The Golden Key
A newsletter for chapter advisors, chapter officers, and regional officers.

Exploring the Honors Study Topic
Obesity and the Fast Food Lifestyle
Case Study By Liz Kershaw

Super-Sized Meals Can Lead to Super-Sized Health Problems

Heart disease is the number one killer of people over the age of 45. Of the seven major risk factors associated with heart disease, five can be controlled with diet and/or exercise. These risk factors include hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

Trying to convince a nation that grew up on Happy Meals that their eating habits are killing them is not an easy task. Americans are in love with all things giant, super or king sized. There are Biggie® Fries, king-size Snickers, latte grande and super-size combo meals, just to name a few.

As a result of upsized, king-sized and super-sized portions, we have a serious obesity problem that affects 33 percent of the population; this is up from 25 percent in the 1970s.

Consider the following scenario... You pull into any fast food burger joint to grab lunch because you are running late to get to your afternoon classes. After taking some time to decide, you choose super value meal number four, which consists of a deluxe burger, fries and a soda. Then at the last minute you decide to giant size it because it’s only 39 cents more, and you are really hungry. Feeling guilty after class you promise yourself a salad for dinner to make up for lunch. Then on the way home you remember the only things in the refrigerator are ketchup, some out-of-date milk and last Thursday’s leftovers. Next thing you know you are on the cell phone ordering a large pizza, loaded of course, to pick up on your way home. So, you swear you will walk the dog after dinner to work off some of the extra calories. This hectic day is all too common for a college student and can lead to the super-sizing of more than just your waistline. The above scenario wouldn’t be so bad if it happened occasionally, but when fast food is a major portion of your diet it can make an oversized shirt fit snug.

Did you know that a plain hamburger, small fry and diet soda has approximately 400 calories? You haven’t even bitten into a Wendy’s Big Classic®, McDonald’s Big Mac® or Burger King’s Whopper®, which is between 570 and 660 calories for the sandwich alone. Now super size the fry that goes along with that giant sandwich, and you are adding approximately 600 more calories. Having consumed this mammoth meal, you just ingested over half of your recommended caloric intake for the day in one sitting.

OK, lunch wasn’t THAT bad. You could always walk the dog to make up for it, right? How much walking do you actually need to do to work off the massive amounts of calories you ingested? Rounding lunch off to 1,200 calories, and assuming you are walking at a 15-minute mile pace, you will need to exercise for over three hours if you weigh 200 pounds. If you are a 150-pound person you will have to walk for over four hours to burn off all the excess. Being a college student who possibly has a family and a job to juggle, you don’t have an extra four minutes never mind an extra four hours to work out. Maybe walking isn’t your thing, and you would rather roller blade or swim for two plus hours. That is still more time than you can spare, and you are gaining inches by the meal.

How about considering some realistic alternatives to the ever-expanding battle between convenient meal consumption and your waistline? You don’t have to substitute the king-size Snickers for an apple or eliminate fast food altogether; you just have to consider the serving size of what you are putting in your body. Here are some simple alternatives that may be just as filling, but won’t pack on the pounds.

First, instead of a giant sandwich AND fries, consider having just the sandwich or a regular hamburger and small fry. Baked potatoes and side salads are good alternatives if you are still hungry, but be careful about the condiments you add. The calories add up quickly with extra dressing and sour cream. Packing your lunch can be an economical option also, and you are more likely to pack some healthy snacks. Fruit travels well as do prepackaged bags of baked chips or pretzels. Add a couple slices of lettuce or tomato to a sandwich; they will fill you up without filling you out.

You had a slightly smaller lunch and are now craving a Snickers mid-afternoon. Don’t panic, it’s OK to munch. Eat a snack-size Snickers to curb the craving and get back into the swing of the day. If you are still hungry, choose a single serving package of something to graze on, instead of the economy-size bag. You are more likely to consume greater amounts grazing in the jumbo bag than finishing the snack-size portion. Drinking a small glass of milk is a filling choice that has plenty of calcium and vitamins that are good for you, even if you have to add some chocolate syrup.

Finally, it is recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine to exercise at moderate intensity for 30 minutes most days of the week. This is easier than the three to four hours mentioned above. By walking the dog for 10 minutes each morning and evening you have covered 20 of the recommended 30 minutes. And you can squeeze out the last 10 minutes during the day: getting out of class early and walking, taking the stairs to each class instead of the elevator, playing in the yard with the kids, making multiple trips to the car to unload the groceries, or parking as far away as possible and walking into the store instead of circling the parking lot.

If you need more motivation to exercise, get a buddy to meet with you every other day to exercise. If you have someone to meet, you are less likely to make excuses.

With modest adjustments to serving sizes and adding small amounts of exercise to your daily routine, you can change a colossal waist measurement to something more slender. Go ahead and eat the food you enjoy — just choose the pint-size portion. Chances are, it will still be filling, and you won’t have to feel guilty after the fact to “work off the excess.” Before long your oversized shirt will once again be exactly that, oversized.

Questions for Discussion

1. What health effects does the economical dilemma cause when it is cheaper to order larger amounts of food than necessary?

2. Who is at fault for America’s obesity epidemic — the food industry for creating and marketing larger portions, the consumer for purchasing the massive amounts of food, or both?

3. Should the government intervene in what appears to be an ever-growing public health problem?

4. People will always consume fast food. Is it necessary to alter the ingredient content or simply the portion sizes to improve the health of consumers?

5. Besides weight loss, what other benefits does exercising offer?

Bibliography

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. Harper Collins, 2002.

Nestle, Marion. Food Politics. University of California Press, 2002.

De Graff, John, et. al. Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2001.

Websites

www.nutrition.gov

www.obesity.org

About the Author: Liz Kershaw is a Phi Theta Kappa advisor at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, where she teaches health and wellness classes. Kershaw served as a Faculty Scholar at the Society’s 2003 International Honors Institute in Washington, D.C.

This article is modeled after the Honors Study Topic Case Studies found in “Choices in the Maze: A Supplement to the 2002-04 Phi Theta Kappa Program Guide.” Discussion questions and additional resources are provided to encourage further study.

Copyright 1996-2003 by Phi Theta Kappa, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The name, logo and various titles have been registered with the U.S. Patent Office.

This page last modified -- Friday, 14-Nov-2003 11:00:28 CST (cwe)