If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to lose weight, a
good way to start is by cutting back on fast food. Those burgers and pizzas may
be quick, convenient and cheap, but they’re also loaded with things that can
defeat your diet plans. Check out these reasons to make 2014 the year you decrease
your consumption of fast food!
Fat
We all need some fat in our diets, but most of us are taking
in way too much. According to the Institute of Medicine, we should be getting
20% to 35% of our daily calorie intake from fats. If you’re following a
1,200-calorie meal plan, this would mean you can have 27 to 47 grams of fat per
day. If you’re eating most of your meals at fast food joints, this won’t be
easy to stick to.
If you start the day with a Deluxe Breakfast Biscuit from
McDonald’s, you’ll be consuming 1,320 calories and 63 grams of fat, which means
you’ve already blown through an entire day’s worth of calories and fat. Let’s
say you have lunch at Burger King and order a Double Whopper with Cheese plus a
large Chocolate Shake. The burger has 990 calories and 64 grams of fat, while
the shake adds 950 calories and 25 grams of fat. For dinner, how about a
Pepperoni Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut? That will pile on another 640
calories and 29 grams of fat from just a little 6” pizza. Your daily calorie
total would be 3,900, more than three times the 1,200 you’re trying to stick
to, plus 181 grams of fat.
Sure, fast food restaurants do offer less fatty choices, but
the items mentioned are pretty average fare for most of them. If you eat at
least one meal each day in a fast food place, is it any wonder that you’re not
losing any weight?
Saturated fat
As if plain old fat isn’t bad enough, fast food fare tends
to be high in artery-clogging saturated fat. For example, the Baconator from
Wendy’s stacks two beef patties, two slices of cheese and a pile of bacon into
a sandwich that has 830 calories and 51 grams of fat. Besides giving you about
78% of your daily allotment of fat, you also get 112% of your RDA of saturated
fat. That means this one burger has more than an entire day’s recommended dose
of saturated fat. Add French fries and a shake for a heart attack on a plate.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a steroid lipid, or fat, found only in animal
food products. Excessive consumption of high cholesterol foods can increase the
risk of heart attack or stroke, so a daily intake of less than 300 mg is
recommended. Among the food items highest in cholesterol are egg yolks, butter
and cheese, all of which can be found in abundance in your average fast food
breakfast sandwich. A ham, egg and cheese biscuit can deliver 246 mg of
cholesterol, or 82% of your daily limit. An egg and sausage biscuit tops that
number with 261 mg or 87% of your daily value. If you need to watch your
cholesterol, stay away from those fast food breakfast sandwiches.
Salt
Most of us should be ingesting 1,500 mg to 2,300 mg of
sodium per day, but we’re actually getting more like 3,400 mg, which can be
deadly for people suffering from high blood pressure, kidney disease or
diabetes. Many fast food items are loaded with salt, probably because we’ve
been conditioned to think that salty foods taste better.
One of the saltiest fast food entrees is the Chicken Po’ Boy
from Popeye’s which has 635 calories and a whopping 2,120 mg of sodium—an
entire day’s allotment. Even worse is the Chipotle Carnitas Burrito with 1,185
calories and 2,650 mg of sodium or the Hardee’s 2/3 Pound Monster Thickburger
with 1,300 calories and 2,860 mg of sodium. If you’re watching your sodium
intake, be careful what you order.
Calories
We’ve already seen that fast food sandwiches and entrees are
loaded with fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, but they’re also high in
calories. As if just having one item isn’t enough to wreck your diet for the
day, fast food menus are full of sneaky little “calorie bombs” that can add hundreds
of cals to your daily total.
If you’re eating at Dunkin’ Donuts, you could have a
zero-calorie diet soda—or pile on an extra 730 calories by adding the frozen
mocha coffee Coolatta with cream. Double the caloric total of your meal at
Nathan’s by ordering the super size French fries for an extra 1,188 calories.
Add a sack of White Castle Onion Chips to your order for an additional 980
calories. See how quickly they pile up?
Artificial ingredients
A Wendy’s Frosty may look like a simple mix of milk and ice
cream, but a look at the ingredients reveals an unappetizing list of GMO corn
syrup, thickening agents, artificial flavors and worst of all, a laxative
chemical used in electronic cigarette fillers called propylene glycol.
McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets have a similarly sinister list of ingredients that
includes sodium phosphate, autolyzed yeast extract and dimethylpolysiloxane—a
chemical used in silicone breast implants. While these chemicals may have
passed muster with the FDA, do you really want them in the food you—or your
kids—eat?
Caffeine
Order a soda, latte or ice tea with your fast food meal and
you may be adding hundreds of mg of caffeine to your daily intake. A 16 oz.
serving of McDonald’s coffee contains 100 mg of caffeine, while the same amount
of Starbucks Pike Place brewed coffee packs 330 mg.
Carbs
Cutting the amount of carbohydrates you ingest can help you
lose weight and lower your chances of developing diabetes. Unfortunately, carbs
are everywhere, in sweets, starchy vegetables and grains. The Institute of
Medicine recommends that adults get 45 to 65 percent of their daily calorie
intake from carbs, so don’t try to cut them out completely. However, fast food
tends to be full of simple carbs like those in burger buns, biscuits and
donuts. Try to get your daily dose of carbs from healthier sources, like rice,
fruits and veggies.
Grease
Think fat is gross? Grease is worse, and can block your
arteries, making it more likely you’ll suffer a heart attack. Americans consume
an average of 85 pounds of fat and grease each year, and fast food is a major
source. If the bag you pick up at the takeout window already has grease on the
bottom, maybe you shouldn’t be eating what’s inside.
Hormones
Young
girls are reaching puberty earlier than ever these days, and one reason is
exposure to hormones in our food. There are six hormones that can accelerate
puberty allowed in our food by the FDA, including sex hormones estradiol,
estriol, testosterone and progesterone. Another culprit is estrogen, which can
contribute to obesity in children. One way to cut your children’s exposure to
these hormones is to eat less red meat, and lowering your intake of fast food
will help.
There’s
nothing wrong with enjoying fast food occasionally, but with so many healthier
(and more delicious) alternatives to try, this is a great time to kick the fast
food habit!