Fast food or Junk Food

Healthy way of enjoying fast food

Fast foods—typically high in calories, saturated fat, and salt- have become very much a part of our diet. Dietician and wellness consultant Indra Balaratnam shows us how we can enjoy fast foods and still maintain a good, healthy diet style

Fast food restaurants are mushrooming all over our region faster than you can say, "Where shall we go eat?" Just visit a mall or pop over to your neighborhood commercial square and you will likely spot a familiar outlet. If you don't do so straight away your child will point it out to you eventually! The earlier fast food restaurants to hit our shores sold only hamburgers. Now, with the introduction of new franchises, we are spoiled for choice. Besides hamburgers, we can now indulge in fried or roasted chicken, tacos, deli- style sandwiches, hot dogs, batter-fried seafood, pizza, salads, and even luscious desserts. Of course, the perennial favorite is still the hamburger, which has propelled a certain chain to proclaim that they have sold enough of their trademark product to cover the distance from here to the moon several times over. Publicity for them, but a sign to us consumers that fast foods have become very much a part of our diet. Study the fast food phenomenon long enough and you’re bound to discover the common denominators that make these meals so appealing.

1) Food is served quickly, hence the name

2) The taste is predictable whichever outlet you visit worldwide

3) Prices are reasonable

4) They're family-oriented restaurants, ideal for bringing the children

5) They serve food the kids will eat- no more mealtime battles in public

6) Sleek marketing and promotions keep us constantly in an eating frenzy—anything for those cherubic dolls

7) High emphasis on food safety and sanitation

Fast food or junk food?

Lately, however, fast foods have come under the hammer for tainting our otherwise "healthy" Asian way of eating. Our society is now facing health conditions such as obesity, elevated cholesterol, hypertension, etc., which have a strong link to what we eat. Even our children are a lot heavier now compared to those of past decades. Although there are other factors that contribute to such health conditions (such as lack of exercise, hereditary link, lifestyle), many people still believe that fast foods are one of the main dietary culprits because they are typically high in calories, saturated fat, and salt. This has prompted some parties to rename fast food fare as "junk food". On an opposing front, Helen A. Guthrie, Professor of Nutrition at the Pennsylvania State University, the term “junk food" should be banned. In her published article entitled "Junk Foods or Junk Diets", she backs up her claim that there is no worthless food, as no single type of food fulfils all our nutritional needs. By calling certain foods as "junk", then we are subliminally saying that these foods should not be eaten at all because they have no food value. Depending on our overall food consumption, we can enjoy these foods and still maintain a good, healthy diet.

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Shaking off the "junk food" tag

The fast food corporations are not taking these consumer-concerns lightly. As people are constantly striving to eat healthier, the fast food companies have made modifications to try to improve the nutritional damage. For starters, many of them have switched to using hydrogenated vegetable oil instead of beef tallow or lard for deep-frying. Some outlets also offer low-fat salad dressing for their salads. Some even make their milkshakes and ice cream from low-fat, instead of full-cream milk. However, we need to remember that what contributes most to the fat in fast foods is the way they are cooked—in most cases, deep- fried. And meats such as hamburger patties and sausages are minced with added fat to make them tastier. Needless to say, the fat content becomes frighteningly high. In the United States, some fast food restaurants have introduced fat-reduced versions of hamburger using lean cuts of meat. This is their effort to give consumers a "healthier" choice. But these items do not come cheap. They are more expensive than the original version. Apparently, you have to pay premium value for a healthier choice. As yet, these fat- reduced hamburgers have not made their way to our shores. Most reputable fast food corporations now make the nutritional content of their products publicly known. This information is available at the outlet upon request, or you could log on to Fast Food Finder at www.oIen.com/ food for a more comprehensive update. If you're a die-hard fan of fast foods, it’s worth checking out how much food value you're getting from what you eat. Once armed with the nutrition information of your foodstuff, you can better plan how you are going to eat for the day. Savvy diners know how to eat healthy without sacrificing convenience or taste.

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