25 secrets fast food employees don't want you to know

The INSIDER Summary:

• Being on the inside of a fast food company can teach you a lot of shocking things about how they operate. 
• Selling combo meals for less money is actually making fast food companies more in the long run. 
• Certain ingredients used at your favorite fast food chain may also be questionable. 
• Here are 25 secrets fast food employees don't want you to know. 

Before I started Eat This, Not That!, I worked at a KFC.

There were a lot of steps in between, of course, but KFC was a great place for a fast-food addict like myself. Still, being on the inside taught me a lot about how fast-food companies operate, and most of what I learned would shock you.

See, for fast food companies, it actually pays to sell us more food for less money. We think we’re getting a bargain when we order the combo meal; in fact, it costs just pennies for a chain to produce the actual food that’s coming out of the window. The real costs are in the marketing, so the more money they can wring from each purchase, the better — regardless of how many empty calories they have to stick in the bag.

Here are some of the secrets the fast-food industry doesn’t want you to know. Learn them, lose weight and then don’t miss these new 50 ways to lose 10 pounds—fast.

SEE ALSO: The best secret menu items to order at 7 of your favorite fast food chains

FOLLOW US: INSIDER is on Facebook

They want to be in charge of what you order

At hamburger chains, “combination meals” make up a whopping 31 percent of all purchases. The average combo packs 1,200 calories, and about ⅓ of those are from predetermined sides that the chain decided on for you.

They all taste the same for a reason

Ever notice how different parts of a fast-food meal kinda taste the same? The burger, the fries, the onion rings, even the shake—they all taste like “fast food.” That’s because they’re all calibrated to appeal to our taste buds in a way that inspires us to keep eating—not too meaty, not too vegetable-like. The part of our brains called the hypothalamus that responds to food evolved to crave a variety of sweet, salty, and bitter tastes, so we would munch on a variety of foods. But fast food is designed to satisfy all of these taste desires, so you never crave anything else (like a grapefruit, for example).

Fast food is made to be eaten fast

It takes 20 minutes for the “I’m full” signal to get from your belly to your brain. So the faster you eat that food, the more of that food you need to buy, and eat, because your brain doesn’t know you’re stuffed.

Slow down to speed up fat burning! Chewing slowly is one of the 55 best ways to boost your metabolism!