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The Drive-Thru Diet: Conclusions & Observations

dennis — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:00:31 +0000

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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The Drive-Thru Diet: Desserts

dennis — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:00:31 +0000

Taco Bell is promoting the drive -thru diet. I’ve been wondering whether it is possible to come up with a week’s worth of healthy drive -thru meals. I downloaded the nutritional info from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Arby’s, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, and Taco Bell. I did not include fast food restaurants that are highly regional or those that do not normally have a drive thru window like Subway. As with most of the fast food fare, desserts are a horrible choice. However, McDonalds seems to have a few reasonable ways to satisfy your sweet tooth. Here are the healthiest of the dessert selections:

McDonalds

Fruit n Yogurt Parfait- 130 calories, 4g protein, 2 g fat (0 trans, 1g saturated), 0 fiber

Apple dippers with caramel- 105 calories, 0 protein, .5 g fat, 0 fiber

Reduced Fat Ice Cream Cone- 150 calories, 4g protein, 3.5 g fat (0 trans, 2g saturated). 0 fiber

Strawberry Sundae- 280 calories, 6g protein, 6g fat (0 trans, 4g satuarated), 1g fiber

The Drive-Thru Diet: The Best of the Rest

dennis — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:00:10 +0000

Taco Bell is promoting the drive -thru diet. I’ve been wondering whether it is possible to come up with a week’s worth of healthy drive -thru meals. I downloaded the nutritional info from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Arby’s, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, and Taco Bell. I did not include fast food restaurants that are highly regional or those that do not normally have a drive thru window like Subway. I have previously posted breakfast suggestions, lunch salads, chili, and wraps. Here is the healthiest of the rest:

McDonalds

Regular hamburger- 250 calories, 12g protein, 9g fat (.5 trans, 3.5 saturated), 2g fiber

McChicken Sandwich- 360 calories, 14g protein, 16g fat (0 trans, 3g saturated), 2g fiber

KFC

Grilled chicken, breast & wing- 270 calories, 10.5g fat (0 trans, 3g saturated), o fiber

Green bean side- 25 calories, 1g protein, o fat, 2g fiber

Mashed potato with gravy side- 130 calories, 2g protein, 4.5 g fat (0 trans, 1g saturated), 1g fiber

Arby’s

Regular roast beef sandwich- 350 calories, 23g protein,13g fat (.5 trans, 4.5 saturated), 2g fiber

Arby’s Melt- 320 calories, 18g protein, 11g fat (0 trans, 3.5 saturated), 2g fiber

Arby’s Ham & Swiss Melt - 300 calories, 18g protein, 8g fat (0 trans, 3.5 saturated), 2g fiber

Roast Chicken Ranch Sandwich- 340 calories, 23g protein, 9 g fat (0 trans, 1.5 saturated), 3g fiber

To comment on this post click on the title, or email the author dennis@healthjag.com

The Drive-Thru Diet: Taco Bell Fresco Menu

dennis — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:00:06 +0000

Taco Bell is promoting the drive -thru diet. I’ve been wondering whether it is possible to come up with a week’s worth of healthy drive -thru meals. I downloaded the nutritional info from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Arby’s, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, and Taco Bell. I did not include fast food restaurants that are highly regional or those that do not normally have a drive thru window like Subway. Below is the essence of the Taco Bell drive-thru diet. As you can see, it is nutritionally fairly sound except for two things: sodium levels are fairly high and there are no fruits or vegetables to speak of in their servings. But the fruit and vegetable problem is uniform throughout the “drive-thru diet” concept.

TACO BELL FRESCO MENU

Fresco Crunchy Taco- 150 calories, 7g protein, 7g fat (0 trans,2.5 saturated), 3g fiber

Fresco Soft Taco-Beef- 180 calories, 8g protein, 7g fat (0 trans, 3 saturated), 3g fiber

Fresco Burrito Supreme-Chicken- 340 calories, 18g protein, 8g fat (0 trans, 2.5 saturated), 8g fiber

Fresco Burrito Supreme-Steak- 330 calories, 16g protein, 8g fat (0 trasns, 3 saturated), 8g fiber

Fresco Ranchero Chicken Soft Taco- 170 calories, 12g protein,4g fat (0 trans,1.5 saturated),2g fiber

Fresco Grilled Steak Soft Taco-160 calories, 9g protein, 4.5g fat (0 trans, 1.5 saturated), 2g fiber

Fresco Bean Burrito- 340 calories, 12g protein, 8g fat (0 trans,2.5 saturated), 11g fiber

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The Drive-Thru Diet: Lunch Salads/Chili/Wraps

dennis — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:00:45 +0000

Wendy’s

Madarin Chicken Salad with Oriental Sesame Dressing (without noodles or almonds)-350 calories, 25 g protein, 12 g fat (0 transfat, 2 g saturated), 2 g fiber

Chicken Caesar Salad (no croutons with Supreme Caesar Dressing)-300 calories, 29 g protein, 17 g fat (0 transfat, 4 saturated), 3 g fiber

Spicy Chicken Go Wrap- 320 calories, 16g protein, 15g fat (0 trans, 4 saturated), 1 g fiber

Large Chili- (small chili is 2/3 of large) 280 calories, 21g protein, 9g fat (.5 trans, 3.5 saturated), 7g fiber

McDonalds

Premium Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken and Newman’s Own Creamy Southwest Dressing- 420 calories, 31g protein, 15g fat (0 transfat, 4g saturated), 6g fiber

Chipolte BBQ Snack Wrap Grilled- 260 calories, 18g protein, 9g fat (0 trans, 3.5g saturated), 1g fiber

Fruit & Walnut Salad (snack size)- 210 calories, 4g protein, 8g fat (0 trans, 1.5 saturated, 2g fiber

KFC

Toasted Wrap with Tender Roast Filet with Sauce- 310 calories, 22g protein, 14 (0 trans, 5 saturated), 1g fiber

To comment on this post, click on the title or email the author dennis@healthjag.com

The Drive-Thru Diet: Breakfast

dennis — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:02:07 +0000

Taco Bell is promoting the drive thru diet. I’ve been wondering whether it is possible to come up with a week’s worth of healthy drive -thru meals. I downloaded the nutritional info from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Arby’s, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, and Taco Bell. I did not include fast food restaurants that are highly regional or those that do not normally have a drive thru window like Subway. For my healthiest breakfast selections. I was unable to find 7 reasonably healthy selections, but I did find 6 (although the McDonald’s sausage burrito is a bit on the fringe). Here they are:

Dunkin Donuts

Egg & Cheese on English Muffin – 320 calories, 15 g protein, 13 g fat (0 transfat, 5g saturated), 2 g fiber

Egg White Veggie Flatbread-290 calories, 11 g protein, 9 g fat (0 transfat, 4g saturated), 3 g fiber

McDonald’s

Egg McMuffin-300 calories, 18 g protein, 12 g fat (0 transfat, 5g saturated), 2 g fiber

Fruit n Yogurt Parfait with Granola- 160 calories,4 g protein, 2 g fat (0 transfat, 1 g saturated), 1 g fiber

Sausage Burrito- 300 calories, 12 g protein,16 g fat (.5 transfat, 7g saturated), 1g fiber

Burger King

Whopper Jr. No Mayo- 290 calories, 15 g protein, 12g fat (4.5 saturated), 2 g fiber

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The Drive-Thru Diet: Fact or Fiction

dennis — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:00:58 +0000

Taco Bell is promoting the drive thru diet. I’ve been wondering whether it is possible to come up with a week’s worth of healthy drive thru meals. I just downloaded the nutritional info from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Arby’s, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, and Taco Bell. I did not include fast food restaurants that are highly regional or those that do not normally have a drive thru window like Subway. So I will try to come up with 21 healthy meals that you can pick up from a drive thru. My preliminary analysis shows that it’s going to be difficult if not impossible to get servings of fruits and vegetables.

Comment on this post by clicking on the title, or email the author dennis@healthjag.com