Fast Food Healthy Options
The kids are screaming for a Happy Meal, your mouth's
watering but you can't possibly go there and let yourself be
sucked in by this "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"
food. Or maybe you can - because our main fast food
venues are catering for us more nutrition conscious consumers by
marketing healthier alternatives. Here we suss the healthy
options out; for both nutrition content and taste. Mc Donalds
McDonalds have made many changes to their menu and offer a
Penne Pasta Salad with Italian style chicken at a mere 266
calories. It has less than 5% fat and that
includes the dressing. This looks gorgeous and has big chunks of
chicken so, unlike some chicken salads, you won't have to play
that exciting game of spot the chicken! If chicken
doesn't flap your wings, why not go for the Feta Cheese and
Pasta Salad for 239 calories (dressing not included).
They also offer a fruit bag at 42 calories, that you can swap
for chips to make a more nutritious Happy Meal.
For a great snack try their new strawberry yoghurt burst at 35p
for just 21 calories (I haven't made a typing error, it is a
silly but fabulous 21 calories!)
Watch out for the
additional dressings, they bump those extra hidden calories up.
Ranch dressing is a whopping 251 calories, Caesar dressing an
extra 143 calories and Balsamic dressing is 105 calories.
Burger King
Burger King is the ultimate king of healthy options. They
have launched a range called Lighter Alternative (LA) which
offers an LA Chicken Sandwich for 322 calories. Having tried
this I can tell you it is a mouth wateringly tasty, succulent
and filling and just what the diet ordered - guilt free and
better nutrition than a greasy burger!
A warm Flame Grilled Chicken Salad for less than 140
calories can substitute the burger you've been longing for all
day and a garden salad at less than 35 calories will boost the
nutrition value. Burger King's French dressing is
only 8 calories per serving, the yummy Tomato and Basil dressing
only 19, the Honey and Mustard dressing is 32 calories, while
the Caesar dressing is 161 calories. All of these, bar the
Caesar dressing, are low in calories and can add that extra
oomph into your crunchy salad. Kentucky Fried Chicken
KFC are slowing following in the footsteps of these other
fast food venues by offering a warm chicken salad for 256
calories without the dressing, and for an extra 32 calories you
can add the low fat vinaigrette. They also offer a side dish of
corn on the cob for only 150 calories. Verdict
For me, there's no comparison with what Burger King has to
offer for both taste and nutrition. They are making a positive
statement with their lighter alternatives and seem to be
sticking to it. I can't wait to see what else they come up with.
McDonalds seem to be getting there and have great snacks and the
salad is good, although calorie wise it can't beat Burger King
or KFC. KFC still needs to do some brushing up on
good nutrition, and expand its range of healthy options, but
like they say - it is finger lickin' good!
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