Interesting and Fun Facts About Fast Food

 Each month, nine out of ten American children go to a MacDonald’s restaurant.
 In 2006 Americans spent almost 142 billion dollars on fast food.
 During the early 1990s, the ordinary hamburger was thought to be unsafe to eat and food that should be eaten only by the poor.
 Johnny Carson, the late night talk-show host and comedian once labeled the hamburger, the “McClog the Artery.”
 There are more than 300,000 fast food restaurants in the U.S., alone.
 Television has expanded the ability of advertisers to reach children in order to develop brand loyalty early in life. It is a fact that today the average American child watches more than 10,000 food advertisements each year on television.
 Eating fast food can result in high levels of insulin, which has been linked to the rise of Type 2 Diabetes.
 French fries are, hands down, the single most popular fast food in America.

Did you know that the food industry in the US spends more than $33 billion a year to advertise products that are loaded with fat, salt and sugar? If I didn’t know better, I would think that a conspiracy to bring down Americans is alive and working diligently night and day! And to counteract such advertising, the American Cancer Institute spends $1 million a year to encourage people to eat fruits and veggies. What a difference in ratio—33billion to 1 million! Another interesting fact is that fast food companies make much higher profits on soft drinks than on their food products. Must be a lot of people who enjoy their beverages much more than the food!

And, it is interesting but not surprising to note that McDonald’s is the largest owner of playgrounds in North America.

With our economy in a down slide and people rushing and hurrying everyday, unable to have the time to make their lunches or dinners, it looks like fast food is here to stay. When people come home from a hard day, they are not often up to cooking and preparing meals. But, with the knowledge that much of the fast food is unhealthy and not really cheap—the average meal is around $7, it might be best to look at some alternatives. Alternatives to fast food eating out are: only going to fast food restaurants on the weekends, taking time for breakfast at home and taking a lunch with you and when you have to eat fast food, get substitutes such as—a side salad instead of fries, a diet soda instead of a regular soda, grilled chicken salads instead of regular chicken salads.