Six Ways To Make Fast Food Healthier
In today’s fast-paced world, it’s sometimes hard to find the time to eat healthily. We often work late or spend a lot of time commuting back and forth. Keep in mind however that there are ways to make fast food healthier.
When it comes to the critical moment of eating out, we must learn how to adjust our options in order to make fast foods healthier. Many fast food chains have expanded their menus to include healthier options. It’s therefore key to choose options that have fewer calories, saturated fats and sodium.
If you select a grilled chicken salad for example, you will essentially be reducing approximately 70 calories and 7 grams of fat from your meal. This is a clear example that we can take advantage of to make our fast food lighter and healthier. You can always select and replace ingredients with others in order to make your meal healthier too.
Select quality ingredients
As we previously stated, more and more fast food chains around the world are expanding their menus to offer different and healthier options. They adopted these measures in order to satisfy the demands that customers made to have access to healthy food.
Healthy food has become a global trend. Fast food restaurants have started incorporating healthy ingredients such as: roasted pumpkin, quinoa, brown rice, broccoli and whole grains such as oats.
Do not select high-calorie beverages
Many nutritionists agree that a huge amount of calories are added to the meal when fast foods are combined with soft-drinks.
A large soft drink contains approximately 76 grams of sugar and a lot of calories. If you are going to have fast food, it is best to accompany it with water, iced tea without sugar or a natural lemonade.
Avoid high-calorie ingredients
Another way to make fast food healthier is to eliminate high-calorie ingredients. For example, do not add bacon or cheese. It is better to select vegetables to complement your meal. When you add pieces of bacon or fried bread croutons to your salad, you are adding approximately 80 calories and 3 grams of fat to your meal.
Eliminate creamy dressings
You can choose a non-creamy vinaigrette dressing. A c reamy vinaigrette can add approximately 260 calories and 29 grams of fat to a salad. It is best to use vinaigrette that is made with fruits. Many fast food chains now offer this option.
Reduce portions
Since fast food is typically cheap, most people choose to have large portions. A double hamburger weighs approximately 480 grams while a triple burger is around 600 grams. An average person however, only requires 21 grams of protein a day. It’s wise to select smaller and more balanced portions.
Avoid adding coffee and dessert to your meal
If you want to lighten your fast food, try to avoid coffee and desserts. Avoid shakes and drinks that are overly processed. Keep in mind that there’s a big different between selecting a coffee with plain sweetener and selecting a high processed milkshake made with coffee and a lot of other unhealthy ingredients.
Fast food alternatives at home
If you understand fast food as food that’s quickly prepared and served, you can easily prepare your own fast food at home. You can prepare hamburgers, pizzas and hot dogs in a healthy way using quality ingredients.
Hamburger recipe
If you would like to prepare a healthy hamburger at home, try using the following ingredients:
- Whole grain bread
- Sliced and baked loin meat cooked with olive oil
- Fat-free cheese
- Homemade mayonnaise
- Tomato slices
- Onion rings
- Lettuce
- Baked potatoes
When it comes to food and health, it is important to be informed. Research the healthy options that are available, be creative and feel free to personalize your meal.
Also, try to follow the tips that we mentioned above to make fast food healthier. Avoid overloading your body with calories, saturated fat, and sodium. In many cases, the menus at fast food chains exceed our daily requirements of proteins, fat and other nutrients.