Healthy meals at national chains?

h3h8m3

I am trying to come up with a pretty long list of healthy things to eat at restaurants I might go to spur of the moment, especially on business trips. It's hard to control meals on the road, and having a list of "safe" places and foods would really be a big help.

Here's my start, please contribute what you guys have. (I'm updating this post to include the entire list of dishes folks suggest!)

Tokyo Joe's - they have a lot of very healthy meals there. My favorite is the Mahi Mahi Bowl with brown rice.
Red Robin - Simply Grilled Chicken Sandwich, add pineapple, on wheat bread. Steamed broccoli or melon on the side.
Chipotle: Fajita steak burrito. No rice. Either kind of beans is fine. With steak, hot salsa, lettuce. No cheese or sour cream.
McDonalds - Grilled Chicken Snack Wrap. You can get two of them plus a side salad with light dressing and you're doing fine.
Chili's - Margarita Chicken, from liquidjem
Red Robin - Ensenada Chicken, from wildfiery
Jimmy John's - Beach Club #12 no cheese, no mayo, from rthompspn81
Wendy's - Apple Chicken Pecan salad, from rthompspn81
Wendy's - Small chili no cheese or crackers, with a side salad w/o croutons, and fat free vinagrette, from udallmom101

liquidjem

I used the "Eat This, Not That" books to help me find foods to eat when I had to be out and about, its really helpful and eye opening. I also tend to look up the nutrition info from the chain before heading out there. I looked up Chili's the other night before I went there and got the Margarita Chicken. Lots of the shrimp dishes were less in calories and fat, but I am allergic! I think that looking it up before I order will help a lot instead of just grabbing what I like.

happybrooke

Red Robin - Ensenada Chicken (tastes yummy and isn't killer on the calories) comes with a salad.

MicMar66

Great question! Thanks for asking this one. Bumping for later.

rthompson81

Jimmy John's: Beach Club #12 no cheese, no mayo
Wendy's: Apple Chicken Pecan salad

taso42_DELETED

Jimmy John's: Beach Club #12 no cheese, no mayo

hah that's exactly what i get when they order in jimmy john's for a work meeting. actually, 1 difference: i get the extra turkey

Miss_Chievous_wechange

Bump

rthompson81

Jimmy John's: Beach Club #12 no cheese, no mayo

hah that's exactly what i get when they order in jimmy john's for a work meeting. actually, 1 difference: i get the extra turkey

Nice! You have good taste. I heart Jimmy John's.

udallmom101

If you go to Wendy's, get a small chili no cheese or crackers, with a side salad w/o croutons, and fat free vinagrette.

h3h8m3

Great ideas! Keep them coming. As you can see, I am adding them to the list at the top.

h3h8m3

bump

h3h8m3

Red Robin - Natural burger. Turkey instead of beef.

lisabel87

My all-time favorite fast food breakfast meal is the egg and cheese biscuit and McDonalds (no bacon/ham/sausage) I read somewhere that its one of the better things to get at a fast food place!

h3h8m3

Got a new one!... Jason's Deli.

Savvy Chicken Salad Wrap, 354 cals, 14g fat, 536mg sodium, 45g carb, 16g protein

And I can add on this soup:

Chicken Noodle Soup - cup, 68 cals, 2g fat, 408mg sodium, 7g carb, 5g protein

kristydi

At Longhorn I get the smaller salmon (290cal), asparagus (80cal), and a plain sweet potato (240cal with no butter or cinnamon sugar) 610cal total.

The seasonal veggies are good at 90 cal.

Also the grilled rainbow trout is 280cal.

If you subbed the veggies for the sweet potato the total meal would be 460cal with the salmon and 450cal with the trout. But I really like the sweet potato.

bethrs

At Denny's I get 2 servings of egg whites, 1 hashbrown and a serving of whole wheat pancakes and come out under 700 calories. You could sub the hashbrown for almost anything else (non-meat) and be doing even better.

I used to get the veggie burger with medium sauce and a side salad At buffalo wild wings for right at 500 calories but they changed the burger and I don't know the nutritional content any more.

suzksell

Don't forget that at Jimmy John's you can make an Un-sub and eat it as a lettuce wrap. Their bread is REALLY high in calories.

OliveBruises

I forgot my lunch today and my co-worker was running to Arby's. I was actually pretty impressed with what I got:
Arbys Melt - 320 cal
Arby's Sauce packet - 15 cal
Arby's chopped side salad - 70 cal
Arby's Marzetti Light Italian dressing - 20 cal
Total = 425 calories. Not too bad. Sodium, carbs and fat on the other hand... eeek!

qtpiesmom

http://www.exercise4weightloss.com/weight-watchers-points.html
Great website for information for eating out

myhrmiswrong

Chick-Fil-A: chargrilled and fruit salad with Light Italian dressing (1/2 packet) and granola packet. Lots of food and under 300 cals!

LuckyLeprechaun

Carl's Jr.
Teriyaki chicken sandwich, minus the mayo, low-carb style (I just get rid of the bottom bun) = 280 calories. It's HIGH in sodium though:ohwell:

rachrach66

My all-time favorite fast food breakfast meal is the egg and cheese biscuit and McDonalds (no bacon/ham/sausage) I read somewhere that its one of the better things to get at a fast food place!

Hey I think the Egg Mc Muffin at McDonalds is a healthy option too! It's listed on Eat This Not That! Just be aware of the cholesterol.

Just an FYI whenever eating out be watchful of how much Sodium youre getting. I got a Weight Watcher option at Applebees the other night that was low in Calories but had almost a day's worth of Sodium!!! :noway:

h3h8m3

Just an FYI whenever eating out be watchful of how much Sodium youre getting. I got a Weight Watcher option at Applebees the other night that was low in Calories but had almost a day's worth of Sodium!!! :noway:

Agreed, sodium is almost impossible to avoid when eating out. That's why I was so impressed with the chicken salad wrap at Jason's Deli... only 534mg.

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Clonekuh

A lot of the meals at Pei Wei end up being about 550 calories, which isn't too shabby for eating out. I like the Sweet & Sour Chicken or Teriyaki Chicken with brown rice.

Also, if you have Paradise Bakery, half of a Turkey Chipotle wrap is only 280. Pair it with soup or a side salad = yummy and not too many calories.

h3h8m3

I will just kick in that the Savvy Chicken Salad Wrap at Jason's Deli is really quite good.

h3h8m3

I had a great meal at Red Lobster this weekend.

Appetizer: Half of a Chilled Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, 60 cal, .25g fat, 290 sodium, 4.5g carbs
Garden salad w/ Red wine vinaigrette: 150 cal, 5 fat, 105 sodium, 14 carbs
Wood Grilled Mahi Mahi with steamed broccoli side: 360 cals, 2g fat, 360 sodium, 7 carbs

Total: 570 calories, 7.25g fat, 755mg sodium, 25.5g carbs.

I walked out of there feeling like I'd had a cheat meal, but was well within my goals for everything!

cassma

Wendy's also has the half-size salad options - so any of their salads (BLT Cobb, Baja, Caesar, Apple Pecan) are doable. They also have a Berry Almond Chicken Salad now for summer. Most of the half-size salad options are in the MFP database too.

h3h8m3

bump

mrstyler

At Chipotle, you can also get a bowl, which will cut our the approximately 180 calories that come from a tortilla, if you want. You can add lettuce then. Its quite tasty that way.

bluegirl10

bump

jcannon15

i kno taco bell is LOADED with sodium but in a pinch the fresco bean burrito has 360 cal and the fresco hard taco is 180cal i havent tried anything else on the fresco menu.