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Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Is all fast food bad for you?
Answer: No, certainly not! But there are menu items at all fast food chains that contain much more saturated fat,
processed carbohydrates, and salt than you might imagine. Nutritionists warn about consuming too
much of these, so we're trying to shed light on what's in the foods we're all eating.
Question: Where did you get data on all these fast food dishes?
Answer: We've queried many publically accessible databases of fast foods on the web.
Also, fast food restaurants themselves are now providing ways to look up the nutritional content of their
dishes, and we try to periodically visit these sites to update our data. Restaurants often
change their menus and their portion sizes, so it is quite possible that some of our data is not
up to date.
Question: Are the carbs in fast food really as high as your site portrays them as? And are they really as bad as eating all those packs of sugar that you display on the results page?
Answer:
From the standpoint of the insulin your pancreas must produce, carbs are carbs, and many fast foods contain a lot of carbs.
The carbs in everyday foods may surprise you. Consider a single-serving 1.5 ounce
bag of Snyders® pretzels like the one at right, which is often sold in vending machines.
The pretzels contain 35 grams of carbohydrates in the form of white flour (details).
A packet of table sugar contains about 4 grams of carbohydrates in the form of sucrose, so the
pretzels contains the carb equivalent of nearly 9 packets of sugar.
If you consume the pretzels or the sugar, your blood glucose level will rise.
In response, your pancreas releases insulin to metabolize the carbs to get your
blood sugar level back down to a normal level. The amount of insulin it's forced to
release is the same whether you eat the bag of pretzels or the 9 packets of sugar.
Now some foods, of course, cause your blood sugar to rise more quickly than
others. When you eat such foods, your pancreas must release insulin more rapidly.
Pretzels, surprisingly enough, cause your blood sugar to rise very quickly. They're
an example of what nutritionists call a "very high glycemic index food."
[You can read about how the glycemic index is calculated
at this website].
A large apple contains roughly the same carbs as the bag of pretzels does,
but apples have a lower glycemic index (they raise your blood sugar more slowly).
When you eat an apple, your pancreas doesn't have to work as quickly to release the needed insulin. It's
like the difference between walking a mile and running a mile (same distance either way, but
walking puts less stress on your feet and legs).
People sometimes mistakenly conclude that foods with a low glycemic index don't require as much
insulin to metabolize. That's not the case. The glycemic index measures how quickly
a food item raises your blood sugar, not how much insulin is ultimately
required to process it. For non-diabetics and non-insulin-resistant individuals, the amount
of insulin your pancreas is forced to release each day is closely tied to the amount
of carbohydrates in your diet.
That's why we display carb content so prominently in the results page.
If you need help understanding the role of carbs in your diet and best nutritional practices,
you should consult with your doctor or a board certified nutritionist or dietician.
Question: Some of the results seem inaccurate. Are you sure they're correct?
Answer: While we try to keep the data current by periodically checking fast food websites, it
is definitely possible that some results may not be 100% accurate (and we provide
no guarantee that they are).
Fast food chains periodically add and remove items from their menus, modify their
serving sizes, and sometimes alter the ingredients used in making their products.
If you spot anything on the results page or on the food menus that looks incorrect or out of date, we'd love to
hear from you! Please feel free to drop us an email at Fatwise.Com@gmail.com. We will
definitely appreciate any help and feedback you supply!
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