Healthy Diets Vs. Fast-food Diets

Americans have a love affair with fast food dating back to the late 1950s. Many adults and children consume a number of fast-food meals in a week instead of eating a healthy diet. A fast-food diet does have the benefit of being more convenient, but health-wise there's no contest. Make your choices armed with the knowledge of exactly what you're putting into your mouth.

Convenience

To eat a healthy diet, you must educate yourself on nutrition guidelines, purchase the suggested beneficial food items and cook them in a healthful way. While eating out, select only from the nourishing items on the menu or look up the nutrition data on restaurant websites in advance to ensure you make a healthful choice.

A fast-food diet yields instant gratification to your current craving and requires no advance planning or preparation time.

Cost

The value meals offered at fast food restaurants may seem like the less expensive option over eating healthy food. However, the small portion size of the value-priced options generally lead you to purchase more than one item to fill you up, which brings the cost equal to that of one healthy meal. Even comparing a fast-food burger with a homemade one containing healthier ingredients came out equal in regards to cost, according to a study conducted by MayoClinic.com.

Fat Content

Fast-food menu items are generally fried in fat-laden oils. A typical meal of double patty hamburger with cheese, medium fries and fried apple pie dessert contains two days worth of the saturated fat content recommended by the American Heart Association. Increased fat in your body can lead to high cholesterol and an increased risk for strokes and cardiovascular disease. It also adds excess fat to your body.

A healthy diet is low in saturated fat and includes eating small portions of lean meats and fish that are grilled, broiled, roasted or stir-fried in healthy oils.

Sodium

A healthy diet follows the American Heart Association guideline of consuming less than 1,500 mg of salt daily to prevent high blood pressure and its associated health risks. Wholesome foods are intentionally low in sodium and seasoned with herbs and oils instead.

The average fast food meal has over 1,700 mg of sodium in one meal. Some fried chicken meals have 2,300 mg of salt. Both are over the recommended daily limit, increasing your risk of developing hypertension.

Portion Size

Fast-food restaurants offer super-size portions of most products -- such as burgers, chicken sandwiches, tacos, burritos, French fries and onion rings. This doubles the already high fat, calories and sodium content of your meal. Even the single-size portions provide enough food for two people to eat when following the healthy diet guideline of eating 5 to 6 oz. of meat (equal to the size of your clenched fist) and 7 oz. of grains per day, as recommended by the US Department of Agriculture. Any extra food the body doesn't need for energy is converted to body fat.

A healthy diet includes fist size portions of vegetables, fruit, grains, and meat or beans at each meal on a medium-size plate. Healthy dieters eat food that is higher in fiber, which fills them up on less food, and always include protein foods to keep them fuller longer.