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I heard this on the radio the other day, and it really got me thinking.  I think it's safe to say that we don't eat fast food because of the quality.  I know you've heard it before and have probably even told yourself this, but we don't eat fast food because the hamburgers are great.  Sure, fast food has added junk to it to make it more appealing to our taste buds, but most of us can make a better hamburger than one that's smashed together in a paper wrapper.  We also don't eat fast food because of it's health benefits ... does anyone really even know what's in fast food french fries anyway? 

What about this one?  Do we eat fast food because it's cheap?  This could be a big one, especially today.  Here's another one.  Do we eat fast food because it's ... fast?  You know ... it's convenient?  I'd say these are the two biggest reasons for subjecting our health to the effects of fast food.  After all, everything comes back to time and money, and that's exactly what these two reasons address.

This is where I find it interesting, though.  Let's start with the inexpensive reason first.  Let's pretend we order everything from a "dollar menu", a "value menu", whatever you want to call it.  OK, one cheeseburger, one thing of fries, and water ... a very basic order that's around $2 total.  I don't know how many of you are actually full with an order like this, but just run with me here.  So $2 for this lunch; well, let's compare that to a packed lunch of a tuna sandwich, an apple, some yogurt, and some pretzels.  

Based on a recent shopping list I had, a can of tuna costs $0.78, 2 slices of whole wheat bread cost $0.16, an medium sized Gala apple costs $0.50, a 6-oz cup of light yogurt costs $0.40, and a serving-size of pretzels (1 oz.) costs $0.09.  I also added the calories up for this meal and came up with approximately 502 calories.  So basically, you have a packed lunch of 502 calories that's a lot healthier and costs $1.93 vs. a fast food lunch that costs $2, you don't get as much to eat, it's not as healthy, and it has around 670 calories.

What about the convenience reason?  Is fast food really faster?  Well, for me to pack a lunch like the one above, it takes about 1-2 minutes.  Is it any faster at a fast food joint?  When's the last time you only waited for a minute or two in line, either drive-thru or inside?  I have to believe that it's kind of hard to ever remember that happening.  Just look at the drive-thru lines in the morning ... they wrap around the building!  So does it really save us time to choose fast food over packing a lunch before leaving the home?  I think you know the answer to that one.

So fast food isn't faster or less expensive than making the majority of our own meals.  Since that's the case, why again do we continue to eat at them?   

Dan Falkenberg, BA, ACE-CPT, NASM-PES

Dan Falkenberg is the cofounder of Your Live Trainers.  He can be reached at DanFalkenberg.com.

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Tags: nutrition, weight loss