In a Hurry? Don’t Make This Mistake!

By Cindy Williams, RN

Coordinator, Health Ministries

The revenue from this global industry will reach $781 billion this year. It employs 13,114,684 people in 830,400 businesses. The US market accounts for 34.4 percent of the global revenue. One out of three Americans contribute to this revenue on any given day. And the average American household spends 10 percent of their annual income on this.

Have you guessed the industry yet? Yes, the fast-food industry. Most Americans eat fast food one to three times a week. Eighty-three percent of American families eat fast food at least once a week. McDonald’s is the most popular fast-food restaurant. Two-thirds of Americans visited McDonald’s during 2018. $130.4 billion was spent worldwide at McDonald’s in 2019.

I am shocked at these numbers. I know fast food is popular but the amount of money that is being spent is staggering. I cannot even imagine spending 10 percent of my annual income on fast food!

Why? The most frequent reasons given by a sample of teens and adults who regularly eat at fast-food restaurants were that fast food is quick, the restaurants are easy to get to, and the food tastes good. It seems that we are in a big hurry! We don’t have time to stop and prepare food or even to sit down and eat.

There is another price for our obsession with fast food. It is super unhealthy. The average fast-food meal has 836 calories. It almost always consists of highly processed items with more fat, sugar, and sodium than our body needs in a whole day – sometimes even a whole week! Research has shown that eating fast food twice a week or more can double your risk of type 2 diabetes. Regular consumption increases your risk of heart disease and can increase your risk of depression by at least 50 percent. Processing also strips food of many important nutrients. There are a few healthier options at many establishments but even those are far less nutritious than meals prepared at home.

What do you think? Should fast food be part of our diet? Things are opening up again and I’m guessing that it will be tempting to stop and pick up a quick bite on our way to or from an adventure. 

References

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db375.htm

https://www.thebarbecuelab.com/fast-food/#:~:text=%E2%85%93%20of%20Americans%20are%20eating,at%20least%20once%20a%20week

https://www.thebarbecuelab.com/fast-food/#:~:text=%E2%85%93%20of%20Americans%20are%20eating,at%20least%20once%20a%20week

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19027410/

This article is part of a continuing series of health during these COVID times. For other articles, please see www.uccsda.org/healthministries.

Photo by mahyar motebassem on Unsplash