Monday, November 18, 2013

Fast Food, Bring It On.

McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Arby's, bring them all on. Fast food is not a sin in the fitness world despite the negative stigma surrounding them. In contrast, they can be very beneficial to your gains and nutrition.

So you are someone who pays close attention to your nutrition making sure every meal is filled with the proper portions of protein, fats, calories,etc. Doing that has caused you to totally avoid fast food restaurants, good for you. Those places are filled with bad fats and tremendously high calorie content in the food, especially the burgers! One Crispy Chicken has a whopping 670 calories, bring them on. But no, I mean fast food is bad for you.

Here's the reality about fast food. You are absolutely right about it being bad for you. There are choices like the hamburgers, deserts, and fries that will cause you a slow death if you eat that stuff frequently through out the week. Some may think that a little Parfet won't hurt but all the granola and berries piled on the top of the sweetened yogurt makes it hurt in the long run. I love that commercial when people go to fast food restaurants and order a beer gut, love handles, and thunder thighs referring to the menu items. Absolutely hilarious! Many have seen the movie "Supersize Me," with Morgan Spurlock who goes on a McDonald's binge and almost dies. That's the truth about choosing the wrong choices at fast food restaurants.

There are several fast food restaurants who have made the change to adding healthier choices to their menus. Believe it or not, the choices they have to choose from are actually healthy! For instance, you can order oatmeal without the additional sugars like brown sugar. For example, Dunkin Donuts has oatmeal with brown sugar flavor and dried fruit toppings for 300 calories and 470 mg sodium. The same oatmeal without the brown sugar flavor is 270 calories and only 140 mg of sodium. You can even try getting plain oatmeal and adding a t-spoon of honey to it, viola!

For those looking for healthy gains on the run because you forgot to pack your meals, you can even try fast food also. Grilled Chicken without the extra stuff like mayo is good. Substituting the mayo for honey mustard works just fine. Even better, you can skip the bun, condiments, and tomatoes and just place that protein packed chicken breast on a salad! I personally love doing that for a healthy lunch option. Arby's has an online menu in which you can customize your sandwich and see the exact nutritional value.

All-in-all people, you should not be afraid of fast food if you make the proper choices. Yes, I do eat fast food but I am constantly conscious of the nutrition of my menu item. Here is an excellent book that I have purchased that has just about all fast food restaurants and items listed in it. Calorie King.

As always, thank you for your time and for putting your health first.

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