The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Fast food is always something that I encourage my clients to stay away from. Many fast food restaurants are doing an OK job of trying to offer “better” choices than others with new salads, grilled options or bun-less options. It is possible to make somewhat healthy choices at some fast foods restaurants, but there are, of course, worse choices than others.
Breakfast
First let’s look at breakfast. Most major fast food chains offer some sort of breakfast plate that includes eggs, sausage, biscuits and maybe some gravy or hash browns. This doesn’t sound too bad reading it out like that, but if we take a closer look, everything on this plate has been cooked with a TON of butter and this plate, no matter where you get it, has more fat than you should have in your ENTIRE day.. not good. Not to mention the sodium in this sausage at these places is unreal.
Burgers
Next let’s talk burgers. Burgers in general from fast food places are despicable. Almost all of the meat served is not 100% beef – it is factory raised – (which means you are eating [beef from cows that are definitely not grass-fed]), not a healthy ratio of fat to lean meat, is definitely not grass fed and is cooked in butter or oil so full of additional fat on top of the fat that is already in the meat.
Mexican Food
If you are looking for some quick Mexican food, there are plenty of healthy options if you choose wisely but there are also some terrible choices. Burritos, huge nacho plates, and weird tacos wrapped in even more tacos are full of processed cheese, refried beans cooked in lard, and then use meat that, again, is not 100% beef. If the “beef” itself doesn’t make you wary, then the amount of fat in the processed (that means not real at all) cheese and refried beans should make you change your mind.
Sandwich Places
And last, let’s look at sandwich places. Many times we think these are the “healthier” options than the other fast food chains. In many cases this is true, but it’s all about what you order. Unless you are getting the chicken breast, you are eating highly processed meat that is full of nitrites and TONS of sodium. Nobody wants high blood pressure from eating a sandwich. Moral of the story: Order wisely!