• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Eat Out Eat Well

  • Home
  • About
  • Eats and More® Store
  • Books
  • Contact

fast food

What’s A Food Desert – And What Happens There?

July 26, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

It’s not stretch of hot white sand.  It’s also not where you can come upon an oasis, shimmering in the heat, and find platters laden with fresh fruit like in old-time movies.

Here’s what it is:   the CDC defines a food desert as an area “that lack(s) access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet.”

 

How Does A Food Desert Affect Health?

It would seem pretty obvious that if there isn’t a readily available supply of good food for people to buy and eat then they won’t eat healthy food.

But here’s the problem:  many food deserts may not have a lot of affordable healthy food choices available, but they may have readily available and inexpensive fast food choices.

The CDC indicates that some researchers think a link exists between having easy access to affordable healthy foods and the consumption of those foods. But other studies show that even when healthier food options are available in food deserts, many people continue to make unhealthy choices based on their own personal preferences — or put more simply — because they want to.

 

Food Choices May Be Unrelated To The Availability Of Healthy Food

A study of 5,115 people,  just published in The Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at fast food and fruit and vegetable consumption compared to the availability of fast food restaurants and groceries.  The researchers found that in “food deserts,” where fast food is readily available and there are few or no supermarkets, the local population is drawn to the fast food. But even where there are supermarkets and groceries the food choices the locals make don’t seem to be based on healthy eating.

The results showed that in low-income areas, particularly among men living within one to two miles of a fast food restaurant, there’s a strong association between the availability of fast food and how much of it they consumed. But, they also found that there was no strong association between living near a supermarket and eating more fruits or vegetables.

 

Are Supermarkets Important?

The lead researcher says that it isn’t enough to expect that building supermarkets will make people shop for healthy foods in them.  She thinks that healthy foods need to be promoted and affordable and that people also need to be taught that there are better and healthier food choices available in fast food restaurants, too.  If someone chooses to go to a fast food restaurant they should have the option to find and choose food items that are “relatively more healthy as opposed to less healthy.”

However, just because there might not be a strong association between food choices and supermarkets doesn’t mean that markets aren’t important.  It might be that the market may not be stocked with an abundance of healthy food choices or that the healthier options are expensive and crowded out by an overwhelming array of unhealthier options.

 

What Is Important?

It’s not enough to just teach people what’s healthy and how to make healthy choices. The food environment is crucial and needs to support making healthy food choices easy, attractive, affordable (competitive with the “cheap” calories of fast food), and the cool choices to make.   Just like the oasis in the sandy dessert, there needs to be a welcoming oasis of healthy food choices in the “food deserts.”

 

Filed Under: Food for Fun and Thought, Shopping, Cooking, Baking Tagged With: affordable food choices, fast food, food, food deserts, food for fun and thought, food shopping, healthy food choices

Road Trip? Why Not Roadmap Your Miles And Your Meals?

July 19, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Planning a road trip?  You know that you’re going to have to stop for a snack or a meal along the way.  Do you leave your food choices to chance?

I drive a lot.  I have three long road trips coming up in the next month. I know that I’m going to stop for a snack or meal —  either because I need gas; I’m bored, stiff, and tired; I’m hungry – or any combination of the above; and, quite frankly, because I love rest stops and truck stops.

The lure of a rest stop can be hard to pass up when you’ve been sitting in the car for hours on end. You walk in and you’re assaulted by an array of vending machines, candy racks, fast food, donuts, coffee, and every bottled drink under the sun. You’re a captive consumer (there’s probably no other place around that you know of to stop other than the roadside rest stop, truck stop, or gas station) – and, you crave something to:

  • Keep you energized and awake
  • Ease the boredom
  • Reward you for endless hours of driving (especially of you have complaining or fighting kids with you)
  • Bring back memories of summer road trip food you had when you were a kid (as a parent I can admit that you often give in and buy all kinds of stuff for your kids because they’re driving you crazy)

The Trap And The Danger

An endless stream of high carb, high fat, high calorie, and processed food is just begging you to plunk down your money so you can immediately indulge (watch how many people start eating the food they’ve bought before they even pay) or to take with you (in case there’s a pending famine).

The real danger – aside from the damage to your waistline – is that the high carb processed foods spike then crash your blood sugar — which ends up making you really tired and cranky.  Drowsy drivers are most definitely not safe drivers.

Cranky drivers make life miserable for everyone in the car – not a great tone to set if you’re going on vacation.

Some Ideas

  • It may take away some of the road trip spontaneity, but when you pack up your car pack some food, too.  Fill a cooler with water, fruit, yogurt, sandwiches, whatever you think you will eat and that will keep you alert and energized (aim for some complex carbs and protein).  Why not throw in some portion sized bags of nuts and popcorn, too?  Planning ahead means you’re not at the mercy of the vending machines and racks and racks of candy, chips, and baked goods.
  • Use an app or your GPS to find nearby restaurants as you drive through various communities. A little searching can help you find places with healthier options than you might find at a rest stop. This can be really helpful for anyone with allergies or special dietary requirements.
  • If you haven’t done either of the above and just want to play it by ear – or pit stop – at least have your own mental list of some good, better, and best choices of food to buy.  The danger is that the candy, chips, fries, and donuts call your name the minute you walk in the door.  If you know that you’re going to head straight for the nuts, or popcorn, or even a burger, that’s great, as long as the giant chocolate chip cookie and the bargain 32 ounce soda for 99 cents doesn’t grab you first. Try to decide what you’re going to buy (hopefully, a good choice) before you go in – and then stick to your decision.

Enjoy your road trips.

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating on the Job, Manage Your Weight, Shopping, Cooking, Baking, Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food, Travel, On Vacation, In the Car Tagged With: dashboard dining, eat out eat well, fast food, processed food, road trip food, snacks, sugar, travel eating, vacation food, vending machines, weight management strategies

Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jacks

June 28, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 2 Comments

Happy Summer!  Baseball season is in full swing and so are visits to amusement parks.  What do you usually do at these places – other than watch the game, ride the roller coaster? EAT, of course!

Oh, the food!  Oh the calories!  Hang on – this post is not about ignoring the good time food.  Of course, there are always healthy food options:  you can bring your own or be scrupulous in making healthy choices. But honestly, do you think that most people really want to eat low calorie foods when they’re at a ballgame or amusement park? No way.

So what do you do when you’re at these places with food vendors about every 20 feet hawking dogs, ice cream, and beer?

There Are Ways And Then There Are Ways

If you’ve got a will of iron, I guess you could ignore the food and drinks.  But if you’re like most people and you’re tempted at every turn, you can try to minimize the damage without taking out the fun.  If you know you’re going to be having a stadium or food court meal, do some thinking, planning, and learning.  The best choices are not always the obvious ones.

Do you need both peanuts and popcorn?  Can you make do with a regular hot dog instead of a foot-long?  Can you keep it to one or two beers instead of three?  Can you choose the small popcorn instead of the jumbo tub?

Make Your Best Choice

Here’s some info to help you make your best choice.  Just a heads up – we’re not talking about the most nutritious choice because given these foods, quality nutrition is not front and center.  You can, however, enjoy your day and make the best caloric choice (with a nod to fat and sugar content) and still eat traditional ballpark and amusement park food.

  • Cotton Candy: Nothing but heated and colored sugar that’s spun into threads with added air. Cotton candy on a stick or wrapped around a paper cone (about an ounce) has around 105 calories; a 2oz. bag (common size) has 210. A lot of sugar, but not a lot of calories – albeit empty ones.
  • Cracker Jack (officially cracker jack, not jacks): candy-coated popcorn with some peanuts. A 3.5oz stadium size box has 420 calories but does have 7g  protein and 3.5g fiber.
  • Hamburger: 6oz. of beef with a bun has about 490 calories — without cheese or other toppings — which up the ante.
  • Grilled Chicken Sandwich, 6oz.: 280 calories – not a bad choice.  6oz. of chicken tenders clock in at 446 calories.  Barbecue dipping sauce adds 30 calories a tablespoon.
  • Hot Dog: Most sold out stadiums can sell 16,000 hot dogs a day. A regular hot dog with mustard has about 290 calories: 180 for the 2oz. dog, 110 for the bun, zilch for regular yellow mustard. Two tbs. sauerkraut adds another 5-10 calories, 2 tbs. ketchup adds 30, and 2 tbs. relish another 40. A Nathan’s hot dog racks up 320 calories; a foot-long Hebrew National 510 calories. Hot dogs are usually loaded with sodium.
  • Pizza: Stadium pizza is larger than a usual slice, about 1/6 of a 16-inch pie (instead of 1/8) making it about 435 calories a slice.
  • Super Nachos with Cheese: A 12oz. serving (40 chips, 4oz. cheese) has about 1,500 calories!!! Plain French fries look like a caloric bargain by comparison.
  • French Fries: A large serving has about 500 calories. A serving of Hardee’s chili cheese fries has 700 calories and 350 of them come from fat.
  • Potato Chips:  One single serving bag has 153 calories (94 of them from fat).
  • Peanuts in the Shell: What would a baseball game be without a bag of peanuts? Stadiums can sell as many as 6,000 bags on game days. An 8oz. bag has 840 calories; a 12oz. bag has 1,260. Yes, they have some protein and fiber.  But wow on the calories.
  • Soft Pretzel: One large soft pretzel has 483 calories – giant soft pretzels (7-8oz.) have about 700 calories.
  • Draft Beer: A stadium draft beer, 20oz. cup, the usual size, has about 240 calories. A light draft saves you 60 calories.
  • Coca Cola:  A 12oz can: 140 calories –- and close to 10 tsp. of sugar.
  • Helmet Ice Cream: Your team’s mini-helmet filled with swirly Carvel, 550-590 calories.
  • Souvenir Popcorn: At Yankee Stadium a jumbo size has 1,484 calories and a souvenir bucket has 2,473 calories.

Sources:

http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition
http://www.active.com/nutrition/
http://www.drweigh.com/blog/

Filed Under: Shopping, Cooking, Baking, Snacking, Noshing, Tasting, Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food, Travel, On Vacation, In the Car Tagged With: amusement park food, ballpark food, calorie tips, calories, cotton candy, cracker jack, eat out eat well, fast food, food, food facts, French fries, nachos, peanuts, snacks, weight management strategies

Fast Food Facts For Kids And Their Parents

June 14, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

After sugar sweetened beverages, fast food is the most unhealthy food product marketed to children. Fast food companies speak to children early, often, and when parents aren’t looking. Fast food is aggressively marketed toward children as young as two.

In 2009 the fast food industry spent more than $4.2 billion on TV advertising and other media. Preschoolers saw 21% more fast food ads on TV then in 2003; children saw 34% more; and teenagers 39% more.

According to Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, a comprehensive study looked at the marketing of the twelve largest fast food chains and at the calories, fat, sugar, and sodium in over 3,000 kids’ meal combinations and 2,781 menu items.

 

What The Study Found

  • 13-17 year olds buy 800-1,100 calories in an average fast food meal – about half of their recommended total daily calories.
  • At least 30% of the calories in menu items purchased by children and teenagers are from sugar and saturated fat.
  • A single meal contains at least half of the daily recommended sodium for young people in most fast food restaurants.
  • Although most fast food restaurants kids’ meals have at least one healthy side and beverage option, they are rarely offered as the default.
  • McDonald’s and Burger King show only healthy sides and beverages in child-targeted advertising but automatically serve french fries with kids’ meals at least 86% of the time and soft drinks at least 55% of the time.
  • Faced with pressure about portion sizes companies rename, not eliminate, their largest sides and drinks.  For example, Burger King’s 42-ounce “King” drink is now the “large” option; the previous  32-ounce “large” is now a “medium”; the  “medium” 21-ounce drink is now a “small”; and the 16-ounce “small” is now the “value” choice.
  • Kid’s food choices are affected by exposure to food and beverage ads targeted to adults. More than 60% of fast food ads seen by children are not for kids’ meals and older children (6-11) are more likely to order something from the dollar menu or a combo meal (27%) than to order a kids’ meal (21%).
  • Snacks and dessert choices had as many as 1,500 calories — five times more than the ADA’s recommended 200 to 300 calorie snack for active teens.
  • During non-meal times in the evening and after school, teens ordered more fast food than any other age group.
  • Of 3,039 possible kids’ meal combinations only twelve met preschool nutrition criteria; 15 met nutrition criteria for older kids and only 17% of regular menu items qualified as healthy choices.

 

 

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating with Family and Friends, Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food, Snacking, Noshing, Tasting, Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food, Travel, On Vacation, In the Car Tagged With: eat out eat well, fast food, food, food advertising, food facts, kids' food, snacks, weight management strategies

Why Are Americans Getting Fat???

June 10, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

The reasons why Americans are getting fat at an alarming rate might surprise you…

An infographic courtesy of Healthy Meal Experts.

 

fat americans
Learn more about Healthy Meals

Filed Under: Food for Fun and Thought, Manage Your Weight Tagged With: fast food, food consumption, food facts, high fructose corn syrup, portion size, portions, snacks, weight, weight management strategies

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jacks
  • Is Your Coffee Or Tea Giving You A Pot Belly?
  • PEEPS: Do You Love Them or Hate Them?
  • JellyBeans!!!
  • Why Is Irish Soda Bread Called Soda Bread or Farl or Spotted Dog?

Topics

  • Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts
  • Eating on the Job
  • Eating with Family and Friends
  • Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events
  • Food for Fun and Thought
  • Holidays
  • Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks
  • Manage Your Weight
  • Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food
  • Shopping, Cooking, Baking
  • Snacking, Noshing, Tasting
  • Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food
  • Travel, On Vacation, In the Car
  • Uncategorized

My posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of the links you won’t pay a penny more but I’ll receive a small commission, which will help me buy more products to test and then write about. I do not get compensated for reviews. Click here for more info.

The material on this site is not to be construed as professional health care advice and is intended to be used for informational purposes only.
Copyright © 2024 · Eat Out Eat Well®️. All Rights Reserved.