SPRINGER: Fitness: Make wise choices in fast food

Our vehicles are no longer just modes of transportation. They serve as mobile offices, dinning rooms and beauty centers.

People can be seen doing everything while driving, especially eating. Eating on the go is now common with people trying to squeeze more hours out of their day but eating in your car can pack on weight.

Let's examine some ways to make your vehicular eating experiences convenient and healthy.

Fast food restaurants can be found on every corner but can also cause the demise of a well-planned diet. If you have no alternatives, there are several healthy choices that can be made in the drive-through.

First, get used to ordering your sandwiches without cheese. One slice of cheese adds about 110 calories to a sandwich, most of which is fat. Second, hold the sauce; mayonnaise and "special sauces" also add extra fat grams to sandwiches. Try alternative condiments like: ketchup, mustard or fat-free dressing to add taste without adding calories.

Next time you are at a fast-food restaurant, ask if they have a nutritional value sheet available. If not, you can easily find this information on the Internet or by writing to a restaurant's corporate office.

By getting an idea of just how damaging some of these fast-food choices are, you will be more likely to avoid them or reduce the frequency of your trips.

Remember that choices like chicken and fish are not always better alternatives to a hamburger. A small plain hamburger will almost always have less fat and calories than a processed and fried piece of chicken.

Skip the value meal. Although this seems like an obvious tip, many of us end up buying a large drink and fries because it seems like such a deal. Do not get sucked into this sales ploy. A large McDonald's french fry order has 540 calories and 26 grams of fat. That is more than most small sandwiches on the menu.

Carefully planning your day will help you avoid the fast-food dilemma completely. Pack a piece of fruit, an energy bar, some pretzels or a bag of dry cereal and leave them in your car. When you are on your commute home and those hunger pangs kick in, you will have something healthy to fight back with. Most fast-food purchases are made on the spur of the moment when we are most vulnerable.

The reason fast food is so alluring is not so much the quality of the product or the speed at which it is made. After all, it takes just as long to run into a convenience store and buy a bottle of water and a Power Bar. Fast food is comforting and we often have an emotional tie to a certain one. We can always rely on fast food to be the same every time no matter where we are in the world.

To read more about how fast food has shaped our nation and our waistlines, check out "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser. The first part of the book chronicles the rise and history of fast-food restaurants and how they have become part of our pop culture. The book also delves into the graphic side of where our food actually comes from.

Finally, this book emphasizes what we already know, fast food has directly contributed to the fattening of our nation.

So, when eating on the go, remember there are alternatives to fast food. If you must indulge, at least try to make healthier choices by being specific with your order.

Finally, if you still crave fast food regularly, check out Schlosser's book, you just might look at that Big Mac in a whole new light.

Kim Springer and her husband, Mike, are Certified Personal Trainers and owners of Springer Training. They can be reached at 233-9442 or at their Web site www.springertraining.com.


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