Real Choices, Real Value, Real Awful

What are they thinking? According to USA today, fast food chain Wendy’s will launch their new “natural cut fries”. Now these fries are going to use sea-salt which is incorrectly believed to be healthier than table salt. The only real difference between table salt and sea salt is color, taste, and price.

Wendy’s is trying to make you believe that these new fries are healthier while the amount of sodium per serving! 270 milligrams per small order, up from 180 in a small order. That’s an unacceptable increase. It’s recommended that healthy adults consume less than 2300 mg of  sodium per day, and less than 1500 mg a day if you have high blood pressure.

With what we know about the connection of sodium to high blood pressure, and starches to diabetes and obesity, how can Wendy’s actually sell their french fries as a healthy food?

You know what though? You’ll believe it.  The marketing mojo of these companies is strong. They have silly amounts of money to make you believe whatever they want you to believe.

So the bottom line here is you know what if you are eating french fries, eat em because you like em, and you’ve earned the extra calories and sodium through a week of hard training. Don’t eat french fries under the illusion of them being a “natural health food”. Guess what Wendy’s? Frying a food in hot oil, and dousing it in salt doesn’t qualify it as “natural”. Stop lying to the American public, and call a horse a horse. At least I’ll have a little more respect for you and your company.

Chad Smith is a Hagerstown Personal Trainer, and co-owner of Home Team Fitness, LLC. For more information, visit www.hometeamfitness.net, or find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hometeamfitness.