Boxing for two hours. Running for three hours. Weight lifting for seven hours. These are of the exercise options one could choose to burn off the 1,130 calorie Big Mac Meal they conveniently ordered from the drive-through on their way home. More and more Americans are choosing convenience and the low price of fast food, rather than the nutritional value of other meal options. These impulsive descisions to scarf down a large fry, often braught on by the tempting commercials and the familiar “golden arches”, are causing America’s obesity epidemic. *pass out paper*
This handout lists ten of the most unhealthy meals that are available at the most popular fast food chains. Included in this list are well-known and in-demand favorites such as KFC infamous crispy fried chicken accopanied by not one, but three, fatty and harmful sides. While examining this list, please keep in mind the amount of calories, fat, and sodium that one should consume. According to the FDA, one should consume 2,000 calories, 65 grams of fat, and 2,400 millagrams of sodium per day. With that being said, eating a Quizno’s Tuna Melt would mean that your consuming almost twice the amount of fat that you should in an entire day.
As you continue to look at the list you will notice that every single meal contains more than the allotted daily value or in dangerously close to that amount. Many of the meals on that list, however, are no-brainers. Everyone who orders a supersized burger with bacon knows how unhealthy it is for them. Those people are becoming obese because they are consiously making the choice to eat unhealthfully. Others are unknowingly consuming large amounts of calories because the buy into the idea that some fast food restaurants offer healthy alternatives. Subway is guilty of this type of public deception.
Their slogan, “Eat Fresh”, could not be more opposite of reality. Subway’s employees are the first to admit that meats and vegetables are delivered pre-packaged and are stored for days before being served to customers. They also use meats that are not real. For example, their steak includes foreign ingredients such as xanthum gum, caramael color, and autolyzed yeast extract. If Subway was as natural as they claim to be, the only ingredient in their steak should be beef. This supposedly healthy option also sells subs that could stack up among those highly caloric meals n the list.
At a whopping 900 calories and containing 3000mg of sodium, their footlong Italian B. M. T. is not so healthy. Its this type of deception that is misleading people who are trying to eat healthy. Fast food restaraunts get the bad reputation mostly from their unhealthy food options. However, they deserve just as much negative publicity due to their poor nutrition. Past reports of a worm in a salad, a cockroach in a soda, and gum in a taco have made national news. Unfortunately, health code violations like these occur in fast food restaraunts all over the United States.
In a recent survey, McDonald’s was found to have the most critical violations found during inspections. For every 100 routine inspections, there were 126 critical violations found. This means that there was at least one violation found during each inspection. Many of these violations relate to food being kept at the wrong temperature or cross contamination. One of the worst outbreaks caused by fast food’s poor sanitation was a McDonald’s in Piqua, Ohio. 120 customers became severly ill after eating ice cream from a machine that had been contaminated. Other illnesses like these have occured because of similar contamination.
Mainaining proper sanitation causes fast food restaraunts extra time and money, so they chose to neglect their customer’s safety. The only positive aspects of fast food restaraunts are the convenience and taste. The negatives, poor nutrition and sanitation, outweight the benefits. In addition, there are alternatives to fast food that are just as tasty and convenient and provide the proper nutrition and sanitation. For those reasons, fast food restaraunts should be given an ultimatum. They either make adjustments to meet designated nutrition and sanitations standads to benefit the public, or close down.
