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Healthy Fast Food?

July 1, 2009

BAD Fast Food!

Is the term “healthy fast food” an oxymoron?  Somewhat surprisingly, if you order certain types of foods at certain fast food restaurants, the answer is “no”.  Food at fast food restaurants can indeed be healthy.  Even Mickey D’s (McDonald’s) has some food choices that can fit into the health and fitness-minded person’s diet.

If you’re out and about and you’re hungry, just follow these general guidelines and your healthy eating habit should remain pristine.

1. Go grilled.  If the restaurant has a grilled chicken or fish option, this is usually more healthy than any fried options.

2. Avoid the sauces.  Can you stand to eat the grilled sandwich sans sauce, or with just a little to add flavor?  If so, your meal will contain much less sugar and many fewer calories than if you lard the sandwich up with a bunch of sauce.

3. Ask for whole wheat bread.  If your meal contains bread (e.g. a sandwich), see if you can get whole wheat bread.  This type of bread causes less of a blood sugar spike and resulting insulin response than white bread does.

4. Eat the fruit instead of the fries.  Does the restaurant have a fruit option that can be substituted for the usual fried side dish (e.g. french fries, onion rings, waffle fries, curly fries, etc.).  If fruit is available, go for it!

5. Drink water rather than soda.  Or, if they have it, go for a 0 calorie diet soda.  Regular soda is loaded with calories and sugar.  Avoid it.  Go for the water.  Also, consider going without ice cubes.  I heard that the ice cubes in fast food restaurants were bacteria laden (google this for more info).

Follow the above general rules, and you should be in good shape when it comes to eating at fast food restaurants.  By the way, the best fast food restaurant I’ve eaten at, as far as healthy food options are concerned, is Chick-fil-a.  Try out the grilled chicken sandwich on a wheat bun along with a fruit cup and water.

GOOD Fast Food

That’s a meal that’s delicious and nutritious!

Darryl

7 Responses to “Healthy Fast Food?”

1. Anthony Lemme says:

   July 1, 2009 at 3:59 am

   Good advice Darryl. I for one try to avoid the whole fast food thing. We have an all organic vegetarian cafe here that can get you fed in 5 minutes. Hopefully places like that will be more common in the future.

   Anthony
   http://www.anthonylemme.com
2. Duane Cunningham says:

   July 1, 2009 at 5:11 am

   Hi Darryl,

   Superb advice, especially if you have kids cause they always want to go to Macca’s so it allows us ‘heathy’ folks some options

   Duane

   Discover Secret Persuading Skills that Work Like Magic by Tapping Into the Psychology of the Mind with The Worlds Leading Persuasion Expert Duane Cunningham!

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3. Newport Beach, Widow Support, Bereavement Counseling, Divorce Recovery, Grief Support, Orange County, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Irvine says:

   July 2, 2009 at 1:39 am

   Hi Darryl,

   In fact, McDonald’s and Wendy’s have some really good SALADS with grilled chicken options.

   For those of us who do the South Beach or Atkins esque sort of high protein, low (refined) carb diets (family history of Diabetes, this is a great choice for us, I lean more towards South Beach and being low fat/good fat oriented than all fat all the time of a full boar Atkins diet), BREAKFAST is also great at McDonald’s. You can get coffee with Sugar Free Vanilla syrup and straight up EGGS = protein. You can even Atkins esque get JUST a side of bacon. No cheese. No biccie (biscuit) and you’re good to go.

   Same thing with the entree. Grilled chicken, chuck the bun. Get a burger, chuck the bun. Burger King also has some good salad w/grilled chicken options.

   All of which is good to know for ROAD TRIPS.

   I’m also partial to the Turkey Sandwiches at Arby’s…. Rhonda ruined me by taking me there back in December. But no bread for now until I hit size 12. Then I’m allowed a carb commercial break for a week or two. then back to the straight and narrow. Goal is to get back to a Size 10 where I was just about 2 yrs ago. Arf. Arf. Size 8 would be better. Goal is a 10 and holding.

   Best regards,

   April Braswell

   Single Boomer Dating Expert, Business Relationship Success Coach

   Widows Grief Support Group, Bereavement Counseling, Stages of Grief, Workshop Orange County, Costa Mesa Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, CA

   Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Orange County, Website Marketing, Web Design, SEO, Social Media Marketing
4. Steve Chambers says:

   July 2, 2009 at 4:57 am

   I make it a habit to order my burgers “Protein Style”, which means that instead of the bun they wrap the burger in lettuce. You can also order the burger to be served with only Mustard so you avoid the high sugar and fat content of the “Secret Sauce”.

   Not the healthiest choice but not all that bad.

   Steve Chambers, The Sales Expert

   The Sales Eagle Solution – 6 months to dominate your market
5. JJ Jalopy says:

   July 4, 2009 at 12:04 pm

   This is great advice.

   I do love fast food, and this is going to be a fantastic help for me!

   JJ
6. John Ho says:

   July 4, 2009 at 5:10 pm

   Darryl,

   After the “SuperSize Me!” movie, McDonald have come up with a “rescue type” of menu to continue their dominance in the fast food chain.

   The really healthy fast food is well balanced raw food. But your suggestion does optimize the probability of making the fast food healthy.

   John Ho
   Numerology Expert Helps Understanding Personality for Better Influence & Persuasion (WordPress Blog)
   Numerology Expert Birthday Numeroscope (Vox Blog)
   Numerology Expert Helps Understanding Personality for Better Influence & Persuasion
7. Pam Schulz says:

   July 16, 2009 at 3:24 am

   Good information on how to order fast food, yet, healthy alternatives.

   Pam
   Expert Houston Retirement Planning & Wealth Management Services