Favorite"Healthier" Fast Food???

Being a travel stay at home mom (we go on buisness trips as a whole family) sometimes we have to go this route. So mcdonalds I like the snack wraps grilled, the fruit and yogurt parfait and apple slices. From burger king I like the fact that they serve low carb dishes. Any sandwich they serve you can get in a dish with lettuce tomato onion and pickle and the meat-either the tendergrill chicken or a whopper jr isn't too bad. Their veggie burgers are some of the best I have ever tasted. Having them take the bread and mayo off for you helps to make sure you don't get tempted to eat it. My pet peeve chains are all the big pizza chains-you think that they could come up with something healthier other than a salad with chicken

Here are a couple calculators offered by the following fast food establishments so that you can plan your "eats" accurately:

DAIRY QUEEN
Canadian Site: http://www.dairyqueen.com/ca-en/eats-and-treats/nutrition-calculator/

American Site:
http://www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/eats-and-treats/nutrition-calculator/

MACDONALDS
http://www.mcdonalds.ca/en/food/calculator.aspx

**Most restaurants have a nutritional flyer available for the asking if not displayed in their establishment and most chains publish the Nutritional for their menus online. The MacDonalds calculator, above, is exceptional as you can enter each item as we do here and get the total nutritional for your customized meal.

I had read something in a link provided by someone here and the information said the McDonald's snack chicken wraps were a good option when you needed something. I miscalculated my time out one day and needed something so I got a grilled one with ranch. It was the worst tasting thing I think I've ever tried and absolutely could not gag it down. I threw it away. I really love the extra cripsy kinds of things with the breading.....mmmmm

The fresco taco bell menu is great! I enjoyed it today and it was filing.

I'm stay away from fast food joints:indifferent:

I love the Asian Chicken Salad from McDonald's with grilled chicken. It's only 390 with the dressing. The fruit and yogurt parfait is awsome too, only 160.

Oh yes! LOVE the Asian Salad!!!!!! That's what I get EVERY time! And if I ever need to get breakfast, I get the fruit and yogurt parfait! Yum Yum... :drinker:

I'm stay away from fast food joints:indifferent:

Sing it sister. Fast food turns my stomach these days... can't eat it after watching supersize me.

I am a big fan of Chick Fil A.

Oh, man I miss Chick-fil-A.....I'm now subjected to McD's and Pizza Hut in my little country-ash town, which I don't frequent. Now, when I travel I love Panera's turkey on sourdough. I'm not sure about the calorie count on their iced green tea, but it's the best. Yum!
I haven't been to a taco bell in quite a while, but those Fresca deals sound good...

Chickfila, Tropical Smoothie, or Paneras

I love love love the Wendy's southwest taco salad...I have a lot of calories to eat in a day, so I can have the salad with the dressing, tortilla strips, and sour cream, but of course you could cut out one or more of those items to make it fit your calorie plan.

I love the Taco Bell Fresco menu...I am still tempted by the Pepsi when I go there, but I choose water and feel great afterwards...

I thought I would bump this topic back up when I saw this article on Yahoo News. It's by the "Eat This, Not That" people:

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/11230/americas-bestand-worstrestaurants/

A
Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A excels in every category we tested for. With a slew of low-calorie sandwiches, the country’s “healthiest” chicken nugget, a variety of solid sides like fresh fruit and soup that can be substituted into any meal, and nutritional brochures readily available for perusing at each location, Chick-fil-A earns the award for America’s Healthiest Chain Restaurant (for kids, for the adults who drive them there, plus anybody else wise enough to make it their fast food choice).

Your Survival Strategy: Even the smartest kid in the class can still fail a test, so be on your toes at all times, even at Chik-fil-A. Skip salads with ranch or Caesar dressings, any sandwich with bacon, and avoid milkshakes at all costs.

A-
Subway
A menu based on lean protein and vegetables is always going to score well in our book. With more than half a dozen sandwiches under 300 calories, plus a slew of soups and healthy sides to boot, Subway can satisfy even the pickiest eater without breaking the caloric bank.

But, despite what Jared may want you to believe, Subway is not nutritionally infallible: Those rosy calorie counts posted on the menu boards include neither cheese nor mayo (add 160 calories per 6-inch sub) and some of the toasted subs, like the Meatball Marinara, contain hefty doses of calories, saturated fat, and sodium.

Your Survival Strategy: Cornell researchers have discovered a “health halo” at Subway, which refers to the tendency to reward yourself or your kid with chips, cookies, and large soft drinks because the entrée is healthy. Avoid the halo, and all will be well.

B+
Boston Market
With more than a dozen healthy vegetable sides and lean meats like turkey and roast sirloin on the menu, the low-cal, high-nutrient possibilities at Boston Market are endless. But with nearly a dozen calorie-packed sides and fatty meats like dark meat chicken and meat loaf, it’s almost as easy to construct a lousy meal.

Your Survival Strategy: There are three simple steps to nutritional salvation: 1) Start with turkey, sirloin, or rotisserie chicken. 2) Add two noncreamy, nonstarchy vegetable sides. 3) Ignore all special items, such as pot pie and nearly all of the sandwiches.

B
McDonald’s
Though not blessed with an abundance of healthy options, Mickey D’s isn’t burdened with any major calorie bombs, either. Kid standards like McNuggets and cheeseburgers are both in the acceptable 300-calorie range.

Your Survival Strategy: Apple Dippers and 2% milk with a small entrée makes for a pretty decent meal-on-the-go. McDonald’s quintessential Happy Meal® makes this possible — just beware the usual French fries and soda pitfalls. Adults should go for a Quarter Pounder without cheese.

C+
Domino’s
Domino’s suffers the same pitfalls of any other pizza purveyor: too much cheese, bread, and greasy toppings. If you don’t order carefully, you might bag your child a pizza with more than 350 calories per slice. To its credit, Domino’s does keep the trans fat off the pizza, and it also offers the lowest-calorie thin crust option out there.

Your Survival Strategy: Stick with the Crunchy Thin Crust pizzas sans sausage and pepperoni. If your must order meat, make sure it's ham. And whenever possible, try to sneak on a vegetable or two per pie.

C
Burger King
BK has only four legitimate kids’ entrées on the menu, and none of them — French Toast Sticks, hamburger, mac and cheese, chicken tenders — are particularly healthy. And while the recent addition of Apple Fries provides a much-needed healthy side alternative for kids, the menu is still sullied with trans fats.

BK pledged to follow in the wake of nearly every other chain restaurant and remove trans fats from the menu by the end of 2008, but so far, we’ve seen little action.

Your Survival Strategy: Adults can sign on for the Whopper Junior and a Garden Salad, and escape with only 365 calories. The best kids’ meal? A 4-piece Chicken Tenders®, applesauce or Apple Fries, and water or milk. Beyond that, there is little hope of escaping unscathed.

D
Chipotle
We applaud Chipotle’s commitment to high-quality produce and fresh meats, but even the most pristine ingredients can’t dampen the damage wrought by the massive portion sizes served up here. The lack of options for kids means young eaters are forced to tussle with one of Chipotle’s massive burritos or taco platters, which can easily top 1,000 calories.

Your Survival Strategy: Stick to the crispy tacos or burrito bowls, or saw a burrito in half.

F
Applebee’s, IHOP, Olive Garden, Outback, Red Lobster, T.G.I. Friday’s
These titans of the restaurant industry are among the last national chains to not provide nutritional information on their dishes. Even after years of communication with their representatives, we still here the same old excuses: it’s too pricey, it’s too time-consuming, it’s impossible to do accurately because their food is so fresh. Our response is simple: If every other chain restaurant in the country can do it, then why can’t they?

Your Survival Strategy: Write letters, make phone calls, beg, scream, and plead for these restaurants to provide nutritional information on all of their products. Here are the phone numbers for each of the restaurants that refuse to tell us the truth