Industrial food is really vile stuff -- even when it's been tarted up by marketers to sound "healthy," "natural," and "fresh."
This is an obvious point, but it bears revisiting in a culture predicated on quick fixes. Is industrial food killing you? Don't stop eating it -- try these "new and improved" versions of old favorites!
Men's Health magazine writers David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding slayed this hoary dragon yet again by dragging a bunch of fast-food delicacies back to their place of origin: the laboratory. Here is some of what they found.
Thinking you might "go healthy" by choosing a smoothie over a donut at your next trip to Dunkin' Donuts? Think again:
[E]ach of its medium-size fruit-and-yogurt smoothies packs at least 60 grams of sugar -- more than four times the sugar in a chocolate-frosted cake doughnut. The fruit purees used in the smoothies are mixed with liberal doses of sugar and/or high-fructose corn syrup.
Some people might be tempted to go "low fat" at Applebee's, rather than skipping it altogether. That would be a mistake.
That many of its "low-fat" items have more than 500 calories. (In fact, its low-fat chicken quesadillas have 742 calories and 90 grams of carbohydrates per order.)
Panera Bread presents itself as a wholesome, "artesanal" alternative to industrial food. That's a load of synthetic goop.
[T]he synthetic food colorings in its pastries have been linked to irritability, restlessness, and sleep disturbance in children. And British researchers found that artificial food colorings and preservatives in the diets of 3-year-olds caused an increase in hyperactive behavior. (The same ingredients appear in fast-food items such as mayonnaise, M&M Blizzards, and McDonald's shakes.)
And don't be bamboozled into thinking that "sit-down" food chains like Olive Garden are any better. They may be worse.
[T]heir food is actually considerably worse for you than the often-maligned fast-food fare. In fact, our menu analysis of 24 national chains revealed that the average entree at a sit-down restaurant contains 867 calories, compared with 522 calories in the average fast-food entree. And that's before appetizers, sides, or desserts -- selections that can easily double your total calorie intake.
I may quibble with some of the assumptions here. Calories are a questionable proxy for deciding what's "worse for you." But clearly, the chains under investigation here are serving up mountains of empty calories -- often in the guise of "healthy options" or some such nonsense.
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ronmichael Posted 10:47 pm
14 Jan 2008
And I'm no big believer that sugar is evil (except for maybe HFCS). Yes that smoothie may have more sugar than a chocolate frosted donut, but it probably has 0 grams of fat compared to the 2 grams in the donut. How about bagels? A bagel with cream cheese can pack a whopping 13 grams of fat and twice the calories of a donut.
Overall I agree with the message though. All restaurants should do better at letting you know exactly what you are eating. But expecting to eat a healthy meal at just about any chain restaurant is foolish, and hopefully if you are an adult you've learned that you can't trust ads or marketing to tell you the truth.
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cmello Posted 1:04 am
15 Jan 2008
Healthy food tends to be low in calories so calorie count data (which is more often known than any other measure) is a fairly good quick & dirty measure of the healthiness of what we eat.
cmello
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javaearth Posted 1:34 am
15 Jan 2008
I agree with your last statement that "hopefully if you are an adult you've learned that you can't trust ads or marketing to tell you the truth". Its very surprising that many people - even adults have do believe those unhealthy fast food ad's -.
Recently I was watching TV in the evening, - prime time - and I saw that most of the commercials were showing foods that were - crap! I see so many American adults, eating fast foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Then they complain about health issues. - gosh, maybe if they did not treat their bodies as a dumping ground for foods that have no value, their bodies would not be in such a bad sharp!
Common sense seems too difficult to practice!
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cmalberg Posted 6:31 am
15 Jan 2008
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Angela Harms Posted 2:07 am
20 Mar 2008
lifelovefood.com
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