Posts Tagged ‘fast food’

Eating Healthy Fast Food—Or As Close As You Can Get

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Eating healthy at home is pretty easy. As long as you know what to buy and stock up on at the grocery store. But what about when you venture outside your home? Fast food restaurants are everywhere you go. It’s fast, convenient, and cheap.

But for the person looking to change their body and be as healthy as they can in regards to their nutrition, then fast food restaurants can be a deathtrap.

So I’ve compiled a list of the healthiest fast food foods you can eat and not destroy your entire day or week’s worth of nutrition.

Although I don’t recommend fast food often, sometimes there just isn’t anything else, especially if you’re on the road and pushed for time. The fast food industry has been criticized a lot for the way their food is delivered, processed, and served. One thing that about 99% of all fast food items have in it is added salt, sugar, or fat– or a combo of all three. That makes it very addictive to someone not in the know. But every once in a while is fine.

If you haven’t seen the movie Food Inc, I highly recommend it.

And now on to the list (in no particular order).

Wendy’s Ultimate Chicken Grill and Mandarin Chicken Salad. If you avoid slathering the sandwich with mayonnaise and the salad with gobs of dressing these are some of your best choices at Wendy’s. The sandwich only has 7 grams of fat (1.5 saturated) and the salad has 25 grams, but only 3 from saturated fat, so the rest is the heart healthy kind.

Although both are loaded with sodium they pack a good amount of protein. The chili is always another great option here.

Next is Subway and there Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast and Veggie Delite. Obviously everyone knows Subway has other healthy options, which are also fine, but what most people don’t know is that there wheat bread really isn’t wheat bread at all—it’s enriched. Real Whole Wheat bread costs more and just like any business they cut costs where they can.

Most of the subs are lower calories then most other fast food places that doesn’t mean you should eat more. A lot of people tend to overeat when they think the food is healthier. A calorie is a calorie no matter where it comes from. Go over your limit too many times will have disastrous consequences.

Quizno’s Small Honey Bourbon Chicken on Wheat is next. Comes in at just 310 calories and 4 grams of fat. Stick with the mustard and not the mayo.

On to the top dog- McDonald’s. Their grilled chicken is a good choice here just like at Wendy’s. Their regular hamburger used to be a good choice, but after further review it looks like they have a ½ a gram of trans fat in it. Trans fats are a no-no.
For salads go with the Premium Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken (not crispy).

Last is Chipotle. It’s not really one of the healthiest, but a lot of people love it. So I thought I’d include something that’s a little healthier for you then that big ass burrito.

Go with a Chicken Burrito Bowl with lettuce, black beans, green or red salsa, and guacamole. You’ll come in at around 480 calories, 21 grams of fat (just 4 saturated, most of it is from the very heart healthy guacamole), 42 grams protein, and 35 grams carbs (a whopping 18 grams of fiber).

Compare that to the Chicken Burrito with tomato, corn, cheese, sour cream, rice and beans of about 1100 calories, 40 grams of fat, 112 grams of carbs and 2530 milligrams of sodium.

So that’s the list. Remember fast food is fast and not nearly as healthy as you can make at home. But sometimes we can’t help ourselves or need to have a cheat. That’s ok. Just get back up on the healthy wagon as soon as you do.

If your in Columbus, don’t forget to sign up for your free 2-week trial to bootcamp.
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Fast Food Fat Loss Failure

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Back in the nineties Fast Food companies tried to change. They tried coming out with lighter and lower fat versions of their sandwiches and tacos and everything else.
Low fat fast food

Know what happened?

The “healthier” versions on their menus failed miserably. And I mean miserably. They were all pulled and replaced by newer options that were bigger, fattier and more calorie laden than ever before.
Super size McDonald\'s and other fast food chains make you fat

Seriously, they stopped pulling punches and did what any smart business should: They gave people what they wanted. And in the case of Fast Food companies that meant adding as much mayo, bacon, cheese and beef as they possibly could.

That’s when we started seeing the Triple Burgers and Mega Burgers and tacos wrapped in melted cheese stuck to yet another taco.And people were more than happy to gobble them all right up.
fat kid eating fast food, parents should be shot

I believe, fortunately, that we’ve come to a point where people have realized that it’s all just too much. To some extent people are waking up and realizing that they cannot afford to get sick. They cannot afford to eat garbage all the time. They are understanding it WILL catch up to them.

Kentucky Fried Chicken has been in the news lately because they are trying a new Kentucky GRILLED Chicken. Supposedly it tastes as good as their fried version.

Now I don’t know if it does or doesn’t. And to be honest, I don’t much care. You see, the fact of the matter is when people go to Fast Food restaurants and order something “healthier” like grilled chicken they typically off set it by eating every french fry in sight. Or drinking a 64oz cola.

There are better choices to be made. And if you plan your day you won’t be in a position where you have to gobble a meal down at KFC, McDonald’s or Burger King.

Things like:

Low fat cottage cheese

Hard boiled eggs

Fresh fruit and veggies

Raw almonds

You could also go with Prograde Cravers or Prograde Lean. Cravers are the best tasting healthy snack bar on the planet and Lean is their delicious chocolate meal replacement shake. (In the PS under my signature you’ll find out all he details on a BIG sale Prograde is having! Oh, and hurry because it ends tomorrow night.)
Prograde cravers are quilt-free chocolate that can be eaten anytime

Look, the bottom line is simple: A little bit of planning and some smart food choices go a long way to getting that flat stomach you’re looking for.

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