In today’s busy world, eating fast foods has become the norm. Fast foods are correlated with high cholesterol, heart disease, and weight gain. It is typically felt that fast foods sabotage any good efforts to maintain a healthful diet. I often hear that there are not any decent foods to eat in a fast food restaurant. Just how bad are the foods in a fast food restaurant?

Imagine ordering a quarter pound hamburger, large fries, and a small soft drink at a fast food restaurant. Now imagine ordering a quarter pound hamburger, large fries, and a small soft drink at a family restaurant. Both meals contain carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. The meal at the fast food restaurant is often perceived as bad simply because of where it came from. The other meal is often thought of as good because it didn't come from a fast food restaurant.

The truth is that both meals are essentially similar. The calories and fat content are the same. In this example, both meals were prepared the same way: the fries had to be deep fat fried, the 80% lean hamburgers were grilled, and the regular pop came out of a dispenser.

Was the meal at the fast food restaurant prepared quicker than the other meal at the family restaurant? Maybe. Maybe not. Food in a fast food restaurant is not necessarily any different than food prepared in a family restaurant. People who go to either type of restaurant expect to get their food in a hurry and the restaurants know it. In either case, most of us wait a few minutes for our food because foods are prepared fresh.

Restaurants where we get food from a drive up window are often thought of as fast food restaurants. A family restaurant, sometimes called a sit down restaurant, is usually thought of as a restaurant where we go inside, place an order, and eat our meal at a table. Families can sit down in a fast food restaurant to eat a meal just like they can sit down in a family restaurant to eat a meal. The point is that there are no good foods or bad foods, just better food choices. Better food choices can be made in most restaurants. It doesn't matter if a food comes from a fast food restaurant or a family restaurant. One food is not responsible for high cholesterol or weight gain. It is the total dietary intake that contributes to our health.

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