EAT FAST, NOT FAT!
Fast food is a fact of life. It's convenient, moderately priced, and readily available. However, it's often overly salted, loaded with fat, and high in calories. You don't have to give up fast foods altogether in order to eat right. But, when you do go out, use this guide to help make healthy selections. The average, healthy adult should eat no more than 30% of his or her daily calories in fat (there are 9 calories in one gram of fact) and no more than 3,300 milligrams of sodium per day.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Although selections vary from one fast food restaurant to the next, the guidelines for choosing healthy, nutritious meals remain the same. Avoid deep-fried foods (french fries, onion rings, etc.) which are high in fat and calories. Added fats -- sauces, mayonnaise, toppings -- should also be restricted. Soft drinks are high in calories and low in nutrients, so use them moderately. Choose broiled or baked meat or poultry over fried sandwiches. Fresh side salads (with reduced calorie dressings) are a low-calorie alternative to fries. For a beverage, opt for low-fat milk or the perfect refresher -- water.
| Restaurant | Best Choices | Fat(g) | Sodium(mg) | Calories |
| Breakfast | ||||
| Burger King | Scrambled Egg Platter | 30 | 808 | 468 |
| Milk | 9 | 119 | 157 | |
| Jack-In-The-Box | Breakfast Jack | 13 | 871 | 307 |
| Orange Juice | 0 | 0 | 80 | |
| McDonald's | English Muffin/Butter | 5 | 310 | 186 |
| Orange Juice | 0 | 2 | 80 | |
| Scrambled Eggs | 13 | 205 | 180 | |
| Low-Fat Milk | 5 | 125 | 121 | |
| Wendy's | Omelet (Mushroom) | 15 | 200 | 210 |
| Orange Juice | 0 | 0 | 80 | |
| Milk | 8 | 120 | 150 | |
| Lunch | ||||
| Burger King | Chicken Tenders | 10 | 636 | 204 |
| Milk | 9 | 119 | 157 | |
| Jack-In-The-Box | Club Pita | 8 | 953 | 284 |
| Orange Juice | 0 | 0 | 80 | |
| McDonald's | Hamburger | 11 | 506 | 263 |
| Low-Fat Milk | 5 | 125 | 121 | |
| Wendy's | Baked Potato (plain) | 2 | 0 | 250 |
| Side Salad | 0 | 540 | 110 | |
| Milk | 8 | 120 | 150 | |
| Dinner | ||||
| Burger King | Cheeseburger | 15 | 651 | 317 |
| Milk | 9 | 119 | 157 | |
| Jack-In-The-Box | Taco (regular) | 11 | 406 | 191 |
| Orange Juice | 0 | 0 | 80 | |
| McDonald's | Cheeseburger | 16 | 743 | 318 |
| Low-Fat Milk | 5 | 125 | 121 | |
| Wendy's | Chicken Sandwich with whole grain roll | 10 | 500 | 320 |
| Side Salad | 0 | 540 | 110 | |
| Milk | 8 | 120 | 150 |
Fast Food NationRichard Linklater
$27.98(USD)
If you're still eating that fast-food burger after watching Super Size Me, you might not feel too hungry after watching Fast Food Nation, a fictionalized feature based on Eric Schlosser's bestselling nonfiction expose. Director Richard Linklater, who cowrote the screenplay with Schlosser, guides a topnotch ensemble cast through a peek behind the veil of how that Big Mac is born. Much of the film focuses on the illegal immigrants who work in the loosely regulated meat-packing industry, and actors including the luminous Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), who plays a desperate but outraged laborer. Greg Kinnear also delivers a spot-on performance as a fast-food chain marketing manager, trying frantically to discover the source of stomach-turning contamination in the company's meat. Stories are woven in unexpected ways, and cameos by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, and especially Bruce Willis keep the narrative fresh. The film has a point of view, but thanks to Linklater's deft touch, is never didactic. As Willis's character slyly says, "Most people don't like to be told what's best for them." Agreed, yet Fast Food Nation likely will help the viewer be more conscious of what's on the end of that fork. --A.T. Hurley
Extras from Fast Food Nation
 Fast Food Nation Arcade-Style Game |
Beyond Fast Food Nation
 Super Size Me |  Fast Food Nation (Paperback) |  Fast Food Nation: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture |
Stills from Fast Food Nation
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Fast Food NationEric Schlosser
$14.95(USD)
On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his ambitious and ultimately devastating exposé with an introduction to the iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the world's largest flavor company) and "what really lurks between those sesame-seed buns." Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--literally--feces in your meat.
Schlosser's investigation reaches its frightening peak in the meatpacking plants as he reveals the almost complete lack of federal oversight of a seemingly lawless industry. His searing portrayal of the industry is disturbingly similar to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, written in 1906: nightmare working conditions, union busting, and unsanitary practices that introduce E. coli and other pathogens into restaurants, public schools, and homes. Almost as disturbing is his description of how the industry "both feeds and feeds off the young," insinuating itself into all aspects of children's lives, even the pages of their school books, while leaving them prone to obesity and disease. Fortunately, Schlosser offers some eminently practical remedies. "Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior," he writes. Where to begin? Ask yourself, is the true cost of having it "your way" really worth it? --Lesley Reed
Fast FoodMichael A. Simpson
$9.97(USD)
Auggie (Clark Brandon) and his pals are living it up as perpetual college students. When the dean decides the only way to stop their antics is to graduate them, they come up with one final scheme; a risky bank loan to turn a friend's garage into stiff competition for Wrangler Bob's fast food chain. When it looks like Bob will win after all, they develop a very special sauce that keeps the crowds coming back because it has the effect of being an aphrodisiac. Bob doesn't like to lose, so he sends Dixie Love (Traci Lords) to infiltrate the restaurant and find out their secret. The ensuing FDA investigation culminates into a steamy case of disorder in the court!
Fast Food Nation tie-in: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (P.S.)Eric Schlosser
$14.95(USD)
To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of postwar America. Though created by a handful of mavericks, the fast food industry has triggered the homogenization of our society. Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled the juggernaut of American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but Eric Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning.
Each day, one-quarter of the adults in the United States visit fast food restaurants, spending more than $110 billion dollars in the year 2000. Schlosser examines the franchise arrangement, with its curious blend of protection, paternalism and profit as adeptly as he delves into the specifics of what's in the beef. Also on Schlosser's hit list: the susceptibility of meat to dangerous pathogens such as e. coli; the slaughter of nearly 600 cows per hour (this American packinghouse standard, he reveals, is nearly 6 times the rate of European slaughterhouses); an in-depth look into serious nutritional, environmental, and cultural questions. Fast Food Nation is a groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history that has changed the way America thinks about the way it eats.
Fast Food Nation the movie is slated to be released by Fox Searchlight on November 17, 2006. Starring Ethan Hawke, Avril Lavigne, Patricia Arquette, and Greg Kinnear.
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Fast Food NationRichard Linklater
If you're still eating that fast-food burger after watching Super Size Me, you might not feel too hungry after watching Fast Food Nation, a fictionalized feature based on Eric Schlosser's bestselling nonfiction expose. Director Richard Linklater, who cowrote the screenplay with Schlosser, guides a topnotch ensemble cast through a peek behind the veil of how that Big Mac is born. Much of the film focuses on the illegal immigrants who work in the loosely regulated meat-packing industry, and actors including the luminous Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), who plays a desperate but outraged laborer. Greg Kinnear also delivers a spot-on performance as a fast-food chain marketing manager, trying frantically to discover the source of stomach-turning contamination in the company's meat. Stories are woven in unexpected ways, and cameos by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, and especially Bruce Willis keep the narrative fresh. The film has a point of view, but thanks to Linklater's deft touch, is never didactic. As Willis's character slyly says, "Most people don't like to be told what's best for them." Agreed, yet Fast Food Nation likely will help the viewer be more conscious of what's on the end of that fork. --A.T. Hurley
Fast Food: Play with Your Food 2008 Wall CalendarSaxton Freymann has proven that anything is possible when you play with your food. This years Fast Food, with its parade of characters created from ordinary fruits and vegetables, is an adventure that will speed you laughing on your way to a fresh appreciation of food. Size closed: 12" h x 12 w. Size opened: 24" h x 12" w