6 Ways You Can Eat Healthy At Fast Food Restaurants!
After reviewing the top ten fast food restaurant nutritional reviews, you can clearly see that if you’re trying to lose body fat or even build muscle while staying lean, it may feel slightly like a battlefield as you attempt to make the right choices at these types of restaurants.
Often, there is fat and calories lurking in the most unexpected places, so despite the fact that you think you’re actually making the smartest decision possible, in reality, you’re choosing a worse option than the obvious.
Refer to the following smart strategies that generally apply to all fast food restaurants. They are designed to help you navigate through the waters without causing too much damage to your diet plan or waist line.
1. Portion Control
The very first universal rule that will apply to all fast food establishments for keeping things healthier is really monitoring your portions. Regardless of how unhealthy a particular food selection is, you automatically make it less damaging to your diet by eating less of it.
2. Beverage Selection
The second universal rule to always follow with your meal choices is making sure you choose a calorie free beverage. Water will always be your best option, but if you really “must” have a flavored beverage, your smartest option is diet soda.
3. Better Burgers
When it comes to choosing wisely while ordering a hamburger, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, a single patty burger is a safer and smarter selection than a double patty burgers. While the double (or in some cases, triple) patties will have more protein, you are far better off foregoing the additional protein in favor of consuming a lot less fat.
The second thing to pay attention to with any burger is the type of sauce used on them. Any “special sauce” or cream based sauce should be avoided as often times it’s that sauce that makes the burger unhealthy, more fattening and calorie laden.
4. Calorie-Wise Chicken
As with hamburgers, be mindful of condiments. Cream-based condiments are much more likely to be used with chicken sandwiches (versus beef), so request that it’s prepared without condiments. In some cases, the person taking your order is not aware of all of the condiments lavished on the sandwich, so rather than asking for cream-free condiments, specifically express that your sandwich be prepared free of all condiments. You can then add your own more healthful and calorie-conscious condiments.
5. Taco Tips
In many cases, you can find healthy choices when it comes to tacos as long as you’re sticking with the fairly basic variety. The main culprits are excess cheese, double or triple layer soft or hard shells and processed or refined beans. While beans are normally a healthy food option, when you’re eating both fatty meat and highly refined beans, you’re severely increasing your caloric consumption and consequently, you’ll suffer weight gain.
6. Smart Salads
Salads are generally a wise selection; however, be mindful of high fat and/or high sugar dressing. Always check to see if the restaurant offers a reduced calorie version and if so, use half of whatever you’re given. Further, while there are “calorie reduced” options, they often exceed 100 calories which adds up over time.
Lastly, be mindful of your salad’s “fixings” – namely, roasted nuts, bacon bits, croutons, dried fruit, noodles or fried chicken added to the salad. If you’re having a chicken salad (which is an excellent way to consume more protein), always select grilled chicken just like you would on a sandwich.
Conclusion
The next time that you find yourself at the drive-thru, refer to these points. Eating fast food on occasion does not have to be a completely unhealthy experience as long as you’re conscientious concerning what you put into your body.
