Various studies and the media have already told us the painful truth: most fast food joints serve you unhealthy food. In fact, a particular serving of burger can contain a thousand calories with extra fat, sodium, and sugar than what's recommended on a daily basis. However, a new study shares something even more painful: restaurant food may be just as bad, if not worse in certain situations.
Yes, if you think that you're making a healthier choice by walking into a full-service restaurant and eating there, well you're wrong. The study conducted by Ruopeng An of the University of Illinois suggests that restaurant food can still give you extra calories. If that isn't enough, it may contain more fat and sodium than what's served in fast food.
In an interview with Time, the author cites that our attention is driven toward fast food that there's not much health data pertaining to full-service restaurants.
She used the self-answered questionnaires of an examination survey for health and nutrition between the years 2003 and 2010. For the study, she had a total of almost 19,000 adults who enumerated the type of food they had eaten at least 2 days before the survey.
Based on her analysis, restaurant food can give you almost 200 calories more than what's ideal for your body, just a few calories less than those of fast food.
Worse, restaurant food can give you an additional 412 mg of sodium and 58 mg of saturated fat-a huge difference from 10 mg of fat and 297 mg of sodium from fast food.
People who dine in are also more likely to eat more calories than those who order takeout or delivery. The former can consume extra 200 calories since, according to the author, the social environment of the restaurant may make a person less attentive to calories consumed.
The best way to eat food is to prepare it at home. Nevertheless, for those who love to eat in restaurant, don't lose hope. The same study also points out that restaurant food provides more nutrients. It also contains less sugar than fast food.
