Excellent suggestions, Emma. I learned to cook with fresh food during covid, and have been continually learning what to avoid since subscribing to your stack.
I confess to having a subway sandwich about once a month - I feel like at least I'm able to choose what to put in it. I've found that McDs has a couple things that sound ok - like oatmeal, and fruit and yogurt. Wendy's has some salad options. I especially like the apple/pecan salad, but I don't know if the chicken in it is ok. I also like their chili, which seems good, but has a few additives that I'm not sure about. Here's what in it from Wendys website: Chili con Carne
Subway once a month is probably not an issue. But I do have a problem with the "healthy" options these fast food places are putting out. Trying to keep their customers who have decided to switch away from the really bad stuff to something that sounds healthy. Here's the ingredients in McD's oatmeal:
Apart from the high sugar content (31g) the suspicious "Natural Flavor" and "Caramel Color" is unlikely to be good for you and the Light Cream added is particularly bad with Carrageenan a known carcinogen at this point.
Wendys chilli has a lot of healthy sounding ingredients so the eye can skip over the "Flavor enhancer" - yeast extract is basically MSG which causes inflammation in the brain, Disodium Inosinate and Guanylate act similarly to MSG and Xanthan gum can damage the stomach lining. I'd much rather you make a big batch of chilli at home and freeze individual portions!
Thanks Emma for doing the research and clearing that up. Actually, you’ll be happy to know I prepare my own old-fashioned rolled oats at home every morning, with cut up fruit and unsweetened yogurt and no sugar added.
Same with chili. I don’t even use canned beans - I soak my beans overnight before making chili, adding diced up onions and peppers. The onions and peppers are from my own organic garden when in season or until my bag of home grown onions runs out. I freeze diced up peppers but so far haven’t grown enough to last a year.
Also... Google maps is great for finding food options... if you put in gf/df you'll narrow down the responses to one most likely to have better options. We like to support the mom and pop places so searching for "coffee near me" gives us options if it's coffee we're wanting.
If you went thru Tucson you missed a great sourdough bread
artisan... Barrio bread... long ferment of local heritage organic wheat... even celiacs have been able to eat it. Warm a slice on your dashboard, then slather with butter... feel the goodness feed your cells... I've never been a bread eater and am 97% gf but that bread is an exception. Good thing it's a long ways from home or I'd have addiction issues. :)
OMG Barrio Bread looks amazing! Thanks for this. I have made a note for our next trip. Definitely worth the detour off I10! Yes mom and pop places are the way to go. (We are usually powering through in a hurry so weren't getting much off the freeway).
Remember the adage? “You are what you eat”? Well today, “You are what the animal you eat, has eaten”, would be more accurate. What do you think is of more importance to Trump Republicans? The health and very lives of America’s Children or their top 1% tax breaks? Not only is food costing more with upcoming tariffs it will become more & more toxic as love of money Musk & company deregulate more agencies!
Interesting.... I can find good food options at most of those places. At a Denny's type diner you can easily get eggs... ask for shelled eggs and they won't be from a container. Mexican places will have good beans that stick with you. Even taco bell has a side of beans, pressure cooked on site... (at least they used to be... haven't been to one in decades) In N Out you can get protein style burgers, and skip the sauce. Sprouts or Natural grocers would have good choices along the way.
As to the contamination found... the same farmers supplying restaurants are supplying your grocery store. If you're aiming for 100% organic from your garden, then yeah, you'll need to pack your own from home. But you might have your home grown produce tested... might not be as good as you think. I've been wondering about this after a rain killed off all one type of plant. Whatever they are spraying could prevent the uptake of minerals.
Thanks for your comments! There are some "better" options at fast-food restaurants but you have to dig into all the additives in the healthy-sounding options (see my discussion with Al) to get a full picture of what you're ingesting. I like to look at our food options on a spectrum of good-better-best. Comparing a protein style burger at In N Out to a 100% pasture raised option you made at home for example from meat you bought somewhere like Butcher Box, Wild Pastures or Wild Fork can make a really big difference to your health over time.
In terms of restaurants compared to grocery store ingredients - the devil is in the detail. The massive fast-food chains are using the very cheapest factory-farmed animals while some grocery stores are aiming to buy local or a little higher quality. And yes realities of our lives means 100% organic is impossible for most of us but in my experience getting away from the fast-food establishments and chain restaurants can make a big difference in the way we think about food and move a little further on the spectrum of good-better-best.
Excellent suggestions, Emma. I learned to cook with fresh food during covid, and have been continually learning what to avoid since subscribing to your stack.
I confess to having a subway sandwich about once a month - I feel like at least I'm able to choose what to put in it. I've found that McDs has a couple things that sound ok - like oatmeal, and fruit and yogurt. Wendy's has some salad options. I especially like the apple/pecan salad, but I don't know if the chicken in it is ok. I also like their chili, which seems good, but has a few additives that I'm not sure about. Here's what in it from Wendys website: Chili con Carne
"Chili Concentrate: Chili Sauce (Water, Tomato Juice, Tomatoes, Calcium Chloride, Seasoning (Sugar, Salt, Corn Starch, Dried Chilies, Spices, Flavor Enhancer [Dextrose, Salt, Yeast Extract, Silicon Dioxide, Modified Corn Starch], Citric Acid, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Xanthan gum), Beans (Pink Beans, Red Kidney Beans), Vegetables (Onions, CELERY, Green Peppers). Ground Beef. Water.
Wendy's uses 100% fresh, never-frozen, North American beef in their hamburgers, sourced from Beef Quality Assurance certified farmers and ranchers"
Subway once a month is probably not an issue. But I do have a problem with the "healthy" options these fast food places are putting out. Trying to keep their customers who have decided to switch away from the really bad stuff to something that sounds healthy. Here's the ingredients in McD's oatmeal:
Oatmeal
Ingredients: Water, Whole Grain Rolled Oats, Brown Sugar, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Natural Flavor, Barley Malt Extract, Caramel Color.
Light Cream
Ingredients: Milk, Cream, Sodium Phosphate, Datem, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Sodium Citrate, Carrageenan.
Apart from the high sugar content (31g) the suspicious "Natural Flavor" and "Caramel Color" is unlikely to be good for you and the Light Cream added is particularly bad with Carrageenan a known carcinogen at this point.
Wendys chilli has a lot of healthy sounding ingredients so the eye can skip over the "Flavor enhancer" - yeast extract is basically MSG which causes inflammation in the brain, Disodium Inosinate and Guanylate act similarly to MSG and Xanthan gum can damage the stomach lining. I'd much rather you make a big batch of chilli at home and freeze individual portions!
Thanks Emma for doing the research and clearing that up. Actually, you’ll be happy to know I prepare my own old-fashioned rolled oats at home every morning, with cut up fruit and unsweetened yogurt and no sugar added.
Same with chili. I don’t even use canned beans - I soak my beans overnight before making chili, adding diced up onions and peppers. The onions and peppers are from my own organic garden when in season or until my bag of home grown onions runs out. I freeze diced up peppers but so far haven’t grown enough to last a year.
Also... Google maps is great for finding food options... if you put in gf/df you'll narrow down the responses to one most likely to have better options. We like to support the mom and pop places so searching for "coffee near me" gives us options if it's coffee we're wanting.
If you went thru Tucson you missed a great sourdough bread
artisan... Barrio bread... long ferment of local heritage organic wheat... even celiacs have been able to eat it. Warm a slice on your dashboard, then slather with butter... feel the goodness feed your cells... I've never been a bread eater and am 97% gf but that bread is an exception. Good thing it's a long ways from home or I'd have addiction issues. :)
OMG Barrio Bread looks amazing! Thanks for this. I have made a note for our next trip. Definitely worth the detour off I10! Yes mom and pop places are the way to go. (We are usually powering through in a hurry so weren't getting much off the freeway).
Remember the adage? “You are what you eat”? Well today, “You are what the animal you eat, has eaten”, would be more accurate. What do you think is of more importance to Trump Republicans? The health and very lives of America’s Children or their top 1% tax breaks? Not only is food costing more with upcoming tariffs it will become more & more toxic as love of money Musk & company deregulate more agencies!
Interesting.... I can find good food options at most of those places. At a Denny's type diner you can easily get eggs... ask for shelled eggs and they won't be from a container. Mexican places will have good beans that stick with you. Even taco bell has a side of beans, pressure cooked on site... (at least they used to be... haven't been to one in decades) In N Out you can get protein style burgers, and skip the sauce. Sprouts or Natural grocers would have good choices along the way.
As to the contamination found... the same farmers supplying restaurants are supplying your grocery store. If you're aiming for 100% organic from your garden, then yeah, you'll need to pack your own from home. But you might have your home grown produce tested... might not be as good as you think. I've been wondering about this after a rain killed off all one type of plant. Whatever they are spraying could prevent the uptake of minerals.
Thanks for your comments! There are some "better" options at fast-food restaurants but you have to dig into all the additives in the healthy-sounding options (see my discussion with Al) to get a full picture of what you're ingesting. I like to look at our food options on a spectrum of good-better-best. Comparing a protein style burger at In N Out to a 100% pasture raised option you made at home for example from meat you bought somewhere like Butcher Box, Wild Pastures or Wild Fork can make a really big difference to your health over time.
In terms of restaurants compared to grocery store ingredients - the devil is in the detail. The massive fast-food chains are using the very cheapest factory-farmed animals while some grocery stores are aiming to buy local or a little higher quality. And yes realities of our lives means 100% organic is impossible for most of us but in my experience getting away from the fast-food establishments and chain restaurants can make a big difference in the way we think about food and move a little further on the spectrum of good-better-best.