Losing Weight and Feeling Great

Posts Tagged ‘fast food’

You know the feeling.  It’s a couple hours until lunch, and your stomach is rumbling.

You’re craving something, just a little pick-me-up to tide you over until your next meal. There’s a vending machine just down the hall, just calling out to you (and not too subtly, either).  Just deposit some change, and you’ll be rewarded with candy or chips.

But gosh darn it, you’re trying to lose weight!   And there’s not one thing in your particular vending machine that’s less than 200 calories.

The Vending Machine Siren Call

It’s oh-so-hard to stick to your diet when empty calorie snacks are so very easy to get.  As you already know, vending machines are one of the worst culprits; practically everywhere, easy to use, and don’t cost a lot. When you’ve got the roaring munchies, the machines are hard to pass up.

It’s Just Change…Or Is It?

You might not think the machines cost much for the instant gratification they bring.  Or do they?

Let’s say you spend $1.00 on a bag of cookies. Doesn’t seem like much; it’s just spare change rolling around in your purse or pocket. But say you buy that $1 bag every day that you’re at work, 5 days a week, you’ll have spent something like $20 by the end of the month. Multiply that by 12 and it’s in the vicinity of $240 a year.

Add a soda for another dollar and now you’re looking at close to $500 a year.  Spare change indeed!

Healthier Additions to the Machines?

Sure, the  food industry claims it’s adding healthier options to vending machine goodies.  But you know what?  You can find much better choices elsewhere.

And here’s the reality;  even if the vending machine does have healthier choices, the chocolate bars and pastries are still staring you in the face, pleading to be selected.

What’s Better for Your Body?

A piece of fruit such as a pear or apple is the ideal snack to give you something sweet — and healthy, to boot! They’re easy to stuff in your purse and eat on the run.  Not to mention you’ll get the vitamins, fiber and nutrients your body needs.

Want something a bit more filling?  Think about bringing whole wheat crackers, string cheese, unsalted nuts, or hardboiled eggs. However, if it’s your sweet tooth calling out more than your tummy, you can try sucking on a sugar-free mint or chewing some sugar-free gum.

If you mostly buy sodas (even if they are diet), try switching over to bottled water. If that’s a little too much like punishment, think about flavored water or green tea.  While water is best, green tea is better than diet soda.

You Can Kick the Vending Machine Habit!

Yes, you can!  Start by bringing healthier alternatives, and maybe your own bottled water or tea.  Not only is it better for you, but it’s easier on your wallet when all is said and done.

So when the vending machine calls out, you’re less likely to hear it.  And your body will thank you for it!

Oh my, I seem to be covering a lot of fast food information these days.  Here’s something interesting I came across.  I’m not sure it will help, but maybe it’s a baby step in the right direction?  Read on and decide for yourself.

South Los Angeles has decided to ban any new fast food restaurants from opening for at least one year, to give the restaurants with healthier foods a chance to gain a foothold and following.

As reported by the Associated Press, City Councilman Bernard Parks said that ”Our communities have an extreme shortage of quality foods”.

No surprise there, especially after my previous post on what restaurants, fast-food or traditional, feed us. 

Fast Food’s Reply:  No, Don’t Ban Us!

How about this:  72% of the places to eat in South and SE LA are fast food restaurants.  Ouch!  No wonder why the restaurants are trying to challenge the ban.  And no wonder why healthier alternatives are having a hard time.

And another statistic:  30% of children in south Los Angeles are obese.

Now here’s a quote I loved from Don Bailey, who has owned/operated a McDonalds for 22 years.  He told the LA Times that “McDonald’s believes in healthy choices”.

Sure.  Right.  And the Easter Bunny delivers colored eggs.  OK, maybe I am being too hard on the franchise; here’s some information so you can decide.

McDonald’s and Nutrition

I went to the official McDonald’s website and they do make it hard to locate the nutritional information!  I did find it, and so here it is for you to peruse:  McDonald’s Nutritional Charts

Now at first glance, the hamburger doesn’t look too bad — just 250 calories and 9 grams of fat.  Ah, but look farther, at the trans-fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.  Hmm, healthy isn’t what I’d call it.

So, let’s move to one of the “healthier” alternatives, the grilled honey mustard snack wrap.  At 260 calories, that doesn’t seem too bad.  And no trans-fat.  Still, read on and get a load of the sodium!  And the saturated fat isn’t anything to write home about either.  And just 1 gram of dietary fiber?

Raise your hand if you don’t usually order fries with your McDonald’s meal?  If you’re like most people and do get the fries, you don’t want to look.  Or, maybe you should so you know how much fat — of all kinds — you are feeding your body.

Mr. Bailey, I challenge you on your statement.  Or maybe I shouldn’t, because just because the franchise believes in healthier foods obviously doesn’t mean they offer them.

And in case you think I’m leaving out all their salad offerings, I’m not.  After looking over the chart, the salads aren’t anything to write home about.  And if you are counting calories, bring your own salad dressing because their low-fat dressings are not low calorie.

It seems like I’m picking on McDonald’s, but I’m just using them as an example.  Burger King, Jack in the Box, Wendy’s — they are all purveyors of fat, er, fast food. 

Ok, here’s the original article I plucked the information from, and you already have the McDonald’s nutritional chart from earlier in this post.  

Is the ban on new fast food restaurants justified?  Or should it be all restaurant franchises, seeing as some of the regular places (Applebee’s, Red Robin, Outback, etc.) aren’t where they should be nutrition-wise either?

I did a post about how fast food equals fat food a few weeks ago (read it here).  Now here’s part 2 of why eating out in a restaurant can be killing your diet…even if you think you’re ordering a healthy meal.

There was a book that came out in December 2007 called Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding.  It was a surprising look into what the restaurant industry doesn’t really want you to know, as far as the health of their meals.  Fast food isn’t the only kind of “fat food” out there!

 Low Fat?  Check the Calories!

Well, looks like a restaurant popular in my neck of the woods has gotten burned by their “low fat” dinners.  Applebee’s was promoting its low fat meals on its menu.  Sure, there wasn’t much in the way of fat, but calories?  That’s a whole ‘nother subject!   Diners who were thinking they were getting a healthy meal got served up quite a few calories and carbs in those dinners.  (And apparently the restaurant has removed them from their menus.)

What About High Fat and High Calories?

Then there’s a place like IHOP (of breakfast fame) that sells omlettes that provide more than enough calories, fat, etc. in one meal than you need in a day!  OK, let’s be fair; the Omlette Feast was discontinued (at a hefty 1,300+ calories), but there are still others hanging in there at 1,000 calories.  Do you really want to have eaten your whole day’s worth of food by 9 AM?

What’s in Your Smoothie?

Ah, fruit smoothies!  And when made with yogurt, a healthy meal, right?

Well, not if you’re slurping down that smoothie at Dunkin’ Donuts.   The fruit puree used in the fruit and yogurt smoothie is full of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) — really bad for your blood sugar!  How do you feel about dumping 60 grams of sugary carbs into your body?  (And that’s just the medium size.)

Is There Any Hope?

Well….not much, at any rate.  Salad bars are great if you steer towards the fresh veggies and away from the goodies like cole slaw, ambrosia, potato salad and the like.  Don’t forget to bring your own salad dressing; no guarantee what’s actually in that “low calorie” offering — not to mention the size of those ladles!

I encourage you to read the article where I got this info.  Think about it.  Now I’m not saying to never go out to eat — a meal out every now and then is so nice!  But you do need to be aware of what’s on the menu.  Low fat doesn’t mean low calories, and a “healthy” meal may send your blood sugar skyrocketing.

And just because you aren’t aware of the calories dosn’t mean that they aren’t there!

Do you ever have bad days where your motivation and willpower are nil?  Where you don’t particularly care if you eat what you shouldn’t?

I had a day like that last week.  I had to deal with frustrating clients at work, which drained me emotionally.  I was tired from working overtime.  I didn’t want to bother with cooking.

So when David made the suggestion that we go to the nearby Burger King for a quick dinner, I said “ok”.  I knew it wasn’t a good choice, but I was too tired to care.

I’m actually glad I did, because it was an eye-opener.

Trying to be at least semi-good, we both ordered a chicken sandwich.  David added fries to his.  Instead of my normal water or diet soda I chose a small vanilla shake; David had a medium. When
our food was ready, we took the tray to a table and sorted the food.

Hmmm, there was a nutritional chart as the placemat on the tray, so I
started taking a look at it. Calories, carbs, fats, proteins — all
there in black and white.  Yikes!  What were we eating, anyway?

I started calling off some of the calories and fats to David as we ate.  Some of the burgers topped 1,000 calories all by themselves.  The fries had trans-fat.  Even our chicken sandwich had lots of fat, courtesy of the sauce and mayo.

(Actually the small vanilla shake was about the best choice of what we ordered, which says something about the overall health quality of the food.)

So David asked, “You mean to tell me that one meal could
use up almost all the calories I’m supposed to eat in a day?”

Yep, it’s true. For one of the king-size value meals with a regular soda, it could top 2,000 calories.  Even a whopper junior medium value meal with a soda was well on its way to 800.

Neither one of us finished our meal.