Description
Fast Food Analysis Paper
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to research a typical fast food meal and to identify a fast food meal that meets the legal definition of healthy.
Directions
Go to the DRI Calculator
Fill in your information (sex, age…) and check all the boxes to calculate your personal needs. Use this information to answer the essay questions below.
Now go to the Food Facts Webpage
Conduct your own search. Go to the third active column titled ‘Fast Food Nutrition Search for a Specific Item.’ Pick a typical meal from a restaurant you (or a friend) have had. Choose an entree, side dish and beverage (identify these items). Recreate the data box below and fill in the amount of total fat, saturated fat, fiber, cholesterol and sodium from each item. Add up the total amounts for each food item column (in the ‘total’ row).
Put the numeric data in the table (mandatory). Expound on what this means in your writing. In other words, I can see in your data table how much fat an item has therefore you need not write ‘the Big Mac has x amount of saturated fat.’ Use your words to explain what this means.
Total fat
Saturated fat
Fiber
Cholesterol
Sodium
Your daily needs
Restaurant/item
Total fat
Saturated fat
Fiber
Cholesterol
Sodium
entree
side dish
beverage
total
How do these numbers compare with what you need daily? Consider what you require (and remember these searches were for one meal, not an entire day). What could happen over time following a fast food diet? This should be a factual, detailed page regarding your nutritional needs and the effects of fast food dining.
Lastly, find one (just one) fast food item that is considered ‘healthy’. Name the item and justify why this is healthy. The legal definition of healthy is: The item contains at least ten percent of one of these – vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium protein OR fiber. Also it must be low in all of these – total fat (less than three grams), saturated fat (less than one gram), cholesterol (less than 20mg), trans fat (less than .5mg) AND sodium (less than 140 mg).
Note: This is not an opinion paper, there is a great deal of factual information in the text, the power point presentations and the websites. Your entire paper should be a factual, detailed two full pages
