent, and a dough conditioner that improves elasticity of bread. The U.K. has recognized this ingredient as a potential cause of asthma if inhaled, and advises against its use in people who have sensitivity to food dye allergies and other common allergies in food, because azodicarbonamide can exacerbate the symptoms. Let’s not forget it only takes 4 or 5 simple ingredients to make REAL whole-wheat bread including flour, yeast, salt, water, and maybe honey.
Preservatives and even artificial colors are added to many of their “fresh” vegetable offerings – like the banana peppers and pickles. The ingredients for the black olives unveiled a new additive I learned about, “ferrous gluconate,” which is an iron based preservative that helps keep olives black.While the “6 grams or less” menu says the totals don’t include cheese or salad dressings, it is important to know that some of the cheeses offered at subway also have artificial colors, preservatives, and even cellulose that’s made from wood pulp.Two of the healthiest sounding salad dressings were actually the worst based on my analysis. Fat free honey mustard and the red vinaigrette both have corn syrup,artificial colors, preservatives, and other chemical additives." (http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/06/12/food-babe-investigates-is-subway-real-food/)
Here are the ingredients for eggs at Subway: whole eggs, egg whites, nonfat milk. Contains 2% or less of the following: premium egg blend (pea hull fiber, salt, citric acid, dextrose, guar gum, xanthan gum, extractive of spice, propylene glycol and not more than 2% calcium silicate and glycerin to prevent caking. Product is prepare using: butter flavored soybean oil (soybean oil, artificial flavor). Propylene glycol is a component in newer automotive antifreezes and de-icers used at airports. Calcium silicate is used in roads, insulation, bricks, roof tiles, table salt, and occurs in cements. I know Wikipedia indicates that calcium silicate has 'no adverse effects on health' but why eat something that is used in roads and insulation?
I haven't read her other investigations on places like Chick-fil-A because I decided that if the "fresh" ingredients from Subway are anything but fresh, I don't want to see what Chick-fil-A or McDonalds has to offer.
I could go on, but you get the picture.
Not eating fast food may be difficult at first, after all it is extremely convenient. Going without does get easier and after a while, the food doesn't taste or smell good. To help eliminate fast food from our diet, Matt and I had a farewell tour of our favorite fast food stops. Knowing what I was eating made it easy to say good bye. Now if I get the urge to go through a drive-thru, I can't bring myself to do it. I cannot knowingly eat antifreeze, pink slime, etc.
Tips:
Be prepared (stock your pantry, refrigerator)
Have snacks available at home, in your car, at the office, in your backpack, etc.
Say, "Adios" to your favorite fast food restaurant(s) - just one more time.
Pack your lunch and have a back-up plan just in case
Let me know about your farewell tours!
Cyndi
I love the information you have given on the fast foods. Since we don't eat much fast food it won't be hard for us to say bye bye to them. However here is a problem I would like your help on. I once thought buying a package of carrotts at the grocery store would give me a healthy snack. Now I find out they also have perservativies and added color. So what is one supposed to do that lives in a small town and much support the local grocery store in order to get good healthy food. The people that live in large metorpolitain cities have Farmers Markets and Organic foods in their stores. The rest of us don't. I would like to have healthy food all the time but it is just not available in this area. I try to stay away from packageed food and cook "fresh" as much as possible. Maybe some of your people can give me their ideas on this too.
ReplyDeleteCarrots are a great snack, just try to stay away from the "Baby Cut" carrots. Buy the bigger carrots and cut them up if you want a smaller size. These carrots come in packages or in bunches with the tops still on. Either will work for you, the ones you may want to avoid are the "Baby Cut" carrots. Other options you have would be to grow your own vegetables in containers in your yard or a small garden (exercise, sunshine, and healthy food). If all else fails, look in your freezer section for vegetables, just check the ingredients for anything other than vegetables. Maybe your local grocery store will stock a few organic items if enough people request these items. I will talk about this more when we get into clean eating, but specific fruits and vegetables you want to eat organic are corn, apples, celery, zucchini, sweet bell peppers, peaches, strawberries, nectarines, grapes, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, blueberries, potatoes, kale, and green beans.
ReplyDeleteI gave up Subway about a year ago when I read a blog about their preservatives. When my son watched Supersize Me in a 6th grade Health class he vowed never to eat McDonald's ever again! That's pretty good coming from an 11 year old boy! I'm not as good as some about healthy eating but it is true about how your taste buds change. Fast food just doesn't take like food anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing guy you have. He may need to join me in my food crusade! Way to raise those kids, Tia!
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