Research 2

Keep a Cooler in the car - bottled water, chocolate milk, juice, nuts seeks, pretzels, yogurt, fruit, health bars.
Eat food that is fast to prepare at home - pre-washed, pre-cut, frozen, canned . . .
Start the habit of switching one fast-food meal per week to a healthier alternative.
On days you do eat fast food, ask for small sizes.
Plan meals at least a few days in advance. Pack a healthy lunch or cook dinner at home today.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/what-to-eat-instead-fast-food

portions

Sweden study “Life Box” an alternative to fast food.
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/The-healthy-fast-food-alternative


http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=23373

# One star for = 13 g fat
# One star for = 4.5 g saturated fat
# One star for = 50 mg of cholesterol
# One star for = 3 g of fiber
# One star for = 1,000 mg of sodium



McDonald's Big Mac and medium fries -920 calories and 48 grams of fat, 12.5 of which are saturated fat.
Taco Bell's Nachos BellGrande 760 calories.
french fries are fried in hydrogenated shortening, Trans fats increase LDL cholesterol levels -- the "bad" kind -- and lower HDL,
McDonald's sausage biscuit with egg has 510 calories and 33 grams of fat, including 14 grams of saturated fat, and 1,170 mg of sodium: That's more calories than two Subway turkey breast sandwiches and half a day's worth of saturated fat. Add an order of hash browns and you're up to 660 calories, 42 grams of fat (15.5 saturated), and 1,480 mg of sodium.

relatively low-fat, low-calorie fast-food meal, avoid anything that's deep-fried or dripping with gobs of cheese, mayonnaise, or mayo-based dressing.

• Subwayffers eight "Under 6 Sandwiches," each containing under 6 grams of fat, with calorie counts ranging from 230 to 370. They come either without mayo or with the low-fat variety. Hurley also praises Subway for using low-fat mayo to prepare its tuna, making it lighter in fat and calories than most deli tuna sandwiches. Nothing is perfect, however, and most of these sandwiches packs at least 1,000 mg or more of sodium.

http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/fastfoodpitfalls

Fast food alternatives:
* Water, low-fat milk, or 100% juice. But beware of the calories in drinks other than water, says Lichten.Take that cooled milk and douse it over whole-grain cereals that come in their own single-serve cups. A great snack or part of a meal when you're in transit.
* Low-fat cheese sticks to go with rolls and fruit.
* Tubes or cartons of yogurt.
* Cut veggies or washed baby carrots and cherry tomatoes. Add a container of low-fat dip.
* Sliced bananas, apples, grapes and pears.

Other single portion items for portable feasts include:

* Peanut butter in a tube or a small tub to go with crackers or bread sticks.
* Single-serve cans of tuna with easy-open tops and crackers.
* Cans or cups of fruit packed in their own juice.
Dehydrated bean soups (get hot water at a roadside rest stop).
* Whole-grain breads and cereals, pasta, and prepared pizza crust.
* Milk, reduced-fat shredded cheese, eggs, canned tuna, canned beans, peanut butter, lean ground beef patties, chicken, and meatballs.
* Fresh, frozen, or no-added-salt canned vegetables; fresh and dried fruit; and fruit canned in juice.
* Quick-cooking grains such as 10-minute brown rice and whole-wheat couscous.
* Cartons of 100% orange juice, milk, applesauce, peanut butter, and yogurt in your fridge and cabinets. These work great for road trips, too.


MEAL IDEAS:
Just a couple of hours spent cooking main courses one or two weekends a month works wonders for whipping up fast and healthy food on hectic weeknights. Tips to try:

* Let your slow cooker save you time. Throw the ingredients for chili or beef stew in and turn to other activities.
* Roast a chicken or turkey. This frees you up to concentrate on projects around the house, too.
* Put together a pan or two of lasagna.
* Make double batches of anything you cook, and freeze half.

Super Sandwich Suppers

Sandwiches can help you get supper on the table super fast. For tasty fast-food alternatives, try:

* Pre-formed lean beef burger patties or veggie burgers. Serve on whole-grain buns. Pair with cooked frozen carrots and peas; fruit; and milk.
* Barbecue pulled pork served on whole grain buns with corn and fruit on the side.
* Tuna melts with reduced-fat cheese on whole-wheat bread, and salad.
* Quesadillas made with low-fat cheese, fat-free refried beans, and leftover chicken served with a green salad.

Breakfast for Dinner

"Eggs are the basis of several quick and nutritious dinners," Neville says. For example, try:

* Scrambled eggs served in whole-wheat pita pockets with salsa and low-fat grated cheese; salad; milk or 100% juice, such as orange juice fortified with calcium and vitamin D.
* Whole-grain French toast, applesauce for dipping, and milk.
* Omelets made with leftover cooked vegetables and served with whole-grain rolls, fruit and milk.
* Hard cook a half dozen eggs. Toss them in salads, or use them for grab-and-go snacks or lunch.

Healthy Fast Food: Half-Way Homemade

Supermarkets can save the day when you want fast food and great nutrition. Think of these quick grab-and-go meals as half-way homemade:

* (Practically) No-Cook Chicken Dinner. Pick up two cooked rotisserie chickens (the extra is for meals to come); precut broccoli florets in the produce section or frozen "steamer" vegetable combos from the freezer case, and crusty whole-grain bread from the bakery department. Serve with canned pineapple or Mandarin oranges.
* The Salad Bar. Let your kids loose on the supermarket salad bar for a great fast-food alternative. Be sure they include a protein source, such as tuna, beans, eggs, cottage cheese, tofu, or cheese; dark leafy greens; and fruit. Keep dressings and toppings to a minimum. Buy whole-grain rolls to serve with the salad at home. You can also pick up shrimp cocktail or sushi, too.
* Fast and Health Stir-Fry. Combine frozen Asian vegetable stir-fry mix, leftover rotisserie chicken, precooked chicken from meat case, tofu, or shrimp and serve over quick-cooking brown rice.
* 20-Minute Pizza. Neville favors whole-wheat Boboli-type crusts, spaghetti sauce or prepared pesto sauce, and part-skim mozzarella cheese and veggies from supermarket salad bars for concocting a quick pizza. You can also use whole-wheat English muffins, tortillas, or pita bread for crust, she says.
* Soup-er Star Main Courses. Start with lower-sodium canned soup and add frozen diced vegetables, cooked macaroni or quick-cooking brown rice, and leftover diced cooked chicken or turkey or beans. Serve with fruit or salad and low-fat milk.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/fast-food-alternatives

Healthy recipies: http://www.delish.com/recipes/healthy-fast-food-alternative-recipes

EATING HEALTHY WITH FAST FOOD:

Fitness expert Bob Greene says fast-food restaurants are getting a bad rap these days for only having high-fat, high-calorie foods on their menus. In his book The Get With The Program! Guide to Fast Food and Family Restaurants, Bob says many fast-food restaurants are changing and now offering healthy alternatives.

Bob picks some of his favorite low-cal, low-fat options from the drive-thrus:

McDonald's
Bob has worked closely with McDonald's on their menu to make healthier choices available. He says their salads are the way to go.

* Bob's favorite is the Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with Newman's Own Light Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing. It has only about 240 calories—that's a whole meal!
* The Grilled Chicken California Cobb Salad is about 270 calories.
* Bob also likes the Chicken McGrill, which has about 400 calories. "Just watch out for the sauce that is on it," Bob says.

KFC
Bob says many of the sandwiches are good choices.

* The Tender Roast Chicken Sandwich without sauce—about 260 calories—or the honey BBQ-flavored sandwich, which is about 300 calories.
* Bob says some of KFC's "sides" are smart choices. Corn-on-the-cob and BBQ baked beans are good options.

Pizza Hut
Avoid deep-dish pizza if you're trying to lose weight, Bob says—it has almost twice as many calories as thin-crust pizza. You can save about 200 calories per slice by eating thin-crust. And stay away from stuffed-crust pizzas!

* Thin n' Crispy pizza is about 200 calories per slice.
* The hand-tossed pizza is about 240 calories per slice.

Taco Bell
Taco Bell can actually be healthy, Bob says.

* The Soft Chicken Taco has about 190 calories.
* The Chicken Gordita Nacho Cheese is about 270 calories.
* The Bean Burrito and Fiesta Chicken Burrito are both about 370 calories each.
http://www.oprah.com/article/health/weightloss/health_weight_fastfood

AFFORDABLE HEALTHY FOOD:

http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/


WAISTE BY FAST FOOD CHAINS

Fast food litter was second to cigarette ends in littering the country’s streets and 29 per cent of that was from McDonald’s restaurants,

A spokesman said its outlets sent out teams to pick up litter within 100 yards at least three times a day and full-time ­litter-pickers were being considered. McDonald’s has done more than most fast food companies to tackle litter,” he said.

Cathy Parker, of Manchester Metropolitan University, said customers could be put off by seeing branded litter.

“There is clear evidence that seeing litter with a company’s brand on can negatively affect the public’s perception of that brand,” she said.

“There is, therefore, a good commercial reason why fast food operators should take more of an interest in what happens to their packaging once it leaves their premises.”


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/4223106/McDonalds-waste-makes-up-largest-proportion-of-fast-food-litter-on-streets.html


Some Fast Food Chains Offer Vague Policies on Waste Reduction
Both McDonald’s and PepsiCo (owner of KFC and Taco Bell) have crafted internal policies to address environmental concerns. PepsiCo states that it encourages “conservation of natural resources, recycling, source reduction and pollution control to ensure cleaner air and water and to reduce landfill wastes,” but does not elaborate on specific actions it takes. McDonald’s makes similar general statements and claims to be “actively pursuing the conversion of used cooking oil into biofuels for transportation vehicles, heating, and other purposes,” and pursuing various in-store paper, cardboard, delivery container and pallet recycling programs in Australia, Sweden, Japan and Britain. In Canada the company claims to be the “largest user of recycled paper in our industry” for trays, boxes, carry out bags and drink holders.

Taiwan Takes a Hard Line on Fast Food Waste
Perhaps policymakers in the U.S. and elsewhere could take a lead from Taiwan, which since 2004 has required its 600 fast-food restaurants, including McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC, to maintain facilities for proper disposal of recyclables by customers. Diners are obliged to deposit their garbage in four separate containers for leftover food, recyclable paper, regular waste and liquids.

http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/fast_food_waste.htm


In addition to the waste generated at the fast food outlets, a great deal of secondary waste is generated by fast food suppliers , and this is a serious problem. Feedlots and slaughterhouses, for instance, produce vast amounts of waste, which greatly contribute to pollution. A large volume of trash is generated by the soda industry. It is estimated that 44 billion soft drink cans and bottles are thrown into landfills annually.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Waste-of-Fast-Food-Industry


The Southern forests of North America supply 60% of US and 15% of global paper demands. Deforestation for wood and paper products, along with urban sprawl, has resulted in a total decline from 356 million acres in colonial times to 182 million acres today. The South contains more threatened forest ecosystems than anywhere else in the US. A major perpetuator of deforestation in the South is the fast food industry. With nearly 100 paper packaging mills in the South and thousands of restaurants worldwide, major fast food retailers such as KFC and Taco Bell are leaders in paper consumption and subsequent waste. The Dogwood Alliance (dogwoodalliance.org), a nonprofit organization formed to increase awarness of the importance of Southern forests and the threats their survival, has launched a new campaign at nofreerefills.org which specifically targets the paper packaging practices of the fast food industry.

"Southern forests are (among) the most bio-diverse forests in the world", says Dogwood Alliance Media Outreach coordinator Lauren Barnett. "These forests contain high concentrations of rare and endangered species." The Southern forests also function as major carbon sinks, regions that are incredibly important in their ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it in trees and soil. Not only are carbon-gathering trees being felled to create products which ultimately find their way to landfills where they decay and release carbon into the atmosphere; "the large-scale industrial forestry practices that are used to supply the fiber that is turned into fast food packaging are major contributors of carbon emissions since bound carbon is exhausted from the soil when forests are cleared and managed intensively with chemical fertilizers."


Overall, the Southeastern US has the highest number of endangered ecosystems in the country. More than 30 percent of all native Southeastern plant communities have become critically endangered due to habitat loss and degradation. Many Southern forest communities are now limited to only a small fraction of their original range, resulting in 25 endangered and 14 critically endangered communities. Because of this, 18 mammal, 20 bird, 40 reptile, and 54 amphibian species are now classified as imperiled.

Fast food industry giants such as Wendy's, Pizza Hut, and McDonalds are some of the largest consumers of paper products in the US. "Every year millions of pounds of food packaging waste litter our roadways, clog our landfills and spoil our quality of life. Southern forests, the jewel of the American landscape, are being destroyed to bring you fried chicken, burgers and fries, and super-sized convenience in a glut of wrappers, boxes and cups" says Barnett. For example, Americans use 15 billion disposable hot beverage cups every year, with projections reaching 23 billion by 2010. To curb this excess, Barnett suggests that "consumers bring plastic containers from home when having a meal out and reuse these containers repeatedly."

Dogwood Alliance is calling on fast food retailers to implement a series of practices in order to reduce their impact on the environment, such as reducing packaging materials, employing 100% post-consumer recycled boxboard, eliminating paper packaging originating from endangered forests or industrial pine plantations, recycling their own waste in effort to divert it from landfills, and creating partnerships to improve forest management. Barnet stresses that "simple choices and creative solutions can reduce the excess and destruction while still allowing us to enjoy the level of convenience we have come to expect."


White Marsh Clearcut, outside of the Green Swamp, NC. Image courtesy of the Dogwood Alliance.
An example of the impact of a business implementing even very small changes is that of Starbucks, who recently shifted from completely non-recycled paper to a 10 percent recycled post-consumer cup. This change alone will result in an annual drop of about 11,000 tons of wood used and 47 million gallons of water.

When asked what individual consumers can do to help save the Southern forests, Barnett has a number of suggestions. "(They can visit) our Web site, nofreerefills.org to educate themselves on our campaign and the facts concerning fast food packaging. Then ask fast food companies to Save Southern Forests by helping our effort." Many small in-home changes can also help. "Dining in rather than on-the-go also reduces overall packaging use. When shopping, purchase products that utilize less paper, and buy recycled paper and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified products."


Green Fast Food: Really Here or a Green Dream?

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/analysis/2223479/green-fast-food-really-here


Fast food Pollution:
Here is a great statistic to bite into: Cooking four normal sized hamburgers in a fast food joint emits the same amount of VOC's (volatile organic compounds) as driving a current model car for 1,000 miles. (Engelhard) in Hong Kong, "The 9,000 restaurants in HK also contribute to fine particulates and volatile organic substances. Other components of fumes are oils, fats, aliphatic hydrocarbons, poly-aromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic amines, aldehydes and elemental carbon." (read study here) In New Jersey, 16,000 restaurants release 2,226 tons of particulates, more than all of the heavy diesel vehicles in the state (1,329 tons, read study here) In the Bay area of California, they will soon require emission control on all chain-driven commercial grills. (report here) So just like your cars, all restaurants in the Bay area will be equipped with catalytic converters to reduce particulates and VOC's, and we should demand it everywhere else.

http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/F2FF1F2A-84F3-4FCA-B250-71AFBEDCF384/

Why do people who live near fast-food restaurants have more strokes?
Do you live in a neighborhood with a lot of fast-food joints? Be advised: a new study suggests that living in an area densely packed with fast food ups the odds you will suffer from a stroke.

Lewis Morgenstern, who directs the University of Michigan’s stroke program in Ann Arbor, and colleagues studied ischemic strokes (caused by blocked vessels supplying blood to the brain) occurring between January 2000 and June 2003 in Southern Texas's Nueces County, which has a population of about 320,000. During that time period, 1,247 strokes occurred among people ages 45 and older.

The researchers found that the risk of suffering a stroke was 13 percent higher for people living in neighborhoods with the greatest number of fast-food restaurants (an average of 33) compared to those living in areas with the least (an average of 12), and the risk of stroke in a neighborhood increased by 1 percent for every fast-food restaurant.

"We found there was a significant association between stroke risk and the density of fast-food restaurants," says Morgenstern, who presented the results yesterday at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in San Diego, Calif.

Morgenstern wouldn’t say which fast-food joints the study looked at, but the restaurants had to have at least two of the following four features: offering a takeout service, having limited or no waiting staff, requiring customers to pay before giving them food, or having pre-prepared food.

Morgenstern is quick to note that the study only shows an association between fast-food restaurants and stroke, not any cause-and-effect relationship. "We have no information that any of the people who have suffered a stroke [in this study] have ever eaten fast food in their whole life," he says. Perhaps easy access to fast food leads to increased consumption of the greasy goods, upping the likelihood of stroke by clogging arteries, Morgenstern speculates. Or, he hypothesizes, fast-food joints might be markers for other neighborhood risk factors, such as air pollution (previous research by Morgenstern's team linked air pollution to stroke), lack of access to parks for doing exercise (one study showed that brisk walking for even a half hour each day lowered stroke risk), or perhaps even high crime rates, which might create a stressful environment (some researchers have suggested that high stress can up stroke risk by as much as 40 percent).

"[These findings] highlight the need to look beyond the conventional risk factors for stroke [such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and tobacco use]," Morgenstern says, noting that scientists should also look at neighborhood-associated risk factors that may be at play.

The next step, Morgenstern says, is ferreting out what it is about neighborhoods with large numbers of fast-food restaurants that makes it likely residents will have strokes. He hopes to conduct a similar study comparing food consumption among those who suffer from strokes and those who do not.

A restaurant trade group slammed the study, calling it misleading. "This article is seriously flawed, and by its own admission shows no correlation whatsoever between dining at chain restaurants and incidence of stroke," says Beth Johnson, a spokesperson for the National Restaurant Association.

Behind cancer and heart disease, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. -- almost 800,000 people suffer from a new or recurrent stroke every year, 87 percent of which are ischemic, according to the American Heart Association. (The annual rate of people who had ischemic strokes in Nueces County appears to be lower than the national average—approximately 0.1 percent versus approximately 0.2 percent—but Morgenstern says his study did not compare stroke incidence in Nueces County to that of the U.S. overall.)


Marketing to Children:

Children Have Pester Power
Merging child phycology and marketing to advertise to them
Implanting brand loyalty at an early age - children as young as six months of age can form mental images of corporate logos and mascots. Brand loyalties can be made by age 2 - and by time school starts they can recognize hundreds of brands. Now, not only kid oriented businesses are marketing to kids, businesses like banks and automakers are also advertising to them.
Buzz marketing - twist on word of mouth - “COOL status” - have the coolest kids where it - get in chat rooms . . . on the light rail.
Schools - sponsoring educational materials - kraft, supplying schools with technology in exchange for high company visibility, fast food or soft drink companies, advertising posted in exchange for funds, Contest and incentive programs - pizza hut for free certificates -sponsoring school events.
The Internet - no codes on advertising to kids, easy to gather information from children, often no supervision, engaging and interactive environments that create brand loyalty.
Adult entertainment targeted to children (not porn - but movies)
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/marketers_target_kids.cfm

Marketing to Parents:
related to education
Concerned with current issues - violent video games
Cost cost cost.
A way to interact with children - create the ideal family

http://www.businessknowledgesource.com/marketing/5_keys_to_marketing_to_parents_022462.html

Marketing to parents and children:

Five marketing methods parents don’t like

1. Pester power generated by marketing directly to children

Children believe that adverts tell the truth about brands and ask their parents to choose those products:
‘because they’ve seen it on TV they think it is the best’

2. Pester power generated for unhealthy products

‘A lot of the things that are marketed at children are full of additives, salt and sugar’

3. Celebrity endorsement of brands (and cartoon characters?)

Parents said they disliked campaigns which encouraged children to want latest brands endorsed by people they admire
“Finding Nemo cost me a fortune.”

4. Free gifts to entice children

‘I have lost count of the number of tantrums I have had in Asda because I won’t let the girls have the cereal just for the free gift’

5. Getting messages to children directly through the internet and mobile phones

Parents are uneasy about marketing to children through new media that parents cannot gatekeep – they distrust the clubs, games and networks that are used to sell products to children or build brand loyalty amongst children
“My kids want to go on the internet and every time something flashes up and an advert comes up all the time, it keeps coming up.”

Five steps to family friendly marketing

1. End campaigns aimed directly at children under 11

“I think they aim [TV advertising] at the little ones. You try explaining to a four or five year old that it’s not actually like that.”

2. Ensure parents are able to gatekeep messages that children may receive – avoid use of new media to target children behind their parents’ backs

“I need to ask if the advertising industry are comfortable spending millions of pounds targeting children direct and then saying it’s down to mum and dad to stand up to them?”

3. Remove sweets, snacks and treats from the childs’ eye view in the aisles or at checkout – leave parents to make the choice

“Why do they put them there? The children got hold of them before you say that they can have them.”

4. Develop healthier products for children as treats, staple foods and for convenience

“The ones that are good for them…are really dear.”

5. Invest in marketing campaigns to inform parents about healthier foods and products

“If they advertised the same way they did the children Happy Meals, then they’d take notice.”

www.familyandparenting.org/Filestore//Documents/PolicyDiscussionPapers/marketingParents.pdf

Determination of brand loyalty factors age group-18-24 - good study
Toothpaste, Coffee, and Mobile handsets
Marketers want customers to be brand loyal--but marketers commonly fail to be loyal to their customers (Schultz, 2005). Brand Loyalty has declined for three main reasons:

1. Increasingly, people seek variety and like to try new brands and products; boredom thresholds have fallen and consumer like to break out of same old routines--and this has had a negative impact on loyalty.

2. Quality levels of products have risen to a standard where they no longer clearly differentiate the competing brands within the category. Consumer risk in switching brands is considerably lower today as the quality of substitute brands is no longer a concern.

3. Many brands still position themselves on the basis of quality and risk reduction, which does not resonate with modern consumers. Brands have different meanings for modern consumers compared with consumers of bygone eras. (Bennett & Rundle-Thiele, 2005).

1. I make my purchase according to my favorite brand, regardless of price (loyalty)

2. I like to change brands for the sake of novelty and variety (novelty)

3. My choice of brand says something about me as a person (image)

4. My choice of brand is influenced by promotions (promotion)

5. I choose my brand because it has a good reputation (reputation)

Quality is my primary concern when buying a brand (quality)


Reputation - and price a big factor - but brand loyalty low in comparison to other groups

Component 1 is characterized by image, reputation and quality being the influence in toothpaste brand purchase. Component 2 is characterized by novelty being the factor in brand selection. It is negatively associated with price insensitive brand loyalty. This may indicate that respondents are brand loyal to lower priced toothpaste brands so do not consider that their purchases are made 'regardless of price'.

There are three factors of mobile handset brand purchase (Table 13) that collectively explain 69.3 per cent of variance. Component 1 is characterized by a price insensitive brand preference. It is negatively associated with novelty being an influence for brand loyalty.

Although not dominant, component 1 is clearly the major factor for mobile handset. The second factor, component 2, represents image and promotion sensitivity. This component is not associated with either brand preference regardless of price (not unexpectedly) or Novelty as an influence in brand purchase. It is very clearly an image and promotion orientation. Component 3 accounts for the lowest percentage of variance explained and represent the factor 'outer directed brand loyalty' and are characterized by quality and reputation of the brand.

There was strongest agreement that 'quality' was the basis of toothpaste brand selection (Table 6). This was significantly greater than for any other selection criterion except 'loyalty'. It should be noted that all statements with means on the 'agree' half of the scale could be regarded as having some influence on toothpaste purchase.