Buy Local

Get healthier:
Fast food eaters were found to have higher intakes of carbohydrates, saturated fat and sugar, amongst others. The same fast food eaters consumed low amounts of nutritious foods such as fruits and non-starchy vegetables. The study found that for some of those surveyed fast food accounted for one-third of their caloric intake while containing almost no milk or fruit; two vital sources of nutrients in key food groups, (http://www.getmunch.com/about.php).
Almost 500 fast food items from McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King and proved what many Americans may already suspect: On a chemical level, the vast majority of fast food meat derives from a single source: corn. Corn is heavily used in feedlots to fatten cows up before slaughter. U.S. meat consumption is the highest in the world. It's one and a half times higher than the next country on the list, which is Germany. (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1859018,00.html) They add emulsifiers, preservatives, MSG, artificial colors, trans fats, and hidden ingredients under generic labels such as spices, or natural and artificial flavors. (http://www.naturalnews.com/022194.html).
McDonald's scrambled egg breakfast include much more than eggs. Their pasteurized whole eggs have sodium acid pyrophosphate, citric acid, and monosodium phosphate (all added to preserve color), and nisin, a preservative. To top it off, the eggs are prepared with liquid margarine: liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils (trans fats), salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil (trans fat), soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate (preservatives), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, and beta carotene (color). http://www.naturalnews.com/022194.html

Buy local products:
Every piece of chicken I've ever seen could be Tyson chicken. (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1859018,00.html)
McDonalds food comes from the cheapest suppliers. Florida tomato pickers converged on McDonald's Corp.'s flagship Chicago restaurant over the weekend to protest poor working conditions and wages they say have stagnated for 30 years. Tomato pickers earn about $7,500 a year, the workers' coalition said.( http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0404-03.htm). They also get their supplies from large suppliers like Minute Maid, Nestler, Newmans Own, Danone, Heinz, and Coca-Cola.

In Denver More than 30 locally owned restaurants have banded together to form the Denver Independent Network of Restaurants. Working with Colorado Proud and the wine board, the group created a Harvest Week celebration of local ingredients, producers and chefs. Examples are: The LoDo, Pulcinella Ristorante, and Encore.
http://www.denverpost.com/restaurants/ci_10357302



Local economy:
The study found that for every million dollars of revenue garnered by a local restaurant in San Francisco 3.74 jobs were created. For the same million in revenue earned at a chain restaurant only 2.79 jobs were created. In Chicago it was found that Local restaurants contributed 27% more per one hundred dollars of revenue earned and 22% more when broken down by square footage then a chain restaurant, (http://www.getmunch.com/about.php). The study suggests that an increase of 10% of the market share for local establishments would result in the addition of nearly $200 million and 1,300 jobs for the local community. On the other hand, a 10% increase in the market share for chains would cause a loss of nearly $200 million and 1.300 jobs to the local economy.

Fresh food:
In Littleton there is a restaurant named VIVA Napoli owned by Vittorio and Rita. They are true Italians that immigrated here and make everything by hand, where Vittorio cooks it, and Rita assembles it. The customers get to experience what hand made authentic Italian food tastes like instead of food micro waved and reheated in fast food restaurants.
http://denver.citysearch.com/profile/1818252/denver_co/vittorio_rita_viva_napoli.html

Environment:
Deforestation, excessive waste in our community's landfills, and the release of greenhouse gas caused by the decomposing paper are all symptomatic results of irresponsible food and condiment packaging by the fast food chain restaurant industry. Negative effects: the pollution caused by trucking corn, fruit and meat across multiple state lines, and shipping it across the world; the environmental destruction wrought by farmers pressured into a monoculture agriculture system; and the inherent health risk of eating a bunch of spinach from an unknown source. (http://www.getmunch.com/about.php).

Local food:
The good news is that the local foods movement has exploded in recent years, whether in the number of farmers markets, the range of supermarkets featuring food raised nearby, or the growing appeal of groups like Slow Food. Local ingredients are showing up everywhere from school cafeterias to restaurant menus.
Food transportation is among the biggest and fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. A basic diet— some meat, grain, fruits, and vegetables— composed of imported ingredients can easily require four times the energy and emissions of an equivalent diet with ingredients from domestic sources.
-A study by the New Economics Foundation in London found that every £10 spent at a local food business is worth £25 for the local area, compared with just £14 when the same amount is spent in a supermarket.
-A “transcontinental” head of lettuce, grown in California and shipped nearly 5,000 kilometers to Washington, DC, requires about 36 times as much fossil fuel energy in transport as it provides in food energy when it arrives. By the time it gets to London, the energy consumption-tocalorie ratio jumps to 127.
-The average food item in America now travels at least 2,400 kilometers from farm to plate.
-Today, some 817 million tons of food are shipped around the planet each year, up fourfold from 200 million tons in 1961.
-The number of community supported agriculture programs (CSAs)—where members pay the farmer for regular deliveries of fruits and vegetables—has grown from one in 1985 to over 1,200 today.
-Burgerville, a chain of 39 fast food restaurants in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, features a menu nearly identical to that of McDonald’s, but buys the bulk of its ingredients from farmers in Oregon and Washington.
-In fall 2004, the New York City school district, the largest in the U.S., began to “reprocess” fourteen of its top cafeteria recipes to make them healthier, tastier, and fresher by including more ingredients grown in the Northeast.

(http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4132).



Other interesting links:
http://www.healthiergeneration.org/uploadedFiles/For_Parents/ahfg_making_better_choices_at_fast_food_restaurants.pdf