What Is the TRUE Value of Fast Food? Those $1 Menus and Other Specials are not Necessarily Savings…

I know that there is a great value at times to the saving of time and money when avoiding the cooking time in the kitchen or cleaning after a big family meal. But what are we really saving ourselves from when we use fast food to replace those traditional family meals.

One of the most incredible factors is all of the marketing that is completed on television, online and more regarding the value of the most popular fast food restaurants. With the minimal priced meals that are offered, such as “4 for $4” or “5 for $5”, we are all pulled away from the attention to our own health and wellness to the price savings that can be found in the purchase of immediate and tastily fulfilling meals.

So, where do we go from here when there is the urgent need for that tasty little meal while that aching threat of ailment hangs in the back of our minds? I know I make it sound way too overwhelming, and we all know that fast food is generally unhealthy, but we have to know that there are also plenty of options available from where we can resolve both issues with a single choice. There must be that one meal which is healthy enough for the whole family that will not appear as complete slime writhing down your children’s throats, but will also reduce the amount of cooking and cleaning time that comes along with so many of those meals ‘round the table.

I know that I don’t necessarily have the expertise or complete knowledge to present nutritional requirements or expectations upon the population of the world. I know that we all have the ability to remain responsible for our own decisions, take care of our own bodies and improve a physical condition with activity and healthy lifestyle overall. There is so much that we are able to do for ourselves while it may be difficult to pass by those tempting, drug-like drive throughs which make our family meals so much easier.

I know what I want to think of life as a whole… There is a great deal of control that can be taken upon our own daily lives without paying a dietician, personal trainer or other to help with weight loss, disease or other issues that we have brought upon ourselves by years of eating detrimental foods. The first steps all the way through the end are those of our own. We have the option for a better life, and we have the right. I know that I want to do it for myself, and I am willing to learn about some of those options for all of you.

While we can primarily consider the negative effects of fast food to be arteriosclerosis, obesity, diabetes and much more. It has been shown that as much as 76% of the American population recognizes the unhealthy nature of fast food, but over 40% of people continue to eat fast food regularly because of time- and cost-saving effects. With the deterioration of the body's various systems in the processing of fast food it is seen to progress beyond the individual to farther effects on society as a whole. We all see the extremely long lines sitting at the McDonald's at all hours of the day, with the traffic jams created by people trying to pull out. Even trying to go inside and slip into the line to grab a quick soda puts you behind a line of ten teenagers that you see in the same spot every day ordering off the dollar menu. What if those same couple of dollars were used to grab some fruit and ingredients for a fresh sandwich from the local grocery? Maybe we all need to start an evolution of nutritional change in the coming generations.