How To Make The Healthiest Fast Food Choices

The ultimate guide to healthy fast food eating!  Don’t fear fast food, enjoy it!

Whether your crunched for time, too tired to make dinner or just on the go, no matter what your reason is you have spotted the nearest fast food restaurant and you’re stopping to grab a bite to eat. Don’t panic though.  Neither you’re diet nor your health have to suffer just because you’re pulling up to a drive-thru window.  By educating yourself on how to make healthy fast food choices you won’t have to fear fast food anymore.

When eating fast food it’s all about choices.  Every fast food restaurant offers a wide variety of options and most have at least a few healthy alternatives and even if they don’t, with a little know how you can turn that super-sized cheeseburger combo into a healthy meal.

In this guide you will learn:

1. The 15 Tips To A Healthier Fast Food Meal
2. How To Make Healthier Choices
3. Know What’s In Your Fast Food Before Ordering

15 Tips To A Healthier Fast Food Meal

Grilled Chicken
Choose the grilled chicken whenever possible.  Don’t load the chicken sandwiches up with extras, like bbq sauce and don’t drench the chicken salads with heavy dressings.  Beware of breaded chicken dishes too.  Always choose the grilled version.

Moderation Is Key
You’ve heard it before but if you’re going to eat fast food, do it in moderation. Don’t make it an everyday occurrence and when you’re there don’t overdo it, meaning order as little as possible to satisfy your fast food craving and move on.

The Skinny On Salads
Salads can be a great substitute for your more traditional fast food items, but be careful.  Many salads are loaded with “extras” such as heavy dressings, breaded chicken, bacon bits, fried noodles and so on.  The calories can add up quick.  Go for the grilled chicken salad and go easy on the light salad dressing.

Study Up
Before heading over to your favorite fast food restaurant check out their website. Almost every major chain has nutritional facts of their menu items displayed on their site.  Later in his post we will discuss some other sites that make finding nutritional information even easier.

Not So Convenient Calories
Often times eating on the go means stopping at convenience stores.  While such stores might be convenient, they are stocked full of unhealthy snacks and soda’s.  But hidden between all the chips and candy bars are healthier snacks that will help curb those cravings. Almonds, nuts, bottled water fresh fruit are all usually available at convenience stores and are a healthy alternative.

Snacks On Hand
When at work or driving long distances try keeping some healthy snacks on hand to lessen the chances of even stopping at a fast food joint or hitting up a vending machine.

Options Galore
Take advantage of the many options offered at fast food restaurants these days.  No longer are you limited to only fries for a side.  Many places now offer apple slices, baked potatoes and side salads.  Try washing it down with a bottled water or low fat milk instead of a soda.

Analyze The Menu Carefully
Any item stating to be breaded, fried battered, crispy or in a cream sauce are likely to be high in “bad” fats and calories.  Order items with vegetables (no fries don’t count) or fruit whenever possible.

Don’t Drink Your Calories
One large soda from McDonald’s has 310 calories and is full of sugar!  Order a water instead and have them add a lemon for a little taste.

Skip The “Extra’s”
What’s a great way to add a ton of calories to your food without even knowing it?  By piling on extra’s such as salad dressings, mayo, sour cream, cheese, extra ketchup and mustard and so on.  Ask for these items on the side and judiciously put them on yourself.

Special Order
Don’t forget you can special order your food items just about anywhere.  If your chicken breast comes with a cream sauce over it ask them to leave it off or put it on the side. Substitute unhealthy items for healthier alternatives.  Request your dressing on the side and add a little yourself.

Portion Control
Your typical fast food meal contains enough servings for two.  Try ordering the kids meal once and see if that fills up.  You might be surprised that it does as recent studies suggest that people feel satisfied be eating what is on their plate regardless of how much it is.

Easy On The Salt
Restaurant meals are typically very high in sodium which may lead to high blood pressure.  By choosing a side salad instead of fries from Burger King you would be cutting out 940mg of sodium!

Be Wary Of Buffets
Remember it all comes down to calories when losing or maintaining your weight and buffets are a great way to eat a ton of calories in a short amount of time.  If you do find yourself at a buffet only allow yourself to go up once and make sure to attack the fruit and salad bar before anything else

Plan Ahead
Plan ahead by checking the restaurants website for nutritional information and know what you are going to order.  Also, if your fast food meal is going to allot for quite a few of your daily calories just remember to eat light for the rest of your meals that day.

How To Make Healthier Choices

Whether you are eating at a burger joint, taco chain or enjoying Chinese food you will have plenty of options to make your meal healthier. Here’s a few substitutions you could make at the following types of restaurants.

Know What’s In Your Fast Food Before Ordering

As stated in our “tips” section above, planning ahead and knowing what’s in your fast food meal beforehand can help you make educated and healthy choices. Try searching for the restaurants website and click around until you find their nutritional facts.  An even easier way is to visit HealthyDiningFinder.com. This site will show you the nutrition facts for various different restaurants by location or by name and will show you healthy dining options approved by dietitians.

In an effort to make this even easier for you I put together a quick guide of a few of the healthier choices you could make at select fast food restaurants including the calorie counts and macronutrient information.  This is by no means everything you might consider healthy at each chain but rather a sampling of some healthier options to help you get started.