Fast food joints are the best places to turn to when you’re too busy to cook your own food. They provide instant solution to your hunger and can even deliver straight to wherever you are, making them extremely convenient dining options. However, if there’s one thing these food places are not, it would be healthy. Their food have high sodium, sugar, calories and fat content that could affect your diet if you consume them in high amounts.
But if you have no choice but opt to eat fast food meals multiple times in a week, you shouldn’t fret. There are ways how you can still eat healthy despite getting your meals from nearby fast food joints, you just need to know what they are. To help you out, here are some tips you should always keep in mind.
Go for chains that note the calorie count of their items on the menu.
Fast food chains are required by the law in many states to indicate the number of calories in their food on their menu. If this law applies to your state, you’ll find numbers following menu listings at McDonald’s and a lot of other places, indicating how many calories you’re going to consume if you pick that menu item. This can have a myriad of effects to people, but if you’re conscious about what you intake, it can help you count calories and pick something that isn’t loaded with calories that will need you to spend more hours at the gym.
Aiming for 500 calories or less is definitely possible, but can be a bit challenging. Luckily, you can always hit up the web to know which fast food items won’t eat up your entire calorie allocation for the day.
Bring your own healthy sides.
If you know that you’ll be consuming a good deal of unhealthy food, you can at least do something about it by having healthier sides. Plan ahead and you can order items that will go well with yogurt, cottage cheese, and veggie sticks.
Skip the fried stuff.
Grilled, baked, or roasted meats are a lot healthier than fried ones because they make use of less oil. Opt for these instead so you can skip on the trans fat that you might get from eating fast food. A salad bar with fresh produce is also always a great spot in fast food chains, just be careful about loading your plate with a lot of dressing as those could also rack up the calories.