Fast food is generally seen as unhealthy. While the perception may not be wrong, it is possible to work smart and come up with a healthy fast food choice every time. I will be sharing in this article, five ways in which you can make healthy choices each time you visit your favourite eatery.

You can make a healthy fast food choice even when you only have a short time to prepare meals. The healthy choice does not always have to be prepared for hours. You can choose healthy foods that are easily prepared at home or could be picked up at a takeaway outlet. It is now common to see food vendors include healthy alternatives to their usual fast food menu. For example, many restaurants now provide salad choices as a side menu or even as a complete meal.

The following are useful tips to guide you in choosing healthy fast food choice when eating out.

1. Choose your beverage wisely

I will suggest you choose water above all beverages. By choosing to take drinking water you have drastically reduced the number of calories you will be taking in. Moreover, you are going to reap the numerous health benefits that water provides to the body. Also, you will less likely suffer from bloating feeling that is often experienced when you take frizzy beverages with foods. Moreover, water will make you feel full without adding calories.

However, if you desire to take a drink, I will suggest you go for a low-calorie beverage such as the non-nutritive sweetened drinks, flavoured water or 100% fruit juice. If you are going for 100% fruit juice, ensure you limit your intake to no more than 250 ml because they are high in sugar and it could increase your calories intake unnecessarily.

2. Vegetables and fruits option make a Healthy Fast Food Choice

Choose a side salad with low-fat dressing or a baked potato. You may consider a fruit bowl or a fruit and yoghurt option when eating breakfast out. Also, a bowl of fresh vegetable salad with chopped ham, roast beef or chicken is a healthy fast food choice. Other healthy choices include apple, pear or orange slices, corn on the cob, slices of carrot or cucumber. Salads are appealing with attractive colours and they are lighter on the digestive system.

3. Choose grilled items instead of deep-fried items

Grilled food is a potential healthy fast food choice. Deep-fried, pan-fried and breaded foods including crispy chicken sandwiches and fish fillets are high in fat. This will make you take in more calories than you need. Instead, choose grilled or roasted lean meats such as turkey, chicken breast, lean ham, lean roast beef etc.

4. Watch your portion size

Most fast food restaurants and outlets offer a range of sizes. They range from mini size to medium size to standard size to large size and jumbo size. To achieve more sales, restaurants often make the bigger portions cheaper which makes them attractive for customers. It could be tempting to go for the bigger portion to get more value from your purchase. However, it is not advisable from a health standpoint. Rather, choose the smaller option and be satisfied with that. For example, it will be better for you to bypass hamburgers with two or three patties which can give you up to 800 calories. Instead, choose a regular or small-sized hamburger, with about 250 calories.

5. Healthy Fast Food Choice in deli-style and wholegrain menus

Some restaurants and fast food outlets now offer deli-style fast food with many options that are lower in fat and calories. If the whole grain option is available, please go for those. With whole grain options, you will have the benefit of increasing your fibre intake. For example, whole wheat bread or a wrap, with a lot of vegetables makes a delicious, flavourful and filling sandwich. Also, where there are dishes or menu with legumes such as green peas, beans, lentils etc., go or those. Legumes are rich in fibre, proteins and essential minerals that your body need.

It is very impressive to see restaurants offering seasonal foods often supplied through local farmers. These offer a great opportunity for healthy fast food choice. Sometimes restaurants create their unique recipe from the fresh produce thereby providing the consumers with new choices and encouraging them to visit the restaurant again.

You can do it yourself

Do you know you can make your fast food at home whereby you can influence what you have in the recipe? There are quite a several ways in which you can achieve this without spending precious hours preparing your favourite fast foods. The added advantage is that you can make it as healthy as you want. This you can do by purchasing your semi-prepared fresh foods and ingredients from a local grocery store or supermarket. I suggest you use the semi-prepared fresh foods such as already sliced, diced or chopped vegetables, potatoes, patties meats etc. You can also skilfully combine canned foods with fresh foods. By doing this you will save a lot of time and be able to prepare your favourite cuisine as quickly as possible. Also, there are several choices among frozen foods.

The demand for healthy frozen foods and meals has increased lately and as a result, there abound loads of different types of foods in this category in the grocery shops. This has increased the opportunity for you to make a healthy fast food choice. Time and accessibility of healthy food choice are no longer tenable.

I have engaged the DIY method with my family and great satisfaction has been the outcome every time. Any time we crave our fast food favourite; we simply get to the nearby grocery and buy the semi-prepared fresh produce. Get back into the kitchen and quickly put them together with the way we want it. In a very short time, we are ready with our meal.

Conclusion

Whichever way you want it, you can see that healthy fast food choice is achievable. If you choose to eat out, make use of the suggested tips here. Otherwise, if you choose the DIY route, you are equally good to go. Besides, you will enjoy the reduced cost advantage. What has been your experience or your views regarding the ideas shared here? Feel free to share in the comment section.

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