the future we ate!

"as we sat out at our
favorite fast food restaurant,
eating a feast of chicken
sandwiches and french fries,
we started to contemplate,
- how much is this lunch really costing us?
we knew the prices—$2.99 for each chicken sandwich
and $1.59 for each order of french fries
—but how much would this one lunch cost us
over 1 year, 5 years, even 10 years?
not to mention the calories we are consuming.
we checked our money calorie counter for the answer.
what a shock!
one chicken sandwich was 660 calories and the accompanying
french fries 460.
if we consumed a chicken sandwich and fries (or similar fast food)
five times a week, it would be equivalent to
291,200 calories per year, or 83 pounds.
the cost would be $1,190.80 per year.
but if we put that money in a mutual fund account for 5 years,
we would have saved $7,684.34,
in 10 years, we would have $20,327.45;
in 20 years, $75,354.70."


- the opening para from
Rich and Thin
by deborah mcnaughton and melinda weitstein