Most of us cannot escape it - at some point we eat fast food. Maybe it’s the children, or you’re just too tired and hungry to choose something else, or maybe you just got hungry for a burger, and well, a fast food franchise is on nearly every corner! No wonder billions are served. A typical fast food meal - burger, fries, a coke or a chocolate shake is not just American fare anymore. You can get a franchise meal in just about every corner of the world and unfortunately, it’s probably contributing to the rise in obesity worldwide.
You know that the typical fast food meal doesn’t fit well into a healthy eating plan, regardless of caloric content. There is simply too much fat, sodium, sugar, and not enough fiber, vegetables, and fruit! However, the fast food menus have expanded their choices in recent years, and really, there are quite a few menu items that you can choose and still stay within your eating guidelines. While I do not recommend eating at these places every day, you can still enjoy a fast food meal often, as long as you make some careful choices.
It can be a little confusing, so don’t go by the rules of choosing vegetables, salads, fish, or chicken. The fish is almost always deep-fried, making it a poor choice, and some chicken meals are deep-fried as well. Surprisingly, some vegetable entrees, like vegetable pitas, no-meat burritos, and some salads are higher in fat than a hamburger. Lastly, some of the menu items are low in fat because they are simply small in serving size, making the calories relatively low as well. This is fine, but it means that you may want to order side dishes as well, so you need to make sure the side dishes are healthy low-fat choices as well. If there are no healthy side dishes, be prepared to bring your own - a piece of fruit, some salad with low fat dressing, some raw vegetables to complete the meal.
I’ve made a list of some of the most popular fast food restaurants, with the best choices I could find. Not every chain carries the same menu items, so you may not find all of these locally. Basically, I look for entrees that contain close to 10 grams of fat or less, and are relatively low in saturated fat. Unfortunately, most of the meals in fast food restaurants are hideously high in sodium, and you can’t remove it. The best you can do with this dilemma is to avoid salt the rest of the day as much as possible. I will provide more choices in other chain restaurants in future messages, I hope this helps you to eat healthfully and happily in your favorite fast food place.
WENDY’s - lots of lower fat choices due to salad bar options and a fairly extensive menu
Avoid the broccoli/cheese baked potato unless you asked for less cheese sauce than they put on. Also, the garden pita sandwiches sound like a healthy choice, but they are actually quite high in fat, 17-20 grams per serving, so avoid these as well.
Junior Hamburger - 270 Calories, 10 grams fat, 610 mg sodium
Chili - 310 Calories, 10 grams fat, 1190 mg sodium
Grilled Chicken Salad w/o dressing - 200 Calories, 8 grams fat, 650 mg sodium
Caesar Side Salad - 110 Calories, 5 grams fat, 650 mg sodium
Deluxe Garden Salad - 110 Calories, 6 grams fat, 350 mg sodium
Grilled Chicken Sandwich - 310 Calories, 8 grams fat, 790 mg sodium
Italian dressing, reduce fat - 1 ounce - 40 Calories, 3 grams fat, 340 mg sodium
Ranch dressing, reduced fat - 1 ounce - 60 Calories, 5 grams fat, 240 mg sodium
French dressing, fat-free - 1 ounce - 35 Calories, 0 grams fat
TACO BELL - Again, lots of decent choices because there are many chicken choices, and the entrees contain beans as well as meat. Avoid the Taco Salad - 850 Calories, 52 grams fat!!! Another fact, the 7-Layer Burrito is meatless, but contains quite a bit of fat, 22 grams!
Bean Burrito - 370 Calories, 12 grams fat, 1080 mg sodium
Grilled Chicken Burrito - 390 Calories, 13 grams fat, 1380 mg sodium
Grilled Chicken Taco - 200 Calories, 7 grams fat, 520 mg sodium
Soft Taco - 210 Calories, 10 grams fat, 570 mg sodium
Taco - 170 Calories, 10 grams fat, 340 mg sodium - these are small!
Tostada - 250 Calories, 12 grams fat, 640 mg sodium
Chicken Gordita Supreme - 300 Calories, 13 grams fat, 530 mg sodium
BURGER KING - I couldn’t find anything low enough in fat to mention in this popular establishment. If you must go here, avoid the fish sandwich, with 43 grams of fat because it is deep-fried - not a good way to eat fish. The chicken sandwich also has 43 grams of fat, not good. Get the smallest hamburger available, that’s about it.
CARL’S JR. - A broader menu with salads provides some low fat, healthier choices.
Junior Hamburger - 330 Calories, 13 grams fat
Charbroiled Chicken Salad-To-Go - 200 Calories, 7 grams fat, 440 mg sodium
Garden Salad-To-Go - 50 Calories, 2.5 grams fat, 60 mg sodium, use low-fat dressing
Baked Potato w/o margarine - 300 Calories, 0 grams fat, but 70 grams carbohydrate, which is 4 ½ Grains/Bread, over the limit for the day for some people on reduced calorie plans! Eat half of it!
Charbroiled BBQ Chicken Sandwich - 280 Calories, 3 grams fat, 830 mg sodium
SUBWAY - Famous for its Jared Diet and the low fat sandwiches, this place does have many sandwich choices under 10 grams of fat. (Every day could get a little tedious though!) The nutritional information is based on sandwiches without mayonnaise, so if you add this, you’re adding fat.
Ham on deli roll - 224 Calories, 3 grams fat, 827 mg sodium
Roast Beef on deli roll - 236 Calories, 4 grams fat, 678 mg sodium
Chicken Breast, hot - 342 Calories, 6 grams fat, 966 mg sodium
Sub Club, cold - 304 Calories, 5 grams fat, 1239 mg sodium
Seafood & Crab, cold - 338 Calories, 9 grams fat, 1034 mg sodium
Tuna w/light mayonnaise on deli roll - 267 Calories, 8 grams fat, 627 mg sodium
Veggie Delight - 232 Calories, 3 grams fat, 582 mg sodium
Turkey Breast on deli roll - 227 Calories, 4 grams fat, 678 mg sodium
PS - they have fat-free potato chip, too.
JACK IN THE BOX
Garden Chicken Salad - 200 Calories, 9 grams fat, 420 mg sodium
Chicken Fajita Pita - 280 Calories, 9 grams fat, 840 mg sodium
Taco - 170 Calories, 10 grams fat, 460 mg sodium
MCDONALD’S - It’s everywhere, but it does not have the most low fat, healthy choices on their menu because they continue to have a somewhat limited menu. Still, there are some things you can order.
Hamburger - 270 Calories, 9 grams fat, 600 mg sodium
Grilled Chicken Sandwich w/o mayonnaise - 300 Calories, 5 grams fat, 930 mg sodium
Grilled Chicken Salad Deluxe w/o dressing - 120 Calories, 1.5 grams fat - use low fat dressing
KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN - Stick with the sandwiches instead of their fried chicken to avoid their high fat menu items. They do have some side dishes you can choose.
Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwich with sauce - 310 Calories, 6 grams fat, 560 mg sodium
Tender Roast Chicken Sandwich w/o sauce - 270 Calories, 5 grams fat, 690 mg sodium
w/sauce - 350 Calories, 15 grams fat, 880 mg sodium
Corn on the Cob - 160 Calories, 0 fat - this would be 2 Grains/Breads servings
Baked Beans - 190 Calories, 3 grams fat
Macaroni & Cheese - 180 Calories, 8 grams fat, 760 mg sodium - not bad for a main dish, a little high for a side dish!
Tender Roast Breast w/skin - 251 Calories, 11 grams fat - remove the skin and save some fat
