More than menus need to be revamped if fast-food firms want to keep growing

I have always found it amusing that when McDonalds started offering salads a few years ago, it came from research that showed mommy buying crap for her kids but nothing for herself. With salads they were going to supposedly attract mommy to buy herself something healthy while at the store to buy the crap for her kids.
I guess the instinct to take care of your kids before taking care of yourself has vanished with evolution...

Fast food does not make people fat, overeating does. Obesity problems are, at their core, self-control problems. Face it, fatty...your will-power is to blame, not McDonalds.

Anthony Bourdain, chef and host of the Travel Channel's (U.S.) No Reservations, has written a book titled Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook. I haven't read it yet, but in an interview on the Rachel Maddow Show (U.S.-MSNBC), he is asked about his wish to have fastfood in the U.S. turn into something better, like the fastfood in Asia: bowls of noodles, sticks of barbecue, stir fry, etc. It would be better because the ingredients are fresh, no processed food, cooked on demand or pretty close to it, grilled, stewed and sometimes full of vegetables. That would be a dream come true for me.

Why to buy fast food when in any food-court you can find sometimes cheaper chinese, greek, etc food, much, much healthier.

To those that think "ethnic" foods are often healthier, I beg to differ. Yes, homemade Chinese food is healthy, made with lots of veggies and spices. But having lived in China for a year, buying street food or getting Chinese fast food is bad for you, just like McDonalds. You really get to watch how much oil they cook with, leaving the food incredibly greesy! And they use really cheap meat, with lots of chunks of fat in it. There isn't health information available for it like for McD's, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is just as bad for you.... solution, just make your own dinner.

limiting fast food is actually cutting long term social health care bill, good for economic too
Just a balance between fast food revenue and health care bill~

FullMetalPanic,

All that study says is that overeating rewires the brain to encourage further overeating. This is probably true of anything that can be considered a 'habit'. Breaking out-of-control habits is never easy. But starting habits - and abusing them to point at which they get out of control - is almost always entirely voluntary.

LaRapsodia

You don't need a translator. This US dictionary uses US spellings but also works with others. It tends to be focused more on international English rather than local variations. You'll find 'porridge' and 'grits' there but porridge isn't grits.

http://www.wordsmyth.net/

RP Taylor:

"Dopamine D2 receptors in addiction-like reward dysfunction and compulsive eating in obese rats" by Paul M Johnson & Paul J Kenny

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v13/n5/full/nn.2519.html

Taylor, you realize that some of the ingredients in fast foods are addictive?...

I swear, this site needs a pop-up "British->American" dictionary. I have no idea what "porridge" actually is, but I'm sure it won't be on a McDonald's menu anytime soon! ("Yeah, I'll have a super-sized porridge please," lol!)

Is it oatmeal? I know it's something breakfasty and bland, and I can see McDonald's offering oatmeal, since Starbuck's has done so well with it.

Fast food is delicious. That is why it is so popular.

Americans are getting fatter. But they are living longer than ever.

I agree with Taylor that “ Fast food does not make people fat, overeating does”. Even fast food companies offer fat food, as long as customs have their will control well, doing more exercise. The world is peace.

Of course, if fast food companies provide can more healthy food is better for customs.

And I also don't think others or regulators should have a work for fast food companies for their discount or something, because fast food company is also company, they still have to live and they also provide services!

What's addictive? Anything made out of fat, bread, and sugar???? Hmmm.... fat, bread, and sugar.... Doughnuts.... uhhhhhh....

I have a joke about Fast Food, which is tough work, having 400 people in eight hours all insist they are at least better than you.

So the worker behind the counter is precieved as rude so the customer says, "I'm taking my business elsewhere".

Which is funny cause the job is terrible and the food is terrible so that should always be the customer's opinion.

Though the article says that fast food chains need to broaden their menus, by far the most successful fast food chain here in Southern California is In-n-Out Burger, which has the simplest menu of them all and a menu that hasn't changed in decades. So what it really comes down to is good food rather than a wide variety of choices.

I like Anthony Bordain's idea, asian fast foods are far healthier than burgers and fries. I long for the day when we can start getting McSushi and McRamen.

Eating high-fat, calorie-dense meals frequently will make you fat. The average person wolfs their fast food food and then is looking for more, even when the meal contains more than a full day's calorie demand. Adding a super-sized sugary caffeinated soft-drink, fancy 'doctored' coffee (McCaffeine special), or candy-loaded milk-shake adds impressively to cumulative damage to waistlines.

The laugh is that the accompanying photo is of a regular-sized hamburger, not the super-sized version that is the darling of the fast-food burger joints here in the US. Most fast-food restaurant regulars would disdain ordering one.

The Asian fast food, at least the Western-version, isn't nearly as 'healthy' as one might think.

I can't believe that there are some people here, who blame the uncontrolled behavior of all those fat people on fast food chains. It is those people alone, that caused themselves of being fat.

I personally understand too well how hard it is to stop, for I love eating. BUT, I go through that 'pain' and force myself to stop when I think that that was enough! I have not the least bit of pity for those people who do not go through this 'pain' of stopping, they just pay for what they consume...!

The most promising US innovation over the past year has been KALE CHIPS. They are crunchy and delicious, and will be the next french fry.