From the Fooducate blog here’s some surprising information on how we eat.
Did you know that for every dollar we Americans spend on food, about 50 cents go to grub consumed outside the home? That’s right, half of our eating money is spent in restaurants, fast food chains, coffee shops, airport and mall food courts, etc…
So even if you are vigilant at the supermarket about the foods you buy, eating out a lot can destroy your diet. The problems:
1. Much less information about what you are eating. There are usually no nutrition labels with detailed ingredient lists and nutrient breakdowns. True, more and more chains provide calorie counts for their meals, but the calories tell only a small part of the overall story. Sodium content, for example, does not appear in many cases.
2. Eating out is psychologically considered a treat, so many folks pay less attention to the nutritional aspects of their order. But this isn’t 1957 where a family would go out to celebrate a birthday at McDonald’s once in a few months. We’re talking about daily visits to fast food joints and other fine dining establishments. When you’re treated daily, it’s no longer a treat.
3. Some of the dishes served come with surprisingly huge amount of calories, fats, salt, and sugars. More…
