50. Why is Fast Food Considered Unhealthy?

Fast food has a strong reputation for being unhealthy, and is blamed for obesity and diabetes being on the rise. The fact that a lot of fast food is soaked in fat and loaded with calories isn’t in dispute, but why is fast food – including ready meals – considered so bad for our health?, Is All Fast Food Equal? The stereotypical image of a massive cheese burger and fries is what most people think of when they think fast food. But some fast food options are just that – fast. Frozen food is bracketed in with convenience food, but in fact frozen vegetables can contain more nutrients than fresh ones that have been left lying around for a few days. It’s all a matter of balance.

What’s So Unhealthy About Fast Food?
The main issues with takeaways and fast food restaurants are the high fat, calorie and salt content. Everyone knows that saturated fat is a bit of a nutritional nightmare, but according to a report in the New Scientist, food such as chicken nuggets and fries from major fast food chains also contain very high levels of the unhealthy artery clogging trans fats that can raise the chances of heart disease in people who eat fast food on a regular basis. Some chains are cottoning on to the concerns about trans fats and starting to advertise that they no longer fry in low grade oils, but it’s worth bearing in mind.

Salt levels are often unacceptably high in fast food too. This applies across the board to frozen and chilled ready meals as well as Chinese takeaway meals or burger restaurants. The lobby group ‘Consensus Action on Salt and Health’ reported that one fast food meal from Pizza Hut contained over twice the adult daily recommended salt intake. Other chains fared just as badly, but all of them claimed to be trying to reduce the salt levels in their food so at least they are working on it.

What About Additives?
Ready meals have been highlighted as being high in salt, fat and also additives. There are ways to avoid the more unhealthy options in the supermarket aisles (and they aren’t just looking for the boxes marked ‘lite’ – you have to be more of a food detective than that) but in general a lot of meals are packed with ingredients that sound as if they would be better off on the back of your child’s chemistry set than in your dinner.

All the additives in our foods have been extensively tested before being added to our food, but it still makes sense to limit the amount of artificial chemicals we ingest! Some additives are perfectly natural – for example there is an ‘e’ number for ascorbic acid, which is just vitamin C. But check the boxes and tins, and if the ingredients list sounds unappetising, it could be worth avoiding the meal. Salt levels are another thing to be aware of – even if you’re not watching your weight, too much salt can be unhealthy. The maximum recommended salt level is six grams per day for an average adult – bear this in mind when you scan the nutritional information looking at fat and calories.

49. What Are the Healthier Types of Fast Food?

Fast Food is often unfairly criticised for being unhealthy, when not all fast food is equal by any means. Fast food can be anything from a quick sandwich from the local delicatessen or a full on Indian Banquet from your local takeaway. No matter what your choice of fast food, there is always a way to make the healthy option work for you.
How To Have A Healthy Takeaway

When you’re ordering your fast food, don’t think about how much food you can get for the money, or which extra value deal to opt for. Just choose the food that you really want, and enjoy it without overdoing it. If you are on a diet, the lower calorie and fat options on the menu will be the ones you’ll automatically choose. It’s not difficult to make an unhealthy sounding meal choice into a better option – bulk your main dish out with vegetables - choose a chop suey dish from the Chinese takeaway, or pick one of the vegetable curries instead of a lamb dish from the Indian.

Think about whether you really need that extra side dish. The keema naan, sesame prawn toast or deep fried potato wedges all sound nice but if you over eat, you won’t be doing your health any good. With pizza, opt for a thinner crust small or medium pizza rather than a deep pan and massive one, and add vegetables as your toppings – sweet corn, mushrooms, olives and onions.

Ready meals are even easier; simply choose a healthier option from the supermarket shelf. Look for organic, or ‘healthy choice’ type meals that will have fewer additives, less salt, fat or calories. We don't need much salt in our diet and there are recommended daily amounts of salt, fat and calories printed along with the amounts actually in the meal.

Reducing The Fat In Your Fast Food: Another problem with fast food is that a lot of the dishes on the menu are loaded with fat too. There are ways that you can get around this, with clever menu choices. On the burger bar menu, opt for a fish or chicken burger, or even nuggets. Vegetarian options are not much different in calorie and fat content in some cases than the standard cheese burger so if that’s what you’re concerned about, don’t think swapping for the veggie option is going to make all the difference.

Bulk up your fast food meals with healthier side dishes – for example swap the Chinese special fried rice for steamed, and add some streamed vegetables to your order too. With a fried chicken meal you could swap the salty, greasy fries for some baked beans or a corn on the cob, which will add bulk and nutrients and remove the unhealthy influence of stringy fries from your meal!

Indian takeaways can be full of staggering amounts of fat as many of the dishes are cooked in ghee – clarified butter. This makes them utterly delicious but also incredibly fatty. Korma, Masala and Passanda dishes are three of the most popular and main offenders with the fat content. You could either opt for a vegetable biriani or another type of vegetable based dish...or you could just get a little of the sauce and leave most of it in the container.

48. SANDWICH BARS AND HEALTH ISSUES

If you’re out and about and want to grab something to eat, a sandwich shop can seem like the obvious choice. But if you’re concerned about your health, you need to look out for some of the sandwich bar pitfalls, because what seems like an innocent sandwich could be loaded with hidden fat and calories.
What Are the Healthiest Fast Food Options In A Sandwich Bar?
The healthiest options are usually the simplest.
The sandwich: There are usually several healthy options when it comes to the sandwich itself. Many shops sell speciality breads which in themselves are fine, although if you’re watching calories you’d do well to avoid the cheese topped rolls in favour of a whole grain or wholemeal option instead.

Brown bread has more nutrients than white, so again, although there’s nothing intrinsically unhealthy about eating white bread, for optimum nutrition you could go for a malted wholegrain roll or sandwich instead. The sandwich fillings are where most fast food shops tend to lose the plot. In a nut shell, if you head for the healthy salad first to bulk up your sandwich, and then add some protein – either in the form of a little egg, or some cheese (low fat if they have it, or a little grated cheddar) or perhaps some lean meat (chicken, turkey, roast beef slices, or plain tuna) and skip the mayonnaise laden mixes, you should be able to manage a healthy sandwich lunch. Fast food doesn’t have to be unhealthy by any means. Pass on the butter or margarine, don’t add any mayonnaise, and bulk the sandwich out with vegetables and salad to get the best healthy meal you can.

What About The Other Items?
Most sandwich bars have a variety of other food as well as the humble sandwich to choose from If you choose wisely you can have a healthy snack that will keep you going on the move.
The Salad Bar Choose wisely when in the salad bar – as well as the virtuous choices of vegetables, there are often mayonnaise covered concoctions that barely resemble anything you’d describe as healthy eating. Give the dressings a miss and stick to vegetables with a low fat protein option such as chicken, fish, egg. Or you could push the boat out and have hummus which although it can be high fat, it’s not the bad, saturated fat, but comes from olive oil. Jacket Potatoes A potato can be a good choice on a cold day, if you want something to sustain you. Leave the butter off, and opt for fillings that aren’t smothered in mayonnaise. Baked beans, plain tuna and sweet corn are good options. Go easy on the cheese, and watch out for hidden fats in fillings such as chilli and curry, or tuna and chicken mixes with mayonnaise.

Little Extras Leave the snack eggs, pork pies and sausage rolls where they are and you can fill up on a delicious, nutritious salad instead. Crisps and chocolates are there to tempt you into eating them, but contain very little other than fat and sugar, so aren’t a great choice if you’re trying to look out for your health. The Fruit Bowl If you fancy a little extra, select from the fruit bowl, rather than going for one of the cakes and pastries that will undoubtedly be on offer. A banana will give you a great source of carbohydrate, and is also good for keeping you going in the afternoon if you feel a bit peckish. Apples and oranges are great for vitamins and fibre, and often you’ll also find packets of dried fruit and nuts which are good to snack on during the mid afternoon lull in proceedings too.

47. FAST FRUITY FOODS

Fruit has got to be the number one fast food. We’re always being told to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day, but can you honestly say that you manage this? Not everybody can. So, why not incorporate some fruit into your diet the easy way? Bananas area great portable snack from nature, and are great sources of carbohydrate often recommended for people just about to go to the gym or do some exercise. Easy to pop in a school lunch box or your handbag, bananas even come in their own wrappers!

Apples are a good source of soluble fibre which can keep you fuller for longer, as well as vitamins and minerals. There are so many different apples to choose from, don’t just stick to the same old Granny Smith or Golden Delicious. Grapes, and berries are all nature’s super foods, packed with antioxidants which will boost your health and immune system if you eat enough of them. Blueberries are a much talked about example, but can be expensive...opt for a bunch of grapes, some strawberries or raspberries which are very often on special offer in supermarkets. If you can get your hands on berries that are locally grown and in season, you’ll definitely notice the difference in taste too.

Dried fruit is nature’s option for busy people, there are so many different dried fruit and but combinations available that you could try a new one every day of the week. Try to go for the fruit in as natural form as possible and don’t be too tempted in by the combinations that involve delicacies like chocolate and toffee pieces! Even tinned fruit can be a good snack fast food, as it’s available in portion sized tins that usually come with a spoon too. Much better than chocolate and crisps.

Savoury Natural Fast Foods: Vegetables can be a little trickier to use as fast food and snacks, mainly because nature doesn’t deliver them all in nice ready peeled and ready to eat versions like fruit. Some veggies need some preparation and thought before you can munch on them as snacks – like broccoli and cauliflower chunks for dipping, crudités and similar.

Carrots can be good for eating on the go, as long s they are scrubbed you can just crunch away, with or without a dip. Technically a fruit, but the tomato is ready to eat and delicious – vine ripened tomatoes in the summer time can taste delicious and are so packed full of vitamins that you can feel positively saintly while eating them. Have you tried eating fresh peas from the pod? They are naturally sweet by nature - and crunchy - and come conveniently packaged for you in their little pods. Sugar snap peas are another delicacy that can and should be eaten raw.

Nuts are fantastic for snacking. They provide protein to keep you going, and essential fatty acids – none of the saturated fats that cause the problems. Eat them in moderation but they are best served without salt in their natural state – creamy cashews, tangy pistachios and another super food – the walnut – are all a good choice if you want to get some nutrition from your snack choices!

46. Fast Food as an Industry

The development of fast food into the big business it is today can probably be traced back to America. Although there was undoubtedly fast food all over the world in some shape or form many centuries ago, it really started to become a business enterprise when social, manufacturing and economic conditions made it cheaper to eat out. It was also easier and cheaper to produce fast food while people waited; more attractive to buy convenience foods and snacks as women went out to work; more people owned cars (for drive through in America) and freezers (to store the new frozen convenience meals.)

All these factors combined have made fast food in all of its many formats what it is today. Early 20th Century Fast Food: Fast food was revolutionised in 1902 with the introduction of the Automat in America, where customers simply queued to select ready prepared foods from a display cabinet or vending machine, paid and either left or ate the food on the premises. From one shop in Philadelphia, the first fast food chain soon developed. At the same time, the first frozen food was entering the market, and Clarence Birdseye introduced us to frozen fish in the 1920s. The first ever burger chain, White City, opened its first shop in the 1930s, while McDonalds started life as a barbecue stall in 1940.

Mid Twentieth Century: By the 1950s, in the US fast food automats were being threatened by the drive through restaurant. More people now had access to cars and the drive through was a fashionable place to go for a fast food fix. Some of the most popular chains we know of started up in the 1950s too, like Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Pizza started to become popular in America in the 1950s, after originally being a food confined mostly to the mostly Italian immigrant populations of New York.

Meanwhile in another development, Swanson, another American company, introduced the first TV dinner in 1954, which proved pretty popular – it sold 10 million in its first year! In 1955, Britain got its first ever Fish Finger. The Arrival of Fast Food Joints in the UK The first global fast food restaurant to make its mark in Britain was probably KFC, which arrived in 1965. Pizza Hut followed in 1973 and then the massive global leader that is McDonalds reached the UK in 1974, and its competitors followed suit. Originally, McDonalds was concentrated in the London area, but soon started to spread to the Home Counties and other profitable areas across the UK. Where McDonalds went, Burger King would usually follow on later.

Fast Food, Our Health and The Future Fast food has become somewhat demonised in the 21st Century, with TV chefs denouncing convenience food lifestyles on television series, calls for chips to be banned from schools and survey after survey pointing out the hazards of eating too many high salt, high fat convenience meals. To counter some of the criticism, the major players in the industry all attempt to provide consumers with nutritional information on their menu, and most have at least a nod to the healthy option. Some newer chains such as Pret a Manger and Eat have catered for the healthy eating trend by producing fast food that is wholesome and made with natural, unprocessed ingredients – although this doesn’t necessarily mean the food you’ll find there is either low calorie or low in fat!

45. CHEAP AND CHEERFUL MENUS

The whole ethos behind fast food chains was to provide cheap food, which was recognisably the same in every outlet, at as little cost to both the retailer and the buyer as possible. So, in order to mass produce identikit food, you have to be able to source your ingredients cheaply, and arguably, that’s what most of the big name fast food outlets do.

The focus on 100% beef, Aberdeen Angus burgers and ‘posh’ burgers has been a direct result of the public’s growing perception of burgers as junk food, made from several different cows who’ve been treated poorly and badly farmed. Books like Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation opened the doors on the cruelty behind fast food in America, identifying issues with the welfare of the cattle, their slaughter, general lack of good hygiene and poor quality ingredients. Many people were shocked by what they read in the book, and so the big chains were forced to start cleaning up their act and bringing in measures to restore consumer confidence.

How do They Keep it So Cheap?
Modern fast food is guilty of being very highly processed and it’s also prepared as an industrial product, on a vast scale. It’s made with the same ingredients wherever you buy it, and often shipped around the world from processing plants where it’s cheaper to make.

It’s cooked using cheap industrial oils, usually deep fried or re-heated in a microwave. All these methods keep the overheads down and the preparation costs to a minimum, ensuring that the food can be sold at rock bottom prices, while the outlets still manage to make a hefty profit. When it comes to the presentation, the food from fast food outlets tends to be basic, cheap and disposable. Most food comes in cheap paper wrappers, or occasionally plastic, to keep costs down.

Fast food restaurants all look very similar too. The facilities are basic – plastic chairs, plastic cutlery, no plates and no waiter service. The staff that are usually employed by big fast food corporations are not well known for being well paid, especially at the lower end of the responsibility scale, so they develop a reputation for being places where the service isn’t great – but the truth is, with food as well as service.

44. THE ADVANTAGES 0F FAST FOOD

Well, the obvious advantages of fast food are its speed and its cost. If you’ve had a hard day at work, and worked late, the last thing you might feel like doing is throwing together a meal from scratch, no matter how the TV chefs wax lyrical about the advantages of fresh ingredients. So it can feel like a Godsend to be able to throw a ready meal in the oven, dial a pizza or pick up a chicken bucket on your way home. No, it’s not ideal but it meets a need! The cost can also be one of the advantages. If you live alone, it’s often cheaper to buy a meal for one at the supermarket, where they are often on special offer, or order a takeaway. Burgers and fries from a fast food restaurant are notoriously cheap. If you have a family, of course, existing on fast food could prove to be one of the disadvantages, as it would be rather more expensive to feed a whole family.

Some fast food isn’t bad for your health at all either. Frozen meals can come additive-free and be available as healthier options. There are more and more healthy options available on fast food menus for health conscious consumers to choose from. Even a takeaway can have healthy menu options – if you know how to work the menu and go for steamed rice instead of fried, plenty of vegetables, pizza with less fatty meat and cheese etc.

The Disadvantages Of Fast Food: The disadvantages of junk food and ready meals are screamed at us on a daily basis by the media. Obviously, if you are looking after your health, you need to be aware that fast food as a rule contains more fat, salt and calories that you really should be taking in on a regular basis. The occasional treat won’t hurt at all, and eating fast food in moderation is not a problem, but moderation can be difficult when faced with ‘super sizing’ and ‘deals’ that encourage you to buy more than you initially intended just to get a few pounds shaved off of the bill. Don’t be tempted into the ‘buy one get one free’ pizza deals – most people neither want or need extra portions.

Super sizing seems to have gone the way of advertising to kids in fast food restaurants, but beware the portion sizes in takeaway food that you order in. The containers of rice and noodles that you get from a Chinese or an Indian takeaway are enough for two to three people to share, so if you eat one all by yourself you’ll take in a massive amount of fat and calories ...and probably give yourself indigestion too.Family meal deals can also be a problem, as you usually end up with more food than you need and there’s always someone there happy to finish it off. Give the extra large pizzas or chicken buckets a miss and only order what you really need.