Fast food vs food for fitness

Since Men's Health Magazine named Corpus Christi "The Fattest City in America" in May, local attempts have been made to improve the health of the city. The most well-known initiatives are the city's current programs, Fit and Free by the Sea and the Get Fit Corpus Christi Challenge, but many are choosing to take matters in their own hands.

Melissa Trejo, registered dietician and certified diabetes educator from the Diabetes America Health Center Corpus Christi branch, said the most important way to lose weight and stay fit is balanced eating and staying active.

"In order to lose a pound of fat, you need to give up 3500 calories in one week. That means you have to deduct 500 calories every day's worth of food," Trejo said. "If you balance diet and exercise, it will be easier to get rid of those 500 calories."

Lynsey Lopez, a second-year DMC student, uses her time wisely by exercising at night and balancing her schoolwork during the day.

"I have a gym membership at the Bay Area Athletic Club in Calallen," Lopez said. "There's always a cycling or a step aerobics class in the evening and it helps me keep a constant schedule."

The goal in exercising for fitness is to always work your heart rate and energy level, according to Trejo.

"The gold standard is cardio, cardio, cardio," Trejo said. "This helps to burn calories, use glucose from the system, and keep your heart healthy, however, research shows that some moderate weight lifting and resistance training also helps the muscles use glucose better, which can prevent diabetes, and can also help reduce a woman's risk of developing osteoporosis."

Another DMC student, David "Red" McFarland, uses the DMC facilities to try and keep a physical activity schedule at least every other day.

"I jump on the track here at Del Mar and usually keep the pace of either jogging or speed walking," McFarland said. "I'll do it for at least an hour just to get the cardio going."

As a dietician, Trejo understands the importance of cutting back on the unnecessary foods, but she also understands that sometimes nothing is as tasty as a burger.

"It would be very difficult for someone to totally avoid fast-food restaurants due to the ease of going to the drive-thru on days when there are time constraints," Trejo said. "I typically eat fast food about once per month and try to make healthy choices while I am there."

For Lopez, a proud Weight Watchers dropout, eating healthy is still possible and for her, that's easier to do with food from home. Both McFarland and Lopez find time to sit down to a meal at the family table occasionally. Only 28 percent of American families sit down as a family at dinner time every day according to Gallup.com (http://www.gallup.com/poll/10336/empty-seats-fewer-families-eat-together.aspx.)

"It has become much easier for anyone to stop at a fast-food restaurant and pick up a quick meal than make the time to prepare it and sit down and eat," Lopez said. "I really won't cook on the weekends, but I find it cheaper to make my lunch on the weekdays and bring it with me. I save about $20 a week on lunches alone, plus I get to make what I want to eat—a delicious, proportioned salad with cranberries and nuts."

McFarland even admits to bringing his lunch to school using his daughter's pink polka-dot lunch box.

"She recently got a new one and if using her old one to bring my food to school helps me eat healthier, I don't really even mind the weird looks I get while I'm on campus," McFarland said.

Trejo supports the eating habits McFarland and Lopez embrace, saying that using food from home will almost always be better than a greasy drive-thru meal.

"The best thing to do is pack a lunch, like a sandwich or a salad or stop by a healthier location, like a Subway," Trejo said. "Eating healthy does require some planning, so don't sacrifice your health for a few extra minutes of packing or planning."

Since adopting these new-found routines Lopez and McFarland, they've both seen tremendous differences in their physical appearances. Lopez said she has lost about 25 pounds since January this year.

"Weight Watchers helped me learn that to see improvement in yourself you've got to eat healthier and cut back," Lopez said. "Now, I eat right around 1800 calories a day, and I'm still losing weight, slowly but surely."

McFarland has made vast improvements to his health after witnessing bad eating and exercise habits tear apart the lives of his loved ones.

"When I was younger, I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, and that's when I made the change," McFarland said. "Eating less, monitoring the fast food you do eat, couple laps around the track, it all helps. Since the diagnosis, I have lost 150 pounds and I am no longer at risk for diabetes."

Trejo agrees that Lopez's and McFarland's methods work. She said it's all about moderation, but it's something she feels America as a whole should work on.

"Eating a healthy diet and getting regular physical activity is at the forefront of having a healthy weight and preventing diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol," Trejo said.

As far as eating on the go, fast-food restaurants have started making changes to their menus, and students are taking notice.

McDonald's now offers salads, snack wraps, real-fruit smoothies, and apple slices and side salads as a substitution for french fries. Whataburger, Corpus Christi's original burger chain, has started serving grilled chicken sandwiches, salads, fish baskets, and fruit chews as alternate options for the everyday consumer. Sonic has also started embracing the health wave by introducing apples and bananas, salads, wraps, and fruit smoothies as fried side dish replacements.

Though the average customer might be fooled, Lopez was surprised, but not shocked to find that a fully-loaded Big Mac contains 540 calories, including 260 from fat and 29 grams total fat but a Premium Caesar Salad with Crispy Chicken, salad dressing, and croutons totals 580 calories: 335 calories from fat and total fat at 36.5 grams.