Fast Food

The scenario is common. It's the end of the day. Everyone is tired and hungry, including mom, who is now driving home and planning dinner simultaneously. She can't remember if there's enough cheese left over from last night's dinner to allow for tacos tonight. She really should stop at the grocery to pick up a few midweek items. However, dragging two tired and hungry children through the grocery store is about as enticing as the leftover tuna fish salad chilling in the refrigerator at home.

Mom looks in the rearview mirror and sees the lights of fast food signs reflecting off the pupils of her children's eyes. She calls home to see if her husband has found anything in the pantry to cook. She takes his order. The kids know the drill by heart, and have already decided what they will order.

Mom contemplates, without any resources at her fingertips, the best food choices for her family's nutritional needs. Then shakes her head wondering if fast food and nutrition really belong in the same sentence. She turns into her children's favorite eatery and parks behind a long line of her contemporaries. The attendant at the window takes her money. Mom breathes in the aroma of freedom from cooking and grocery shopping and in the same breath the worry of stopping too frequently for high-fat food.

Parents aren't the only segment of the population who frequent fast food restaurants. College students, singles, widowed senior citizens, tired shift workers, and 9 to 5 employees looking for a quick lunch are examples of people from all walks of life needing to eat, and yet not having the time or inclination to shop and cook nutritious meals.

The fact that eating out often has been linked to health problems is no secret. Obesity, one of the most common results of a steady diet of fast food visits, is a national obsession. Busy people who indulge in high-fat content foods on a regular basis add the stress of extra pounds to an already stressful fast-paced lifestyle.

The good news is that something as complex as a national obsession can be overcome with a little research, a calorie and nutritional guide, and some comparative menu planning.

Most bookstores carry paperback calorie counters. Included in some of these calorie counters are sections listing the nutritional values of menus at the better-known fast food restaurants. The Internet also has sites that offer this information. Keeping the calorie counter or Internet printout in the console of the car will help when making fast food choices.

Www.Chowbaby.com lists major chains like Pizza Hut and Taco Bell and offers the restaurant's menu along with the nutritional values of

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