ALTERNATIVE FAST FOOD

ARE THERE ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS FOR FAST FOOD?????
 
Reasons for feeding children fast food…

• I don’t have time to make a meal
• It’s cheap
• It’s fast
• My kids won’t eat much else
• I didn’t plan
• It’s what we always do
  
• I don’t see anything wrong with it
  

So I went on a mission to see how fast I could find healthier options and negate all the above statements. 

• Took me less than five minutes to run in to Martins and find a much healthier option that could be eaten in the car.
• These options were also the same price or cheaper with healthier ingredients.
• Found three options right away that could keep picky eaters content.
• I picked up several to put in fridge so that planning wasn’t hard next time.
• Going in to the store with your children could help teach them better habits and they could learn to pick out their own options.  Change up the scenery and get some walking in while you’re at it!
• If you don’t see anything wrong with eating fast food then see the blog following!  I’ve been researching this stuff since my son was a toddler!  It’s still terrible, especially when eaten regularly.

 
NOW….as for why do I think fast food is not healthy!  I realize there are some choices better than other choices and some fast food choices can be considered healthy.  We just need to remember what the main focus of “fast food” is….

• To provide FAST FOOD in under a minute or so.
  
• All fast food businesses are FOR PROFIT and are there to MAKE MONEY like the rest of us.
  
• Chain restaurants make money by mass producing for all their branches and therefore, foods must last long enough to travel, hence, all the preservatives.
  

Let’s not even go into the safety of food handling at these places…let’s just talk about preservatives!  The reason my research began!  My son suffered with so many issues as toddler and it was after I realized he was coming home with fast food leftovers as many as four times a week!

I soon began my “brainwashing” to turn him off of fast food.  It worked! 

I also added omega 3’s into his diet as well as a high quality vitamin/mineral supplement and he’s been thriving ever since!

I’m going to list some excerpts I have come across.   I strongly advise you to do your own research. 

My goal is to get people started thinking about things they may have not thought of and to help us live longer “happier” and not live longer “miserable” and on a smorgasbord of medications!
 
Nearly half of the experts we talked to warned about the carcinogen acrylamide, a chemical that forms in some foods when they’re cooked at high temperatures by frying, roasting or baking. To make acrylamide, a food needs sugars, an amino acid called asparagine and hot temperatures—all of which are involved in the making of the fry. Along with potato chips, it’s the most often-cited source of dietary acrylamide.
 
Pasted from <http://time.com/3896083/french-fries-potato/>
It’s not yet definitive what acrylamide means for human health, but the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) just released its scientific two cents, saying that acrylamide “potentially increases the risk of developing cancer for consumers in all age groups.” The Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives has named acrylamide a human health concern in the past and called for more studies. “At very low concentrations, it will accumulate during the years of childhood and adolescence and will contribute to serious diseases, including cancer,” says Allal Ouhtit, professor at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman and author of a recent review on acrylamide. You should limit your intake of French fries, says Eric Morrissette, spokesperson for Health Canada, but eating them occasionally isn’t likely to be a health concern.
 
Pasted from <http://time.com/3896083/french-fries-potato/>
 
One way to cut down on the toxin is to cook fries for less time. “When the product is overdone—beyond the ‘golden yellow’—the amount of acrylamide in French fries increase exponentially,” says Vincenzo Fogliano, chair of food quality and design group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. People who eat a diet high in acrylamide may have a slightly increased risk of cancer, he says, but if fries are prepped in good oil that hasn’t been reheated, cooked for not-too-long and naked of mayo and ketchup, they’re a-ok. “French fries per se are not that bad as people think,” he says.
So agrees Steve Elmore, PhD, senior research fellow in the department of food & nutritional sciences at the University of Reading in the UK. “They are delicious, natural and like most foods, harmless in moderation,” Elmore says. He’s researched acrylamide since 2002, but doesn’t think there’s enough evidence to prove that it causes cancer in humans. He does have a French fry preference, however: thick-cut over thin-cut, which yields a lower fry-to-oil ratio.
 
Pasted from <http://time.com/3896083/french-fries-potato/>
 
The research took place over eight years and was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study analyzed the dietary habits of 4,400 people ages 45 to 79, focusing on how often participants ate potatoes ­—­ fried or not.
Researchers found that people who consumed fried potatoes ­— whether french fries, tater tots or hash browns ­— at least twice a week could more than double their risk of premature death. And the most shocking result was that, by the end of the study, 236 participants had died.
“I don’t think they died from eating french fries alone, but most likely the habit meant they also indulged in other high-risk eating behaviors,” nutritionist Beth Warren, the author of Living a Real Life With Real Food, told Yahoo Beauty. “It seems that those people in the study who consumed fried potatoes at least twice per week were more likely to have an overall unhealthy lifestyle.”
Researchers emphasized that the increased mortality risk appears to be related to frequent consumption of fried potatoes, an association not found with eating potatoes that were not fried. “Additional studies in larger sample sizes should be performed to confirm if overall potato consumption is associated with higher mortality risk,” they said.
 
Pasted from <https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2017/french-fries-bad-for-health-fd.html>
 
Let's face it, no meal at McDonald's is complete without an order of its delicious fries.
And to think, the world-famous french fries were added to the menu only as an afterthought. They replaced plain old potato chips in 1949, nine years after the first-ever McDonald's opened its doors for business in California.
THE SUSPECT: McDonald's French Fries Large (5.4 oz) (from the USA)
THE DETECTIVE: Dr. Christopher Ochner (a research associate at New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center) is very familiar with the McDonald's menu. A few years ago, Ochner -- who holds a doctorate of clinical psychology -- conducted his own “Super Size Me”-type diet experiment: Every day for two months he ate one meal at the fast food restaurant as part of a study.
NUTRITION LABEL: 500 calories, 25 grams fat, 63 grams carbs, 350 milligrams sodium, 6 grams fiber, 6 grams protein
LISTED INGREDIENTS: Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (to maintain color) and salt.
Prepared in Vegetable Oil (Canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil) with TBHQ and Citric Acid to preserve freshness of the oil and Dimethylpolysiloxane to reduce oil splatter when cooking.
*Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.
 
Pasted from <https://www.livestrong.com/article/1002598-whats-really-inside-those-mcdonalds-french-fries/>
 
Head's up, vegetarians and vegans: There's natural beef flavor in those fries!
And here's why:
Some 50 years ago, McDonald's cooked its fries in beef fat. When it switched over to a vegetable oil blend, it didn't want the fries to lose their famous flavor, so they opted to add natural beef flavor to the blend. Hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk are used as starting ingredients of the flavoring.
So, shockingly enough, these fries are not vegetarian, nor vegan!
In 2002, McDonald's paid $10 million to members of vegetarian groups including Hindus and Sikhs who had sued the chain for failing to disclose that beef tallow was included among the ingredients of the seemingly-vegetarian french fries. (The link to the New York Times article is linked below in the Resources section at the bottom of this article.)
 
Pasted from <https://www.livestrong.com/article/1002598-whats-really-inside-those-mcdonalds-french-fries/>
 
 
McDonald's spuds get dunked in an oil bath twice. According to Ochner, the manufacturers cut and boil them and possibly fry them once before freezing them and shipping them to restaurants, where they are fried again.
Here's what goes into that piping hot potato bath of oil:
a) Canola oil: This commonly used cooking oil is generally considered “good for you” when compared to others in its category. It's hard to tell how much of this particular oil is used versus the less healthy, and even fattier options. Because canola oil is a little pricier, Ochner speculates that McDonald's probably uses less of the good stuff and more of the others, like corn oil and soybean oil.
b) Hydrogenated soybean oil: When regular soybean oil goes through a hydrogenation process, its unsaturated fats become saturated fat, which in turn makes it easier to cook with and helps boost preservation. The downside is the new fat also becomes a trans fat, which has been strongly linked to heart disease.
You'd think that the recent nationwide mandatory call for removal of trans fats in all foods would have forced McDonald's to rethink its recipe. Nope. Ochner says that the FDA's definition of “zero trans fat per serving” means less than 1 gram per tablespoon, and that McDonald's found its loophole and still continues to serve a relatively low amount of trans fat in its fries.
 
Pasted from <https://www.livestrong.com/article/1002598-whats-really-inside-those-mcdonalds-french-fries/>
 
Here's what goes into that piping hot potato bath of oil:
a) Canola oil: This commonly used cooking oil is generally considered “good for you” when compared to others in its category. It's hard to tell how much of this particular oil is used versus the less healthy, and even fattier options. Because canola oil is a little pricier, Ochner speculates that McDonald's probably uses less of the good stuff and more of the others, like corn oil and soybean oil.
b) Hydrogenated soybean oil: When regular soybean oil goes through a hydrogenation process, its unsaturated fats become saturated fat, which in turn makes it easier to cook with and helps boost preservation. The downside is the new fat also becomes a trans fat, which has been strongly linked to heart disease.
You'd think that the recent nationwide mandatory call for removal of trans fats in all foods would have forced McDonald's to rethink its recipe. Nope. Ochner says that the FDA's definition of “zero trans fat per serving” means less than 1 gram per tablespoon, and that McDonald's found its loophole and still continues to serve a relatively low amount of trans fat in its fries.
d) Citric acid: This common preservative is considered safe to ingest, but there's something disturbing about how it works. If you remember Morgan Spurlock's alarming 2004 documentary “Super Size Me,” you will recall how McDonald's fries can last for months without breaking down at all, continuing to look like you bought them yesterday.
e) TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone): This super potent preservative, found in a large array of processed foods, is what might be helping citric acid keep long-dead fries from becoming zombies. Though it's also said to be safe, animal studies have linked it to stomach ulcers and damage to DNA.

1. Dextrose: Another word for sugar, this is third ingredient in McDonald's french fries, following potatoes and oil.

Now why would such a savory food need a dash of sweetness? Well, it's simple: It makes it taste better and it also increases addiction and cravings. New research shows that the body may convert the sugar found in foods into body fat more easily than it can convert fat found in foods into body fat.

1. Sodium acid pyrophosphate: This preservative is the reason McDonald's fries will retain a fresh-looking golden brown color rather than turn black when placed in a jar for two months. Yuck!

This same ingredient is often found in commercially prepared cake, pudding, waffle, pancake and muffin mixes, and it is also added to refrigerated dough products, flavored milk, cured meats, potato products and canned fish.

1. Dimethylpolysiloxane: What's an anti-foaming agent doing in your fries? Bizarrely enough, this silicone serves a purpose: McDonald's manufacturers likely add some to the water when boiling the potatoes before frying and freezing them for shipment. This probably helps speed up the process (no foam spilling over) and cuts back on cleanup afterward.

There's no proof that ingesting this stuff is harmful, but why would you want to?
 
Pasted from <https://www.livestrong.com/article/1002598-whats-really-inside-those-mcdonalds-french-fries/>