(USA TODAY) -- Nutrition has emerged as the fast-food industry's hottest buzzword in decades.
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September 10, 2003
By James Winshall, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
How does this article relate to me?
Can a profit-driven fast food industry lead America to better health? In a strange twist of consumer economics, the same restaurant chains that padded American waistlines appear poised to promote healthier alternatives to hamburgers and french fries.
For decades, public health experts have criticized fast food as being high-fat, high-calorie, and low in nutritional value. The restaurant industry has responded by making small changes — for example, no longer using lard to deep fry food. However, the profit has still been in the "super-size" meal rather than the small plastic cups of salad. In its defense, the industry has said it gives people the food that they want. However, there's been increasing pressure for fast food restaurants to also give people the nutritious food that they need. While our epidemic of obesity and diabetes can't be blamed on fast food alone, there's no denying that the growth in American girth has paralleled the growth in the fast food industry.
But what if you can make a buck off healthy food, too? As this news story suggests, the growing consumer demand for healthier fare may mean better choices for the millions of Americans who rely on fast food chains for quick, inexpensive meals. There's still no substitute for a balanced diet that emphasizes fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains, but it's easy to choose a low-fat grilled chicken sandwich over a fat-laden double hamburger.
The fast food industry should be applauded for making the move towards healthier offerings, even if it's the profit motive that's driving the decision. However, it remains to be seen whether "healthy" is a long-term commitment or simply this year's gimmick. There's also an important difference between printing nutrition information on food trays, and actually making healthy food. For example, food that's deep-fried in hydrogenated vegetable (loaded with trans fat probably isn't much better for you than the same food fried in lard. Similarly, using a low-fat salad dressing that's loaded with sweeteners may be a bad trade-off.
What changes do I need to make?
People who want to eat a healthier diet should probably cut out most fast food. But if cheap, quick food is what you need from time to time, there are a few ways to make it a more nutritious experience:
- Consider choosing a fast food restaurant that offers a variety of healthy options, such as low-fat sandwiches made on whole grain breads, or salads and soups.
- Avoid deep-fried foods like french fries and onion rings. Most of these contain large amounts of trans fats, which are probably the worst type of fat to eat. Think about having a side salad instead. Similarly, choose grilled chicken over the deep-fried alternative.
- Avoid the temptation to "super size" your meal. The larger option may cost only a few cents more, but adds lots of calories and fat.
- Try chicken or fish rather than beef. Some fast food restaurants now offer "veggie burgers" too, which are low in fat but high in protein.
- Choose a piece of fruit for dessert rather than cookies or sweets.
- Soft drinks are one of the biggest sources of "empty calories" in the American diet — that is, they add calories without providing any nutritional value. Try water instead, or at least a diet soft drink.
- Take a walk after your meal!
Preparing your own meals can be time consuming, but this is clearly the best way to make sure you get the healthiest options when you are on the go. Stock your kitchen with things that can be thrown quickly into a brown bag, like bottled water, cups of yogurt, small bags of peanuts, carrot sticks and pieces of fruit. A simple sandwich made with whole grain bread and low-fat turkey or natural peanut butter is also a lot more nutritious than a greasy hamburger.
What can I expect in the future?
As the news story suggests, only time will tell if healthier fast food is here to stay or whether it's just a passing fad. However, it's clear that a healthier diet — as well as an overall healthier lifestyle — is what America needs. More and more Americans are overweight, and less than half get anywhere near the recommended amount of exercise. As a result, one thing to expect in the future is an increase in diseases like diabetes.
There's no easy fix to these disturbing trends, but many health experts think that we need to come up with new approaches. Making fast food healthier is one obvious place to start. Just as automobile manufacturers are required to offer some cars with excellent gas mileage, one could imagine regulating the fast food industry so that healthier practices are standard. For example, the government could mandate a maximum amount of trans or saturated (bad) fats in a typical meal. While the food industry has strongly resisted such suggestions, there is gathering momentum among public health officials to make such standards a reality.
At a minimum, making Americans aware about healthy food choices is a good place to start. Beginning this fall, for example, a change in nutrition labels will make it much easier to tell how much trans fat is in prepared foods. Fast food restaurants are required to make nutritional information available, but we may (hopefully) see requirements that such information has to be displayed in a clear cut and easy-to-understand way.
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Guide to Healthy Eating
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