The Double-Edged Sword of “Healthy” Fast Food

I love getting guest bloggers and I'm sure this is one you will truly appreciate from

Tom Venuto

www.BurnTheFat.com

Let me know what you think. It is reasons such as this that we are so fat and unhealthy and it's time to start a serious dialog about what we are eating.

What’s on the menu at the big fast food chains lately? Oddly enough, the answer is… “health food!” Even more incongruous, many are marketing their food for weight loss. Healthy weight loss food at Taco Bell and McDonalds? Is this a noble move to be applauded, is it a big corporate money grab, or is it a double edged sword?

Remember Jared Fogle, the Subway guy? He lost 245 pounds while eating at Subway regularly. He simply picked the lower calorie menu items. Seeing an opportunity, the local store owner pitched Subway corporate with an idea. Before long, Jared was the company spokesperson in their nationwide advertising campaigns which became known as The Subway Diet.

Sales doubled to 8.2 billion. How much the increase came from the weight loss ads is unknown, but there’s little doubt that using weight loss as a marketing platform was a boon for the sandwich maker. Other fast food chains picked up the weight loss torch where Subway left off.

The latest is the Taco Bell Drive through diet, with their own skinny spokesperson: Christine! The ads, which are admittedly conservative, perhaps due to more stringent FTC laws, say Christine lost 54 lbs over 2 years by reducing her calories to 1250 a day, and choosing Taco Bell’s new lower calorie “Fresco” items.

These include “7 diet items with 150 to 240 calories and under 9 grams of fat.” For example, there’s a chicken soft taco with only 170 calories and 4 grams of fat.

For people who refuse to give up eating at fast food restaurants, this is arguably a positive thing. Take my brother for example, He’s not a total junk food junkie, but left to his own devices, he WILL make a beeline to Taco Bell and McDonalds.

I went to McDonalds with him a few months ago (I was dragged there), and he was about to order a bacon cheeseburger. I glanced at the menu and said, “That’s 790 calories!” I glanced down at his belly then continued, “Look, they have chicken wraps. Why don’t you have one of those?” Without questioning me, he agreed, apparently happy to get any McDonalds fix.

Right there at the counter they had the nutrition information sheets:

McDonald’s honey mustard grilled chicken wrap: 260 calories, 9 grams fat, 27 grams of carbs, 18 grams of protein.

That saved him 530 calories. Am I happy there was something with only 260 calories on the menu? Absolutely. Do I applaud the fast food restaurants for offering lower calorie choices? You bet. But the big question is: are these really “healthy choices?”

A few journalists and bloggers recently answered, “These fast food diet items are NOT healthy, they’re only ‘healthi-ER.’”

I think they’re both mistaken. I think this food is not healthy nor is it healthier. It’s only lower in calories. If you eat lower calorie food, that can help you lose weight and if you lose weight, that can improve your health. But what if your definition of healthy food includes nutrition, nutrient density and absence of artificial ingredients?

Let’s take a look at that very low calorie chicken wrap. Is it really healthier just because it’s got 1/3 the calories of a bacon cheeseburger?

Here’s the ingredients straight from McDonald’s website:

McDonald’s Grilled Chicken Breast Filet (wrap): Chicken breast filets with rib meat, water, seasoning (salt, sugar, food starch-modified, maltodextrin, spices, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed [corn gluten, soy, wheat gluten] proteins, garlic powder, paprika, chicken fat, chicken broth, natural flavors (plant and animal source), caramel color, polysorbate 80, xanthan gum, onion powder, extractives of paprika), modified potato starch, and sodium phosphates. CONTAINS: SOY AND WHEAT. Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservative), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color). (and don’t forget the 800 mg of sodium).

HOLY CRAP! Shouldn’t chicken breast be just one ingredient… chicken breast?

This is not food. It’s more like what author Michael Pollan would call an “edible food-like substance.”

What about the honey mustard sauce? The first ingredient after water is… SUGAR!

The flour tortilla ingredients? Enriched bleached wheat flour, also made with vegetable shortening (may contain one or more of the following: hydrogenated soybean oil, soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, hydrogenated cottonseed oil with mono- and diglycerides added), contains 2% or less of the following: sugar, leavening (sodium aluminum sulfate, calcium sulfate, sodium phosphate, baking soda, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), salt, wheat gluten, dough conditioners, sodium metabisulfite, distilled monoglycerides.

Trans fats? Sugar? Aluminum? Stuff you can’t pronounce and have to look up to find out it’s preservatives and disinfectants?

Don’t confuse the issues: weight loss and health…. Calories and nutrition. There IS a difference, and that is what makes “healthy” fast food a double edged sword at best.

Some people, like my brother, simply aren’t going to give up fast food completely. If I can get him to make better bad choices, that could help him control his weight. If that works, then I’m pleased that the fast food restaurants have such choices to offer.

But if you wanted to make a good choice - a healthy choice - you’d forget about “driving through” anywhere on a regular basis. You’d shop for whole, fresh, natural real food, keep a well-stocked kitchen… and learn how to cook.

The Subway diet, the Drive Through diet, or the Weight Watchers approved McDonalds menu (yes its true, what a pair that is!) Don’t kid yourself – this is not only not healthy, it’s not healthier – it’s lower calorie junk food.

“Welcome to our restaurant sir. Would you like a large plate of dog poo or a small plate of dog poo?”

“No thank you, I will take neither. No matter what the serving size, crap is still crap.”

Train hard and expect success!

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle
www.BurnTheFat.com

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle
www.BurnTheFat.com/inner_circle

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best seller, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder and fat loss expert who achieved an astonishing 3.7% body fat level without drugs or supplements. Discover how to increase your metabolism and burn stubborn body fat, find out which foods burn fat and which foods turn to fat, plus get a free fat loss report and mini course by visiting Tom's site at: www.BurnTheFat.com

Did you know?...... Working out, outside

Did you know that taking your workouts outside, like say a park area, can make you feel more relaxed and energized? Instead of the same, old boring routine at the gym, find a buddy to workout with while the kids play on the playground or join a boot camp (like Body Power Boot Camp here in Des Moines) and enjoy the great outdoors!

Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution"

There is a new show starting on ABC that shows how far gone we've gone in our food consumption as American's called Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution". There was a sneak preview this past Sunday and if you watched, I would imagine you were just as shocked at the ignorance of the people Jamie was working with as I was. I also believe that a good majority of us are just as ignorant and Jamie is doing this to enlighten us all.


Here is a preview of what you will see in this ground breaking show:







Over the next several weeks, you will see Jamie in Huntington, W. Va, considered the most unhealthy city in the US. While he is there, he is going to be working with schools, families and the town overall to help them overcome this title. While he is doing this, I'm sure he will be educating the whole country as well.



Just from the one hour preview on Sunday night, I can't help but be amazed at how little we as a country know about what we are putting in our bodies. There is a point where Jamie has boxes of frozen, processed meats that are on the menu for the school he is working at. He is sitting there with the lunch ladies (cooks, as they want to be called.....) and asks them if they recongize any of the ingredients on the boxes. Alice, the most outspoken of the lunch ladies, points to the list of ingredients that looks to be around 20 ingredients long, and says "Chicken breast, first ingredient" and "Ground beef, first ingredient" and "Potatoes, first ingredient". As if what is second or third or fifteenth doesn't really matter. If you want to eat chicken, eat chicken, not something that just lists it as the first ingredient.



Something else I noticed about these lunch ladies is that they were all at least overweight, if not obese. I know that some people have the frame of mind that "It hasn't killed me yet" and "I've always eaten this food and look how I've turned out!" (which usually makes me think, yeah, just look at how you've turned out....).



This show is going to be on ABC, Friday nights, starting on March 26th at 8PM/7PM Central.
If you aren't able to watch at this time, set your DVR or catch the episode at http://abc.go.com/shows/jamie-olivers-food-revolution.



Jamie also has a petition on his website, www.JamieOliver.com that needs to be signed to show support for his mission. You can check it out here:





Please sign the petition, because in order for this country to get to a state of health, we need people that are willing to stand up for us, like Jamie Oliver.



I plan to continue to recap the shows and starting a discussion on how we all can help with this mission over the next several weeks. Let me know what you think and what you plan to do to make the change.

Time for tea!

Part of my mission is sharing amazing, healthy deals with you when I run across them. As many of you probably know, tea is one of the best health drinks there is. Packed full of antioxidants and an excellent replacement for stronger stimulants like coffee, tea is something everyone should try to incorporate into their day! Check out this deal:

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Let me know what your favorite kind of tea is and why. I'd love to hear what everyone is drinking and learning about some that I might have not tried yet!

Aww, the elusive pull-up

Pull-ups seem to be the end all, be all of exercises, at least for many of us. I know of people who want the 6-pack abs, or want to run a certain distance without stopping or in a certain time, but it seems pull-ups are at the top of most people's lists of ultimate exercises. If you've been doing P90X, you've seen Tony Horton crank out a ton of pull-ups and you may have already conquered this quest too. But if you haven't yet, I've found the best blog article on everything you've ever wanted to know on how to be successful in doing your pull ups. You can read the whole article by clicking the link, but here are a few things the post explains:

Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Pull-Ups

• Don't go to failure
• Lose excess body fat
• Start in the proper position
• Maintain a slight elbow bend throughout the set
• Initiate with the lats
• Drive your elbows down
• Pull your chin to the bar
• Use a variety of grips
• Use a variety of rep ranges
• Strengthen your grip

I'd love to hear what you think about this post and how this changes your pull ups! Let me know!

Did you know?...... Fiber

Did you know if you add just 10 more grams of fiber to your diet everyday, you can reduce the amount of calories you eat by 10%? This adds up to better digestion, a feeling of fullness and overall weight loss. Add some ground flax seed to your daily Shakeology, commit to eating at least one salad a day or try a new veggie you've never eaten before!

No More Excuses!!!!

I hit a really big milestone recently. My oldest son turned 18 years old. I can hardly believe it myself, but my little boy is all grown up. The time has literally flown by. Just last week he was a sweet, happy, loving baby and now he is (technically) a man. Really make a person take a good, hard look at their life, I must say.

How does this relate to no more excuses? Well, let me tell you. We, as humans, are always making excuses as to why we can't do something. I know you all have done it from time to time. It is just human nature. We have this false sense of belief that we have all the time in the world to accomplish this or take care of that. Remember when you turned 18? Didn't it seem like it would be forever until you turned 30 or even 40, and how old that sounded? Looking back (no matter how old you are), doesn't it seem like just yesterday that you were 1, 5 or 10 years younger? The clock is ticking folks, and it's time to get rid of all the excuses why you aren't living the healthy, happy, fulfilling life you should be living. Hold on, we are going over some of the excuses that are really grating on my nerves, and it is likely going to be a bumpy ride!

1. I don't have the time to workout and eat healthy-

Really? Were you giving a day with less than 24 hours? A calendar with fewer than 365 days? I don't think so. We are all given the same 1,440 minutes in a day, 168 hours in a week.

The deal is, we don't all use our time in the best way. Tell me, what's the latest on "Grey's Anatomy"? Who got kicked of "The Biggest Loser" last night? Who did the Bachelor pick and will it actually work out for them? Seriously, if you have time to sit on your butt and what TV, you have time to spend 30 to 60 minutes exercising and making healthy, nutritious meals for you and your family. I'm totally not against enjoying your favorite TV show, but if you must watch, then get treadmill and get your butt on it (walking or running, not just sitting) while you watch the show. Or, DVR it so you can speed through the stupid commercials for stupid crap you don't need anyway. Then, you've freed yourself at least several minutes.

Another practically useless time sucker is the computer. How many times have you gotten on to "check email really quick" or "update my Facebook status" just to find that an hour has mysteriously disappeared? I've done it, so I know you have. You can try to deny it, but I know the truth. There again, not saying stay away from the computer (heck, you are reading this on the computer right now!) but set limits or better yet, do your workouts and reward yourself with some computer or TV time.

2. The kids/spouse/parents/whatever just keep me so busy-

I have kids and a spouse and parents and volunteer activities and a business and a couple hourly paid jobs and a dog and....... Get my point? We are ALL busy! Get rid of that lame excuse. Find the time (see #1 for a few ideas how, just in case you skipped over it!). If the kids keep you running taking them from this activity to that, then find a way to sneak in some exercise while they are at baseball/soccer/football/basketball (can you tell I have boys?) or whatever activity they are at. Instead of sitting in the bleachers shooting the crap about what happened on Grey's, get up and walk around the field or gym. Did you know that an hour's worth of walking can burn up to 400 calories, depending on how big you are and how fast you walk? So, instead of sitting around, grab one of your buddies and go for a walk while the kids are at their practice and lose this pathetic excuse. If you still want to shoot the crap, you can, but doing it moving instead of sitting still.

I know we all overextend ourselves with everything we have going on in our life, but if we don't start taking an hour a day to exercise, we will be dead 24 hours a day a lot sooner than we'd like. When we don't make our health a priority when we are healthy, we will have to make time for it when we aren't healthy. And the last I checked, the doctors offices have not gotten any more punctual, so you lose even more time every time you have to go pay them a visit. Get my drift?

3. It's too expensive to eat healthy and to exercise-

This is probably one of the weakest excuses there is. I know money is an issue for a large majority of people, yours truly included. But where there's a will, there's a way. So start with the will...

Take a look at what you are blowing your hard earned money on that could go towards eating healthy and exercising. When was the last time you bought a soda at the checkout at Target? Better yet, what kind of useless crap is even in that cart you could really live without? I find it totally amusing that someone would complain about spending $3 on a dozen free range, organic eggs but they have no problem buying 20 oz of brown, sugary liquid candy for $1.49 without batting an eye. And you know which one is going to end up on your butt, gut and legs and lead you down diabetes road? Give you a hint: it's not the eggs....

You really need to evaluate where your money goes. Don't tell me you have no money to buy Shakeology or organic produce when you have a cupboard full of chips, candy and soda. Don't tell me you have no money to buy P90X or Brazil Butt Lift or even just a set of dumbbells when you go out to the bar or to dinner every weekend. Don't tell me you can't hire a personal trainer or join the boot camp when you have every magazine there is out there. You get what I'm saying? I'm on to you and it's time to face facts; you do have the money, you are just not putting your exercise, nutrition and overall health on the top of the priority list.

So, give up Starbucks or your 20oz soda everyday, cut back on the magazine subscriptions, get rid of the junk food because the only thing that is doing is making you and your family fat and sick. Cut back on the going out and definitely get rid of the alcohol! That stuff will actually kill you and I really don't buy into the whole "red wine is healthy for you" BS because to me, that is just an excuse to drink. Get the same health benefits from red grapes, grape juice or acai berries.

Here are a few things to think about:

The corporations and the government are not looking out for your health or that of your family-

If you don't believe me, then check out movies such as "Food, Inc" and "Fast Food Nation", just to name a couple. The corporations also own Washington DC, so don't count on the government to make sure there isn't crap in the so-called food we are sold. And, just one more thing, that garbage in the boxes and packages they are selling you? It really isn't food, for the most part. They strip all the nutrients out of the real food, process it, put random chemicals, dyes, high fructose corn syrup and maybe add a few nutrients BACK in, then sell it to you with some crappy toy made in China and make the box all pretty and colorful so little Johnny will see in and start begging and throwing a temper tantrum just so he can get it.

So, you cave (we've all been there), buy the crappy cereal (in this example) and then head to the dairy aisle to get milk so little Johnny can pour it all over his bowl of dyes and chemicals. That milk, you know, the stuff from the "Got Milk?" ads? That stuff is full of antibiotics, because the momma cows get infections in their udders from being constantly hooked to the milking machines. You do know what infections are, right? Usually involves icky stuff like pus and blood, but milk is so good for you, so I don't what to freak you out. So, the next time you take Johnny to the doctor for yet another ear infection and you have to try another antibiotic because the regular ones just aren't working anymore, you can thank the dairy industry. Because of all the antibiotics the animals we use for food get pumped into them, we suffer the consequences too, by not having drugs that work when we really need them. Just another reason you need to be extremely aware about the stuff we are being sold under the category of "food".

Your lack of sleep is making you fat!
Back to "we're all busy" from earlier. What's the one main thing that we skimp on, other than our workouts, when we feel we are short on time? You guessed it, sleep. Well, I'll let you in on what that staying up too late an hour here and there is costing you.

• Lack of sleep is dangerous for your heart.
• Lack of sleep increases your chances of getting cancer.
• Lack of sleep makes us more stressed out.
• Lack of sleep increases inflammation.
• Lack of sleep make us less alert.
• Lack of sleep makes us forgetful.
• Lack of sleep contributes to weight gain.
• Lack of sleep makes us more prone to depression.

Now, I know that the amount of sleep a person needs varies from one to another, but a good rule is 7-8 hours of sleep. Less than that, you are doing harm to your body, but sleeping much more than that can also lead to a variety of problems too, like weight gain. So, if you are actually watching what you eat and aren't eating garbage food, for the most part, and are also exercising but still aren't losing weight, factor in your sleep. If you aren't getting enough, change that now! Stop making excuses for not taking care of yourself. If, yet again, you find you are spending time you should be sleeping doing things that waste time or can hold off until tomorrow, then stop it. Sleep is way to important to your health to put it low on the priority list.

The crap in your house or main living area is ruining your health.
For starters, if you have a clutter problem, odds are you have a shopping problem. Now that that's out of the way, here's some other bits of advice to chew on:

• If you have money to spend of junk you don't really need, then you have the money to spend on healthy food, workout DVD's and a gym membership.
• If your house is in disarray from too much crap, most likely that depresses you. When a person is depressed, they don't eat well and don't exercise.
• If you are in debt from buying too much junk you don't really need, you are more likely to be depressed, which tends to lead people to eat bad and not exercise.

So now is the time. Stop spending money on junk. No more bad food, no more bad purchases. Take some time and get a garbage bag. Go through your house and throw out things you don't need. If you need some guidance, check out FlyLady.net or get the great book "Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?" by Peter Walsh.

I know I've been a bit harsh and in your face in this article, but the thing is, people always make excuses. Your health is NOT something to play around with. One of these days, if you put it off long enough, you WILL be forced to face some frightening health news. Does it mean if you do everything right you will never have any problems? No, it doesn't. But it does significantly increase your chances.

If you have ever had a parent that has had a horrible health scare or even worse, died from the poor health choices they made in their lives, take a step back and imagine your kids and your loved ones facing the same thing with you. If that isn't enough to push you into making the best choices for your health, then I don't know what is.

I am here to help you in any way I can, but you are the one that needs to do the work. I am here to help you get on the the path, so please feel free to reach out to me. It is my mission to help as many people as possible get on the right path. Let me know what you think, what your excuses are or what you feel is holding you back!

Did you know?...... Spirulina

Did you know spirulina- the blue-green algae you can find in your nearest health food store is packed full of protein, vitamin B12, beta carotene, and iron? Because of this, adding spirulina to your diet can boost your metabolism by as much as 11%, researchers in Greece have found. Try adding some to your morning smoothie, protein shakes or sprinkle it on oatmeal or yogurt!