Home-Cooked Meals vs. Fast Food

Today everyone is working, so you probably won't find a hot meal in the kitchen every day. Most families eat out because there tired and it's quick for them to do. This essay will tell you about the similarities and differences between fast food restaurants and home-cooked meals. Home-cooked meals vs fast food makes a comparison between meals that are prepared at home and meals that are purchased from fast-food restaurants. Home-cooked meals can be made from fresh ingredients such as vegetables and fruits.

When it comes to feeding your mind and body, nothing is better than preparing your food from stratch, with qualilty ingredients you can serve with love. They also do not have as much sodium and fat as fast food meals. They also do not have as much sodium and fat as fast food meals. Home-cooked meals can be made from fresh ingredients such as vegetables and fruits. They are more nutritional and don't have as many calories and saturated fat than fast-food meals.

In the time it takes to use your gas, drive to the restaurant, place your order, wait for your order, return home and serve the meal, you can make a three-course meal from stratch with time to sit back and relax. Preparing meals at home also allow you to control the amount of salts and oils you use in your recipes. This reduce weight gain. Home-cooked meals can also offer variety as well as time spent with your family in a closed setting, for example, The whole family sits down to eat and it's more healthier for your family to eat.

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Children benefit greatly from the ritual of eating meals together. Family meals provide opportunities for sharing the day's events and create a relaxing transition from busy daytime activities to slower-paced evening ones. Home prepared meals are so much safer as the ingredients and tools used for preparation are your own clean devices, such as new cooking tools, fresh cooking oil, and etc. Home-cooked meals are very cost-effective if proper planning is used to keep meals interesting and palatable. It is oftentimes cheaper depending on what type of meal is prepared.

Home cooking cost will also be resonable as long as the ingredient prices are carefully considered. Cooking your own meals affords you the peace of mind that goes along with having complete control over the type and quality of ingredients in your meals and the degree of cleanliness that goes into their preparation. + Fast food is Served fast right in front of you, and it's sometimes super cheap to buy. It's Fast to cook, but Made with different saturated fats and less nutrition. Fast food always taste the same so there are really no suprises unless it's something new on the menu.

Fast food is usually good for when your on the road or on the go and just need to get a quick bite to snack on. Fast food is also prepared behind walls so you don't know whats really going on with your food. People being served might wonder might wonder if those kitchens are clean and sanitary or not, or if healthy clean oil is used because restaurants are known to use the oil many time for less expense. Eating fast food should not become a habit. Fast food can also cause slow death also know as obesity or overweight. It's also Not health and greasy.

Fast food is more immediately and well faster to prepare and consume than home cooked meals. Despite the health risks that come with fast food consumption, people continue to eat it because many people have no time to select and prepare meals at home. Fast food are usually very cheap as it is intentionally made to be available for all levels of income. Restaurant and other commercially prepared foods are notoriously high in fat, salt and sugar. These foods are fine as an occasional indulgence or for a special occasion, but not healthy as a regular diet.

There are many important similarities between fast-food restaurants and home-cooked meals. You can eat both fast food and home-cooked meals with your family whether your together or not. For example you can make food and home and have a picnic or you can buy food from a restaurant and have a picnic with your family in your backyard or a community park. Another similarity are that both of them is delicious, so you can enjoy eat anywhere and anytime. You can also order them both by choice. Although there are some similarities between fast food restaurants and home-cooked meals, there are also many differences between them.

The first important difference is that the food is more cleaner in your home than the fast food in restaurants. You also have to pay for your food in a restaurant but at home it's free. Also in a restaurant your meal is prepared very quickly, for example, when you choose something and you tell the seller about it the food will finishing in the blink of an eye, but in your home the food isn't done as fast. Eating fast food every once in a while won't hurt you, but eating it too much can cause serious health problems.

Taking the time out to balance your meals save time and money. When eating balanced meals your body feels satisfied. Most fast foods contain too much salt, calories, and satuarated fat. When you cook at home you save gas and your time. Whether or not you choose to eat at home or have fast food, it is important to select healthy food at all times. Avoid trans fats and processed food, because it isn't good for your health, Home cooked meals aren't fast and ready exactly when you want to eat them, but they are healthier and will help you in the long run!

McDonald's: The Causes and Effects of Popularity of Fast Food Restaurants Essay

The Causes and Effects of Popularity of Fast Food Restaurants

The Causes

The use of fast food restaurants has become more popular universally. For the last thirty years, there has been a constant annual increase of 6.8% in the consumption of fast food. Fast food establishments have grown over this period to exceed the table service restaurants. Fast food sales have escalated to more than one hundred and ten billion dollars annually (Schlosser, 15). Change in lifestyle is mainly responsible for these changing trends.

Timesaving food products which include fast foods have gained popularity as a result of hectic lifestyles. Longer working days and the increasing tendencies for both spouses to hold full time demanding jobs have led to decreased time for families to prepare and sit for home cooked meals. People demand quick meals. Due to the increasing hectic time plans, consumers do not have time to prepare or wait for meals to be prepared in restaurants. Fast food meals offer the more attractive alternative because they are already prepared. Consumers can just pick them up and they have the choice of eating them at home or even in the office. Fast foods also do not require to be served in dishes which pose an extra challenge for already exhausted individuals. To respond to this need within the market, fast food restaurants have invented innovative ways of marketing time saving products.

Fast food restaurants offer a wide variety of food. The individual client can choose what they want. This makes it possible for different members of the family to enjoy different meals at a sitting as opposed to cooking at home.  Fast food chains have also increased the variety of foods ensuring that they cater for individual palates. Fast food restaurants vary their meals ensuring that clients have a wide variety to choose from. If this was to be done in an ordinary home setting, it would be too expensive and time consuming.

Fast food restaurants are convenient.

Fast food restaurants are always expanding in places where people live or do other activities, therefore increasing their outreach. McDonald which is a very popular fast food restaurant has more than seven hundred outlets within Wal-Mart (Schlosser, 21). This ensures convenience for the customers and it is usually timesaving for customers to combine eating with other activities like shopping or laundry. This enhances the appeal of fast food restaurants as opposed to service restaurants. Fast-food restaurants have also constructed drive through outlets ensuring customers who are on the move have the convenience of purchasing meals while on transit.

Fast food is less expensive than meals from table service restaurants or even home cooked meals. This entices a larger clientele than the table service restaurants. Fast food restaurant encourage off premise consumption which allows the customer more convenience. Most of the fast food restaurants have drive through services allowing customers to place their orders and get their food within a very short time. The total annual sales from service restaurants match those from the fast food restaurants despite the fact that the meals in service restaurants are expensive and they have more seating capacity (Schlosser, 16). This depicts that the fast food restaurants attract more clients than the service restaurants. D escribe the size and structure of the food retailing sector

Fast foods are usually more delicious than other meals. With fast food, the client always knows what they are getting in terms of the taste of the specific foods while food served in service restaurants may vary depending on the chef and the restaurant themes. Fast food restaurants therefore allow the customers constancy in meals. The fast food outlets ensure that their outlets are within reach for the customer allowing increased popularity as well as increasing their sales.

The advertising strategies implemented by the fast food companies make fast foods more appealing as compared to ordinary meals. Children and teenagers opt for these meals based on the advertisements. Fast foods are also more filling ensuring that less time is spent eating. Due to the lack of strict supervision children and teenagers will opt for fast food meals as opposed to home cooked or service restaurant meals. The presence of nutritional information on most of these fast food packages make the consumers feel that they are making the right dietary choices (Schlosser, 43).

The Effects

Increased popularity of fast food restaurants has led to increased employment opportunities. The expansion of fast food outlets has resulted to an increased workforce. The fast food outlets offer employment to millions of Americans. In addition, fast food outlets support advertisement companies and entire agricultural organizations which supply them with fresh produce.

Changes in lifestyle have led to an increased supply of energy foods and also a decreased energy outlet. Consumption of fast food coupled with physically inactive lifestyles has been shown to lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension and cancer. This has resulted to increased healthcare costs (Schlosser, 60). Policies have had to be formulated to ensure that the healthcare offered has remained relevant to the needs of the society. There is increased consumption of fast foods by minority groups and the poor Americans leading to increased concerns over the rising trend of lifestyle diseases (Schlosser, 62)

Too much fast food consumption has led to a detrimental effect on the health of Americans. Fast foods are mainly high energy laden foods. Most of the fast foods are deep fried. Fast food restaurants have developed selling strategies which encourage clients to purchase more food for lesser money. This has encouraged over eating and resulted to increased rates of obesity. Despite the fact that fast foods are higher energy laden foods as opposed to healthier alternatives, people tend to consume the same or even more quantities. This leads to extremely high energy meals which when coupled with a physically inactive lifestyle may result in obesity. There is an increasing number of obese people in America with more than half of the entire adult population classifying as clinically obese. More than a quarter of children in America are also clinically obese (Schlosser, 162)

Fast foods are also laden with a lot of sugar and salt which has been related to type 2 diabetes. The recommended daily salt intake is 2,400 milligrams (Schlosser, 136). This can be achieved by consuming one fast food meal. Fast foods have been related with creating insulin resistance in the American population resulting to increased diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes has increased annually with the increase in popularity of fast foods. In countries like Spain where the fast food culture has not take root, the prevalence of diabetes and obesity is lower (Schlosser, 142).

Diabetes has become a major concern in America. Juvenile diabetes is on the rise (Schlosser, 170). Researchers have related this worrying trend with the change in diet among the youth. The availability of high sugar, carbonated drinks and foods within the schools has been blamed for an increase in lifestyle diseases within the youth.

Fast food restaurants use lower quality produce in preparing their food. Fast foods also lack essential vitamins and minerals. Fast food meals are marketed based on what the customers want to eat. They largely lack fruits and vegetables which contain essential vitamins that protect the body from diseases. Fruits and vegetables also contain antioxidants which play a significant role in fighting cancer. Over reliance on fast foods is likely to result in nutritional disorders and increased types of cancers. When fast foods are consumed in moderation and together with fruits and vegetables by a physically active individual, they do not pose serious health risks.

In conclusion, fast food restaurants have increased their popularity among the American population due to the increasing demands in todays’ life. Fast food restaurants offer diverse foods at a relatively cheap price and the food is cooked to satisfy individual palates. Their convenient locations and the fact that they serve precooked foods, allow the consumers to save ample time. The effects of this increased popularity are diverse. Fast food restaurants have led to the closure of many service table restaurants though they have also offered the American population millions of jobs. Their effect on the health of the American population is worrying with the increased trends in lifestyle diseases. Fast foods and the decreased physical activity in majority of the American population have been responsible for the increase in the myriad of lifestyle diseases that has escalated within the population. There is increased prevalence of diabetes, high cholesterol, cancer, hypertensive individuals and obesity within the American population. Any attempts in the introduction of healthy foods in the fast food restaurants have been met with rejection as most Americans still opt for the less healthy alternatives. With the current attempts to provide effective healthcare for all citizens, policy makers need to use preventive strategies to ensure that most of these lifestyle diseases which form the bulk of healthcare concerns are eliminated. There is therefore need for an intensive regulation in how the food in fast food restaurants is prepared as well as a need for consumer awareness to ensure that people have a variety of delicious healthy alternatives that are still affordable and convenient.

REFERENCE

Schlosser Eric. Fast Food Nation: What the All-American Meal Is Doing to the World. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2004, 12-178.

Why Fast Food is Unhealthy

In todays age of convenience, fast food needs no introduction. Everyone from a two year old to a sixty year old seems to be enjoying it. Why not? It's delicious, it's filling, it's affordable, and available Just any time of the day. What more can you ask for when you are living life in the fast lane? Well fast food all good tastes, except that it is not nutritionally balanced and, therefore, unhealthy in the long run if consumed on a regular basis.

Even though some people say that eating fast food is healthy because hey get certain types of fast food like salads or chicken, it not the real stuff. They make it seem like it is but its not. They also choose fast foods because it is inexpensive than most other food choices. Fast foods contain lots of calories, sugar, sodium and unhealthy fats substances that increase your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Increased health risks are directly associated with increased consumption of fast foods.

Yet, as prices for fast foods increase the consumption and health risks decrease. Eating healthier foods may reduce your health risks and your costs. (Roizman) On the McDonalds website if you get 1 Big Mac, 1 Double Cheeseburger, 1 Large Fries, and 1 Large Coke you would get 1,770 Calories, 77 grams of fat, 1,430 milligrams of sodium, and 219 grams of Carbs for all about $9 which is not healthy if consumed on the daily basis. (McDonalds) In the short reading by Eric Schlosser Why the Fries Taste Good Fast food increases your weight.

Body Mass Index(BMl) is an indicator of body fat that is measured according to your weight and height. The higher your BMI, the higher your risk of obesity and chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, gallstones and cancer. Research by the Department of Economics and Institute for Health Research and Policy in 2009 found the price of fast food is statistically associated with BMI of teenagers, particularly among families in low to middle socioeconomic status. The low cost of fast food influenced weight gain, the report showed.

Consuming fast food may increase your risk of type 2 diabetes. Scientists estimate the popularity of type 2 diabetes will increase 300 percent in the United States in the next 40 years, from 10 percent to 33 percent of the population. Research by scientists at the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2010 discovered that increasing the price of fast food items by $1, reduced the amount of calorie intake from these foods, decreased weight gain and lowered insulin resistance, risk factors for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The research suggests the US government should consider policies aimed t altering the price of fast foods to steer Americans toward eating healthier foods and reducing the risks of chronic diseases. The total annual health care cost to treat diabetes is estimated at $174 billion. Fast food restaurants use processed foods with high amounts of sodium to flavor your meals. Sodium is a risk factor for high blood pressure and stroke, the third leading cause of death in the United States. Scientists at the University of Michigan predict that the treatment of strokes will cost the United

States $2 2 trillion by 2050 unless Americans change their eating habits and maintain normal blood pressure. Fast food restaurants predominantly serve meals in big portion sizes with higher amounts of calories than you need and contain additive ingredients such as preservatives, flavorings, sweeteners, sodium and colors. Many restaurants are increasing the costs for fast foods with prices as high as $10 per person and over $30 or $40 for a family of four in some locations. Purchasing healthy food ingredients and preparing meals at home can save you money.

Why More People Eat Fast Food

Fast Food In our American society today where waking up early each morning to get ready for work has becoming a very huge part of our daily life, we realize that people are becoming more busy even to the point of becoming lazy since they barely have any time to cook for themselves or for their families and therefore, this has lead to the increasing number of fast food restaurants everywhere we go.

Pick McDonalds, Subways and Wendy’s for example; there is no corner you will step that you wouldn't end up seeing their sign because all this fast food are very cheap, very convenient and they taste really good and therefore explains why more people eat fast food this days. In a society where money has become a very big financial problem to many people especially family, eating fast food majority of the time will help them save some money because it is very cheap.

Many people will prefer eating at fast food restaurant much cheaper than eating at other restaurant because at a fast food restaurant, a person can get a full meal with less than ten dollars but at a fancy restaurants, ten dollars can only get you a beverage and nothing more people to eat fast food without even thinking about the health problems. Even though eating fast foods are very unhealthy, most people will prefer that over going to buy groceries for cooking because it is very cheap and saves a person more money but it can sometimes be healthy just eating a home cooked food depending on what you prefer to eat.

More people today tend to eat more fast food rather than home cooked food because it is very convenient. We no longer live in a society where we wake up early in the morning to make breakfast for ourselves because we do not have enough time due to our busy schedule so therefore, making a quick stop at a local fast food restaurant will help us get our day started. The time limit we have when it comes to taking a break at work or at school these days has become very short that, you do not even have enough time to at least make the bowl of noodles or sandwich you wish to have for lunch.

In the case of having short breaks at work or school, our only options we have to getting something to eat in the few minutes is to run, drive fast or even walk fast for not more than a minutes and we will be able to get something to eat because the fast food restaurant isn't far from us. The convenience of fast food restaurants today has become very helpful to us especially to those who drive because it helps save gas, driving distance and it is very quick and this reason tends to explain why more people are eating fast food.

More people are eating fast food this days because our taste buds have become more important to us than the content in the food we eat, whether it being healthy or not. Satisfying our cravings with some large fries and a cheeseburger from McDonalds or a long foot cheese steak from subway will make us feel better of ourselves even though it is unhealthy than eating some rice with vegetables made at home even though . People wouldn't care about the percentage of fat in a McDonald’s burger because no one really thinks about what they are eating while they are eating it until they are done with it.

As we all know, eating fast foods can bring about so many different types of sickness such as high cholesterol level, diabetes and obesity upon us but we still care because we just want to satisfy our cravings and our taste buds. Even though there are some fast food restaurants such as Subway that provide a nutritious and healthy meal but we will still prefer the other unhealthy fast foods over the healthy ones because they taste good and they satisfy our cravings.

As our society keeps growing bigger and developing on a very fast pace, we realize that more people are eating more fast foods because they are very cheap, very convenient and they taste very good to satisfy our taste buds. People are getting so busy this days that, spending just some few minutes out of their business schedule to actually make something to eat has become a problem and therefore has also lead to the growing number of fast food restaurants and the increasing number of people who eat there.

We realize the cost of buying groceries in order to put a meal on the table has increased to about two times the money you will spend to eat fast food and this explains why more people are eating fast food today. With money being a big problem in our economy today, people have learned to make tight budgets in order to keep them financially stable and spending more money on food needs to be the very last decision any one will make so therefore, eating fast foods will be the best way for people to save some money and also satisfy their taste buds. Even though we all know how unhealthy fast food, everyone eats them for their own reasons.

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