Why do we eat over-priced and unhealthy meals from fast food restaurants?

November 6th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under • by admin

It’s not a government secret that fast food is over priced and bad for our health, yet many of us still continue to make daily or weekly trips to our favorite fast food joints. The food at these restaurants isn’t so amazing that we absolutely can’t resist going, so what’s the deal? Why do we keep going to fast food restaurants even if they’re over-priced and bad for us?

It turns out that eating food is much more of an emotional and instinct driven experience rather than a logical and reasoned action. Our bodies tell us that we are hungry and we want food with a lot of fat and calories in it to provide us plenty of energy, and unless we have something that will fit that need right at home, we’ll often make a trip out. We know that going to a restaurant will cure our appetite in a rather short period of time and give us the high-calorie food that our body desires.

Fast food and other restaurants produce food that’s just not good for us. They’re high in calories, high in fat, and have a lot of preservatives and other chemicals that we would probably be better served to not have in our body. The price is a lot higher than what we would pay if we made a similar meal at home too, so it makes sense that we should do what we can to minimize our emotional cravings to dining out.

The best way to do this is to make sure that you’re eating your regular meals, especially breakfast. This way your body will have plenty of nourishment throughout the day and you suddenly won’t find yourself having a hunger craving. Keep some granola bars with you at work or school so that if a hunger craving does come, you can satiate it for the time being and then eat when you get home.

Another good thing to do is intentionally limit how much you go out to eat. I personally allow my self to dine out twice a week, usually once after church with some friends and then another time throughout the week. This way I can visit the restaurants that I love, yet have a good balance between healthier food I eat at home and the less healthier food I pick-up at restaurants.

If you don’t consider what you’re doing and give into all of your emotional cravings, it would be very easy to go out to eat three, four, or five times a week—and that’s just not healthy for you. It’s okay to dine out once and a while, but keep it reasonable.