Health Problems Associated With Eating Too Much Fast Food

Do you remember what your parents would tell you when you balked at finishing your dinner? "There's a little boy/girl in (put poor country here) that would love to have that food to eat?" You may have also heard, "You are not leaving the table until you've eaten every bite."

I can assure you from personal experience that offering to send that last two bites to the poor kid is not going to go over very well. However, our parents were talking from an experience we have not, as yet, had to deal with much. Our parents and grandparents went through the Depression and WWII. They remember soup lines, food riots and rationing. Food was never to be wasted.

That attitude has been passed down to us and to our children, but is it the right approach? While I agree that wasting food is not a good practice, sometimes cleaning your plate isn't either. When it comes to dining out, especially at fast food places, it's definitely a bad practice.

There are two reasons we have difficulties when we go to a fast food chain. The amount of food in many of these businesses can be increased for a small extra fee, usually less than a quarter. Now you have two reasons to order more and clean your plate...you got a deal.

The second, of course, is the food being offered. When it comes to this issue, I am not a member of the "Bash the Fast Food Chain" club. This is not their fault, they are giving us what we want at a price we're willing to pay. No, the problem lies with us.

This is my proposal for dealing with this issue. First, tell the companies what you would like them to offer, preferably in some detail. They won't know unless they hear from us. There is an equation used by most businesses to help tell which ideas are widespread and which are not. For instance, for every phone call from a customer, ten others probably feel the same way but won't say so.

Second, vote with your loyalty. If only one local restaurant offers the type of healthy choices you're interested in, then only go there. Believe me, the others will see the trend and jump on the bandwagon.

As for the "deal" of supersizing, don't do it. It's so tempting to double the amount of fries on your tray, but the regular packet already has 500 calories in it. Adding to it is definitely going to cause you to gain weight.

We need to change how we look at food before we can begin to change how we look. If you are significantly overweight, you may need to talk to your doctor about ways to lose it. You may also want to talk to a nutritionist to find a diet that suits your needs.