Fast Food Dietary Analysis - Essay Example

? Fast Food Dietary Analysis The restaurant that I have chosen is a local joint near the Railway station. They serve nearly everything. Be it raw fruits to all kinds of difficult kind of dishes. They have been there for around quite some time. There are many people who eat from the joint when they are waiting for their trains. They are open 24 hours a day and the cleaning process of the kitchen is done during the hours when the traffic is light. The traffic is highly dependent upon the schedules of the train coming in at the station. It also depends on the timings. People who are usually waiting for the morning train try to find some things that they can consume for breakfast, so they have all kinds of food stuff available for heavy eaters to people who are looking something to nibble on or are looking for something refreshing while they are waiting for their trains. The food that I have created is a three course meal. I would start off with an appetizer that would consist of whole grain rye crackers, they taste a bit bland if they are eaten alone, so I had asked a bit of honey poured over it and a bit of cinnamon was sprinkled over it. This was the healthiest starter that they had on the list. It has 20 calories, 0 g fat and it had around 7 gram of fiber. I had in total eaten three crackers. Therefore, the total calorie intake was 60 calories. After this I had lentil soup and it was amazingly quite delicious, it contained around 115 calories, near about 0 fat and 8 grams of fiber. It contained 9 grams of proteins per half a bowl and since I had taken a full bowl, it amounted to 18 grams of proteins. After the soup I had my main course, it was a whole wheat pasta topped with chopped tomatoes and onions and a handful of parsley. In total a serving of the pasta had 230 calories, and a total 2g fat was present in it. I had a glass of orange juice with it, which contains 115 calories and no fats. For dessert I had a cup full of berries, in total the calories amounted to 239 calories and 1 g of fat. It was really surprising to know that the cup of berries that had been taken for dinner had calories; the general perception was that the fruits do not contain calories. Also, knowing the calories content of the orange juice made me feel that if natural fruit juices had so many calories than what about the sodas that I used to have sometimes? The calorie content came as a surprise to me. I then realized that the meal that I had had was high on the natural beneficiary elements, like the pasta that I had was rich in selenium. It provided with vitamins and other basic nutrients that were very important for the body. It did not give the bad carbohydrates which would have otherwise been the cause lot of bloating and un-necessary fats that would have resulted in fattening. The rye crackers had a lot of lignans, lignans are chemical in fact antioxidants that are responsible for the lower body mass index of people, and people who take lignans regularly have lower body fat mass. These are very important in lowering the body mass index of people. Tomatoes are technically fruits, they contain a lot of cancer fighting agents, plus they are very high on iron. Their regular consumption helps keeps the body in check and also overcomes any deficiency that might occur. There is one flaw in the meal that I had it had nothing that would be providing me with calcium, so as to compensate that and considering the fact that I was keen on having a healthy diet, the best way would be to have unsweetened yoghurt with it and there is another option that I swap the orange juice I had with a glass of soy milk, it contains antioxidants and is also high on calcium. The meal that I had was a very dietary conscious meal, and I would have it again, but maybe I might switch the fruits with the seasonal fruits or the fruit that might appeal to me that day. The only reason that I would go for this meal again and again is that it would be really healthy option to go for also; it contains proper quantity of fibers, fats, and calories intake that is actually required by a healthy meal. The unhealthiest meal that I had was at a fast food joint near my workplace, the place has been there for around more than a decade, it serves all kinds of desserts and fast foods, there is not a food on the menu that has low calories, it is a very busy place, as it serves as the local hangout for the teenagers in the area. It is the busiest during the weekends when there are a lot of families visiting the joint as well. The place had started with a small place that could only seat twenty at first, but now it can house around 70 people at once, plus it places out tables outside during peak hours. Whenever you will go to that place the only kind of food that is available is all kinds of fast food. I had lunch there once; I consider it to be the unhealthiest lunch I ever had. It comprised of soup and Mexican Grill’s Beef Taco Salad, the beef taco salad was really tasty and earlier I had thought that this was a large serving at first, therefore, I had planned to leave out a bit of it in the end but the cheese and the mixture of spice had made it very appetizing and I ended up eating the whole of the salad, the interesting factor about this salad is that it has a lot of calories of around 1280 calories alone and the noodle soup that I had, had around 550 calories which is very high on sodium content. Then I had a triple whooper burger with cheese it had double cheese in it. The total calorie intake was 1450 calories. The burger had mayonnaise, cheese and ketchup in it. Along with them I had fries with it, the total calories that the fries that I had were large servings which had calories content of around 1464 calories. After this I had waited for around 20 minutes and had a bit of green tea this does not count towards the calorie intake as it has 0 calories. After that I had a glass of 2000calories milkshake. The milkshake was made up of 3 scoops of vanilla ice-cream, and milk and ice. It was very rich in calcium and fats (Reader’s Digest Association, 2007). After this I had a serving of the chocolate tower truffle cake that had three layers of cream and chocolate sponge. It was served with cocoa powder sprinkled on top and flakes of Cadbury on it. I would never want to have this type of meal gain, as it will prove to be disastrous for my health. I would not do it again however hungry I will be. The best way would be to cut down on the triple patty and have only one. Besides, the best thing would be to get rid of the cheese altogether. Substituting the, milkshake with sparkling water or green tea would be quite a healthy option. The meal was very high on calories, carbohydrates, low on nutrients and the required vitamins (Green, 2007). Another thing would be to substitute the chocolate tower truffle cake with a fruit salad would be a very healthy and quite tastier and lighter switch. It is advisable to have a better food, substituting the high calorie food with lighter option is important as it can prove really disastrous for health. Such quantities of fat and high cholesterol intake can cause clogging of arteries and obesity. It is advisable to watch the calories count and not to have an exact count but a near about estimate of the calories so that you do not over eat. It is also advisable for the restaurants to cut down on the high calories food that they have to cut down on obesity. References Green, E. K. (2007). Healthy eating. Minneapolis, MN: Bellwether Media. Willett, W., Skerrett, P. J., Giovannucci, E. L., & Callahan, M. (2001). Eat, drink, and be healthy: The Harvard Medical School guide to healthy eating. New York: Simon & Schuster Source. Reader's Digest Association. (1997). Foods that harm, foods that heal: An A-Z guide to safe and healthy eating. Pleasantville, N.Y: Reader's Digest. D'Adamo, P., & Whitney, C. (1996). Eat right 4 (for) your type: The individualized diet solution to staying healthy, living longer & achieving your ideal weight : 4 blood types, 4 diets. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Read More