Now my first disclaimer is that if you made one of those posts PLEASE don't think I'm picking on you, cause I'm not. It's just that I've seen enough of these posts recently to think that a .. well a PSA on how to pick the best possible option at a fast food place might be useful.
I've been eating this way for nearly 2 years now and at this point I can go into any fast food place and with a little thought, I can get a meal that doesn't destroy my calorie plan and is even slightly healthy.
So here are my tips and tricks for eating at fast food places.
- NO FRIES. Ever. I don't care if it's a small, child-size serving. Fries are the tools of Satan when it comes to diet. Potatoes fried in oil? There's no way you can consume fries and come in at a reasonable calorie level.
- No side orders with creamy dressing. That means side salads with ranch, potato salad, cole slaw, macaroni salad, anything that has a mayonnaise or cream base to it. That's calorie city.
- No side orders that are starch based. Again, no fries, no potato salad, no macaroni salad, no biscuits, no cornbread.
- Nothing fried. Even places that are all about fried, like KFC and Chick-fil-a, offer a grilled option for their chicken. If it's breaded and fried, it's going to have lots of calories in it.
- If you're at a sandwich shop, think about the toppings you're putting on your sandwich: oil, mayo, any filling that's a 'salad' like chicken salad, tuna salad, seafood salad (they're all made with mayo) are no-nos. Guacamole is healthy, but lots of calories and a lot of places mix in mayo to make it more creamy.
- Grilled things. Scour the menu and see if you can find grilled chicken breasts instead of fried.
- A plain burger with extra tomato and lettuce (no cheese, no bacon, no mayo)
- Dark meat chicken is always more greasy and has more calories than white meat chicken. If you're at a chicken place, skip the drumsticks and order a breast. If for some reason you absolutely cannot avoid a fried item, then take off the breading and skin and eat the meat only. (At KFC the difference between an extra crispy chicken breast (350 calories) and one in which the skin and breading has been removed (190 calories) is huge.
- Fruit as a side, if they offer it. Wendy's offers mandarin oranges, McDs offers apple slices, and so on
- A side salad w/ light or no dressing (most places have side salads nowadays)
- A wrap of some kind with lots of veggies and lean (non-fried) meat.
- At a sandwich place always choose the whole grain bread and ask for extra veggies on your sandwich. Skip the cheese unless you absolutely have to have it. Avocado slices are better than guac. And have them put just a little oil and vinegar and/or mustard on a sandwich, rather than dressing, glaze, or mayo.
The thing is that most of the people I see posting about these "shocker" meals - they KNOW what's healthy. They know how to make good choices. But somehow they get into a fast food restaurant and they just go blank - ordering fries and fried foods and salads with creamy dressings and then being surprised when their meal blows their calorie budget for the day.
I truly to do think that a lot of people are hypnotized by fast food places.
But you CAN eat fairly healthily and keep the calories reasonable in a fast food place, if you just take a minute to think about what you're ordering.
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