Stop The Junk Food

Fast food diets are generally looked upon as harmful, useless, and not ‘diets’ at all! The public relates the word fast food with a connotative meaning of negative, unhealthy, and hard on a humans health. Understandingly so, most fast food outlets are loaded with grease, fatty foods, and preservatives hard for the body to break down. 

However, fast food diets CAN go in stride with creating healthy meals for yourself throughout the day. But, a few guidelines must be followed. For simplicity reasons, I’ll keep on referring to this as a fast food diet, but don’t think of it that way. Think of it as more of a Quick Fix Diet (sounds more appealing). 

More and more restaurants know obesity is the number 1 diagnosed disease in America, and are becoming more savvy when choosing their menus. This is what makes fast food diets possible!

Like every diet, calorie counting is an integral part of the process, and this doesn’t change for a fast food diet. The MAIN difference between a diet you prepare yourself and a fast food diet is the convenience and the chef (someone else in this case). Most people are skeptical because of the chef part – if your not entirely in control of what you eat, how do you know it is healthy? Well, you can easily influence this by requesting what you want on your order (no mayo or ketchup on your burger, no extra cheese). Take off the simple things that aren’t necessary and are the hidden calories. These are the things you normally don’t pick up on the calorie counter and can have a huge impact on the weight you gain. 

So lets link all of this together for you.

The major difference between a fast food diet and a regular diet that people goes on is the ability to prepare your own food, or have it prepared for you. This is convenient because of the time you save, but skeptisim arises with this because of hidden calories on the foods prepared for you. This is fixed if you know what hidden calories are, and accout for them by ridding your fast food diet of them. 

Creating healthy meals through a fast food diet is not as hard as you think it is. It takes a little common sense on what your body needs to function properly as well as being aware of hidden calories in fast food diets. 

Read more about fast food diets and calorie counting a http://www.AllHealth-Gateway.com or http://www.Optimal-Fitness-Gateway.com

The FDA has made it a requirement for the food nutrition facts to be clearly labeled on all packaging. The majority of the people pay little attention to this unless they have a food allergy. Who has time to go grocery shopping and read every label in their shopping cart. Understanding the food labels is essential to a healthy diet and critical to those who are experiencing weight problems.

The labels describe the food nutrition facts and other important information about the foods that your children eat. From calories, fiber, and fat grams, to the total of all other food ingredients. Knowing how to read the food labels will help you to provide the healthy nutrients that your family should eat such as: calcium and fiber, and at the same time know about the unhealthy ingredients, like fat, saturated fat, sodium,and cholesterol.

Serving Size: The serving size and number of servings per container or package is critical. Many times people overlook this data. Quite often containers or packages contain more than one serving. If you were to eat a small container yourself when it is labeled as 2 servings you are consuming twice the portions. This is a common way that people overeat. A solution would be to purchase single sized portions or portions just big enough to feed your family. A rule of thumb: 40 calories per serving is considered low in calories, 100 calories per serving is considered moderate in calories, 400 calories and up per serving is considered high in calories.

Total Fat Grams: Learning about the amount of total fat in the foods that you eat will help to maintain a low fat diet. Understand that unsaturated fats are healthier than saturated fats and trans fats. It is recommended to keep your fat intake at 30% or less of which saturated fats should consist of 1/3 or less. For example: A serving that contains 100 calories should have 30% or less total fat and 10% or less saturated fats. In addition solid fats contain a lot of saturated and/or trans fats. Examples would be: butter, beef fat, pork fat, vegetable oils, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and shortening. Some animal by products also contain a lot of saturated and trans fats. Vegetable oils, however, consist of more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Palm kernel oil and coconut oil being the exception.

Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are sugars and starches that our bodies process into glucose, which our cells and muscles need for energy. For children half of their caloric intake should come from carbohydrates. It is important to know that there are good carbs and bad carbs. Rather than eat foods that are high in simple sugars you would be better off choosing more starcy foods such as: whole grain breads, rice, potatoes, pasta, and cereals. Whole wheat pasta, whole wheat breads, brown rice, and whole grain cereals are good choices for whole wheat foods. When reading the ingredients on the food nutrition facts label try to avoid added sugars and if they are listed as the first few ingredients look for better alternatives. Some common added sugars are high-fructose corn syrup, juice concentrate, sucrose, dextrose, corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, and maltrose.

Dietary Fiber: Eating a high fiber diet is an important part of a healthy diet. High fiber diet helps prevent cancer, heart disease, obesity, and other ailments. For children the amount of daily fiber should be their age plus 5 in grams. Example: 16 year old would need 21 grams of fiber. 16+5=21g. According to the food nutrition facts fruits, vegetables, breads, and whole grain cereal are excellent sources of fiber.

Vitamins And Minerals: The food nutrition facts also contain data on certain vitamins and minerals that children need including calcium and iron. Keep in mind that less than 5% of daily value is considered low in vitamins and minerals and over 20% of daily value is considered high in vitamins and minerals. A happy medium would be between 10% and 20% of the daily value per serving. Generally calcium rich foods consist of 20% to 30% of a child’s daily value per serving. If your child doesn’t get enough milk or other dairy products, which are high in calcium, check the food nutrition facts for foods that contain high calcium to compensate. Teenagers, on the other hand, need more than 100% of the daily value of calcium. 130% is about right as listed on the food container.

Cholesterol And Sodium: It is important to limit the amount of sodium and cholesterol in your childrens diet. Knowing that less than 5% of the daily value is low and over 20% of the daily value is high should help you choose foods that are in the normal range. When reading the food nutrition facts look for foods with under 140mg of sodium per serving. If the packaging lists the sodium as low or very low in sodium it is a good choice. Foods that are low in cholesterol should be under 20mg per serving.

Proteins: Proteins are needed to maintain lean muscle mass and are a critical element to overall health. Generally protein should be between 10% and 12% of your child’s daily calories. Be aware that many children get more protein than they need particularly if they consume eggs, meat, and dairy products. Beans, nuts, and soy also contain proteins.

Percent Daily Values: Since less than 5% of the daily value is low and over 20% of the daily value is high for food ingredients; fat, cholesterol, sodium, saturated fats, and trans fats should be low in daily value percentage. A rule of thumb is to eat less than 100% of the daily value for these components. On the other hand, you should eat at least 100% of the daily values for calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, and dietary fiber.

Healthy Results

Those are the main food nutrition facts. Eating healthy and getting exercise is a matter of survival. Too much of one or not enough of the other is asking for trouble. Amazing things happen when you get good nutrition.

Reality is we live in a fast food wonderland and that isn’t going to go away anytime soon. It is so easy to hit a drive thru with the busy schedules we keep. A lot of people are in such a rush they end up eating fast food at least once a day some up to three times a day.

 

At least half of those people are either on a diet, have been on a diet, or considering a diet. Unless you know the right choices to make while visiting your favorite meal on wheels you will soon lose interest in your dieting goal.

 

Here are a few tips if you need to keep the fast food flowing through your body but you want to lose weight.

 

The first thing you should do if you have to keep pumping fast food meals in your body is change your breakfast habits. Now a lot of fast food junkies don’t eat breakfast so when it comes to lunch time even though your brain says small fries your mouth yells out large fries…large fries…I want large fries…please. So instead of skipping breakfast grab a meal bar high in fiber. You can get fiber one bars in the cereal isle of your favorite grocery store. Out of all the meal bars I have tried they are my favorite and they are cheaper then most. Depending on your weight try having two to be satisfied. The fiber will help keep you feeling full and regular.

 

Lunch time rolls around and it’s time to hit your favorite drive thru. Here are some of my “what to order items” from a few of the most widely available fast food restaurants:

 

McDonalds

 

Put down the quarter pounder with cheese at a whopping 510 calories; order a cheese burger for 300 calories or a double cheese burger for 440 calories.  If you are a chicken sandwich person order the Southern style chicken sandwich only 400 calories verses the 630 in a crispy chicken club. Go for the small fries. Enjoy salads? Order the Caesar with grilled chicken for only 220 calories. The highest calorie count for any salad is 410 so any of those would be a good choice. Don’t get a soda don’t get diet soda, order an iced tea for zero calories, or order a Powerade mountain blast for lower calories.

 

Burger King

 

Whopper with cheese lover, I am but not for 770 calories! Order the whopper jr. for a slimmer 420 calories. What a difference, right! Better yet order a cheese burger for a lower 340 calories. For the chicken sandwich lovers order an Italian original chicken sandwich for 520 instead of an original chicken club for a large 690 calories. I would really stay away from the chicken sandwich altogether. Burger King has great salads in my opinion the best for a meal on wheels. The tendercrisp chicken salad is 420 calories and my personal favorite however the tendergrill chicken salad is much better at a low 240 calories. A small onion ring is 143 calories and a small fry is 229 go for the rings you know you want to. As for the drinks same goes, stay away from the sodas.

Taco Bell

 

Now this is a dieters dream. Taco bell has taken notice to the overweight world and decided to deliver the better choice. All I have to say about this is order it fresco style and you will not go wrong! The fresco menu is made for people watching calories. Most menu boards will tell you the calorie count in each fresco item. So head for the border and order some great fast diet food.

 

In conclusion you can still lose weight and keep that fast food loving feeling going strong. Now that you know a little more about what to order you can keep it in your diet and mold the rest of your diet around your fast food meal. Aim to keep your fast food meals 700 calories or lower depending on your weight loss goal.