Can you really eat a healthy drive-thru diet? This last week, I have analyzed the menus of the most popular drive-thru locations McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Arby’s and Dunkin Donuts and tried to come up with a week’s worth of healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner choices. I was able to come up with a limited  number of reasonably healthy choices. By no means does this constitute a healthy diet, but you can make choices at the drive-thru that will not break your diet. The following are my overall observations:

Most of the fast food menus are horrible (avoid the fries)

Although the fast food industry has done a pretty good job of eliminating transfats from their menu, most of the menus are high in fat and calories. There are a limited number of healthy choices on each menu. The fries average 50% of their calories from fat, and all breaded or deep fried selections are high in fat. The best fries choice is the small McDonalds fries which is 230 calories, and 11 grams of fat.  Adding a side of fries pretty much blows the whole idea.

You Can’t Really Get Fruits & Veggies

Forget the idea of having a “balanced” meal. It is almost impossible to add fruits and veggies. The best I can come up with is grilled chicken and a side of green beans at KFC or the Fruit and Yogurt Parfait and McDonalds.  The fast food idea of veggies is adding lettuce and a slice of tomato to your burger, or putting lettuce on your taco.

The good news is that you can have a drive-thru  breakfast, lunch or dinner at one of the fast food restaurants without totally blowing your diet. You just need to make wise and informed decisions. And if you carry your fruits and veggies with you in your car, you could even eat from the drive-thru window 100% of the time.

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