I don’t frequent fast food restaurants very often, but every once in a while the fast food joint offer convenience while traveling.  I hate fast food, but sometimes you just have to make the best of it and find something at least somewhat healthy.

When others want to grab grub at the golden arches,

let me help you make the best of it.  If you’re forced to eat fast food, here’s a tip to make sure that you’re not doing much damage to your body…

AVOID Soda and Anything Deep Fried

ALWAYS skip the soda pop and refuse to eat anything deep fat friend! This means saying no to foot soaked in deadly trans fats from industrial hydrogenated vegetable oils:

  • French fries
  • Hash browns
  • Anything breaded like:
    • Chicken nuggets
    • Chicken patties
    • Breaded fish sandwiches

Note: There are some fast food restaurants that have promised not to use hydrogenated oil loaded with trans fat, BUT they still use highly refined processed oil,  which still cause inflammation and negatively affect your health (and waistline).

Take heed, because as little as 1 gram of artificial trans fat per day can have harmful degenerative internal effects in your body. Harmful…means inflammation, clogging and hardening of your arteries, threat of heart disease, open door for various forms of cancer…and not to mention trans fat packs on the ab flab. That’s as little as 1 gram!

A typical fast food meal contains more than 1 gram of trans fat.  An entire fast food meal can contain up to 13 grams of trans fat! A breaded chicken sandwich (or fish sandwich), with an order of fries, can contain as much as 10 grams of trans fat! Then, add on a cookie or small piece of pie for dessert (which are usually made with deadly margarine or shortening), and now you’re up to about 13 grams of trans fat.

If 1 gram a day is slowly killing you, imagine what 13 grams is doing! Remember, this is only one fast food meal. Some people are consuming 20-30 grams of artificial trans fat per day!  This is an internal nightmare!  Please realize that nobody, I mean NOBODY, is looking out for your health, except for YOU.

Fast Food Healthy Drink Options

Anyway, back to the topic of how to avoid trans fat and eat a reasonably healthy fast food meal. So, on the rare occasion (or not so rare) that you are choosing to eat fast food, avoid sodas. Drinking pop or soda is gulping heavily processed high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). HCFS gets digested and heads straight to the belly fat.  And yes, that mean NO DIET SODA either!  This stuff is pure evil to your body.

Your best bets for drinks are always water or unsweetened iced tea.  You get the added benefit of the antioxidants in the unsweetened iced tea (but stay away from any sweeteners).

Fast Food Healthy Meal Options

For breakfast: Choose an egg, ham, and cheese on an english muffin (don’t be fooled into buying breakfast on a croissant – it is full of nasty trans fats!), or try a fruit & nut salad for breakfast.

For lunch or dinner: Choose a grilled chicken sandwich, chili, a grilled chicken salad without croutons (croutons = more trans), or try even just a plain cheeseburger for lunch.

“Enjoying” these fast food items doesn’t mean they are truly healthy and organic, but that they are the best options you have at most fast food places.

The main point to eating healthy at fast food restaurants is to avoid the soda, fries and other deep fried items. If you at least stay away from the trans fat from friend foods, then you are making better choices than 95% of most people.

If anyone is familiar with the movie “Super-Size Me,” then you know that eating fast food every day destroyed that man’s health. There was one man in the movie that called himself the “King of Big Macs” (or whatever burger).  He ate a fast food burger almost every day of his life for the past 30 years (approximately). But, did you notice that he almost never ate fries or soda?  He fed himself a burger everyday and manage not to be overweight.  Now I’m not saying that fast-food burgers made with their refined white bread and low quality beef and cheese are the healthiest thing, but the point is… it’s the fries and sodas that are the real health disaster.

The next time you frequent a fast food place, remember the healthy fast food options and choose smart eating!

By the way, if you haven’t heard yet, McD’s has added a nutrition label to all of their food wrappers now. Remember that as little as one gram of trans may cause some internal harm and now you can actually see how many grams of trans fat you’re eating right on the food wrapper. That might change your mind about finishing it.

For a fully comprehensive program on losing as much body fat as you want by following a smart, scientifically designed training and nutrition program, check out The Truth about Six Pack Abs.

Further Related Reading:

 

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of the best-seller: The Truth About Six Pack Abs

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