Days after posting “Eating at restaurants seems weirder the more healthily I eat. Same with pre-prepared food” I found the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition posted an article, “Fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption and daily energy and nutrient intakes in US adults.”

It found that eating at fast food and full service restaurants affected people’s diets roughly equally—in particular, increasing calories about the same amount, as well as other indicators, like amount of fat, cholesterol, etc.

A summary of the article wrote

More than 18,000 adults answered survey questions about what they’d eaten over a two-day period.

Compared to participants who ate food prepared at home, those who visited fast food restaurants consumed an average of 190 more calories per day, 11 grams more fat, 3.5 g more saturated fat, 10 mg extra cholesterol and 300 mg additional sodium.

Participants who dined at full-service restaurants consumed about 187 more calories per day compared to those who ate food prepared at home, 10 more grams of fat, 2.5 g more saturated fat, almost 60 mg more cholesterol and over 400 mg more sodium.

Very similar changes!

It seems the issue isn’t what type of restaurant you eat at but if you eat at a restaurant instead of preparing your own food.

I can’t help but comment that I like this change to eating at home based on picking up fresh vegetables from the farm each week as a life choice more all the time. This country’s relationship with food seems unhealthy. More than unhealthy, they’re antihealthy.

Hmm… I just looked up that word and didn’t see it show up in Duckduckgo or Google. I’m going to start using it.

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