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Comment by the-dude | Hacker News Reader

Junk food is continuously being exported from US. Here in a medium sized town in The Netherlands, we have multiple MD's, now a KFC, Subway and I must have forgotten some.

I still remember when the first MD opened in 1986 ( around the same time we got MTV ). Now it is US franchises all over the place.

edit: and not only food, drinks too. We used to have domestic 'soda' brands.

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Of those 3, McDonalds and Subway aren't that bad I find, whereas KFC is genuinely dire.

If I get a subway I tend to ram it with as many vegetables as possible, at McDonalds I pretty much always £5s worth of burgers inc. a small fries, not healthy but not that bad. I made the mistake of getting a KFC delivered recently and Jesus Christ it was like an Oil Well.

McDonald’s is pure oil - maybe they hide it better? The smell of oil carries for a mile at least past any McDonald’s.

And unfortunately it's chemically expressed trans-fat oil.

We'd all be better off if they went back to the traditional use of tallow.

You're about 13 years behind. McD's (or almost any US franchise) doesn't use trans fat oils anymore.

I think McD's uses liquid oil, so not hydrogenated (trans fat). You hydrogenate oil to make it solid at room temperature, as a substitute for animal fats. If you're going to fry in it there's no point in not starting with an oil that is liquid at room temperature.

The smell coming out of the Subway franchises here is wonky. Will not eat.

KFC is only good in Japan for some reason.

And Taiwan.

It's funny to me that you see Subway as junk food because I see it as one of my healthiest options.

It's funny you see it that way:

Subway rolls ruled too sugary to be bread in Ireland https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54370056

Subway 'bread' contains 10% sugar, the EU limit is 2%.

I don't think 2% is EU-wide, but Ireland-specific. (And not present in all contexts -- sugary bread like milk bread or Subway rolls are considered bread for some legal purposes in Ireland.)

Does that really change the fact that it would be one of my healthiest options for eating out? Have you considered what the other options are? I think you are misconstruing my comment as claiming that you should consider it one of your healthiest options.

I think the whole discussion is misplaced as you can eat at Subway without eating the bread; but equally you can have a salad at McDonalds.

I can get a veggie patty with a ton of extra veggies on wheat at Subway. So much better than a McDonald's salad, imo. But I do see the point. Still, I think the typical meal at Subway is healthier than the same at McDonald's. I lost about 90 lbs with subway for lunch as a key part of my diet.

Yeah, I guess walking hungry into a McDonalds is more risky in terms of restraint vs Subway..

In Ireland the Supreme Court told Subway they had to reclassify their 'bread' as cake due to the sugar content. Regarding the payment of taxes.

When it comes to nutrition -- as a good general rule once you buy fresh good ingredients it's actually quite difficult to make unhealthy food regardless if you add too much fat, salt or sugar to your recipe -- the corollary is if you buy commercial food served ready to eat it's quite difficult to choose something healthy.

Healthy?! It's fast food, with (sometimes) vegetables.

The subs I order are all vegetables on wheat.

That bread is basically candy. Just make yourself a salad if veggies is what you want.

Well, as a vegetarian, if I ate a salad every time I wanted a vegetable then I'd pretty much only be eating salads. I'm sure you can commiserate with wanting a variety of foods in your diet which would include sandwiches. But knowing that the bread has so much sugar, I can pick other sandwich places most of the time.

Ethiopian and Indian are great options.

but not deep fried.

it's a low bar in the USA

USA NUMBER 1 !!! (in childhood type-2 diabetes)

Type 2 diabetes is generally caused more by excessive sugar than deep-fried food.

Yes, and the sugar content of the wheat bread mentioned is extremely high. Further, wheat's glycemic index isn't too far off from sugar.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glyce...

HIGH-CARBOHYDRATE FOODS

White wheat bread* 75 ± 2

Whole wheat/whole meal bread 74 ± 2

Specialty grain bread 53 ± 2

SUGARS

Fructose 15 ± 4

Sucrose 65 ± 4

Glucose 103 ± 3

Honey 61 ± 3

When I first moved to Europe, I am ashamed to say my first meal was a Subway, because I wanted to give my digestive system something familiar before starting a new life.

There’s no shame in that. I’m from the US and I’ve had McDonalds in both Japan and Switzerland. It can be nice to have something familiar when you’re feeling out of place or homesick.

Do you mean healthiest amongst the others named, or that you don't have acces to fresh vegetables and the likes?

I mean specifically if I want to not have to cook something. Even among sit-down or carry out places near me.

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