Fast Food

I watched an episode of Penn and Teller Bullshit that was about fast food. They claimed fast food doesn't make people fat. They ended with fast food itself doesn't make you fat; it's the people that we eat too much and too often. Yes that is true, but fast food is a cause of that. It is so accessible and cheap and fast to everyone, so who has time to cook a healthy meal? Yeah you can get healthy options at fast food places, but really...who does that? I rarely get a salad with my veggie burgers at fast food places. I eat a lot of salads at home, but not at fast food places. The lettuce isn't fresh half the time and the amount of salt and fat they put in the dressings, croutons, etc. And most of the vegetarian salads are just lettuce with one tomato and one cucumber. Umm...I want more then lettuce in a salad. Pack it with other vegetables!!

No one forces people to eat fast food. They just eat it. But fast food restaurants enable them. Cheap and low quality food **some restaurants use better quality foods** let people who can't afford good food get this unhealthy food. But it's not the food itself, it's the people who eat it. But we have to make healthier food accessible and cheap for people too. So they can cook healthy meals at home. Good meals don't have to take forever to make. It takes just a couple of minutes to throw together a salad, cook some vegetables. Meat, as long as it's not a full roast or huge, doesn't take that long...20 to 30 minutes. Most people don't work on Sundays so why not make a weeks worth of food or at least a few meals that day and freeze them.

When I eat a fast food veggie burger and fries or onion rings, I feel groggy and icky. I'm not getting any nutrients that I need or very little. I feel sluggish. But if I make a nice veggie burger and baked fries and/or a salad, I feel 10x better. I have more energy and in a better mood. Maybe it's in my head, but it's not just fast food. If I make an unhealthy meal here, I feel like crap afterward too. Home cooked doesn't always equal healthier. You have to watch what's in the food and how it's cooked.

Restaurant food can be just as unhealthy. Don't fool yourself into thinking that gourmet is healthy. Gourmet often means cream, fat, and heavy. Tastes great, but isn't going to help anyone lose any weight.

I have to wonder if the crap that is in fast food hinders our taste buds so that fresh food doesn't taste as good. I honestly don't know. The amount of salt in the food makes me wonder if it hurts our tastes when we eat so much of it.

As I end this long ramble of a post, I have to say a few things. McDonalds burgers and fries don't change if you leave them out. A 3 month old fry would look exactly like a new fry. Same goes for the burgers. What is that doing to our bodies?

Yes, it isn't the food that makes us fat. It's eating it and eating too much of it. Once and awhile fast food is fine, but not everyday and not several times a day. Healthy food has to be accessible and people have to be taught how quick and easy healthy cooking can be. And it can be cheaper when done right.

So Penn and Teller, you should test the food. Take it to a lab and get it tested for what actually is in it. 100% beef? No additives? Let's take the word of the people who make tons of money from selling this food that it is good quality food. Come on! Show me the proof!