We can all make better choices with fast food

I don’t have to tell you obesity is a big problem in America. When I grew up in the 1960s, the childhood obesity rate was 10% or less; it’s now at 30% across the board, mirroring adult obesity. You need only look at photos of folks back in the day, compared to now, to see how much we have changed as a society.

There are lots of key factors here, including the prevalence of sugary drinks in large containers. When I was a kid, a Coke was a treat, not something consumed with every meal. And when my mom did buy one for me, it was an 8-ounce serving, not a giant 32-ounce drink.

Same is true for fruit juice. A juice glass was typically 6 or 8 ounces, not 12 or even 16 ounces. It’s true that orange juice is good to drink, but it still has lots of calories. Coke, Pepsi, orange juice, grape juice — they all have the same calories per ounce, about 15 or more.

That’s 1 teaspoon of sugar per ounce, at about 15 calories per teaspoon. If you drink 12 ounces of juice or regular soda, then 12 times 15 equals 180 calories. A Snickers or Hershey’s chocolate bar clocks in at 210 calories. Drink that juice or eat that candy bar — your body processes it the same way. Whew.

Now, an interesting thing to me is how much difference is made, or not, in our food choices based on knowing how many calories we’re consuming. Let’s take a sandwich, for example — and bear with me a minute while we compare.

I happen to love tuna. A standard 6-inch Subway tuna sandwich contains approximately 480 calories, though the exact amount can vary based on what you add, like cheese and dressing. The sandwich made on Italian bread with American cheese and lettuce has around 500 calories, while the same sandwich with no cheese but with available vegetables like tomatoes or lettuce has 350 calories.

What chips you get matter, too. Lay’s Original Baked chips clock in at 130 calories, while Lay’s classic have 240 calories. So, if I get a tuna sub without cheese or sauce and add Lay’s baked chips, that means 480 calories. If I get the tuna with cheese and regular potato chips, that comes in at 720 calories.

The latter is about 30% of the calories I need for the entire day. Add in a 16-ounce regular soft drink and you’re at close to 45% of the calories a guy needs for the whole day. So it’s easy to see that what we choose does make a difference.

This is where obesity comes in — food and drinks. Exercise also plays an important role, for sure, not just because you’re “burning calories,” but also because exercise and being fit seems to reduce appetite.

But would having ready information about how many calories you are consuming affect your food choices? Stop for a moment, close your eyes and ask yourself: How much does knowing something, calorie-wise, when you’re ordering takeout food, affect your decision?

Be truthful. Now consider other factors like cost, taste and what you really feel like eating at that moment, and how these affect your ordering choices.

Research published in the British Medical Journal shows that taste and price are the biggest drivers when it comes to decisions about takeout food, especially if you’re overweight to start.

Now, let’s establish that most fast food in America is not the best, nutrition-wise, and that fast-food consumption is growing ... and growing and growing.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on a typical day one in three Americans consume fast food. When I count all the places I can get fast food in my town of Oregon, it’s over 25, including restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, etc. All have convenient food, quick-to-eat calories that I can chow down without thinking.

But back to the BMJ study: They surveyed people to see if they knew how many calories they needed in a day, how many calories were in what they consumed, what takeout food they bought and whether knowing about the calories affected what they purchased.

Of the folks surveyed, one in four bought fast food weekly, while about one in three bought it less than once in a month. Researchers were looking at a variety of people to see what drove choices.

Many knew what food had more calories, but that often did not affect their choices. And when it came to drinks, two out of three drank what they wanted, even though they knew it had more calories.

What were the major influences in takeout food decisions? First was taste, second was price and third was how quick the food was to purchase. After that, No. 4 was portion size and No. 5 was healthiness. For those over 65, healthiness concerns were four times more likely to be considered when they bought takeout food.

My spin: Well, we have a long way to go, don’t we? I think education is the issue when it comes to kids, teens and young adults. And more home cooking is a critical factor, because then you know what you’re getting.

Better labeling on packages counts, too. A typical bag of potato chips shows that 15 chips equals 160 calories, and there are eight servings in an 8-ounce bag. But when did you ever count out the number of potato chips you ate?

Instead, it should be labeled as 640 calories for a half-bag and 1,280 for a whole bag. It isn’t labeled that way because the chip companies don’t want you to know how many calories are actually in there — because, guess what, you might not consume as much. Who’s in charge of the bus here? Stay well.