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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 that high?! And are they really the same as eating all those packs of sugar 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.
Consider a 1.5 ounce bag of Snyders® pretzels, frequently sold in vending machines.
The pretzels contain 35 grams of carbs in the form of white flour (details).
A packet of table sugar contains 4 grams of carbs 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 must release insulin to metabolize the carbs. The amount of insulin required is the same whether you eat the bag of pretzels or the 9 packets of sugar.
Now, some foods raise blood sugar more quickly than
others, and when you eat such foods, your pancreas must release insulin more rapidly.
(Note: Pretzels happen to be one of these. They're an example of a "high glycemic index" food.
You can read about how the glycemic index is calculated
here).
A large apple contains about the same carbs as the pretzels, but apples have a lower glycemic index.
When you eat one, your pancreas doesn't have to pump out insulin as quickly.
People sometimes mistakenly conclude that foods with a low glycemic index don't require as much
insulin to metabolize. That's not true. The glycemic index only measures how quickly
a food raises your blood sugar, not how much insulin is required to process it.
The amount of insulin required to keep your body functioning is closely tied to the total carb content of your diet.
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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Nutrition Resources
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