My children have never eaten fast food….except…
Food Babe.com
I’ve lived under this false sense of truth for quite some time. My children have never eaten McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy’s and whatever other fast food is popular (I honestly don’t even know). They have honestly never even had a bite of food from these fast food chains.
But we did eat Chick-fil-A. And we loved it. The whole family loved it. All 6 of us. And we could eat for under $25.00. And it was easy and convenient, especially on those long summer days. We were probably eating it about once a month. Maybe twice.
And then I read an article on the 100 Days of Real Food website, called “Food Babe Investigates: Why Chick-fil-A”
Oh no. It confirmed all my worst fears (which I already kinda knew, but chose not to believe). I read the ingredient list. Yuck, yuck, yuck. There are 100 ingredients in the Chick-fil-A sandwhich alone. 18 of them are preservatives.
How can I honestly say we don’t eat food with preservatives, if I’m feeding my kids chicken sandwiches that are stocked full of preservatives? And food coloring, and refined grains, MSG, GMO corn. No, no, no. Stop. I didn’t want to read anymore.
The Food Babe had some really great articles going into the details of Chick-fil-A ingredients: ”Chick-Fil-A or Chemical-Fil-A”?
“For example, let’s take TBHQ which stands for “Tertiary Butylhydroquinone” – an ingredient that is listed twice, once in the chicken and once in the bun. TBHQ is a chemical made from butane (a very toxic gas) and can only be used at a rate of 0.02 percent of the total oil in a product. Why is there a limit to this? Maybe because eating only 1 gram of this toxic preservative has been shown to cause all sorts of issues, from ADHD in children, to asthma, allergies and dermatitis to dizziness and even has caused stomach cancer in laboratory animals. Limiting TBHQ to a certain percentage, is the same logic the FDA made when allowing a product to still contain 0.5 grams of transfat and be labeled “transfat free.” If you are consuming processed foods, eating at fast food restaurants or chains that use processed foods you are consuming an overload of preservatives and other chemicals. The high dosage is a huge factor contributing to increased auto immune disorders, rising health care and cancer in America”
It wasn’t the easiest thing to give up. I felt like it was my last easy go-to-food-choice for those long hard days when you couldn’t possibly think about cooking.
But I’ve always said, “When you know better. You do better.”
I cannot consciously feed my young children food that will harm their bodies. I believe everything we put into our bodies gives us life or gives us death. I choose life for me & my children.
I will continue to learn and grow and change and give things up. There is a price we pay for convenience. The convenience of Chick-fil-A is not worth our health. So bye-bye Chick-fil-A.
It’s been about 2 months now. I honestly don’t even miss it, now that I’ve properly researched the ingredients. We still haven’t told the kids yet that we won’t be eating in anymore. Haha! We will wait until they ask for it, and surprisingly they haven’t asked for it yet. Which makes me wonder, how much of what we feed our children are things they don’t even want or ask for?
Oh and the good news, here’s the Homemade organic version of the Chick-fil-A sandwhich that you can make at home. And from what I hear, it tastes very close to the real thing. Pretty cool huh?
Do you eat at Chick-Fil-A? Why or why not?
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TESTING!
We eat at Five Guys – they do not use preservatives. As far as I can find, they are the best “real food fast food” option out there. That or Chipotle, but we aren’t big on mexican food. I’ve heard Panera is pretty good too. Good luck! It’s hard when you truly do need convenience food sometimes.
Thanks so much for spreading the word Jessica. Everyone needs to know about this junk! I’ve got an interesting post in the works that gives you even more reason to stay away from the infamous TBHQ. Stay tuned! XOXO.
Because of their popularity, I’ve been tempted to try Chick-fil-a. So glad you wrote this before we did. My kids still beg for some of the junk food we used to eat and I’m sure this would just add to it. Thank you!
We’re down to just In-n-Out Burger or Chipotle as our eating out choices. Probably the most natural, freshest options that exist in “fast food”.
I had already given up Chick-fil-A for moral reasons, but you just helped ensure that in a moment of weakness I *won’t* go back. 18 preservatives?! I was sure they used a few, but… wow. Ugh.
Funny thing about Chick-Fil-A and myself. I gave up fried foods about 2 years ago (with the exception of the very, very occasional french fry) and I became a vegetarian about 8 months ago. The last thing that kept me from both: Chick-Fil-A. I loved it, the sandwich, the waffle fries. My husband will still eat it, but I don’t. Very excited to try the healthy version for him though. Thanks!
That is the only fast food place we eat at. I watch what we eat 80% of the time so that 20% of the time I don’t stress out. That, and we earned “free chicken for a year” by camping at one of their grand openings, so eating there once a week hels stretch my food budget.
I stopped eating at Chick-fil-a after they made a public stand against homosexuality. Before that, I did consider it to be slightly healthier than going to McDonalds (although I was eating their salad most of the time because I can’t tolerate gluten, they make a great fast-food salad). They certainly set themselves up as a healthier option, but I’m not surprised to hear that they still load their food with lots of crappy ingredients. It’s sad that this is the norm in America.
It’s funny what you find when you start looking. We used to eat at Chick-fil-a a couple times a month too. But then my littlest was diagnosed with a corn allergy and I had to learn all the chemical lingo that really means “corn.” Wow–I had NO idea how many ingredients were in the grilled chicken breast alone. (She never could have the bun or the breaded pattie due to long standing wheat allergy.) Definitely sources of GMO corn, and I think if I remember right, I found corn in the fries too. Sheesh!
Honestly, I think I knew this all along. Every time we ate there, she and I (who are both really sensitive to preservatives and stuff) would have stuffy noses, post nasal drip and a little hacky cough for an hour or so. Duh. Should have listened to my body instead of ignoring it for the sake of convenience and a yummy sandwich.
Jessica’s latest post “Time with Mom” http://wp.me/p2oOZ0-3P
We stopped eating at Chick-fil-A because there is no way to not get exposed to gluten there. I did like their chemical laiden sandwiches when I ate them though.
Anyway, our fast food place of choice is Chipolte. They use sustainable raised, local, antibiotic and hormone free meat, they have many gluten free options and their food is high quality. I really love the company’s focus on sustainability. It isn’t AS cheap as other fast food places but I can feed 2 adults and 1 child (because the almost one year old just picks off of our plates still) with drinks for about $20. Not too bad really.
I had chic-fil-a at an airport once. I had never heard of it before that. I thought it was gross.
To be fair, my basis for comparison was from-scratch homemade fried chicken. Nothing comes close.
And yeah, airports aren’t the best places to try foods for the first time, but i’ll only buy fast food when in dire straights anyway.