Fighting Obesity and the Perils of "Eating Out" Once a Week

Eating out frequently, and particularly at fast food joints (see: What Americans Eat; More Calories and Increased Restaurant Food Consumption), can pose a threat to your health. A recent article quantified this threat in a way that I had never seen before (see: Fighting Obesity: The Restaurant Angle). Here it is the article unedited:

Guess what? Eating out leads to weight gain. In fact, the USDA calculated that for each weekly meal outside the home, we gain 2 pounds of body weight annually. Here are two more interesting facts:

• About 30% of our total calories are consumed outside the home
• This is double what it was just 30 years ago.

Why is eating out so hazardous to our waistline? Mostly because portion sizes are much bigger today than in the past. Restaurant owners know that consumers optimize value for money. And more food means more value. Or does it? Bigger portions equal more calories. And since restaurants are a business, they don’t necessarily invest in the healthier calories, but rather the cheapest ones that taste good. Lots of fat, sugar and sodium (see: Some Salty Facts Keeping to a Healthy Diet). The USDA found that there are not enough veggies in a restaurant dinner compared to a home cooked meal. And eating out for breakfast will not add a sufficient amount of whole grains to your diet compared to home. Calorie labeling on menus, while still a recent phenomenon, has not made a significant dent in our consumption habits (see: Will Posting Calorie Counts in Fast Food Restaurants Help Curb Obesity?) . So, what will it take for us to either:

• Eat more home cooked meals, or
• Get chefs and cooks to prepare healthier meals for us when we eat out?

I know full well how tough it is to "eat healthy" when traveling. However, I don't think that that the various excuses we spout for eating fast food when at home turf are justifiable. It's convenient and it's fast. I also understand that fast food is inexpensive but I also believe that it's really not that expensive to eat a healthier diet. You do need to cultivate broader cooking skills including an awareness of how to cook various grains that you can buy in bulk. Anyway, just keep this in mind: for each weekly meal outside the home, we gain 2 pounds of body weight annually.

Comments

[MonaVie]

That is also the reason why when we travel I always make sure we carry food that I had prepared the night before. It's very hard to take a risk of not knowing where you can eat on the road if it's going to be healthy or not.