I refer to the article “Subway’s Healthy Food” by The Globalist.
URL: http://www.theglobalist.com/dbweb/storyid.aspx?StoryId=3658
References:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20776198/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_size_me
Since the birth of Automat, the first fast food restaurant, in 1912, fast food restaurants have become a symbol of globalization, with fast food companies raking in millions each year.
But their prominence has led many people to question the nutritional values of their meals, with protesters all over the world championing issues ranging from animal rights to obesity. However, in recent years, fast food chains like Subway have taken advantage of the health craze by marketing a “healthier choice” of meals. By appealing to the public’s health consciousness, Subway has now become the fastest growing franchise in the world.
While fast food chains such as McDonald’s have come under fire for contributing to
But does Subway really serve only healthy meals?
Jared Fogle, front man for their advertisement campaign in the early 2000s, became 190 pounds from an impressive 425 after he went on the “Subway diet”. However, as the article points out, he subsisted only on a 6-inch turkey sandwich, baked potato chips (which are healthier), one diet soda, and a veggie sandwich daily.
Subway tells the truth when it says that it serves healthy meals – seven of which with less than 6 grams of fat each. However, McDonald’s also serves healthy meals such as salads and apples.
But Subway does not inform consumers of their less healthy choices such as the 12-inch turkey sandwich containing 600 calories, equivalent to that of a McDonald’s Big Mac. In the Journal of Consumer Research by Dr Brian Wansink of Cornell University, he reported that people were more likely to splurge on other unhealthy food in Subway than in McDonald’s, leading to consumption of more calories.
While I applaud Subway for introducing a wide range of healthy meals and setting a benchmark for other fast food restaurants, the façade which masks their less healthy choices is still of major concern to myself.
I am a teenager with tendencies to indulge myself with fast food, but Subway has never been high on my list of places to eat. However, the fact still remains that other teenagers with vanity and image issues might fall prey to the “healthy” image which Subway has associated itself with. While they might choose to go for the healthier choices on the menu, the “Fresh Value Meal”, a new introduction to Subway, offers a soda and potato chips, which is similar with McDonald’s “Extra Value Meals”. However, these “Fresh Value Meals” add up to many more than the calories lost in choosing a healthier sandwich. Added to the less healthy sandwiches on the menu, the meal would have calories typical of an “unhealthy” McDonald’s “Extra Value Meal”.
You might argue that consumers also have to take responsibility for their own health. But while McDonald’s provides nutritional information on all its products, Subway has not done so, and how then can the consumers measure the amount of calories they take in?
Although the consumers already should be aware that soda and chips add a whole lot more calories to their meal, does Subway have the right to keep consumers in the dark about their less-than-healthy meals?
Sweat your way to bigger brawn? Or brains? While you might think it is only the former, recent studies have shown that exercise does, in fact, help you grow smarter.
A study at
Now, if you think that only the elderly need to exercise, then you’re wrong.
Neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin are built up as you exercise and these reduce depression, lift moods, and in general help you focus better. They are needed not only by adults, but also help reduce problems with attention-deficit disorder in the youth, leading to efficient learning, which in turn leads to ‘smart kids’.
But why then does society generalize intellectual individuals under the category of ‘unfit’?
The American Heritage Dictionary classifies a nerd as:
1. A foolish, inept or unattractive person.
2. A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.
A ‘nerd’, the name given to brainier students in school, is often portrayed by society as physically unfit, being either obese or extremely thin.
Conversely, a ‘jock’ (as popularized by American society), or a person who actively pursues athletic hobbies and is generally seen as ‘more brawn than brains’. The societal perception of ‘nerds’ and ‘jocks’ is not supported by the recent research. So why then do the stereotypes contradict the research?
It is all about noticeable examples. Societal stereotypes are based on and amplified upon when someone who is the epitome of, for example, a nerd, is unfit. In the past few years as a teenager, I have seen many a ‘nerd’ conforming to the societal archetype.
Take Person A. In Secondary 1, he was recognized as an intelligent pupil, and was a computer whiz. He was already slightly obese then. But perhaps because his classmates wanted to find flaws in A, they exploited his one ‘weakness’. His obesity. Through the years as he sunk in depression and gave up all hope of being fit by stuffing himself with food and not even trying to do basic exercises, he strengthened others’ perceptions of ‘nerds’. He had failed without even trying.
But you need not conform to societal expectations. Look at Person B. In Secondary One he was thin and unfit. But he, unlike Person A, managed to gain his muscles. He takes Advanced classes, and is consistently the top few pupils in the level. And he is also fit.
Does that fact that ‘jocks’ excel in sports mean that their lot is cast – that they are doomed to academic failure? I say no. These individuals have the drive to succeed in sports, and it stands to reason that they can also channel this passion into their studies. Should they opt to. It is only a matter of choice.
Nerds need not be unfit, jocks need not be stupid. Exercise is also beneficial to brain power, and ‘stupid jocks’ should not let themselves down by being ‘stupid’. You can be labeled intelligent and muscular simultaneously. So guys – rework your mindsets.