Chaska Personal Trainer Busts Healthy Fast Food Scam

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(Free-Press-Release.com) July 30, 2009 -- We all know that fast food will put you on the fast track to being overweight or obese, not too mention all the healthy complications that go along with being overweight or obese - like high blood pressure, heart disease and, oh yeah, death. Because of this, we're starting to see fast food resteraunts jump on the healhty fast food bandwagon.

Is it legit?

Justin Yule, a Chaska, MN and Online personal trainer, boot camp instructor and fitness author gives us the skinny on these "healthy" options.

No doubt by now, you’ve seen the commercials about KFC’s new Kentucky GRILLED Chicken. Maybe you’ve even tried it. It tastes pretty darn good, doesn’t it?

KFC says the grilled chicken has significantly fewer calories and fat, plus much less sodium, than its Original Recipe fried chicken that launched the brand more than a half-century ago.

Well, Yule's not buying it. He says, "What we so easily forget to pay attention to is all those super-high calorie side dishes that come with “the meal.” They’ve got just as much, if not more, fat and calories than the fried chicken itself, PLUS all the refined starches and sugars. To me it’s like covering crap with a newspaper- it still stinks! For too long now the fast food industry has made a killing on misinforming consumers about what is and isn’t healthy."

KFC claimed that it recently did switch cooking oils to eliminate all trans fats from their products- a noble effort indeed.

But upon further review, this does not look to be the case…

Here are the ingredients directly from their website:

KFC ® Grilled Chicken

Fresh Chicken Marinated with: Salt, Sodium Phosphate, and Monosodium Glutamate Seasoned with: Maltodextrin, Salt, Bleached Wheat lour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Monosodium Glutamate, Spices, Palm Oil, Natural Flavor, Garlic Powder, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Wheat, Salt), Chicken Fat, Chicken Broth, Autolyzed Yeast, Beef Powder, Rendered Beef Fat, Extractives of Turmeric, Dehydrated Carrot, Onion Powder, and mot more than 2% Each of Calcium Silicate and Silicon Dioxide Added as Anticaking Agents.

Contains Wheat and Soy

"I don’t know about you, but this certainly doesn’t sound like a nutritional powerhouse," says Yule. "First of all, 'Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil' is not good for you and is a form of trans fat. Trans fats are synthetic fats that are essentially foreign agents in our bodies. There is truly no room for them in a healthy diet. Plus, there are a few other funky named ingredients on that list that don’t look you want them in your body. Fast food and convenience store marketing campaigns make it very hard for us trainers to do our jobs."

Companies confuse consumer when they package their foods with sayings like:

“Our _____ (name of product) is good for you because it’s low in fat or fat-free”

OR

“Our _____ (name of product) is good for you because it’s got no sugar”

OR

“Our _____ (name of product) is the perfect snack because it’s only 100 calories.”

Yule gives some user-friendly guidelines for making good food purchasing choices:

Beware of “Fat-Free or Low Fat” Foods:

These food choices are often high in sugar or contain added sugar to make up for taste lost which wreak havoc on your energy levels and prevent fat loss.

Look Out for “Sugar-Free” Products:

These food choices are typically made with artificial ingredients and sweeteners and/or are sometimes higher in fat to make up for taste lost and/or often contains sugar-alcohols that tear up your digestive system.

Stay Away From “100 Calorie” Items:

These low calorie bags contain ZERO nutritional value with little to no protein and are low in fiber and natural, healthy fats. Plus, these weight-gainers by another name do not fill you up between meals.

According to Yule, "the most infamous “healthy” marketing campaign is 100-CALORIE SNACK PACKS. I know personally I could easily eat 10 of these packs without getting stuffed- I guess that would be a 1,000-CALORIE SNACK PACK. Unfortunately, we live in a calorie-conscious society, and marketers truly know how to play on this."

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT is a local Chaska and Online fitness boot camp instructor and personal trainer. He is also the author of The Science of Getting Fit, an eBook available for purchase on his website. To book him to speak at your local club, business, or organization, please contact him by email at jyule2@gmail.com or by phone at 952-956-2016. For a free two-week trial to his Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp to experience the best personal training in Chaska please visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com. For information about his Online personal training programs and to get a copy of The Science of Getting Fit visit www.OnlinePersonalTrainingVideoBootCamp.com.

More information can be found online at http://www.JustinYule.com

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