Fast Food Health Issues

Quick food that can be eaten on the go sounds like a great idea, but fast food is not just a quick way to get a meal. Fast food is unhealthy and causes many health problems.

Fast food is not a healthy meal option at this time. There are very few healthy foods that can be ordered at fast food restaurants. Even the foods that are advertised as healthy fast foods are usually not healthy and only are healthier than other fast food options. Sub sandwiches are often thought of as healthier fast food options but according to the foodfacts.info website, last updated April 22, 2006, there is "no nutrition data from Quizno's". This doesn't make sense because if their food actually was healthy they would be happy to share the nutritional information.

By not releasing the nutritional information of their foods Quizno's is proving their food is not healthy. Part of the reason the food is so bad for you is because it is so highly processed. Many fast food companies have their food made at a central location and then shipped to the individual restaurants. They do this to give customers one of the things they like most about fast food, regularity, the food is the same at all locations because it is make at the same place. The problem with making all of the food at a central location is that it needs to have many things added to it to keep it from rotting when it is being transported, and the things they add are not healthy. One more reason fast food isn't healthy is because a lot of fast food menu items are deep fried which is an unhealthy way to cook food.

Of course not all of the blame lies on the fast food companies. The people who eat at fast food restaurants should exert some self control. According to Wikipedia.org, last updated May 20, 2006, "individual consumers should be responsible for their eating choices, not business". The fast food being unhealthy is only half the problem; the other part is that people eat fast food so much. One of the statistics on supersizeme.com, last updated November 18, 2004, is "McDonald's feeds more than 46 million people a day" that is more than the population of some entire countries. That number is for McDonald's alone and doesn't include any of the other fast food restaurants. Eating fast food too much is not good for you, people who eat fast food often usually don't get all the vitamins they need in their diet. The lettuce and tomato on the sandwich is not a good source of vegetables. The most eaten vegetable in America is the French fry, which is not a vegetable at all.

All of the problems with fast food can be fixed or at least improved. Fast food restaurants can serve healthier foods. Some restaurants have already started using healthier breads and offering healthier alternatives to fries. Serving fruit cups and salads is also a good thing, but too many of these items have sugar added too them making them unhealthy. The way to fix the problem of people eating too much fast food is to make sure everyone is well informed about the nutritional data of the foods before eating them.

The fast food problem is not going to end itself and it must be stopped or it is predicted that obesity will pass smoking as the leading cause of preventable death. Fast food companies should offer more healthy options and inform customers of the nutritional facts on their foods. The biggest way to slow down the spread of unhealthy foods is for consumers to eat less of these kinds of food and eat a healthier meal instead.