The Fast Food Controversy: Is McDonald's really a culprit?

The McDonald's jingle is known nearly everywhere. A teenager walks down the street whilstling "I'm lovin' it!" and the people around him grin and nod. Maybe they are even impulsive enough to buy a McDonald's cheeseburger. This is easy enough to do, with 123 McDonald's stores around South Africa. I went to one of these stores recently, and was amazed at how overcrowded the McDonald’s fast food chain store was. People of varying races, ages and sizes were sitting down, wolfing down greasy, lopsided burgers; brown oily fries and large Cokes. And they sure were lovin’ it! It also crossed my mind that many of us eat the same food on a regular basis; some of us nearly every day! And many of us rarely stop to think about the types, quality and quantity of food we put in our mouths and their effects on our bodies.

In the past, McDonald’s has found itself in a lot of hot water and has been slammed for its poor quality food. It has also been accused of taking advantage of the “little people” through persuasive advertising and has been involved in numerous court cases which claim that McDonald’s food causes obesity.

Taking Advantage of the "Little People"

In the McLibel court case, McDonald’s was accused of using gimmicks to market their fast food meals at kids. These gimmicks were aimed at making a child’s visit to the restaurant fun, thus encouraging them to return to that same restaurant again. McDonald’s is now aiming their advertising at teenagers and low-income households, who will buy the food as it is cheap and they think you get more value for money. However, this is not the case. In the States, there is the new One Dollar Menu, where for just under one dollar; young people can buy burgers or nuggets with fries. But for that one dollar, there are not enough essential nutrients to make that meal worthwhile. This one dollar menu is also being offered is also being offered to young people already at risk for chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes. Thus, people are spending their income on cheap food and saving money, but are creating a heavy health cost at the same time. This situation is no different in South Africa, where nearly 50% of young people are overweight or obese and are at risk.

Does McDonald's Fast Food Cause Obesity?

In order to determine this, one has to look at how Obesity is caused and the nutrient content of McDonald’s products. Obesity is caused by the combination of a poor, inactive lifestyle and poor diet. High fat, highly processed fast food has lots of kilojoules, which may not be burnt up. This is then stored in the body as fat. These poor diet and lifestyle choices soon become habitual and lead to obesity.

The McDonald’s website (in South Africa) gives a menu with all of its products, but it doesn’t give the ingredients or nutrient content in these products. The American McDonald’s website does however give a breakdown. McDonald’s food products do provide the consumer with carbohydrate, protein and fat; however the quality of those essential nutrients is questionable. The carbohydrates are refined and low in fibre; the fat is highly saturated and has very little unsaturated fat and the meat is also fatty. Thus the general consensus about McDonald’s food (and most fast foods in general) is that they contain high amounts of saturated fat, animal protein and sodium (salt) and they contain very little fibre and should not be eaten often.

The report that McDonald’s food causes obesity is unfounded. If McDonald’s food is incorporated into a normal healthy diet, it will not cause obesity. In a court case in 2003, two obese New Yorkers claimed that the McDonald’s food they had eaten several times per week had caused their obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure (hypertension), as McDonald’s had not informed them of the high fat, sugar salt and cholesterol levels in the food. However, it could not be proven that McDonald’s meals caused their ailments, as it could have been due to genetics.

• 
  It should also be noted that obesity can also be caused by eating large quantities of any food, particularly starchy foods like potatoes and chips, cakes, pastries and bread as well as fatty meats and sweet foods like chocolates, ice-cream and sweets.

McDonald’s literature suggests that its food be eaten in moderate amounts and a variety must be eaten, but this does not help the person choose how to plan a healthy diet and decide on how many times per week to eat McDonald’s.

Finally, McDonald’s is a global economic company, which tries its hardest to persuade the public that its food is good for them and that they should buy it. Despite enforcing a “Get Active” programme and giving balanced lifestyle tips, McDonalds is a culprit as it does not encourage its customers to choose the healthier and more expensive options and is still able to sell more cheeseburgers and fries than healthier meals and salads. There is also no specific guideline which tells you how many times per week to eat fast food, however having it once or twice every fortnight and whilst continuing to eat a healthy diet seems acceptable and shouldn’t cause obesity. So enjoy your next Big Mac and keep this post in mind!

The Importance of Being Nuts About Health. I'm Nuts, Are You?

Health

It’s a screaming, daunting, word that appears nearly everywhere in women’s magazines, newspaper articles and self-help books causing many to regret eating that KFC they had for lunch and quickly skip a couple of pages. It is also all over the internet, with numerous websites offering outrageous claims and programmes expensive enough to make your head whizz.

• Health is defined as a state of complete mental, physical and emotional being without the presence of disease. However, health also involves understanding what one eats and how one exercises and this shouldn’t be a daunting task, especially if it means you are leading a much healthier lifestyle by the end of it.

Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle

Chronic diseases are taking over, with various cancers; both type 1 and type 2 Diabetes Mellitus; cardiovascular heart disease and coronary vascular disease, obesity and metabolic syndrome on the increase in both developed and developing countries.

Many of these diseases are already epidemics, with diabetes in particular being in the lead, with over 230 million people currently affected by the disease and if that isn’t scary enough, every ten seconds, a person dies of diabetes-related causes. There is also a strong link between these diseases and the rise in morbidity and mortality as a result of eating a poor diet lacking in essential nutrients and a lack of physical exercise.

• What is interesting to note, is that despite all the information about healthy eating being available, people still continue to eat poor diets. South Africa is a notable case, as a middle- income country with enough food to sustain its people and to export to foreign countries yet with millions of people living in poverty, there are more obese, undernourished people than underweight, undernourished people. It is possible for obese or overweight people to be undernourished, for example, they may be eating a diet rich in starch, protein and fat, but they may also be lacking in sufficient amounts of essential vitamins and minerals.

Nutrition and Exercise

Nutrition and exercise both form the basis of good health and are words which make many people cringe and immediately hide their packets of chips and pull in their stomachs. There is great emphasis on food and eating a varied diet which includes starch and wholegrain breads; legumes and pulses such as baked beans and lentils; fruits; vegetables; nuts and seeds; lean animal protein such as chicken, fish and game; eggs and low fat dairy products.

• Nutrition is the science of food and its interaction with the human body to promote and maintain health.

In South Africa, the government has advised that South Africans eat according to the Food Based Dietary Guidelines. There are eleven guidelines and these are based on the consumption of locally available foods.

The Food Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) include:
1. Enjoy a variety of foods
2. Be active
3. Make starchy foods the basis of most meals
4. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables every day
5. Eat dry beans, peas, lentils and soy regularly
6. Chicken, fish, milk, meat or eggs can be eaten daily
7. Eat fats sparingly
8. Use salt sparingly
9. Drink lots of clean, safe water
10. If you drink alcohol, drink sensibly
11. Use foods and drinks containing sugar sparingly and not in between meals

In order to promote and maintain health, one doesn’t only need to consider nutrition, but also exercise (I can visualize many groans here). We need to exercise for several reasons; the main reason being to avoid any chronic diseases. The benefits of exercise include cardiovascular fitness, increased bone density which helps against osteoporosis; helps develop and strengthen muscles and joints; increases the amount of energy your body has so you are able to perform more activities in one day; you are better able to deal with stress and it helps beat insomnia. Exercising daily also helps to maintain our body weight.

• There are various types of exercise to do, the best being cardiovascular exercise such as running, walking, playing squash, soccer, swimming and aerobics. This type of exercise should be done on low intensity for 45mins, 3-5 times per week. The longer and more intense the exercise, the greater the benefit! It is also critical that if either one hasn’t exercised before or one hasn’t exercised for a very long period of time, one must see a health professional for a medical check-up.

Finally as first week of the New Year passes, for many of us, that New Year’s resolution to eat healthily and hit the gym every day is becoming more and more motivating and achievable. Improving one’s health often means a complete lifestyle change and all one needs is a little knowlege and motivation. And if the frightening statistics aren’t enough, there is also always this website (which will soon have many articles on different aspects of nutrition and health) and a fellow “HealthNut’s” inspiration and encouragement!