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Content Fast Food Nutrition - Taste Rules

Some of the busiest places in town every day are the popular fast food restaurants. Their popularity seems to increase more and more because it is so convenient, and people always want it fast, and "their way." These places spring up almost overnight to meet the demand of an instant society. But have we really stopped to consider, what is the fast food nutrition that we are getting for our fast-paced lives?

The food at places like Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Wendy’s, Subway, and all the rest have risen up to meet a demand - that is the American way. The food tastes great - or they would not be in business. The truth is, it’s so good that we are eating stuff that really lacks in that one quality we call "healthy." With so many choices, and so many tempting pictures that confront us the moment we walk in (even before we get in the store), it becomes difficult to get the lower priced foods (can't always have the biggest and the best - my company doesn't pay enough!). And, it is so hard to choose the healthier foods, too.

Unhealthy Foods

Much is said about the rise in health problems. The medical industry has pointed its finger at the quality of fast food nutrition that Americans are getting. The problem of being overweight, having high blood pressure and diabetes are largely blamed on our eating too much, and on.

Calories

When looking at the fast food nutrition charts, we can see that at least six popular companies still make a sandwich, or single food item, that has over 1,200 calories in it. Subway and Blimpie have the most single items above 1,200 calories. We realize, of course, that all companies, even fast food ones, work to supply the demand.

One way to determine (if you don't have fast food nutrition information with you) if it has too many calories, is to look for the words "ultimate," or "double." The king of calories, right now, is the "Double Meat Meatball Marinera Sub,” from Subway, which has a huge serving of over 1,900 calories! A large hamburger, in comparison, runs about 520 calories, and a chicken wing and breast has about 495. Even a large fries will only have 360; but onion rings, on the other hand (8 of them), has 175.

Instead, you may want to try one of Burger Kings new sandwiches in their Lighter Alternative (LA) line. They have a Chicken Sandwich (LA) which has around 320 calories. Or, if you prefer something with even less, they have a Flame Grilled Chicken Salad that literally has less than half of their Chicken Sandwich!

Salt

Salt makes things taste so much better (along with the fat). But the fast food nutrition is often high in salt - giving the food that great taste. Many sandwiches, especially from Subway and Blimpies, have a salt content above 3,000 mg, for a 12-incher. A couple of them run over 5,000 mg!

Fat

The various charts that reveal the fast food nutrition content, shows again that the fat content is high in many foods we get from our local fast food vendor. The average recommended daily intake of fat (total) is 65g. Many sandwiches have more than that, but the good news is that there are far more that have less. A trade-off exists, of course. Less fat, more salt. One sandwich from Subway, the Double Meat Classic Tuna Sub (12-inch), has as many as 110g of fat, along with almost 1,900 calories, and 2,680mg of salt! Now that’s fully loaded! Probably tastes very good, too!

It is worth it to each of us to do a little homework and find out for ourselves, and our loved ones which products are the healthiest. Go ahead and eat those great sandwiches every now and then, but watch for it as a regular practice.

Our health is worth probably more than about anything else to us. Many of these chains, happily, now have in their product lines, a better fast food nutrition with foods that will be better for us. As we get a little older, we find that we pay something of a price for those food choices we made when we were younger. Back then, taste ruled. Now, if only we would have made better choices at the table.

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