Fast food eating tips
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michaelascharf
Posts: 3 Member
I saw a Weight Watchers pamphlet on eating out. But it was focused on sit down restaurants, where you could ask the chef to modify what is on the menu...
But you can't do that at a fast food restaurant. So I took a stab at the problem...
Comments are welcome!
Dining Out Secrets, Part Two:
Sometimes you just can’t avoid fast food
Let’s face it, you cannot always control where and what you’re going to eat. Sit down restaurants, while they give you more control over your food, are not always an option. Most restaurants in the US are classified as “fast food” and real chefs don’t inhabit their kitchens.
So can you avoid the calories, sugar and salt overload?
Here are a few tips:
• The less processing the better. That’s why a salad is better than a burrito, or a fruit plate is better than a chicken sandwich and fries. Every step away from raw foods adds lots of calories.
• Coffee shops can offer good food. Starbucks offers fruit plates with cut up apples, grapes, etc. They also offer grilled cheese sandwiches with about 250 calories. A grilled cheese sandwich, banana, and iced tea can be a good lunch with less than 500 calories.
• Convenience Marts can offer alternatives as well. Most 7-11’s carry some fresh fruit, high protein bars and shakes. You can purchase these items for immediate consumption, or carry it with you for lunch later.
• If you can plan ahead, you can pack anything from a low calorie frozen meal, ready for the microwave, or a meal replacement bar or shake.
But you can't do that at a fast food restaurant. So I took a stab at the problem...
Comments are welcome!
Dining Out Secrets, Part Two:
Sometimes you just can’t avoid fast food
Let’s face it, you cannot always control where and what you’re going to eat. Sit down restaurants, while they give you more control over your food, are not always an option. Most restaurants in the US are classified as “fast food” and real chefs don’t inhabit their kitchens.
So can you avoid the calories, sugar and salt overload?
Here are a few tips:
• The less processing the better. That’s why a salad is better than a burrito, or a fruit plate is better than a chicken sandwich and fries. Every step away from raw foods adds lots of calories.
• Coffee shops can offer good food. Starbucks offers fruit plates with cut up apples, grapes, etc. They also offer grilled cheese sandwiches with about 250 calories. A grilled cheese sandwich, banana, and iced tea can be a good lunch with less than 500 calories.
• Convenience Marts can offer alternatives as well. Most 7-11’s carry some fresh fruit, high protein bars and shakes. You can purchase these items for immediate consumption, or carry it with you for lunch later.
• If you can plan ahead, you can pack anything from a low calorie frozen meal, ready for the microwave, or a meal replacement bar or shake.
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Replies
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Fast food eating tip: Look up the nutritional information online and order things that will fit into you calories and/or macros for the day, buy it eat it.0
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A lot of fast food places these days even have calorie information right on their menu. I know McDonald's and Chic-Fil-A does, and Panera/Starbucks, etc. So even if you don't know things off hand depending on where you go there may be information there for you. Also most restaurants have the information on a piece of paper inside so if you're desperate you can just go inside rather than the drive-thru.
Probably the easiest things to remember about generic fast food though is: Fries are always going to be more calories than you think they are and unless you've got a lot of wiggle room, skip them. Baked will always be lower calorie than breaded/fried. If you order a big salad, don't assume it's low calorie - especially if you use the dressing, dressing alone is usually 100-200 calories. Sodas are almost always not worth it so save yourself the money and skip a drink...or get a cup of water or something.
At this point I've looked up the info for all the fast food places within a short distance of my house since they're the ones I hit up the most. The biggest disappointment is always Taco Bell
Calories add up too fast there...but I love it anyway.
At the end of the day though, if you want to pig out on fast food, just do it. One meal isn't going to set you back that much. Now if you're pigging out on fast food every other day, well...but there's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself.0 -
Many fast food joints (Wendy's, Chick-fil-A) have awesome salads. Be aware that often the calories posted don't include dressing, so watch what you choose. Most places have some kind of low-cal dressing. Also watch for the "add-ons" like slivered almonds or cheese in little packets. See if these are in the calorie count or not and decide whether they are worth it. I've found though that I can be very happy without killing my calories. Also, ask yourself if you are really enjoying what you are eating. I find that a enjoy a few fries off hubby's plate as much as a whole serving of my own. Last time I "splurged" on a burger and fries at fast food I realized that I didn't actually enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I'd rather save the "splurge" for something else. To each their own, though!0
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I actually find it easier to eat at a fast food restaurant BECAUSE you can find most of their nutritional info online. It's sit down restaurants that tend to give me anxiety if they don't have nutritional info available.0
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The first line is wrong. You can always control exactly where and what you eat. To think otherwise is to become the victim, which is the absolute wrong approach to eating well.
There's so much else wrong in this article, I'm not even going to humor it with a response exept to say this:
Control what you eat; don't let what you eat control you. The best option (and don't tell me you're too busy, anybody can find time to do the things they think are necessary) is to prepare your food at home; do it in advance if you have to. I cook all my food on Sunday and then just portion out what I need each day and my body thanks me for it when I do.
You *can* always avoid fast food if you choose to.0 -
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The first line is wrong. You can always control exactly where and what you eat. To think otherwise is to become the victim, which is the absolute wrong approach to eating well.
There's so much else wrong in this article, I'm not even going to humor it with a response exept to say this:
Control what you eat; don't let what you eat control you. The best option (and don't tell me you're too busy, anybody can find time to do the things they think are necessary) is to prepare your food at home; do it in advance if you have to. I cook all my food on Sunday and then just portion out what I need each day and my body thanks me for it when I do.
You *can* always avoid fast food if you choose to.
This.
Nobody has to eat at a fast food restaurant. You choose to.0 -
MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »I actually find it easier to eat at a fast food restaurant BECAUSE you can find most of their nutritional info online. It's sit down restaurants that tend to give me anxiety if they don't have nutritional info available.
In those situations I'd say that a good tip would be to order something higher in protein (filling factor) and just eat at a leisurely pace, and stop eating as you approach fullness! Either best guess the logging info or don't log it if it's too much work. Then keep anything left over as left-overs for tomorrow.0 -
The first line is wrong. You can always control exactly where and what you eat. To think otherwise is to become the victim, which is the absolute wrong approach to eating well.
There's so much else wrong in this article, I'm not even going to humor it with a response exept to say this:
Control what you eat; don't let what you eat control you. The best option (and don't tell me you're too busy, anybody can find time to do the things they think are necessary) is to prepare your food at home; do it in advance if you have to. I cook all my food on Sunday and then just portion out what I need each day and my body thanks me for it when I do.
You *can* always avoid fast food if you choose to.
But the (I hope) goal of such a thread is what to do if you DO want to eat out in general. In December after a final exam a group of us met up afterwards, talked for aw hile, then one of them talked us into hanging out at a restaurant. This was unscheduled, I wasn't prepared, I also couldn't even look up nutritional info (no data and no wifi). I wanted to go out, I was hungry, so I just ordered something that l looked reasonable and tasty and logged when I got home. was wtihin my maintenance needs.0 -
The first line is wrong. You can always control exactly where and what you eat. To think otherwise is to become the victim, which is the absolute wrong approach to eating well.
There's so much else wrong in this article, I'm not even going to humor it with a response exept to say this:
Control what you eat; don't let what you eat control you. The best option (and don't tell me you're too busy, anybody can find time to do the things they think are necessary) is to prepare your food at home; do it in advance if you have to. I cook all my food on Sunday and then just portion out what I need each day and my body thanks me for it when I do.
You *can* always avoid fast food if you choose to.
But the (I hope) goal of such a thread is what to do if you DO want to eat out in general. In December after a final exam a group of us met up afterwards, talked for aw hile, then one of them talked us into hanging out at a restaurant. This was unscheduled, I wasn't prepared, I also couldn't even look up nutritional info (no data and no wifi). I wanted to go out, I was hungry, so I just ordered something that l looked reasonable and tasty and logged when I got home. was wtihin my maintenance needs.
Yes, the point is that it was still a choice. It might have been spontaneous; but you still could have gone out and not eaten. I've done that. People might ask why you're not eating, but you really don't need to say more than, "I'm not hungry." At least I never have. Anybody that feels like you *must* eat isn't worth spending time with and you just decline their invite.0 -
The first line is wrong. You can always control exactly where and what you eat. To think otherwise is to become the victim, which is the absolute wrong approach to eating well.
There's so much else wrong in this article, I'm not even going to humor it with a response exept to say this:
Control what you eat; don't let what you eat control you. The best option (and don't tell me you're too busy, anybody can find time to do the things they think are necessary) is to prepare your food at home; do it in advance if you have to. I cook all my food on Sunday and then just portion out what I need each day and my body thanks me for it when I do.
You *can* always avoid fast food if you choose to.
But the (I hope) goal of such a thread is what to do if you DO want to eat out in general. In December after a final exam a group of us met up afterwards, talked for aw hile, then one of them talked us into hanging out at a restaurant. This was unscheduled, I wasn't prepared, I also couldn't even look up nutritional info (no data and no wifi). I wanted to go out, I was hungry, so I just ordered something that l looked reasonable and tasty and logged when I got home. was wtihin my maintenance needs.
Yes, the point is that it was still a choice. It might have been spontaneous; but you still could have gone out and not eaten. I've done that. People might ask why you're not eating, but you really don't need to say more than, "I'm not hungry." At least I never have. Anybody that feels like you *must* eat isn't worth spending time with and you just decline their invite.
But why do that if you can go out, eat, and still fit your calorie and nutrition goals? If you truly don't want to eat out, that's fine, but there's no reason that we all have to cook at home 100% of the time.
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diannethegeek wrote: »The first line is wrong. You can always control exactly where and what you eat. To think otherwise is to become the victim, which is the absolute wrong approach to eating well.
There's so much else wrong in this article, I'm not even going to humor it with a response exept to say this:
Control what you eat; don't let what you eat control you. The best option (and don't tell me you're too busy, anybody can find time to do the things they think are necessary) is to prepare your food at home; do it in advance if you have to. I cook all my food on Sunday and then just portion out what I need each day and my body thanks me for it when I do.
You *can* always avoid fast food if you choose to.
But the (I hope) goal of such a thread is what to do if you DO want to eat out in general. In December after a final exam a group of us met up afterwards, talked for aw hile, then one of them talked us into hanging out at a restaurant. This was unscheduled, I wasn't prepared, I also couldn't even look up nutritional info (no data and no wifi). I wanted to go out, I was hungry, so I just ordered something that l looked reasonable and tasty and logged when I got home. was wtihin my maintenance needs.
Yes, the point is that it was still a choice. It might have been spontaneous; but you still could have gone out and not eaten. I've done that. People might ask why you're not eating, but you really don't need to say more than, "I'm not hungry." At least I never have. Anybody that feels like you *must* eat isn't worth spending time with and you just decline their invite.
But why do that if you can go out, eat, and still fit your calorie and nutrition goals? If you truly don't want to eat out, that's fine, but there's no reason that we all have to cook at home 100% of the time.
Yeah that's the point I was trying to make there. I mean, you can't guarantee calories in food your family makes, so will you never go to family gatherings because of it? Or will you just bring your own food instead? I only do that for dessert sometimes (bring my own GF thing) or will bring something GF for myself or a different fast-food item (e.g. pizza instead of Chinese for my birthday).0 -
You can certainly ask to modify fast food. Carls Jr. has "low-carber" where they give you your meat patties and chicken breasts wrapped in lettuce instead of buns. Burger King's motto is "have it your way" and you can ALWAYS ask for no mayo, cheese, bacon, etc. so YES, you can modify the fast food. I had two Jumbo Jacks and medium fries yesterday and a light dinner and it was under 1500cal. for the day.0
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diannethegeek wrote: »The first line is wrong. You can always control exactly where and what you eat. To think otherwise is to become the victim, which is the absolute wrong approach to eating well.
There's so much else wrong in this article, I'm not even going to humor it with a response exept to say this:
Control what you eat; don't let what you eat control you. The best option (and don't tell me you're too busy, anybody can find time to do the things they think are necessary) is to prepare your food at home; do it in advance if you have to. I cook all my food on Sunday and then just portion out what I need each day and my body thanks me for it when I do.
You *can* always avoid fast food if you choose to.
But the (I hope) goal of such a thread is what to do if you DO want to eat out in general. In December after a final exam a group of us met up afterwards, talked for aw hile, then one of them talked us into hanging out at a restaurant. This was unscheduled, I wasn't prepared, I also couldn't even look up nutritional info (no data and no wifi). I wanted to go out, I was hungry, so I just ordered something that l looked reasonable and tasty and logged when I got home. was wtihin my maintenance needs.
Yes, the point is that it was still a choice. It might have been spontaneous; but you still could have gone out and not eaten. I've done that. People might ask why you're not eating, but you really don't need to say more than, "I'm not hungry." At least I never have. Anybody that feels like you *must* eat isn't worth spending time with and you just decline their invite.
But why do that if you can go out, eat, and still fit your calorie and nutrition goals? If you truly don't want to eat out, that's fine, but there's no reason that we all have to cook at home 100% of the time.
Yeah that's the point I was trying to make there. I mean, you can't guarantee calories in food your family makes, so will you never go to family gatherings because of it? Or will you just bring your own food instead? I only do that for dessert sometimes (bring my own GF thing) or will bring something GF for myself or a different fast-food item (e.g. pizza instead of Chinese for my birthday).
Well now you're changing the subject. I thought we were talking about fast food...not grandma's amazing pumpkin pie! I don't care how many calories it has, it's going in my face and I'm going to love it! Still a choice, but a choice I happily make.0 -
diannethegeek wrote: »The first line is wrong. You can always control exactly where and what you eat. To think otherwise is to become the victim, which is the absolute wrong approach to eating well.
There's so much else wrong in this article, I'm not even going to humor it with a response exept to say this:
Control what you eat; don't let what you eat control you. The best option (and don't tell me you're too busy, anybody can find time to do the things they think are necessary) is to prepare your food at home; do it in advance if you have to. I cook all my food on Sunday and then just portion out what I need each day and my body thanks me for it when I do.
You *can* always avoid fast food if you choose to.
But the (I hope) goal of such a thread is what to do if you DO want to eat out in general. In December after a final exam a group of us met up afterwards, talked for aw hile, then one of them talked us into hanging out at a restaurant. This was unscheduled, I wasn't prepared, I also couldn't even look up nutritional info (no data and no wifi). I wanted to go out, I was hungry, so I just ordered something that l looked reasonable and tasty and logged when I got home. was wtihin my maintenance needs.
Yes, the point is that it was still a choice. It might have been spontaneous; but you still could have gone out and not eaten. I've done that. People might ask why you're not eating, but you really don't need to say more than, "I'm not hungry." At least I never have. Anybody that feels like you *must* eat isn't worth spending time with and you just decline their invite.
But why do that if you can go out, eat, and still fit your calorie and nutrition goals? If you truly don't want to eat out, that's fine, but there's no reason that we all have to cook at home 100% of the time.
Sure you can do that just fine, but do you really *know* that what was prepared at the restaurant matches the nutritional values on the menu? Different people make things different ways. I've eaten out enough and worked in fast food long enough to know that nutritional values are more likely to be wrong than right.
If you want accuracy, fixing your own food is always going to win over going out. Always!0 -
diannethegeek wrote: »The first line is wrong. You can always control exactly where and what you eat. To think otherwise is to become the victim, which is the absolute wrong approach to eating well.
There's so much else wrong in this article, I'm not even going to humor it with a response exept to say this:
Control what you eat; don't let what you eat control you. The best option (and don't tell me you're too busy, anybody can find time to do the things they think are necessary) is to prepare your food at home; do it in advance if you have to. I cook all my food on Sunday and then just portion out what I need each day and my body thanks me for it when I do.
You *can* always avoid fast food if you choose to.
But the (I hope) goal of such a thread is what to do if you DO want to eat out in general. In December after a final exam a group of us met up afterwards, talked for aw hile, then one of them talked us into hanging out at a restaurant. This was unscheduled, I wasn't prepared, I also couldn't even look up nutritional info (no data and no wifi). I wanted to go out, I was hungry, so I just ordered something that l looked reasonable and tasty and logged when I got home. was wtihin my maintenance needs.
Yes, the point is that it was still a choice. It might have been spontaneous; but you still could have gone out and not eaten. I've done that. People might ask why you're not eating, but you really don't need to say more than, "I'm not hungry." At least I never have. Anybody that feels like you *must* eat isn't worth spending time with and you just decline their invite.
But why do that if you can go out, eat, and still fit your calorie and nutrition goals? If you truly don't want to eat out, that's fine, but there's no reason that we all have to cook at home 100% of the time.
Yeah that's the point I was trying to make there. I mean, you can't guarantee calories in food your family makes, so will you never go to family gatherings because of it? Or will you just bring your own food instead? I only do that for dessert sometimes (bring my own GF thing) or will bring something GF for myself or a different fast-food item (e.g. pizza instead of Chinese for my birthday).
Well now you're changing the subject. I thought we were talking about fast food...not grandma's amazing pumpkin pie! I don't care how many calories it has, it's going in my face and I'm going to love it! Still a choice, but a choice I happily make.
Then why is there a difference between your grandma's pie and a pie you get at a restaurant or fast food? These are all situations in which you'll have to estimate caloric intake or look up information online. And all situations where you aren't making your own food, and all situations in which normal people will just... eat and not really worry too much about it. Just in reference to the comment of eating at home 100% of the time/always making your own food.0
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