How Bad is Fast Food?

Athletes aren't noted for their long lifespans.

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Pumping harder doesn't lead to heart attacks it's leads to a stronger heart. Consider athletes.

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Doesn't that depend upon why the heart is pumping harder?

Well, yes, but the heart is a muscle and a healthy heart if it has to work a little harder develops like any other muscle.Working harder does that mean high blood pressure? high pulse rate? Is there a correlation between those things and height? I'm not saying Mr. Jack is wrong but on the face of it his reason doesn't seem adequate to me, which is why I'm asking for a study. Can it be shown that there is a correlation between survival and heigth? I know studies show this for weight. And if there is a correlation does it implicate some sort of heart malfunction?lfen

As I understand it, margarin (trans-fat) is the worse thing to fry with or to use as a topping...olive oil is, IIRC, quite good for the body -- cholesterol-wise.But I think I have read that it is the heating of oils that makes them bad for you -- IOW, frying/sauteing = bad for you (especially deep-frying).(ABE: but after reading a few more of your posts...I doubt that the olive oil vs margarin debate is news to you)Real butter (sweet cream)...especially whipped-and-unsalted...I can just eat it right by itself.--JasonThis message has been edited by TheLiteralist, 07-25-2005 10:36 PM

I work at a fast food restaurant. This does not make me an expert in the contents of our foods, though.But other reading prior to my working there gives me a little insight.At least one of our foods -- breakfast sausage patties -- contain MSG. MSG is extremely unhealthy and can have ill effects on you no matter whether you work out or eat fruits and vegetables.You should try to read/study about the benefits of eating organic foods. Refined foods (white sugar/white flour) are devoid of nutrition.White flour -- before the "eight essential" vitamins added back (in meager amounts, I might add) -- was responsible for causing rampant birth defects (due to the utter lack of one of the B vitamins). The FDA requires the B vitamin be added back...this stops a horrible consequence (birth defects), but adding a few vitamins back to prevent the most horrible of consequences is really stupid.(NOTE--it's stupid in that it is still sold to us...it's so horrible that they had to mitigate the very worst of the consequences...what other not-so-noticeable ill health effects does white flour plague our society with...and realize that white flour products usually advertise the adding-back (a small percentage of the nutrition that was stripped from the grain during processing) as a major health benefit......"FORTIFIED WITH EIGHT ESSENTIAL VITAMINS"...oh, good, now at least we won't give birth to deformed children when we eat your wretched products...how thoughtful and considerate of you)Whole wheat (esp. organically grown) is a nutrition power house. As is brown rice (organically grown). Natural, unprocessed foods are very nutritious.If you can (it's hard...esp. if you WORK at a fast food restaurant), cut the fast food out as much as possible...especially the sugary sodas. Frozen TV dinners are worse than fast food. Drink lots of water. I would take it easy on the sports drinks.--JasonThis message has been edited by TheLiteralist, 07-25-2005 10:19 PMThis message has been edited by TheLiteralist, 07-25-2005 10:25 PM

Bet them are tasty eggs, too. From the ages of about 9 to 14, my family lived in a rural area and we raised rabbits (not for eggs, mind you) and chickens (for eggs and meat). Home-grown egg yolks have a much richer color and flavor than the store bought white ones.I never became so familiar with our chickens that I could know which hen laid which egg by egg-shape, though...and ours were kept in a coop. Our ducks were "free-range" though because they could fly.I have been wanting to try some "free-range" beef...but haven't gotten around to it...the stores that sell such things not being as convenient and ubiquitous as the wal-marts and winn-dixies.--Jason

Here's a good article about the horrors of white flour:
http://www.newstarget.com/000976.html--Jason

I can certainly confirm this. Everyone who tastes my eggs, says they taste better. Well, I've only got three egg-laying chickens so far, so it isn't such a terribly difficult task. One advantage of knowing which hen laid which egg is that if you miss an egg, you know which chicken hasn't laid. It might be that it is laying its eggs somewhere else in the garden, and this way you know which one to keep an eye on. Our chickens can fly too - though not terribly well. But I guess that for them home is where those two people with the chicken feed are.

Well, I've found the following study results. Let me know if you want to see the links to the abstracts.Short stature is associated with coronary heart disease in men.Tall people of a given BMI get more cancer than short people in general.And this:

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At least one of our foods -- breakfast sausage patties -- contain MSG. MSG is extremely unhealthy and can have ill effects on you no matter whether you work out or eat fruits and vegetables.

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Monosodium Glutamate is a substance that has received a lot of negative press in recent years. There may be a small percentage of the population who reacts badly to it, but it is not at all the big bad monster everyone thinks it is. Most people who say they're allergic do not show any reaction when fed the stuff in controlled experimental conditions.To paraprase food writer Jeffery Steingarten, "If it was so terrible for people, why doesn't everyone in China (where added MSG is liberally used in everything) have a headache all the time?"Did you know that MSG is produced naturally in many foods? For example, Parmesan cheese is loaded with it. So I guess we can ask why northern Italians don't all have headaches?Here's a good short essay which provides the facts. I've pasted a couple of exerpts: linkThis message has been edited by schrafinator, 07-26-2005 08:10 AM

ALL food is made from chemicals. All of it. Every last effin' little bit. Will people PLEASE stop talking about chemicals as if they were something evil and bad!... and breath...

Well, monosodium chlorinate (table salt) should be used only in moderation, or so I've heard.The MSG is not naturally occuring in our sausage patties because it is listed as an ingredient in addition to the sausage itself."Load up on the MSG?"There is a sodium/potassium balance to be maintained, I thought. Adding sodium to the diet with all abandon might not be the most adviseable thing, but in processed foods sodium is ubiquitous -- in various forms (mostly salt and MSG).--Jason

Well, forgive my poor word choice, then.But not all chemicals are equally good for human consumption.--Jason

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Well, monosodium chlorinate (table salt) should be used only in moderation, or so I've heard.

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Sure.Too much of any one thing is not good.The point is, though, that MSG in specific is not the nutritional boogeyman that people think it is.

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The MSG is not naturally occuring in our sausage patties because it is listed as an ingredient in addition to the sausage itself.

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Yeah, but so what?What if they added kombu seaweed or parmesan cheese to the sausage?The sausage is still loaded with MSG via seaweed and cheese.

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"Load up on the MSG?"

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There is a sodium/potassium balance to be maintained, I thought.

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Indeed, and the body is very good at that, particularly the kidneys.People who have a history of having problems metabolizing salt or who have other health problems that salt exacterbates are one thing. People with normal kidney function can probably handle a sausage patty every once in a while.

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Adding sodium to the diet with all abandon might not be the most adviseable thing, but in processed foods sodium is ubiquitous -- in various forms (mostly salt and MSG).

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Right.Eat a variety of real (not processed) food, heavy on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and lean protein the majority of the time and you will probably be fine.MSG isn't a "bad" substance.

"MSG isn't 'bad'"Well, I won't continue to say that it is -- not unless I go do further research, of course.At least you are not saying that fast food is as good for a person as is whole grains, fruits-n-vegies, etc.--Jason