If you think going to McDonald or Dunkin this morning was your own idea, well think again. From piping tempting smells from the restaurants to sneaky advertising road signs discover how fast food companies trick you into eating more junk food.
1. Fast Food restaurants are designed to make us eat too much too fast.
Everything about a fast food restaurant encourages us to clean our trays quicker than we normally would. The color red, the bright lighting, the clatter of noise, and the nonstop smells all make us think we’re hungrier and in more of a rush than we really are.
2. They change the meaning of basic words, like “Small”
Take a look at above picture. Does anyone really need 300 ml or 17 oz. of soda in one sitting? Or better yet 700 ml or 24 oz. in one setting? The answer is no. Even a “small” soft drink at Wendy’s is now 20 ounces. That’s 25 percent bigger than before the name change. If the Japanese are getting along fine with smaller sizes, why can’t we? At McDonald’s, America’s smallest size, “kiddie” is bigger than a Japanese adult “small.
3.They know that seeing a food “can stimulate unplanned consumption” even when you’re not hungry.
Research has found that greater exposure to fast-food advertising and lower fast-food prices are associated with greater fast-food consumption and higher body weight among children and adolescents.
4. They pretend that buying happy meal is the same as helping sick children
The only way to take back our children’s health especially fighting those disease that are diet related is we must hold industry accountable for its role in making our kids sick. Pouring taxpayer dollars into nutrition education and physical activity programs while failing to address the junk food marketing that drowns out such worthwhile initiatives. is utterly useless.Each year, McDonald’s and its competitors use giveaways like toys in Happy Meals to sell more than a billion junk food meals to children under 12.
5.They sneak salt, oil, sugar and fat into the foods that they market as” healthy”
Thought your Apple Pecan Chicken Salad was a responsible choice? With 27g of fat, 1350mg of sodium, and 37g of sugar, Wendy’s lowest calorie salad is anything but healthy. That’s more fat than their Double Stack burger (25g), more sodium than their 10-Piece Chicken Nuggets (870mg), and more sugar than their Vanilla Frosty Cone (34g).
6. They use fake smells to make you think you’re hungry when you aren’t.
Fast food companies use flavor industries as a secret weapon to make man-made additives and volatile aromas that give most processed food most of its taste and aroma. Without this flavor industry, today’s fast food industry could not exist.
7. They get us while we are young
Because our eating habits start forming before we’ve even taken our first steps, what we eat as kids may determine what we consume as adults. So when fast food companies lure children in with toys, playgrounds, cartoon characters, and a very famous clown, they’re not just peddling Happy Meals. They’re creating lifetime customers.
For some reason my comment is not showing up. The short version: Excellent information and examples in this blog article- thanks.
Jenny, it is now, it just had to be approved. Great to have you in the conversation. ~ JAM
Very informative! And the graphics make it very clear– I certainly didn’t know about the relative ‘small’ sizes of soft drinks per country, and how the flavor and aromas are completely manufactured by flavor companies. Thanks for this info.