Letter: The Lure of the Fast-Food Menu

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To the Editor:

In "Why Healthy Eaters Fall for Fries" (news analysis, Sunday Review, June 30), it is suggested that people often choose the less healthy choice out of "vicarious goal fulfillment" or "hyperbolic discounting."

But in today's out-of-control environment, many people choose as much from a sense of self-control as from a sense of being out of control.

While fatty foods may be "comfort food," the primary driver for these choices is the restoration of a sense of control. If a person can take control for 30 minutes of his day, it could be a small window of peace and contentment even if it negatively affects his health.

JAMES MATHRUSSE
Bellevue, Wash., June 30, 2013

To the Editor:

As a gluten-free, fairly healthy eater living in New York City, I know that I've compromised my healthful choices long before I walk into a fast-food restaurant. Sometimes I'm even on a mission — to get a Frosty or French fries — and when I'm at the register, the calorie counts on the menu are not going to deter me.

What I'd like to see is a study on Pret A Manger or Whole Foods and how they encourage their customers to buy healthy foods. The nutrition expert Marion Nestle says restaurants "are not social service agencies; they're places that are trying to make money by selling food." True, private companies are not social service agencies, but many private companies do the world a lot of good, and they're usually more effective than the restaurant "social service agencies" with their calorie counts on the menu.

EMILY COLLINS
Washington, July 1, 2013

To the Editor:

There is a much simpler explanation for why consumers don't choose the healthy options at fast-food restaurants: they taste terrible. Have you ever tried a salad from McDonald's? Iceberg lettuce, underripe tomatoes and sad cucumbers that all taste the same, like Styrofoam.

If the fast-food companies are really interested in giving people healthful alternatives, they should work harder at making them appealing and palatable. Sometimes — usually on a road trip down I-95 — fast food is my only option, and I would love to be given a healthy choice that actually tastes good, or at least tastes like something. But when the choice is between the Saddest Salad Ever and fries, I'll go with the fries.

KRISTEN COUSE
Brooklyn, July 1, 2013

To the Editor:

Re "U.S. Takes Aim on Snacks Offered for Sale in Schools" (Business Day, June 28):

Recent action by the Agriculture Department to ban the sale of salt- and sugar-packed snack foods in our schools is positive and significant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Institute of Medicine confirm that making communities places where it's easier to practice healthy habits is the answer to the obesity problem.

Research shows that children who are overweight in elementary school are far more likely to be obese by high school and to face a lifetime of painful, chronic disease. All of us who work with children are on the front lines when it comes to preventing this outcome.

It's wonderful when the government is on the same team. While there may be an argument for limiting government restrictions on what adults should eat, our legal and moral responsibility is clear: children should have only healthy choices at school.

KAREN VOCI
Executive Director, Harvard Pilgrim
Health Care Foundation
Wellesley, Mass., June 28, 2013

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