Take-away Meals. How Many Times a Week Do You Eat Take Out Food?

How often do you eat take out? Once a week or more?

asked by MPG Narratives 4 weeks ago

A few people answered this question when it was asked in the "Answers" section of Hubpages and it seems on average people eat take out more than once a week. The average is around 3 or 4 times. With the obesity epidemic currently sweeping many affluent nations we should all be asking exactly what is in the take away meals we buy, exactly how much salt and sugar are we consuming, especially in the 'so called' healthier versions of take out meals?

It is so easy to eat take out meals in our busy world especially with 24hr food delivery, eating out guides at our finger tips and pizza delivery from your local area. All you need do is call and within 30 minutes your meal is at your home. It's just too easy.

Even if you're not interested in home delivery, just google fast food outlets in your area and you will have ample choice of places to go to and have a fast, and generally cheap, meal.

The question is 'how cheap?' The food is initially cheap to purchase but consider what it is doing to your health long term and the cost is a lot more. Billions of health dollars are spent on complications of obesity world wide, something serious needs to be done. The amount of calories eaten in one day is important, consume the right amount of calories and your health will benefit.

Many of the fast food giants are trying to do their bit to address the obesity epidemic by adding 'healthy' meals to their menus of burgers/chicken/fish and chips. On the surface it seems they are trying to amend their ways as they are being blamed for some of the obesity problems but when you buy a salad from McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut or any other large fast food outlet, is it really better for you than their other menu items?

Salads can be just as fattening as burgers if the salt and sugar contents are high and especially if they are laden with sauces and other condiments.

When thinking about take away meals it is usually dinner that comes to mind but when you are considering healthy choices you must look at every take away meal you purchase in a week.

For example, what about lunches and snacks? Do you buy your lunch every day and how many 'banana bread' or other snacks do you consume?

To be serious about losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle all the food you consume has to be taken into account. The best way to do this is to keep a food diary and record your daily consumption.

The following is a list of menu items offered by various companies in their 'healthy options' category. These are the worst offenders as they have high salt and sugar levels. The Coffee Club's "Caesar Salad with Chicken" has more salt than the following burgers.

Sodium Content in Burgers

1. Hungry Jack's Whopper Double Beef, onion rings 2451mg
2. McDonalds Double Quarter Pounder, large chips 2343mg
3. KFC's Zinger Double BBQ Bacon and Cheese Burger 2410mg

All take out meals should be seen as a treat or a "sometimes food", they are very tasty because of all the salt and sugar they contain which leaves you wanting more, but eating these meals more than once a week is going to lead to weight gain unless you exercise the extra calories off. Other health problems will occur with excess comsumption of fatty foods.

Nutritionally these take out meals do not give your body want it needs in vitamins and minerals, so opt for fresh food choices whenever you are able. Being serious about your health means you must try and monitor your food intake so when it comes to fast food options make these meals an occasional treat, not part of your everyday diet.

In a related topic in The Sunday Telegraph (Dec 12, 2010) health officials are outraged that KFC is offering gift cards worth up to $500.

Professor Rob Moodie (Preventative Helath Taskforce) said, "This stuff is fine if it's just once a month, but if it's twice a week, or $500 a year, it's completely different."

Aggressive marketing by the fast food giants is becoming outrageous with stunts such as this and also direct marketing to kids through sports clubs with offers of 'upsizing' meals for free when they join a kid's club.

This is the type of advertising which is feeding the obesity epidemic and there should be regulations put in place to stop such marketing.