Fast Food Vindication ~ Blog Tour with Kindle Fire Giveaway

Fast Food Vindication

By Lisa Tillinger Johansen, MS, RD

The Story You Haven't Been Told...

It is possible to eat healthy at fast food restaurants, it depends on you and what you choose. We need to develop healthy eating habits, but food is not the only factor in the expanding waistlines. We must also take into account lifestyle, exercise and other factors that impact our lives. Fast food is not the monster that we've turned it into. Unhealthy food lurks almost everywhere if you know where to look. It depends on what you put on your burger and your sides, what you eat is your responsibility.

Fast food restaurants are accused of providing low-paying, dead-end jobs for people with no skills. But this is not accurate as many use this as a chance to build job and life skills. Many fast food franchises are supporters of education, providing part-time jobs to high school students and providing scholarships.

Fast food corporations believe in a good neighbor policy donating time and money to causes that include hunger relief, health care, medical research, troubled and endangered children, adoption, education, and emergency efforts. When fast food establishments move into an underprivileged area others take note, soon grocery stores and other establishments move in as well.

The obesity rampant in today's world is not the fault of fast food, but rather a result of several factors which include lack of exercise and the lack of responsibility in what we put into our mouths. There are other sources of unhealthy food, but political and media focus seems to be on fast food not on sit-down restaurants, prepared meals, or home meals.

We can eat fast food, but we need to make choices that are healthier when we order. We also need to get out and move. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Take responsibility for how you live your life and you will be healthier and an occasional fast food meal won't hurt you or your family.

Change takes time and it is not easy, it takes work. Lisa Johansen gives you food for thought and the knowledge that you will need to effect these changes in your life no matter when, where or what you eat.

Fast Food Vindication provides an interesting look at the world of fast food and the various histories of several chains we are all familiar with.

I was provided an ARC of this title for the purpose of this review. No expectations were placed on this review.

About the Author:

Lisa Tillinger Johansen is a registered dietitian and health educator who teaches a variety of classes on diabetes, pre-diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, weight management, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and healthy eating for adults and teens. She holds a Master of Science degree in nutritional science, Coordinated Dietetics Program, from California State University, Los Angeles.

Her latest book is Fast Food Vindication.

Visit her website at www.fastfoodvindication.com.

Connect with Lisa: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

About the Book:

The fast-food industry has long been the whipping boy for all sorts of health ills. Obesity in children and adults? Blame it on fast food. Heart problems, diabetes, high cholesterol? Fast food is the culprit.

Not so, says Lisa Tillinger Johansen in her new book, FAST FOOD VINDICATION. Johansen, a Los Angeles-based registered dietitian, takes the bold position that “fast food is not the enemy, and it can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle.” In fact, Johansen says, the media’s current wave of anti-fast-food sentiment may actually be detrimental to society’s health and well-being. “By focusing solely on the fast-food industry, the onus is all too often removed from more important factors:  personal responsibility and smart choices.”

In FAST FOOD VINDICATION, Johansen takes a lively, informative, and realistic look at our eating habits, and, using her expertise and experience as a registered dietitian, seeks to educate readers on making smart dietary choices no matter where they eat.

“The book refutes the notion that fast food is an evil force in society,” Johansen says. “The laser focus on fast food being the cause of the obesity epidemic is not true, nor is it the complete picture. There’s so much press about how fast food is detrimental to us. In reality, that’s not the case. It’s about how we eat. We can eat poorly at home and at sit-down and fast-food restaurants, but we can also make healthier choices at all of these places. The majority of us don’t make great choices. We need to look at everywhere we eat and how we eat. Personal responsibility plays a big role.”

“Fast-food restaurants make big and easy targets,” Johansen maintains. “So many of us eat at them, and, unfortunately, so many of us are overweight or obese. But research has shown that we eat the majority of our meals at home, so restaurants of all types are just a part of the puzzle.”

“There are a lot of ways to make good choices at fast-food restaurants,” according to Johansen. “For example, a grilled chicken sandwich without mayo, coupled with a side salad with low-fat dressing on the side and apple dippers without the dip, is one good meal that you could put together. Most fast-food restaurants carry entrée salads, yogurt parfaits, oatmeal, and other, more nutritious foods.”

On the other side of the issue, Johansen notes that an unhealthy fast-food meal could include “fried foods of any type, regular sodas or anything that is double, triple, quadruple or more.”

With the publication of FAST FOOD VINDICATION, Johansen hopes to “present the side of an issue that hasn’t really been discussed much in the media. By doing so, it should ultimately help people to learn to look at the big picture and make appropriate changes to their diets as needed.”

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