FAST FOOD FOR A FAST LIFE

Tatiana Jimenez

Kenny Arriaga

Aaron Rodriguez

California State University, Los Angeles

Author Note

First paragraph: Complete departmental and institutional affiliation

Second paragraph: Changes in affiliation (if any)

Third paragraph: Acknowledgments, funding sources, special circumstances

Fourth paragraph: Contact information (mailing address and e-mail)

Abstract (Summary)

This article focuses on the benefits of eating fast food and the reasons why it should be consumed more often. We begin by defining fast food to give a clear understanding of the options of that can be ingested. After defining fast food, we will provide a brief history on the growth of fast food franchises to make sense of the transformation in our current lifestyle to eat meals from fast food chains instead of a home cooked meal. Following the growth of fast food chains we will focus in the food consumption choices people make in the U.S. in order to challenge the mindset that all fast food chains are bad for people's health. Then we will discuss the fast paced lifestyle in order to see the convenience of buying food on the go. Finally we will provide examples of a healthy meal plan revolving entirely around fast food to compare it with the benefits of eating at home in order to show the benefits that fast food chains provide.

Keywords: Fast Food, lifestyle, convenience

Definition

Participants, evolution of Fast Food

Fast food restaurants are very common in the U.S. and it is the cause for its high consumption. From 2007-2010, 16% of people ages 20-39 consumed their daily calories from fast food (Fryar & Ervin, 2013). But these fast food chains were not very common 60+ years ago. As a matter of fact, the first fast food restaurant first opened in 1921 known as White Castle (Kieller, 2015). At this time hamburgers were seen as an undesirable product and were normally sold on street carts or lunch counters. Within two years, the White Castle owners opened another White Castle restaurant making them the first fast food chain and ten years after opening their first restaurant White Castle expanded to mostly all Midwest states. Soon after the success of White Castle, the first Mcdonald's restaurant opened in 1948 followed by Taco Bell and Burger King in 1950’s. Since the accessibility of fastly prepared meals in restaurants was not common around this time, the term “fast food” was not recognized until Merriam Webster Dictionary introduce it in 1951. Fast food was defined as; of, relating to, or specializing in food that can be prepared quickly. However fast forward to now, there is roughly 195,000 franchised quick serving restaurants and this number is continuously increasing.

Backgrounds and redefined definition

Over time many variations for the definition of fast food have been created. Google defines it as: food that can be prepared quickly and easily in restaurants or snack bars as a quick meal or to be taken out. When analyzing this definition and comparing it to Merriam Webster's, it is noticeable that the term “quick” is used in both definitions but there is not a specific time given to clarify what constitutes a meal as quick. As a result the definition for fast food is very vague, meaning that some people could define burger, pizza and hot dog franchises as fast food, while others could define a dine in restaurant such as Olive Garden, Bj’s, or Wing stop as fast food under the expectations that they will be receiving their food quickly. Some people even consider places such as Chipotle, Panda Express and Starbucks as fast casual restaurants instead of fast food restaurants . Fast casual chains are considered as restaurants that combined casual dining and fast food convenience, and are considered a higher quality of food. Even though the definition only specifies fast food as a meal that is prepared quickly, or fast, only fast casual and fast food chains will be covered as fast food. In other words dine in restaurants will not be considered as fast food in our case.

    Fast Food effects depend on choices. Analyzing and evaluating food choices at restaurant is the most important factor people seem to overlook when referring to the effects of fast food. Subsequently, people need to focus on educating themselves to make better decisions at fast food restaurants. The food itself neither the restaurant chains are liable for the irresponsible consumption but the customers themselves. Eating fast food is not sin, nor is a deadly disease. Eating fast food is a viable option when making the right selections. Eating fast food does not have an adverse effect which will be demonstrated throughout the report.

Average caloric intake, know your average, know how much fast food you can eat. to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (DPHP) and its 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines the estimate caloric intake “ranges from 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day for adult women and 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day for adult men”. (Promotion, 2018)The variance between caloric intake depends on level of physical activities.  By knowing such number, a person can determine which choices are best when consuming Fast Food. The most accurate the decision is there more fast food someone can eat throughout the day.

Average Caloric Intake Ages 21-25
Gender/Activity	Sedentary	Moderately Active	Active
Men	2,400	2,800	3,000
Women	2,000	2,200	2,400

  Healthier Choices, Evolution of Fast Food industry, New Trends, Future. There is a negative connotation about Fast Food, recently changes have been made to accommodate to new trends about eating habits. Fast food chains continuously modify their menu to adapt to such trends that is the case for most companies in the industry. The Fast Food industry has changed its focus and now offer more options for those people concerned about healthier habits. Therefore, allowing people to consume more of their products.

Healthier choices. As mentioned before, there relationship between negative effects of fast food depend on choices. Consumers have the power to decide which fast food products to purchase based on such choices people have more leverage in the amount of fast food that can be consume. Fast food restaurant provides caloric and fat content information for each of their product to help people analyze and compare their options. Based on nutritional value research done in some of the most popular fast food change, the following information was obtained to support the fact that people eat fast food does not affect them negatively. For example, a customer at Burger King can opt for a Double Whopper which contains about 830 calories or a Whopper Junior Sandwich with 310 calories. McDonalds offers the Angus Bacon with 790 calories and a regular hamburger with 250. To provide a helpful visual of such research, a summary of the research is presented in the tables and graph.

Option	Restaurant	Calories	Saturated fat
Double Whopper	Burger King	830	50
Angus Bacon	McDonalds	790	39
Steak Burrito	Chipotle	1350	19
Double-Double	In-n-out	670	18
Footlong Tuna	Subway	960	8
Banana Nut Bread	Starbucks	420	22

Option	Restaurant	Calories	Saturated fat
Whopper Jr Sandwich	Burger King	310	5
Hamburger	McDonald	250	3
BBQ Snack Wrap	Chipotle	250	3.5
Protein Style Cheese Burger	In-n-out	330	9
6'' Black Forest Ham	Subway	290	1
Petite Vanilla Bean Scone	Starbucks	120	4.5

New Trends and the future for food consumption, reshaping the fast food industry. As social norms evolve, industries must adapt to new cultural norms, new behaviors and habits. Our eating habits are not the same as they were 30 years ago, our views on how we spend time with family has changed, previously people viewed having dinner together as a mandatory family experience. Due to sociocultural changes, such views may no longer be applicable. The same concept can be applied to the Fast Food industry. The way people spend family time has changed, people no longer have the time to go home and make dinner. The definition of family itself has evolved, women are no longer just stay home mothers. All of these factors impact how fast food is perceived. There is a shift towards a different type of fast food, According to a article by the Los Angeles Times, people currently not only want fast and convenient but also healthy options, in the article “Zsofi Paterson, 29 said she avoids traditional fast-food joints but depends on sushi and the salad bar at Whole Foods for quick meals” which demonstrates that fast food is part of the American everyday life, whether or not people visit McDonalds or another restaurant, its convenience is priceless and unavoidable.

Nonetheless, health concerns are being addressed by different companies there are different type of fast food companies offering anything from salads bars to smoothies. As mentioned before health concerns can be reduce by simply making better choices when eating fast food currently “dinners can order Brussels sprouts salads and kale smoothies served with the same speed as In-N-Out or Burger King” (Li, 2014)  Companies know the value of healthier option and the industry is quickly evolving towards fast, convenient and healthy.

Emerging companies like Tender Green, Lyfe Kitchen, Veggie Grill, UberEATS, influence new eating habits. Tender Green is a fast food company which focuses on making food with locally grown ingredients and ethically raised animals creating an environmentally sustainable industry. Another example of a industry changing company is Lyfe Kitchen. Founded by Mike Donahue who spent more than 10 years doing research about the fast food industry and has now created a revolutionary concept. Lyfe Kitchen offers “burgers with grass-fed beef and decadent chocolate desserts, all under 600 calories” (Li, 2014) demonstrating that fast food can be healthy, convenient and tasty as well as supporting the argument towards a new future for the industry. There is also Veggie Grill which offers fast food for vegetarians, offering meatless cheeseburgers and chicken wings. The reality is that as society, fast food is part of our daily life, there is absolutely nothing wrong with consuming it, people just must make the right decision, look for the best of options. It all a matter of education and evaluating options.

Results

Eating at home is unhealthy because at home people are more likely to eat more because food is cheaper to buy in larger quantities. People are more likely to eat 2 to 3 burgers at home opposed to only buying one at McDonalds.

Outcome 1 of the calories count

    The angus bacon at McDonalds has 790 calories. Opposed to a homemade recipe with 472 calories per burger. However, at home people are more likely to eat 2 or more burgers because of the accessibility and the low cost of supplies. So a bacon cheeseburger would be more around 944 calories in a meal opposed to the angus burger at 790 calories. At home people are more comfortable with eating more because they have more time and eating is a social event opposed to eating being a way to consume calories. So meals when eating at home tend to be longer and food will be in sight so people will be more likely to consume more  

Outcome 2 (Prices)

    Cooking at home is more expensive because of the labor cost. Cooking most foods take 45 minutes opposed to at fast food restaurants where it will take around 10 minutes. So on labor cost at home it would cost a person $7.88 opposed to 1.75 in labor cost. Using the time factor cooking at home actually costs more and in a lifestyle where According to the Department of Labor Statistics americans spend 13.6 minutes per meal. According to this data Americans seem to not have the time to spend on eating because of a busy lifestyle. Fast food helps them be able to get food quickly and be able to take care of the things they need to do in life.

Discussion   

Buying fast food is also useful because they show you exactly what a portion size is and how many calories it has.  When people cook they tend to add more seasoning to make it taste better which can increase the amount of calories that are in the food. Another reason fast food is a good thing is because they portion out the food for you. When someone eats at home they are more likely to eat more food because of the low cost of the materials to cook. People these days do not have the time to spend on cooking and eating so in this busy times fast food provides the energy quickly and lets them get back to their lives.

References

Fryar and Ervin, 2013

C.D. Fryar, R.B. Ervin Caloric intake from fast food among adults: United States, 2007–2010. (NCHS data brief No. 114). National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD (2013). Retrieved from:http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db114.pdf

Kieller, 2015

Kieller, A. (2015). The White Castle story: The birth of fast food & the burger revolution. Consumers Media (2005-20128). Retrieved from:https://consumerist.com/2015/07/14/the-white-castle-story-the-birth-of-fast-food-the-burger-revolution

Burns, J. (2017, October 24). All-American Bacon Cheeseburgers Recipe. Retrieved from https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/all-american-bacon-cheeseburgers