As busy Americans it is not always easy to eat healthy when you are one the run. Fast food has become such a basic part of our lifestyle, but is often blamed for our expanding waistlines. Fast food has heard the message and has made many changes to their menus to include healthy low calorie choices. Here are some low-calorie foods at your favorite fast food restaurants.
McDonald’s has always been the brunt of many jokes among dietitians as one of the biggest culprits for our unhealthy eating habits. But McDonald’s actually offers a lot of healthy food choices on their menus. If you go to their website, you can even build a meal and it will calculate the calorie content. McDonald’s offers many different salad choices including the Asian Chicken Salad (290 calories), Bacon Ranch Salad with Chicken (260 calories) and the Caesar Salad with Chicken (220 calories). Add Newmans Low Fat Balsamic Vinegrette (only 40 calories) with a diet soda and you have a nice meal for less than 400 calories. You may even be able to add an order of small fries for only 250 calories. McDonald’s McChicken sandwich (370 calories) can also be a good choice with a side salad (20 calories) with the low fat dressing. McDonald’s even offers low calorie desserts including its apple dippers with caramel dipping sauce for only 105 calories, another low-calorie way to help satisfy that sweet tooth at one of your favorite fast food restaurants.
Burger King also offers some low-calorie meal choices. Once again, if you are watching your weight and want to make a good choice, it is always better to order a salad. Burger King offers the TenderGrille chicken salad for only 300 calories or the TenderGrille chicken sandwich for 450. If ordering the salad, be sure to ask for the fat-free or low-fat dressing to help prevent that salad from turning into a high calorie meal. Burger King even offers a vegetarian burger for the non-meat eaters for only 340 calories (without mayonnaise). If you need to eat the not-so-healthy choices such as the burger or chicken nuggets, go for the junior and five-piece to save calories.
Wendy’s is another popular fast food restaurant that offers many alternatives for calorie conscious individuals. They also have numerous salads including the Mandarin Chicken Salad (170 calories), Chicken Caesar Salad (190 calories) and the Chicken BLT salad (160 calories). Make sure you ask for the fat-free french dressing (40 calories) to save the most calories. Wendys offers food items other than the typical burger and fries which may also be good choices, including the plain baked potato (270 calories), high in fiber and vitamin, or a small order of chili (220 calories).
Eating out in a hurry can be detrimental to our waistline, but the fast food restaurants have heard our pleas and now offer many alternatives for the health conscious patron. So, be healthy and enjoy low-calorie foods at your favorite fast food restaurants.
