My post on Taco Bell had me thinking it might be useful for all of us to post our favorite Fast Food Meals that are friendly to our "new lifestyle" (I refuse to call it a diet! LOL). Of course a lot of fast food has more sodium, so just plan accordingly and watch your sodium intake the rest of the day.

My favorites are:
Taco Bell:
Fresco Style Taco Supreme: 150 Cal, 8 g fat, 3 g fiber
Fresco Style Meximelt: 190 Cal, 7 g fat, 3 g fiber
Fresco Style Chicken Burrito Supreme: 330 cal, 8 g fat, 7 g fiber
Fresco Style Chicken Fiesta Burrito: 330 Cal, 8 g fat, 3 g fiber
Fresco Style Chicken Border Bowl: 350 Cal, 8 g fat, 10 g fiber
Fresco Style Pintos and Cheese (has no cheese but has salsa instead):120 Cal, 2 g fat, 7 g fiber

I often get the Fresco Style Chicken Fiesta Burrito with the fresco style pintos and cheese for a nice meal that fills me up and keeps me going. The total for that is 450 cal and 10 g fat.


Wendy's:
Mandarin Chicken Salad with Reduced Fat Ranch and Rice Noodles: 320 Cal/ 12 g fat
Ultimate Chicken Grill: 320 Calories/ 7 g Fat
Side Salad w/Reduced Fat Ranch: 130 Cal, 8 g fat (This can change depending on dressing used, I just love their reduced fat ranch)
Small Chili: 220 Calories/6 g fat/ 5 g fiber!
Large Chli: 330 Cal/8 g fat/8 g fiber!
Jr. Hamburger: 230 cal/8 g fat

A chili and side salad or a Jr. Hamburger and side salad are good meals.


Of course Subway has tons of choices. I love the turkey and veggie sub on whole wheat

I am a huge Taco Bell fan too!

McDonalds Kids Meals (I can give the toys to my niece!):
Hamburger Happy Meal with Diet Coke: 500 Cal
4-Piece McNugget Happy Meal w/Diet Coke: 420 Cal
6-Piece McNugget Mighty Kids Meal w/Diet Coke: 500 Cal

Quiznos:
Small Prime Rib & Peppercorn Sub w/Cheese, no Dressing: 400 Cal, 14g fat, 4g fiber
Small Turkey, Bacon, & Guacamole Sub w/Cheese, no Dressing: 400 Cal, 15g fat, 6g fiber

I know all of these choices are pretty high in fat, but sometimes I just crave it!

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

Dairy Queen Chicken Basket kid's meal is 420 calories for the chicken and fries, 21 g of fat. I get water as the drink and turn the treat slip in for a 50 calorie fudge bar....mmmmm

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 am a big fan of Chick Fil A. All of there salads are good. they also have fruit cups and a great grilled chicken sandwich on wheat bun!

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

I love the Asian Chicken Salad from McDonald's with grilled chicken. Actually I prefer the crispy chicken, but oh well. It's only 390 with the dressing. The fruit and yogurt parfait is awsome too, only 160. My only peeve with them is that you can't get 4 McNuggets unless it's part of a happy meal. And I don't have the will power to throw away 2!

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

my favorites are:

Taco Bell
Tostada Fresco Style 200cal, 6 fat, 8 fiber, 30 carbs.
Pintos n. Cheese 180 cal, 7 fat, 6 fiber, 79 carbs.

McDonald's
Southwest salad with grilled Chicken 320 cal, 9 f, 7 fiber, 30 carbs (I always ask to have this without the corn strips, about half the time it's no problem and the other half its impossible, gotta laugh)

I'm stay away from fast food joints

I have Chick Fila or Subway.

If those aren't an option...

At BK I get the grilled chicken with NO MAYO.

I haven't been to a McD's in 10 mths.

Otherwise... I hit up a salad bar at a local grocery store.

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...

Check out www.eatthis.com

It's the online version of the book "Eat This, Not That" and it has a whole listing of different restaurants and fast food chains with the best choices when eating out. It even has a "menu decoder" that tips you off to key words and ingredients in menu options so you know EXACTLY what you're ordering. It's been such a huge help for me!

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

@msarro - ewww...did you see the state of those french fries after DAYS of sitting around? That's what happens in our stomach. Yuck!

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...

I had a small victory today at the Panda Express: instead of a Panda Bowl with fried rice and orange chicken (950 calories), I had a yummy mushroom chicken with a 1/2 serving of white rice (420 calories).

My other faves:
Taco Bell spicy chicken burrito (400 calories)
Taco Bell zesty chicken bowl, no dressing (410 calories)
McDonald's southwest salad with grilled chicken and dressing (420 calories)
Wendy's chicken nugget kid's meal with mandarin oranges and vanilla frosty (314 calories)

Chickfila, Tropical Smoothie, or Paneras

Wendy's Baconater Burger--two beef pattys, 6 pieces of bacon, AND Cheese!! And none of these silly vegis either!


All just as healthy as can be!!!





[I doubt I could even begin to eat more than 1/4 of one of these anymore without getting violently ill. ]

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'm a true believer in not denying myself my favorite fast foods in order to keep myself honest. Thanks to tracking my calories I'm more aware of what and how much I eat. I try to stay away from the burgers, but McDonalds is less than Burger King. Also a quarter pounder from mcdonalds is 70 calories less than a Jumbo Jack w/o Cheese from Jack N the Box. Majority of McD's sandwhiches do not have mayo.

Taco Bell Rocks. Sometimes I get the Fresco style or just a couple of hard shell tacos and call it good. Before I started my "new lifestyle" LOL as others haver referred it to.......I would not have been satisfied with two measly taco's. Now I'm so happy to be able to eat something from a drive thru that I'm satisfied. I'm a pop fan too, but have limited my intake and only drink diet. Not that its any better but I'm trying to be realistic.

It's easier it seems to find the calories for fast food places then it is for the Mom and Pops restuarants that me and my family sometimes frequent. NO FRIES that's my motto. Oh and by the way stay away from the Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait at 770 calories! However their Grilled chicken salad is less than 250 calories. Be wary of the dressing. It gets me every time!

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

wendy's
grilled chicken sandwich with no sauce
baked potato w/ red fat sour cream

subway
turkey on wheat w/ tons of veggies and fat free ital

quizno's
turkey ranch (w/red fat ranch) with veggies

mcdonald's
southwest salad w/ grilled chicken

applebee's (although not technically fast food)
i love their weight watchers menu!! had the tilapia today!