Do you grab-and-gobble because you have little time for meal preparation? Researchers estimate that Americans will spend over $150 billion a year at the 280,000 fast-food restaurants that now exist in the United States. Children have gone from eating 17 percent of their meals away from home in the late 1970s to eating 30 percent of their meals away from home by the mid- to late 1990s.

We have national epidemic of obesity, with 55 percent of American adults now overweight–due mainly to our increasing reliance on high-fat, high-sugar convenience foods. Obesity is a major cause of heart disease and several deadly cancers.

Surgeon General David Satcher said, “Overweight and obesity may soon cause as much preventable disease and death as cigarette smoking.”

In the United States the number of overweight children has doubled over the past 30 years. One in five children between ages six and 17 is overweight, if current trends continue, nearly half of today’s children will eventually die of heart disease.

Fast food typically includes all of the things that nutritionists warn against: “saturated and trans fats, high glycemic index, high energy density, and increasingly, large portion size.” A large fast food meal can contain about 2,200 calories. Do you know the number of calories contained in a McDonald’s cheeseburger Happy Meal? 680. How many calories does the the average 5-year-old need each day to stay healthy? About 1,700.

If you haven’t been teaching your children about making good food choices, you should be. Encourage alternatives to fast foods like smoothies, whole grain foods, fresh fruits and vegetables.

Fast Food Salads aren’t the Answer

Don’t assume fast food salads are a good option. Wendy’s blue cheese dressing has 360 calories and 38 grams of fat per package. McDonald’s ranch dressing includes a whopping 230 calories and 21 grams of fat per package. If you use the whole package, the fat in the dressing is equal to the fat content of a Quarter Pounder with cheese.

Quick and Healthy Alternatives

Next time you’re out of time to make dinner skip the drive-thru; instead, go home and make a quick heart-healthy bowl of oatmeal.

Or how about a quick and easy peanut butter sandwich on wholewheat bread? This offers 27% of the daily value for protein and 13% for iron, and it is a good source for fiber, zinc, magnesium, and Vitamin E.

What about a plate of cheese and fruit? There are lots of quick and healthy alternatives to fast food.