A Fast Food Diet?
By: Stephanie Jackson, KARK 4 News
Updated: May 9, 2007
Who has time to cook dinner anymore?
With kids sometimes busier than their parents... It's easier to stop by Micky D's or any other fast food restaurants for your evening meal.
The problem-- eating too much of that food can lead to big health problems, like diabetes, obesity and heart disease. The documentary Supersize Me shows just how much damage burgers, fries, and other fast food can do to your body. Oddly enough, a doctor's developed a diet plan-- strictly for eating fast food. In his book, The Fast Food Diet , Doctor Sinatra says, since most folks won't cut out fast food, it's time to empower people to make wiser food choices, to lead to weight loss, and a healthier lifestyle.
In the six-week diet guide, he outlines just what you should eat at virtually every major fast food restaurant, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack.
But Doctor Vitaly Kantorovich, director of UAMS Weight Control Program says this plan may be a little misleading.
"So, we're not talking about just about how much calories are in the food, but exactly what calories are these calories. how much saturated and processed fat and unsaturated fat is there," Doctor Kantorovich says.
He says, a meal like this-- a small Wendy's chili, and a McDonald's chicken sandwich and fruit and yogurt parfait isn't a bad meal, but...
"Let's say all that is about 700 kilo calories, this is half of your daily intake, and it may not be enough for half of your day," Doctor Kantorovich says.
And of course, nothing replaces balance and exercise.
"It can not come instead of good reason and healthier lifestyle overall."
Something else Doctor Kantorovich disagrees with that The Fast Food Diet highlights, is the 80/20 rule. It allows dieters to eat healthy 80 percent of the time, and splurge 20 percent of the time. Doctor Kantorovich says our bodies can’t handle the bad food we would eat during that 20 percent, and that would cause a major setback in the pursuit of weight loss.


