Fast food fixes: making healthier choices at fast food restaurants

American Fitness, March-April, 1996 by Nancy Clark

Fast food restaurants have historically served fatty items. These selections include an array of dietary disasters that clog arteries and leave muscles unfueled. However, more and more of today's quick service restaurants offer high-carbohydrate and low-fat options.

Decent sports diets are now available at most fast food restaurants. But only the most dedicated athletes seem to choose items from the healthier menu. Fatty foods taste the best, as confirmed by the strong sales of Big Macs with 26 fat grams, and weak sales of the McLean Deluxe with 12 fat grams.

Active people on the road or in a rush appreciate the convenience, affordable prices and consistency of quick service restaurants. However, while the occasional burger and fries type meal is of little health concern, making them part of your daily diet is not recommended. Fat-laden meals should be counter-balanced with nutritious carbohydrates. Active people are allowed some fat for calories and eating pleasure; 60 to 120 fat grams (only one third of which should be saturated) are considered acceptable in a diet for hungry athletes who eat 2,400 to 4,800 calories. But too much fat interferes with optimal health and muscle fueling. Be sure to pack your gym bag with supplemental muscle fuel such as apples, pretzels, fig cookies, bagels, pita bread, crackers, raisins, dried fruits, juice boxes, sports bars or granola bars.

Your best bets for fast foods that fuel include the following.

Breakfast

For a high carbohydrate breakfast, choose pancakes with syrup, hot or cold cereal, juice, plain bagels, English muffins or other muffins (preferably low-fat). Jam and honey add extra carbohydrates but also extra sugar. Skip the egg, bacon, sausage, croissant or biscuit combinations. Treat yourself to hot coco for a higher carbohydrate choice than coffee.

Lunch and Dinner

Any way you look at them, burgers and fries are high in fat. If you order a burger, request an extra roll or bread. Squish the grease into the first roll, then replace it with the fat-free one. Better yet, satisfy your meat hankering with a lean roast beef sandwich. A Roy Rogers roast beef sandwich has only four fat grams--preferable to a Burger King hamburger that has 10 fat grams. Both are 260 calories. Boost carbohydrates with fluids such as juice, soft drinks and low-fat shakes and enjoy your gym-bag snacks for dessert.

* Beware of grilled chicken sandwiches if they come with a special sauce. The 29 grams of fat in the BK Broiler make it as bad as a fried chicken sandwich. Wipe that mayonnaise off!

* Roasted or grilled chicken is generally preferable to fried chicken--if you remove the skin. By removing the skin and wing from a KFC Rotisserie Gold quarter breast, you remove 13 grams of fat and 115 calories. If you order fried chicken, get the larger pieces, peel off the skin and just eat the meat. Order extra rolls, biscuits with honey or jam, corn on the cob, potatoes, baked beans or other vegetables for more carbohydrates. Although many of the side dishes are buttery, they are still better than no veggies.

* At a salad bar, be generous with the colorful vegetables like chick peas, kidney beans, pasta salads and hearty breads, and carefully choose lite dressings. Boston Chicken's chicken Caesar salad with four tablespoons of dressing totals 670 calories, two-thirds of which are from fat (47 grams). A better bet is a chicken breast without skin and wing, cornbread, steamed vegetables and corn. This meal has 80 fewer calories and only 15 fat grams.

* Baked potatoes smothered with cheese sauce and fatty toppings are a poor addition to a sports diet. Wendy's cheese-stuffed potato, for example, gets 35% of its calories from fat (23 grams, the equivalent of six teaspoons of butter). The-chili and cheese topping with 36% fat (24 grams) isn't much better. Your best bet is to order a plain potato and split the broccoli and cheese topping (14 grams fat) between the two. That way, you end up with a hearty 770-calorie, high-carbohydrate meal that fuels your muscles. For protein, drink a carton of low-fat or skim milk.

* Order pizza with extra-thick crust rather than extra cheese. The more dough, the more carbohydrates. A slice of Pizza Hut's pan pizza (250 calories) has 10 more grams carbohydrates than a slice of its thin 'n' crispy pizza (200 calories). Pile on veggies like broccoli, peppers, mushrooms and onions for a vitamin boost.

* Seek out a deli that offers a sandwich with more bread than filling. A large submarine roll provides far more carbohydrates than a small pita. Hold the mayonnaise and add moistness with lite salad dressings, mustard or ketchup, tomatoes and lettuce. Best bet fillings are turkey, ham and roast beef.

* Hearty bean soups accompanied by crackers, bread, an English muffin, or cornbread provide a satisfying, carbohydrate-rich, low-fat meal. Chili, if not glistening with a layer of grease, is also a good choice. A Wendy's large chili with eight saltines provides 400 calories, only 25% of which are from fat (11 grams).