Tips to have Fast Food in a “Healthy” Way

Can fast food ever be termed as “healthy”? Well, when we are hungry, fast foods are the first choice we usually grab on as they are easy to get, tasty and filling. We tend to forget the disadvantages of fast food at that moment – they are packed with sodium, fat and calories. However, unfortunately there are many people who have to depend on fast food whatsoever as there might be limitations to get home cooked, regular and healthy food for meals.

Fortunately, there are many ways to make fast food healthy, tasty, filling and also “not so harmful”. There are some tricky menus, when you need to watch your health and weight both! You can now avoid diet disasters with the following healthy fast food tips –

tips to have fast food in a healthy way

Keep your Portions Small

In fast food corners, you get all dishes in different sizes; especially sandwiches, burgers, pizzas and wraps can be available in small, medium and large sizes. Opt for smaller sizes that would have about 250 to 300 calories maximum. Avoid the large servings of French fries and onion rings and look for smaller servings, this small change can cut off around 300 calories.

Look for Healthy Side Dishes

Many fast food restaurants have side dish options that can be actually healthy and do not have unnecessary mayonnaise, high fat content and fried portions to enhance taste. Opt for side salad dishes with low-fat dressing instead of potato chips. If you love potato so much, opt for baked potato. Instead of creamy dessert dishes, opt for fruit bowl, fruit yogurt or fruit mock tails. Talk to the waiters and know which dish is steamed, baked, boiled and has the least frying and spicing done.

Add more Greens

Entree salad is a favourite of many owing to its nutritious value and also tasty trait. You can make this dish personalised as per your choice with vegetables, shrimp, grilled chicken, with fat-free or low-fat dressing. Each dish of this salad has around 200 calories only. Make a habit to avoid the “extras” like bacon strips, cheese, mayonnaise, croutons and fatty add ons. Avoiding these you can cut around 300 calories.

Prefer Grilled Dishes

Grilled or roasted lean meat has much lower calorie content. Choose the dishes with chicken breast, turkey, lean roast beef, and lean ham – these have lesser calories than fried and breaded foods like crispy chicken sandwiches, breaded fish fillets etc.

Keep a Check on your Drinks

Drinks can also be considered as “fast food” as beverages these days have good amounts of calories and harmful elements. A large regular soda of about 946 milliliters has around 300 calories. Opt for regular water, diet soda, unsweetened iced tea or plain fruit juices if you are aware of health quotient.

Personalise your Dishes

If you are aware of healthy inputs on the table, make it your way. No need to abide by the prejudiced combinations in a restaurant and look for healthier substitutions. Your lunch in a fast food restaurant can be grilled chicken breasts, baked potato and diet soda. Whatever you order, keep the portions small.

While having fast foods, try to keep the entire meal calorie limit to be within 500 calories or less. Today, many fast food restaurant chains offer nutritional info about their dishes both on websites and menu cards, take some time to read those lines and then make your selection. If you can order wisely, even fast foods can turn out to be healthy and not a weight booster.