How to Eat Healthy at Fast Food Restaurants

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By Victoria R.
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Everyone wants to eat right to lose weight or maintain a healthy lifestyle, but it can be very difficult to find enough time to prepare healthy meals. Most of us end up going to that fast food restaurant to pick up a quick lunch or dinner. While most fast food places stopped serving foods with trans fat, there are still some very unhealthy fast food menu items. Here are a few tips on how to find and order the healthiest menu items at fast food restaurants.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Will Power
Access to the Internet
Calculator

Step 1

Review fast food menus. Take the time to think about what you are going to buy before you get to the fast food place. That juicy hamburger is way too tempting for anyone to resist, so do yourself a favor and look at the nutritional information before you get to the drive-thru window. Most fast food restaurants have their menus and nutritional information online. Look at the calories, saturated fat and sodium content of each menu item. Use your common sense when it comes to researching these items. A double cheese burger with fries is not likely to be the healthiest choice on the menu. Look at the salads, grilled or fruit items on the menu to find the best choices. Consider portion size. If there is one thing that fast food restaurants do is that they serve large portions, so watch out for this. Once you have done the research, you will have a list of the items you can buy at your favorite fast food restaurants.
Step 2

Have it made your way. Fast food restaurants often advertise their healthier food choices to bring in more health conscious customers, but sometimes these menu items are really just as bad as the regular fast food. Think carefully about how the food is being prepared and of ways to make these items healthier. Eliminating cheese, salad dressing or mayo from your meal can make a huge difference in the amount of calories you take in. Asking for baked instead of fried can also make a huge difference. It may be a fast food restaurant, but you can still get it made the way you want it.
Step 3

Order a bottle of water with your meal. This is a great way to avoid adding more calories to your meal. I know that a lot of people dislike drinking water, but check out my article on How to Drink Plenty of Fluids to read about healthy ways to add some flavor to your water.
Step 4

Dine at home. Until you are confident that you can walk into a McDonald’s without ordering some greasy fries, you are better off going through the drive-thru and eating your meal back home or at the office. It may be too difficult to resist temptation at first, so wait until you are used to sticking with the healthier items on the menu.