The Reality of Fast Food Consumption - 3064 Words

Nicholas Leung May 2012 The Reality of Fast Food Consumption Introduction When was the last time you had fast food just because it was so easy, filling, convenient and inexpensive? Fast foods restaurants provide foods that are quick, cheap, and easy alternatives to home cooked meals, that do not provide table service, and tend to be high in saturated fat, salt, calories while containing little nutrients (Gaskell). Sometimes we eat food from restaurant chains such as McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Dunkin Donuts because it’s quick and may taste amazing when we’re really hungry. People primarily choose fast food because they find it quick, easily accessible, and good tasting (Hitti). While most Americans are aware that there are†¦show more content†¦Subway then compares the calories and fats of the other fast food restaurants. The results show that their food has about 10 times less fat as well as at least half the calories. However, it does not compare the sodium content of these meals. Subway also does not allow you to select a chocolate chip cookie as a side option to compare, as it contains 220 calories. On McDonalds site, it shows that its meal contains 1280mg of sodium. If you take the half-sandwich of subway’s Meatball Pepperoni Melt, it alone will have 1560 mg of sodium. Subway’s sandwich alone contains more sodium then McDonald’s entire Big Mac Meal. While Subway does offer healthier fast food options, it also serves up to consumers misleading nutrition information and fare that is just as unhealthy as their competitors. Fast food establishments create demand and attract customers with their advertising, some of it misleading consumers into thinking that their food is fresher, healthier, and more desirable than it really is. It is widely known that foods high in fats, calories, sugar or sodium and other addictive are unhealthy and increase the risk of gaining weight and continued weight gain leads to obesity. Fast food companies never warn consumers that most of their products are high in fats, calories, sodium and sugar. They do however run ads some food items are low fat or healthy. As a result, people easily fall into the habit of regularly consuming fastShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Public Knowledge And Views On Fast Food Corporations1438 Words   |  6 Pagesoverview, and offered the context for the evaluation of the reality of the fast food chains strategies and ignorance. I used a survey in order to further my understanding about public knowledge and views on fast food corporations. Mos t of the research were secondary sources; for the authors used others research to further support their claims. 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