The Unhealthy Panda

When you are thinking of healthy food, I bet Panda Express doesn’t come to mind, even though they try to claim they are. It’s not that hard to understand why. As shown on their menu, a side of chow mein noodles is a total of 510 calories, and it's only one side of the dish. People usually get two main entrees with one side. One example of the main entre is the orange chicken. It’s the most popular. It will run you about 490 calories. A normal person’s recommended daily calorie intake is 2000 calories a day so that entrée and side will be half your day of calories not to mention the fat calorie content and all the carbs included in both. But why is it claimed as a healthy restaurant, and why are they so focused on advertising their products as non-GMO?

 Panda Express was one of my favorite places to eat before I started to diet, but as soon as I started, I stopped eating there. When I worked at a furniture store, that was my go-to restaurant. I will order the same thing every time one serving of orange chicken and one serving of honey walnut shrimp with a side of chow mein noodles and to top all that off I always get a mtn dew code red from the vending machine just outside the restaurant. I was eating it three to four times a week but had no regrets until I noticed I was gaining weight. It's good, fast and clean food. But why was it considered healthy? That was not important then. If it tasted good, I didn’t care, even if it was just a chicken breast with a concoction of ingredients that I can’t read. It was not cheap, but it was a taste like no other, and that’s all that mattered then and feeling ashamed of my body. I was still young and didn’t do my research, that’s what hurt me then. I didn’t know why I was gaining weight; I was eating a good and clean meal, or so I thought. I knew something was wrong when I stepped on the scale, looked down and saw the numbers read 245 pounds.

I interviewed John Doe the manager at Panda Express, and my first question to him was about the orange chicken and how it's prepped. He explained how much he loved it and how it's one of their best-sellers but when I asked how it is made, he told me “I can’t explain the making, but we get all our sources pre-prepped.” I asked him how clean it is he also explained how they have a routine every day to clean everything before they leave the restaurant, and it's all ready for the next day to come. We also talked about how long the products are frozen. He told me “we get a truck every week and everything we have left from the past week we use.” That got me wondering what if they don’t sell enough for a month, are people eating old chicken? He didn’t know how long it stays by the company that delivers to them and that was important because meats over time in the freezer are unhealthy and can cause health problems. I also asked John Doe about non-msg and what is the health risks linked to it he simply answered, “all I know is it’s not healthy I don’t know any health risks or how it’s made.” I loved that answer, their store manager doesn’t know anything about non-MSG, but the corporation proudly advertises it like it is something big.

I remember walking into Panda Express for the hundredth time looking at the big menu behind the cash register reading 100% non-msg. I asked myself what is non-msg and if it's non msg is the food automatically healthy. Well, no, there is no proof that it is not healthy or causes any harm. in a video I saw on YouTube called “Why Do People Freak Out About MSG In Chinese Food?” by AJ+, it showed that it was safe to eat and that it gives people no health problems, but the reasoning behind scaring the people to think it’s unhealthy is what the video called “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.” It’s there to scare people away from eating Chinese food. MSG which stands for Mono Sodium Glutamate is an explosion of flavor. The Sodium and Glutamate dissolve on your tongue and the glutamate explodes creating the fifth flavor your tongue can sense, and that flavor is umami. It is a savory unique flavor that is different from the other four which are sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. It's found naturally in all types of fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and mushrooms. It's FDA approved, so why did Panda Express attack MSG, and make it look like it's a bad thing? It's used in most Chinese dishes and everyday snacks we eat like Hot Cheetos and all Lays chips even in foods your mom makes like homemade soups. It's used in almost all soup broths to give them a savory flavor like no other, so now we know what it is, so why did Panda Express so strongly advertise it like it’s a bad thing?  Instead of false advertising something, why not make a change in their food for the better?

One thing they can do to cut down on all the fat and high fructose corn syrup. That is why

America is number one in world obesity because we get lazy and go for something good and fast and assume it’s healthy because all those big companies lie to us and make their food look healthy. We just trust them and never do our research. If they want users to feel good after eating, put in big letters in front of the cash register something like all-natural low fat and no high fructose corn syrup and people will be more than happy to eat there and will enjoy that quick good meal and not feel sick afterward. In the interview with John Doe he told me how he won’t let his kids eat there. He told me “it's not like scary or anything it’s just not healthy.” That got me thinking if your children can’t eat there how do you serve other people’s children that same food? I was actually shocked when he said that it made me think back to all the time I ate there and not knowing what I was putting in my mouth thinking back to those moments I didn’t want to know any more so I ended the interview with two questions left.

Last time I was there was a while ago and I don’t think I’m going back. After that interview I learned a bunch of things. Even watching videos about msg taught me don’t listen to any restaurants claims without doing research. It’s sad how all those big companies just make claims and don’t get in trouble even though that might hurt other small local business. Someone might think non msg is bad and only eat at Panda Express and skip all the other Chinese restaurant.

Trust is a huge thing in todays society. If that trust is broken, relationships fall apart and business fail. If a client cannot trust the business, it is at risk of losing customers, or even worse, closing. Each lie leads to another, and leads to a more shattered image, and a more damaged future. these lies can also damage the image of other companies. If one trust is broken, then it leaves a trail or hint for others that if this company lied than what makes the others so straight and truthful. It creates a thread of dishonesty and danger for other businesses and companies. A nonstop thread that could potentially close a lot of businesses. That is why its critical to think of the advertising and ask the hard questions. because if we stay silent who knows what they’ll lie about next?