15 yo wants semi-healthy fast food ideas

leslisa

My 15yo is HS swim and LD runner. He also lifts with the FB players all summer. We've got the home diet down. He gets plenty of variety, extra protein, takes a mult-vitamin, etc.

Where he is running into trouble is when he is out. His friends want to stop at Taco Bell, McDonald's, and Subway 1 - 2 times a week after lifting. He'd like high calorie, semi-healthy suggestions from any avid athlete. No salad. He states the salads are disgusting because the lettuce is per him, "Iceberg, old, and not worth anything. There's no nutritional value and it tastes like crap." Realize he has to eat a lot of calories or he loses weight so that type of lettuce also fills him without any calories. McD's he usually gets a Ranch BLT minus the lettuce & tomato (he says the tomatoes there are gross, too . Subway he gets double turkey or roast beef - again no lettuce. Taco Bell he orders a drink (non-carb) and waits until he gets home to eat. I really need him to eat right then because his appetite decreases the further away from the workout he gets.

I do send a protein bar each day. The above is what he eats after that. Those little things are only 250 cals.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Oh, the reason for the above 3 restaurants is that they are right by the school and so are convenient after training...

Ready2Rock206

Each of those restaurants has nutritional information on their web sites. Maybe look each of them up with him and assist him with selecting a few choices from each.

sshintaku

Taco Bell used to have "healthy" tacos, which were basically normal tacos without the cheese. Not sure if they still do. The grilled chicken wraps at McDonalds are not bad, if you ask them to hold the sauce. Subway is subway...

MN_HGirl

What about a post workout protein drink? Put the powder in the shaker and he adds water when he is done with the workout?
He could eat a peanut butter sandwich with it to add more carbs and protein.

My brother (who is 25) is either lifting or running 5-6 times a week and eats what I listed above and has gained muscle and leaned out (he eats more after he gets home). I really do not think that the fast food choices will help him out any but I can see where it is a social thing for him to go out with the guys.

leslisa

Thank you all for your ideas. He likes the wrap idea and the PB&J (we have tons of PB, organic grape jelly, & wheat bread) but he's not keen on the protein shake because he likes them super duper cold. You did get me thinking that he might be able to add the protein to one of the mcdonald's cafe drinks. The french vanilla would go well even in a smoothly and it would definitely be cold. He's not sure about it but I think I can convince him to try it.

It is a social thing. He's a really young kid going into his junior year of high school. He focuses hard on training and I try to encourage him to still have fun - especially since it's summer. It's hard to do because 1. He has a boatload of talent and wants a running scholarship and 2. he's not willing to give up his position as No. 2 on XC team and No. 1/2 (it swaps between him and another kid) in 2-mile on the track team.

goldthistime

We get bean burritos at Taco Bell all the time. My husband doesn't eat dairy so he asks them to substitute guacamole for cheese.

TenderWalnut

I went to Chik-fil-a yesterday and only consumed about 700 calories and was pretty satisfied. (Grilled sandwich, salad, reg tea) Almost all fast food places have healthy options that are decent, but the hard part is making the choice to not get your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th choice and going with what you know is right.