I don’t always have time to make a lunch beforehand so I eat a lot of fast food at work. It isn’t good for me and I need to cut back, especially since the holidays are coming and my self-disclipline around home baked cookies would make a drill sargeant cry. I’m curious – what is everyone’s favorite “healthy” option for fast food? I’m getting tired of just subway. Burger King’s new baguettes look pretty good. Anyone tried them?
Salad. Just about everyone’s got a semi-decent salad now. Also, look at non-traditional (read: no burgers) restaurants. Boston Market comes to mind…a place called “Bourbon Street Grill” (not sure if you have those). Look for places that offer food out of the ordinary. Try the Greek places, or the Asian places…just stay away from the fried foods and the bad stuff in general.
Oh, and portions. The bigest thing with fast food paces is portions. You get far more food than you actually need. Get the small, or the meduim at most.
Here’s an article aimed at the muscle-oriented crowd which has some good advice and might be worth a read.
However, you should rely on bringing better alternatives. The best option is to pack a decent lunch–which can take as little as ten minutes–but if you absolutely can’t do that, bring in some decent snacks on Monday and fill up on those before lunch. That way, you won’t be tempted to eat as much.
Try a grocery store deli. Fresh fruit and veggies, juices, salads, all kinds of good stuff.
Subway, or any sandwich joint. You can always get a lean meat sandwich, and if you skip the mayo (or go for the low-fat) it’s not too bad. Throw in a bag of baked chips if you like.
At burger places I generally order a grilled chicken sandwich - but I ask them to hold the mayo. They generally slather on a lot, so it saves a lot of calories.
At mexican places, two tacos are a good choice. Load up on salsa, but cut back on sour cream or guacamole. Chips are my downfall, so I will opt to not eat ANY, because once I have one…
Chinese places - anything with lots of veggies will be good. Sweet and sour or other “crispy” dishes will have lots of fat because the meats are often deep fried. Kung Pao and cashew dishes (due to all the nuts) can be high in fat. I’ll usually opt for a Buddha’s Feast (generally just veggies) and get steamed rice instead of fries.
It’s possible to eat healthy at fast food places - but you’ve really got to order carefully.
And when in doubt, do a little checking. Most joints have websites that have nutrition information. Often they have it posted in the store. Ignorance is NOT bliss, so what you think can be healthy should probably be double checked to make sure it in fact is.
Good article. Thanks!
As a warning, those shaker salad thingys at McD’s actually have more calories and fat than a cheeseburger. the reason is the crappy dressing. So go ahead and order a salad, but get the dressing on the side.
Taco Bell has a new system where you can order anything on the menu “Al Fresca” (or something…I’m forgetting now) and they’ll leave off the cheese & sour cream and then add more of the salsa and I think put a light sauce on it. They have brochures but you might have to ask or hunt for them.
A lot of the fast food chains have their nutrition info on their websites now. Some of the chains (I know Wendy’s and Burger King for sure) have a system set up where you can pick what you’d usually order, see how much everything adds up to, and then monkey around with individual items. For example, skipping the mayo will often times save half the fat grams or more on a burger.
Portion size is a biggie. I’m on one of those diets where you eat several small meals a day as opposed to 3 larger ones. I was pleased to find that if I go to Wendy’s I can have the jr Hamburger, the small fries, and a diet soda for less than 400 calories. (I usually toss the top half of the bun, too.) That’s enough to get you around a “junk food craving” without doing too much damage. I find if I go to a fast food restaurant and order grilled chicken or something I feel “cheated” out of the fast-food experience somehow.
Since I’ve been on Atkins, I order the Extra-Super-Ultra-Mega-Greasy-Burger with extra cheese - but hold the bun, pickle and ketchup.
The Burger King baguettes are good, but REALLY small. Like, less than 3 inches long.
LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of dressing, so I recommend getting it on the side if possible. The chicken is pretty good, but again, TINY portions. And this isn’t in comparison to a regular Burger King type meal (way too big) but compared to any normal size sandwich. You do have the salad and water option as opposed to the fries and soda option. And, at least around here, the salad/water combo is $.10 cheaper.
MacDonald’s fajitas are low fat and low cal, only 190 calories. When I was in Niagara Falls, the Canadian side, the MacDonald’s there had an entire low-fat menu. I wonder why we don’t have it here, at least in my part of the world.
I’m thinking Burger King also still has a veggie burger, which I didn’t find too appealing. (Big chunks of mushrooms and carrots in it – yuk!) If it was more like a Morningstar Farms veggieburger it would be soooo much better. I suspect they made it crappy on purpose so they could say “See? People don’t like veggieburgers.”