Top Tips for the Times You’re Stuck Eating Fast Food
June 21, 2017
So the gang is running out to pick up some lunch for the work meeting and you need to eat…or you’re on the road and the only nearby solution is to drive through and order to eat in the car.
Even when you are stuck eating fast food, you want a healthy choice—it’s not always easy, but we’ve learned it can be done! The key seems to be knowing ahead of time what you’re best options are for the kind of nutrition choices you want to make.
Some basic guidelines might include:
- Under XX number of calories (500 might be a good thr)
- At least XX grams of protein (15? 25?)
- Less than XX grams of saturated fat, no trans fats, or only healthy fats
- No more than a certain % of carbohydrates, or sugars
- Nothing deep fried, less than 1/2 your daily sodium allowance, etc.
Once you set your own guidelines, take a look at your favorite places online for nutrition information to start a list of go-tos. Also, check out this list of top contenders for healthiest fast foods. We focused on breakfast and lunch selections—and while we skipped the obvious “salad, no dressing,” please note, you will be skipping chips, sodas, fries and hash browns.
- McDonald’s® Egg McMuffin
Most people would first choose the fruit and yogurt parfait as their healthy morning item at McDonald's, but we see it only has 4 grams of protein for its 150 calories. You can actually quadruple your protein intake with only twice the calories if you go for the Egg McMuffin. And if you're eating it for lunch, you might have room to add a yogurt parfait on the side.
300 calories
17 g of protein
12 g of fat
29 g of carbs
730 mg of sodium - Dunkin’ Donuts® Egg White Flatbread
So, you know to skip the donuts, right? But please note that the bagels and muffins aren’t the best choice either—a blueberry bagel with plain cream cheese has 440 calories with 770 grams of sodium, and a honey bran raisin muffin is 440 calories, 120 of them from fat. This flatbread is a decent alternative for a light breakfast bite.
280 calories
15 g of protein
9 g of fat
33 g of carbs
690 mg of sodium - Subway® 6” Turkey Sub (no cheese, no mayo, but add avocado!)
Subway makes it easy to eat some fresh veggies with your lean meat, and to control the fat and calories of toppings, too. This version is low cal enough that if you typically eat 2000 calories per day, you could order the 12” version and be good to go.
340 calories
18 g of protein
9 g of fat
49 g of carbs
670 mg of sodium - Chick-fil-A's® Chargrilled Chicken Cool Wrap with Fat Free Honey Mustard Dressing
This wrap is large enough to fill you up, and because of 10 grams of fiber and 36 grams of protein, it is likely to keep you satisfied, too. A main drawback is all that sodium.
340 calories
36 g of protein
13 g of fat
30 g of carbs
900 mg of sodium - Pizza Hut® Garden Party Pizza (2 slices)
Though it’s not ooey-gooey loaded with spiced meats, it’s pizza nonetheless, which is a nice treat for under 500 calories. This option features plenty of fresh veggies, and an extra boost of flavor from the balsamic dressing. Drawbacks? That sodium. Carbs, too.
460 calories
18 g of protein
18 g of fat
60 g of carbs
900 mg of sodium