East Carolinian

Issue date: 6/17/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Ashley Yarber

It is no secret the fast food industry continues to be one of the nation's most wealthy investments. No matter how in debt the economy may be overall, you can guarantee that people will always manage to scrape up enough dollars and change to fill the void for food in their stomachs. Food is something we cannot live without. We will go to great lengths in order to obtain the desires of our heart and our stomachs. Even though food can be a bit expensive, restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, continue to find ways to make it more affordable for the American citizen. Take the infamous dollar menu, for example. Many fast food locations have adopted this idea by making some menu items easily attainable due to their cost. We are all aware that these dollar menu items are not the most nutritious selections, hence the reason why fast food locations are able to sell these items for a dollar or less.

One of the reasons nutritious foods are more expensive than the greasy, high-calorie dollar menu items is because it takes more time and effort to prepare healthy items. Even with this in mind, we still choose to fill our stomachs with unhealthy, fatty foods containing high amounts of sodium, cholesterol and carbohydrates. From early childhood we are taught that a grilled chicken sandwich and a salad is a more nutritious food selection than a fatty burger and greasy fries, so why do we continue to have such negative eating habits? Does money play such a large role in why we choose to make unhealthy food selections?

For the average adult, various servings of fruits, vegetables, bread/grains, dairy and protein must be consumed on a daily basis combined with exercise in order to maintain a healthy regime. Some of these items include whole grain bread, eggs, grilled chicken, tuna, lima beans, salmon, 2 percent milk, kidney beans, corn, cheese, yogurt and brown rice. Unforunately, many of these items are not found in the selection available at fast food locations. Instead, items such as greasy hamburger patties, pancakes, eggs, deep-fried french fries, chicken tenders, bacon and buttery sesame seed buns generate selections on the menu at fast food restaurants that contain anywhere from 100 to 750 calories of fat.

Just looking at a select few items from Burger King and McDonald's it is obvious that fast food items can add many calories to our diets. For example, a Big Mac at McDonald's contains 770 calories (260 calories from fat). 75 mg of cholesterol and 1040 mg of sodium and a Whopper with cheese from Burger King contains 540 total calories (432 calories from fat), 100 mg of cholesterol and 1450 mg of sodium! Not to mention, the menu item at Burger King with the largest calorie intake is the Triple Whopper with cheese, containing 1250 calories (756 calories from fat), 225 mg of cholesterol and 1600 mg of sodium. The daily intake of total calories for an adult is 2250. By just eating a Triple Whopper, this goal is already more than half way achieved!

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