Fast Food Nation
Today, I drove from my home in San Diego, CA to my parents’ home in the SF Bay Area. It’s about an 8 hour drive (well with L.A. traffic it took me almost 9!), and I like to make my stops brief.
On road trips I always bring plenty of snacks. Today I munched on cashews and a Mojo Bar (lower carb cliff bar). But, snacking for me is not enough, and within 8 hours I need a substantial meal. Today I pulled off the highway in the middle of nowhere to gas up and get lunch. My options were:
Pizza Hut
Popeyes Chicken
Subway
Wendy’s
Taco Bell
McDonald’s
In N Out Burger
(Yes it was a major truck stop in podunk, CA!)
While I was leaning towards going to In N Out and ordering a burger “protein style” (meaning, no bun), I was concerned about the wait. So I opted for Subway (I ended up waiting 20 minutes in line anyway!). I ordered the Subway Melt, and the bread options were limited so I ordered it on Flat Bread (which is just as high in carbohydrates as my other options). I’m not crazy about Subway because: 1) even with peeling off some of the bread, it’s still a lot of carbs, 2) the meat they use is processed and has nasty nitrates and phosphates as preservatives, and 3) it’s very average-tasting.
Here’s the calorie breakdown of the Subway Melt:
Total Fat: 12g
Total Carb: 48g
Total Protein: 28g
Total Sodium: 1620mg
Wow. Well, if you take out let’s say 1/4 of the bread, as I did today, it’s still a little carb-heavy but not too bad. But that 1620mg of sodium is shocking to me. No wonder I was so thirsty after eating that sandwich!
I guess I’m still searching for something healthy in the fast food nation of truck stops!
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Tina Hagar on Sun, 3rd Jan 2010 3:01 pm
I had this problem when travelling in England before! The only food available is mcdonalds, burger king, costa coffee with their cake and muffins or small convenience shops with sweets and crisps ( crisps might be potato chips to you I think?) so unhealthy.
Wes on Mon, 4th Jan 2010 7:22 pm
Yeah, Tina, it seems that the only fast food difference between here and there is which side of the car the drive-thru is ordered! I’ve always wanted to see some explicitly healthy fast food places arise, complete with healthy proteins, various nuts and other fats, and lots of vegetables and fruits. Better fare needs to be demanded and supplied, that’s for sure.
W
Dr. Elaine on Fri, 12th Feb 2010 10:23 pm
This is a very interesting and timely film. It shows us the responsibility we all have in terms of the choices we make.
Self-healing
and self-care are essential ingredients of our health and well-being.