Nothing is worse than needing something to eat without many options. Maybe, you’re traveling on the road, or perhaps, it’s late when you leave work. Either way, most of us associate fast food with unhealthy eating. It’s not a surprise as to why, either. Everything on the menu tends to be high in fat, sugar, and/or salt.
In recent years, however, many fast-food favorites have begun to offer alternative options to the usual burger and fries, like salads, fruit, yogurt, and more. Just because a dish comes with baked chicken or an accumulation of raw veggies, however, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily healthy. Bypass the confusion with these tips to make your next fast food order without a side of residual guilt.
Salads are a common item on fast food menus these days. Many people order them, blindly assuming that they are the healthiest option available. Yet, surprisingly, some fast food salads can be as full of fat and calories as a burger and fries.
The main culprit is usually the salad dressing. A typical salad dressing packet contains 150 to 200 calories. Many salads start at 400 calories even without the dressing. To keep the calorie count down, use a smaller amount of dressing, opt for low-fat dressings, or bring your fat-free dressing from home.
Salads with chicken can also be deceptive. Even if all of the rest of the ingredients are nutritious, a salad mixed with fried chicken strips will automatically add a few hundred calories to the dish, if not more. Grilled chicken is always a better choice than crispy fried chicken.
What about Mexican fast-food establishments? Another surprise may be that taco salad are some of the least healthy fares offered in these restaurants. That’s because there are a lot of calories in the shell. To make this type of salad more nutritious, skip the shell, get it made with grilled chicken instead of ground beef, and use salsa instead of sour cream.
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