I heard on VOA today that one in three Americans eats fast food daily

[malaise]

No wonder big pharma controls cable TV

This is what. I found.
http://www.wsfa.com/2018/10/03/study-americans-eats-fast-food-daily/

The study took place over a four year period and surveyed 10,000 adults about their eating habits.
While the study did not find a difference in the fast food consumption between men and women, it did find that higher-income families ate fast food more than lower-income families.
Travis Hill, a personal trainer at Metro Fitness in Montgomery, Alabama, said the reason people gravitate toward fast food restaurants is because they’re convenient.
"It’s quick and easy, especially if you have kids. It’s cheap as well, and it’s easy to put your hands on,” Hill said. “It’s easy, so it becomes an easy habit to keep doing.”
But, if you keep eating fast food, it can have a negative affect on your health. Fast food tends to be high in sodium, cholesterol and calories, and that can lead to obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease, among other things.
“It can increase blood pressure. It decreases your mood and it increases things like your cholesterol," Hill said.

[Claritie Pixie]

1. It's simple, really. If you put garbage into your body, it will break down eventually.

So many people either don’t understand this or for whatever reason, just don’t care. They’re slowly killing themselves and yes, big pharma is more than ready to pounce when the inevitable breakdown happens.

[malaise]

2. The number scared me

I could not believe what I was hearing

[Claritie Pixie]

3. It's a lot, but our society has conditioned people.

It’s so convenient and tasty, and I would even say addictive. So much easier and cheaper to get McDonald’s on the way home. It takes time to shop and cook meals. And what if your kids don’t want to eat it? Don’t have to worry about that with fast food.

It’s sad, and the children growing up this way may never be healthy adults.

[Demovictory9]

14. its all around, its convenient, people work..both parents..its easy

[oberliner]

16. Your body will break down eventually regardless of what you eat

[TreasonousBastard]

4. They don't say what they mean by "fast food"...

Are they really saying that a cheeseburger is worse than a baloney and Velveeta sandwich made at home? Or grilled ribs loaded w/BBQ sauce? With a big bag of chips?

Pasta night at the local trattoria?

I'd be curious what they ordered at the takeout window (admittedly probably not the healthiest stuff) and what they eat the rest of the time.

[malaise]

7. True but they make a general point re sodium, cholesterol and calories

Fast food tends to be high in sodium, cholesterol and calories, and that can lead to obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease, among other things.
“It can increase blood pressure. It decreases your mood and it increases things like your cholesterol," Hill said.

[TreasonousBastard]

12. True, but so does canned soup. Our diets in general aren't all that great and is a burger from...

McDonald's worse than a burger from your own grill? When prepping for a party, how many buy the cheapest 70% chuck? And what's in that macaroni salad on the party sidebar? How much salt in the popcorn?

Is pizza "fast food"? A pastrami sandwich from the deli? Chinese takeout? A taco truck?

WebMD and Consumer Reports, among others, regularly do pieces on how to order healthier from fast food menus. I'm always surprised at the range of nutrition they discuss-- you can go really wrong at Panera.

Anyway, this isn't an argument (I hope) just mentioning that the American diet isn't always that hot and blaming burger joints for leading us astray might be pointing the blame a little the wrong way. We, after all, are their loyal customers.

My biggest, and eternal, complaint about them is drive-up windows. The next town over finally allowed a McDonald's, but did not let them have a drive-up-- which caused some of us to smile, but the screams of outrage could be heard in Connecticut.

[malaise]

15. I agree - lots of crap food is available in supermarkets

The only thing we buy in a can is tomato paste.

[hunter]

5. It's an easy high calorie dinner for you and your family. Do the drive-thru on the way home...

... from your job that's just as shitty as the fast food you eat is.

Who says America ain't already great???

I've eaten fast food four times this last week, my excuse being I've been on the road, driving, driving, driving.

Truth be I'd rather have taken gourmet meals on a train, Mediterranean olive oil and wine delicacies, and I could have afforded such, but there was none to be had.

Hello Taco Bell, home of the dead and soon to be dead dairy cow cuisine, washed down with High Fructose Corn Syrup Doctor Pepper.

Life is good, at least good enough...

I'm no snob, I like my #1 meal Burrito Supremes and Crunchy Tacos.

[malaise]

8. You made me laugh

[logosoco]

6. It is very sad as how this will impact the health of these people...

but it's also sad to think that if this wasn't going on, a lot of people may be out of work. There are a lot of people in the fast food industry. I think that is what is keeping the unemployment numbers so low. People gotta work and that's where a lot of jobs are.

And those are not always physically easy jobs, so it makes eating this food even more easy. It's like a vicious cycle. But it seems to be a lot of America today.

[jcgoldie]

10. yeah since we're looking at silver linings...

... Maybe it will extend social security for the rest of us.

[bullwinkle428]

9. This number is not hard at all for me to believe. I see how many co-workers leave the

workplace at lunchtime each day, and how filled up the drive-through lanes are at so many of the fast food restaurants I go by at any given time of day.

[sl8]

11. Link to survey:

Link to survey:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db322.htm

Fast Food Consumption Among Adults in the United States, 2013–2016

NCHS Data Brief No. 322, October 2018

PDF Version (412 KB)

Cheryl D. Fryar, M.S.P.H., Jeffery P. Hughes, M.P.H., Kirsten A. Herrick, Ph.D., MSc., and Namanjeet Ahluwalia, Ph.D.

Key findings
Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

• During 2013–2016, 36.6% of adults consumed fast food on a given day.

• The percentage of adults who consumed fast food decreased with age: 44.9% aged 20–39, 37.7% aged 40–59, and 24.1% aged 60 and over.

• A higher percentage of non-Hispanic black adults consumed fast food than non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic Asian, and Hispanic adults.

• The percentage of adults who consumed fast food increased with increasing family income.

• Among those who consumed fast food, men were more likely than women to eat fast food at lunch, but women were more likely to report eating fast food as a snack.


Fast food is a part of the American diet and has been associated with high caloric intake (1), and poor diet quality (2). Time, financial resources, price, and availability influence fast food consumption (3). This report presents data on the percentage of adults who consumed fast food on a given day in the United States during 2013–2016.

...

Figure 1. Percentage of adults aged 20 and over who consumed fast food on a given day, by sex and age: United States, 2013–2016



1 Men significantly different from women.
2 Significant decreasing linear trend with age.
NOTES: Age-adjusted estimates for 20 and over were 37.4% total; 38.4% men; and 36.5% women. Age adjusted by the direct method to the 2000 projected U.S. population using age groups 20–39, 40–59, and 60 and over. Access data table for Figure 1.
SOURCE: NCHS, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2013–2016.

...

More at link.

[malaise]

17. Thanks

[ProudLib72]

13. I heard this today as well, and was shocked that higher income people eat it more often

And for obvious statement of the day, I nominate this:

Travis Hill, a personal trainer at Metro Fitness in Montgomery, Alabama, said the reason people gravitate toward fast food restaurants is because they’re convenient.

DUH! Do ya think?

[malaise]

19. Yes that did surprise me

Convenience LOL- but I'm waiting to see the study on the number of people who can't cook. I have a feeling that one will also shock us.

[oberliner]

18. I would have assumed the percentage was much higher

More like 2 out of 3.