Truth About Fast Food Restaurants
A lot of us have shows about fast food and how they are abundant in low income restaurants, and how they contribute to obesity in many people that live there. The truth about fast food is that it is not at all healthy for these people.
Poor people tend to have less to choose from when it comes to eating out. Therefore, it’s hard to entirely fault them. It may sound ironic when you think about the fact that some of the cheapest foods are the ones with the most calories. Doesn’t this go against the logic of what one would expect? Why is it so easy to fill ourselves up for such a low cost? Regardless of the situation, this is how the world works these days when it comes to nutrition. Many times, those without the financial means to buy whatever they want as a means of survival will choose to chase the lowest price and a nearby location purely out of the necessity since they have no other options. As a result, that cheeseburger they bought for a buck seems like a great buy, but it is loaded with calories and it is not at all healthy.
Not only has there been a documentary on the issue, but government has taken interest in fixing this problem as well. The New York City Council has recently passed rules that require fast food restaurants to label their food with nutrition data that shows people what they are really eating.
Sadly, even with the new labeling regulations, a survey showed that New York’s poor haven’t really changed their eating patterns, and continue to make unhealthy choices with their food.
Stores like KF and McDonald’s argue that the survey is incorrect and their customers really are making healthier choices in their eating habits. Why the inconsistency? What can explain the discrepancy between their figures and the surveys?
One possibility for the inconsistency in the numbers is that the unhealthy chains include the figures from the healthy ones. This means that places like Subway, which offer healthy food are being combined with the data from places that don’t serve healthy food. This makes the scores inconsistent and influences the results.
What New York City does is take data from the wealthier neighborhoods and combine that with the results from the poor parts of the city. This make the numbers look better, but nothing is really changing with regards to safety.
In the end, the city is being pointless in labeling their fast food stores because nobody is really changing their habits.
