Can You Name Any Healthy Fast Food Chains?

I'm not sure if you can consider it healthy but I think subway shouldn't be too bad if you choose the right sandwiches. They offer a great variety of toppings and I think you could order some great-tasting, relatively healthy sandwiches that are ready pretty fast there. I don't really go there often but it always tastes like it actually isn't too bad for my body, like McDonalds or Burger King for example.

 

I think Subway and Panera Bread Company are some options for healthy eating. I know Penn Station has a vegetarian sandwich. You can also go to some fast food chains and opt for the healthier choices like a veggie pizza, veggie burger (if this available) and etc. I try to do the same thing you do and although I tend to go to fast food chains like McDonalds from time to time, I'll get something like a fish sandwich with no cheese and water.

 

There's always Spud-u-Like if you can track it down. It is kind of rare though so it might not be able to find it that easily

 

I know

Log In

: maybe they're not the healthiest place, but a) they're either owned or -watched carefully & approved by the USDA (you know, the big, official meat-inspectors) and b) they offer a full diagram of all their foods' calorie-counts & other nutrition information.

But maybe

Log In

sandwiches are healthier. I dunno if they offer nutrition-info, but they're GOOD

 

There's El Pollo Loco, but I'm not sure if they are a national chain. They mostly sell fire grilled chicken with side dishes. You can choose from a variety of side dishes including a salad, pinto beans, corn on the cob, etc. It's on of the more healthier fast food places. There's a salsa bar too.

Rubio's sells fish tacos which are fairly healthy.

 

Wendy's is said to be healthy. They have calorie counters and they also sell salads. Personally I've had their burgers and they taste gross so I wouldn't dare touch their salad. However, I'm sure it would be safer compared to McDonald's and maybe it's just my location that had the gross food.

 

I doubt Subway is really all that healthy, but I'm guessing it's one of the healthiest alternatives when it omes to fast food, since their products at least contain a lot of vegetables. Besides that, I'd maybe try and find a few Japanese or Korean fast foods if you have any of them around since their dishes also often contain enough vegetables for a balanced meal and also they usually don't use that much oil or preservatives in their cooking, in my experience.

 

I've heard that Wendy's and Subway are actually pretty healthy, and judging from their menus, they definitely have some healthy options, but whether those few options should make them be considered healthy places to eat or it's just all marketing hype, I have no idea because I don't eat a lot of fast food.

 

Qdoba, Panera Bread, Zoup are all good places to eat. They have healthier options, fresh produce, and fresh fruit. Have you tried any of these places?

 

I recently started counting my calories so I know how hard it is to eat healthy and lose some weight. As far as I know, Chipotle and Subway would be the best choices for a healthy fast food meal, but I would also include KFC in this top, because all their foods are based on chicken, but you should avoid the fries, carbonated drinks or their sauces, this foods being real caloric bombs. In the end, I recommend you to stay away from McDonald's, Pizza Hut or Burger King. It's hard to find something healthy in their menus.

 

Subway and Chipotle are healthy! Plus, most fast food chains nowadays have a healthy option. Places like Burger King and McDonald's have several salad options. Sure, it's hard to pass the burger and go for the salad when it's right in front of you, but The option is there if you want it!
I myself really like to go to places like Subway and chipotle because their food is fresh, affordable and healthy! Those are some of my favorite fast food chains.

 

Well, the first problem is thinking calorie count is what makes food healthy or not. No, there are no healthy fast food chains. But if you don't care about what is in/on the "healthier" foods, then just go anywhere that sells salads. Salads are the only thing I can think of that would be close to healthy in a fast food place. They're still treated in ways I wouldn't eat, but at least it was once real food with nutrients in them. Everything else is garbage, no matter what anyone says. And low calories does not mean it's healthy.. not at all.

 

Most likely subway, maybe Applebee's if you stick with their salad choices. Even then when eating at subway try to avoid ham/cold cuts, go for less processed meats like chicken breast / steak instead. Also, opt for dressings/sauces with less fat (my favorite would be honey mustard!)

 

I'm going to have to say to say that Chiptole and Subway are the healthier options out there on the mainstream. Of course you can find local fast food chains that can give you healthier options. Though, if you look at a chain that can offer you some healthy options compared to places like McDonalds. Then those two places would be the fast foods restaurants to order from.

 

I also agreed that Subway seems to be the healthiest among the fast food restaurants that I know of. Other sandwich restaurants like Panera, etc. are healthy as well but they seem to belong in a higher class group than your ordinary fast food chains. Subway has a lot of relatively healthier ingredients like wheat bread, turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, olive, etc. On top of that, you can choose what you want to put in your sandwich and you can see the nutritional contents of the ingredients.　Of course, Subway also has unhealthy menus as well like their meatball sandwich. Other fast food chains also have healthy choices on their menus as well but for me, Subway has the best menus and method in terms of healthiness.

 

(okay, that last one was me, just-echoing what I was hearing in the back of my mind when I rehd the responses about 'Subway.')

"healthiest methods"? (I think one of the quoted responses also said) Have you seen the Arby's commercials about how Subway's ingredients are shipped-out to their stores pre-cut (while Arby's--run by the USDA--cuts their meat fresh)?

Maybe SUBWAY is healthier than the average fast-food burger-place (and lower-cost than Jersey Mike's---unless you value high-quality care), but "EVERYTHING's healthy in moderation" (telling me that 'Too-much-of-ANYTHING is UNhealthy!'), and Arby's (like I said above) helps one moderate one's diet by printing full nutrition-charts of their menus. Does SUBWAY do that, or do we even care as long as 'we get our BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS'?

 

I did not know that. Thanks for the information. I barely eat at Arby's because the nearest one is like 5 mile away from my place but I will try it some more.

I guess I was basing on the fact that Subway have more choices of lean meat, whole grain bread, vegetables, high fiber toppings, etc. on their menus as well as the fact that they bake their sandwiches instead of grilling them. I can't say anything about the quality of their meat though so I think you are right on that point. Subway have nutrition charts as well for their toppings and breads. It's been a trend lately among fast food chains to have those charts on their tray liners or walls. As if chains like McDonald's can improve their image just by doing that.

Well, one thing I know for sure, Subway's brand imaging is successful. Kudos to their marketing department.

 

To the person who mentioned Penn Station's vegetarian sandwich, it's really delicious, but it's in no way healthy, lol. They smear several tablespoons of mayo on the roll, then smother it with sauteed mushrooms and artichokes, and fistfulls of cheese. I love it though, and I'm not even a vegetarian.

I can't think of any one particular fast food chain that is entirely healthy, but there are healthy options at several of the more popular ones.

Mr. Hero, for example, has a really delicious Philly Chicken sandwich that is only 9 grams of fat. It's just grilled chicken, peppers and onions and melted cheese on a roll. I don't recall the total calories on it, but it's reasonable. Their waffle fries are also fantastic, and since they are smaller portions, not nearly as bad as other places, if you go with those too.

Taco Bell's menu items can be made low fat and low cal, simply by skipping the cheese and sour cream on most of the items. For example, just get some chicken soft tacos with lettuce and salsa.

When I was trying out eDiets dot com a few years ago, one of the suggested lunch menu items on my plan if I had to go with fast food was actually a McDonalds Quarter Pounder with no cheese, and a small fry and a diet soda. The total calories and fat were still within my daily allowance.

Even a Whopper Jr. no mayo or cheese at Burger King is pretty low cal and low fat, not to mention cheap. However their grilled chicken sandwich believe it or not, is actually loaded with fat, especially if you order it with mayo. I used to work there as a teenager many years ago, and the grilled chicken patties come smothered in some sort of shortening to keep them from drying out as they go through the grill.

 

It's like people are confusing 'saying you're eating-healthy' & 'ACTUALLY eating healthy'---like when Lois Lane (in Superman 2) had to sort her oranges from her cigarette-butts as she 'made sure to eat 1000 milligrams of Vitamin C in fresh-squeezed orange-juice'