Eat at Fast-Food Restaurants: Choose Nutrient-Dense Food and Finding Healthy Foods
How to Adapt the Food
If all you can choose is a hamburger or sandwich in a roll, ask for the sandwich without the roll and ask for the sandwich without the high calorie and fat-ridden mayonnaise or dressing. If the sandwich comes with a roll, take off the top part. Just removing half the roll will cut down on empty calories. If you have a choice between white rolls or wheat rolls, ask for wheat. Wheat will contain more fiber and therefore be more nutrient-dense.
Choose the smaller sized sandwich. Instead of a Big Whopper, have a regular hamburger. If chicken is available, choose grilled chicken over breaded chicken. The breaded chicken has been cooked in fat and is laden with oil, and the breading is empty calories.
If you are ordering a combination meal, ask if you can substitute the French fries for a salad. Use a low-fat salad dressing or just put salt and pepper on the salad.
Salads are always great choices, but watch the extras. Don’t use the croutons or the bacon bits. Even the shredded cheese is high in fat. Stick with salads that contain protein such as grilled chicken. Toss the croutons and ask for a low-fat dressing on the side. Use the dressing sparingly.
Avoid soda. It’s high in sugar. Avoid diet soda; it just makes you crave sugar. Stick to low-fat milk or water.
Calorie Contents of Fast Food
Small french fries have 340 calories and large french fries have 550 calories; they are also loaded with fat making them an empty calorie food.
A junior hamburger has 220 calories and a triple sized hamburger has 960 calories.
Side salads have about 35 calories. Large salads with grilled chicken have about 200 calories. Salads are nutrient-dense foods.
A cup of chili at Wendy’s has 190 calories and the large size has 280 calories. This is a nutrient-dense food because of the protein from the hamburger and the fiber from the beans.
A small soda has 140 calories of sugar. Milk has 102 calories in a cup and has 29 percent calcium. Milk is nutrient-dense.
This post is part of the series: Nutrient-dense Food for a Healthy Life
Learning to pick nutrient-dense foods, eating until you are satisfied, and choosing healthy snacks can mean a healthy life without dieting. All it takes is food planning, learning about nutrients, and learning to read labels. You can even eat out at your favorite fast-food restaurant.