“Yes, absolutely” was my response.
I have just been asked this question during one of my weekly nutrition classes.
I think the group were maybe a bit surprised at this response as perhaps they were expecting me to say
“God no, never, why would I take my boys to eat somewhere with little to zero nutritional value and poison their bodies?”
So it’s not that I disagree with the above statement (well perhaps poisoning their bodies is a bit extreme, its only food). Even though many fast food joints are now offering healthier food choices, most of the fast food is still quite unhealthy (in that its nutritional density is very low, other than offering us carbs, proteins and fats) Most fast foods like french fries, burgers, pizzas have high salt and calorie content.
But I went on to explain.
I believe my family and I live a healthy and responsible lifestyle. We walk to school every day if we can, we mess about in the garden whenever we get the opportunity. All of us do various sports or activities every single night of the week. Now this isn’t me boasting away and telling you how brilliant and do-goody we are, it’s just explaining that I feel we live responsible lives.
Especially when it comes to food. We are far from perfect, which I always like to tell people is unrealistic and even if it was, it would suck. But we eat vegetables with every meal, fruit is a favoured snack in the house. I love nothing more than cooking for my family. I am not particularly good at it but the process of choosing food, preparing it fresh if possible and cooking it, to then eat at the dinner table. All of this really chills me out, and is my favourite time of the day. And I consider it healthy in a multi layered way.
And this is how we live our lives the MAJORITY of the time.
So if every now and then somebody pipes up that they fancy a McDonalds, or a takeaway pizza, I have got no problem with that whatsoever.
Why should I?
Maybe if it became a frequent occurrence at the expense of my family achieving their nutritional needs perhaps I would be concerned. But that isn’t an issue. In the United States, fast food is seen as a major contributor to dietary habits, with 11.3 percent of the total calories in the typical American diet coming from fast food. In my household I would like to think that it is under 3%.
On the other hand, I am aware that there are people who could potentially refuse to take their children out for a fast food burger ever, and I have no issue with that. I do believe that the approach I take is the best way to avoid unhealthy relationships with food and orthorexic mindsets ( unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food) in later life.
But that is only my opinion?
