how to make fast food healthy choices

How to make fast food meals healthy

In the day to day grind, we often find when we are hungry, we just don’t have time to cook. Especially during our lunch breaks, between running errands, it can be hard to have a sit-down lunch. Many of us, myself included, often do a quick run through the nearest fast food restaurant. It is well known that fast food restaurants are not known for making healthy food. The meals are packed with fried goodies, loads of sodium, and sugar galore.

To eat healthy as well as being able to fit it into a busy schedule. I had to find a way to make fast food a little bit better for my body and health. So how exactly can you make fast food healthy? Well there are certainly lots of ways to do this, you just have to be creative, and think outside the fry box. Now we don’t all want to eat from the same restaurant daily, talk about boring. There are so many fast food restaurants, honestly your choices are endless.

I want you to eat healthy and save time. I want to eat healthy and save time as well. To help promote healthy eating at some of the unhealthiest places, I have compiled suggestions/ideas/and ways to make any fast food experience better for your body. Let’s start with the well-known food chains.

Wendy’s

Wendy’s is known for delicious burgers but also very good salads. But what exactly is very good. Yes, they sure do taste good, but let’s be honest, that’s after we drown them in dressing. So, the best way to take advantage of a delicious and healthy salad would be to say no to the dressing. Yes, this can be hard, but I promise you will feel better. There is also a large amount of sugars in salad dressings.  Wendy’s also had chicken go wraps that are somewhat healthy. If you are a wrap type person and its way easier to eat on the run, try this suggestion. Order the grilled chicken go wrap without honey mustard and with light cheese. Basically, you now have a wrap of grilled chicken lettuce and small amounts of cheese. I often kick off all the other ingredients and simply eat the grilled chicken.

McDonald’s

McDonald’s may be one of the hardest places to have a truly healthy meal. Yeah they have yogurt parfaits…hello sugar…my old friend. Well the yogurt parfaits are packed with sugar, the salads have dressing again packed with sugar. The burgers, we all know how healthy they are. But sometimes we are in a time crunch, or more honestly sometimes you have two extremely irritable children in the back seat throwing laser eyes your way if you do not succumb to their desire for a happy meal. So, in the times that I am wanting to eat anywhere else, I try to go with the old saying less is more. I opt for no bread if I have a sandwich, peel those buns off and save yourself massive carb loading. Or if I do choose a salad, try to stick with basics. Smoothies are often deceiving as well. When its hot outside and you are needing some ice ice baby, the smoothie sounds healthy but again is packed with sugar. Now this one makes me sad because I do like their smoothies…. even though I know they come in a squishy bag of unknown origins.

Taco Bell

Taco Bell. Well, this one is harder for me. Not everything at Taco Bell is stacked with calories and drenched in sugar. The good part is most of the meals come in the tortilla shell variety which is considerably less carb intake then the greased buns of other restaurants. If I am in a crunch and needing to satiate my Taco Bell desires I choose to go with a good old favorite, the chicken quesadilla. The only thing I change on this item is no jalapeno sauce. Not health related so much as it is yikes not very good. Any of the tacos you can have altered as well. You don’t want cheese, boom no cheese. You want to hold the sour cream; they are holding it. I find that Taco Bell can be one of the easier places to make a healthy meal from an unhealthy option.

Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A is another good one for finding healthy meals. I love love love; did I say love? The grilled chicken wrap. It’s so fresh and has veggies, good tasting chicken, and is not all that bad for you. The only downfall to this meal is that you want to avoid the avocado ranch sauce (sugar) and that Chick Fil A in all southern nature offers good sized meals, the wrap is more of a two-course meal. Chick fil A also offers salads that I find to be good. They are not iceberg but rather greens, much much better for you. Also, tastes about a million times better as well.

Subway

We all know Subway’s big tag line is that it is healthy and you are eating fresh foods. Incorrect. Processed meats. That should explain it all. How fresh can meat be if it is processed to preserve shelf life? Also, the options for healthy sides, pretty much a no go. You can make a healthy choice at Subway if you choose wisely. Wrap versus bread, there is a start. This one can be a hard one, but no mayo! Stick to lean meats, like tuna or turkey. I would say chicken but the chicken is often drenched in some sauce of the month.

Home…

This one isn’t a fast food restaurant, but if you decide to eat healthy you will find cooking at home is always your best choice. Yes, we all have busy lives and often go for the quick fix. That’s why it’s great to have a good idea of ways to make the fast food options healthier. From someone who hasn’t ate a lick of greasy food or sugar in a year now, sometimes succumbing to the temptation just results in you feeling wretched later. If you are wanting to go ahead and skip fast food, but still want something quick, take some time to discover your local hometown eateries. Small artisan sandwich shops and even small coffee shops often cater to those who enjoy healthy meals.