Diet & Fitness Blog

Monday, March 10, 2008

By Shawn Mckee
eDiets Staff Writer

I try to eat healthy -- really I do -- but sometimes between grabbing my gym clothes, finding my car keys, locating a pair of pants that look clean enough to wear to work and getting out into the quagmire that is rush hour traffic, I forget to pack my lunch.

Now I'm at the mercy of fast food purveyors, vending machines and the kindness of coworkers to get my lunchtime food fix. This is where I tend to slip off my normally healthy feeding routine.

A friend of mine was expressing her own disappointment in the fact that her life had become hectic and the first thing to suffer was her diet. Eating right takes planning and discipline, and even if you're using an excellent pre-packaged meal program like those offered from eDiets, you can still forget to grab lunch and be left foraging for food when the lunch hour arrives.

Before you throw your hands up in dismay and decide you'll get back to basics after a calorie-laden lunch, realize that you can minimize the deviation from your diet by making a few simple switches at your favorite fast food joints. You can make the right choices when it comes to food selection.

To unwrap the truth on fast food, eDiets ordered up a few simple switches with David Zinczenko, Editor-in-Chief of Men's Health and author of Eat This, Not That! David slowed down long enough to suggest several ways to make smart decisions, no matter where you eat.

"Most diet books out there exist in a hypothetical world where eaters have absolute control over every meal they eat, which sets up unrealistic goals and eventually another year of broken resolutions," Zinczenko explains. "Instead, we’re telling people to just go about finding the healthiest alternatives possible for every one of your favorite foods."

"For a nation that spends half of its annual food budget on eating out, knowing that a burrito from Taco Bell has 800 fewer calories than one from Chipotle, or that an Egg McMuffin is actually a really good way to start your day could help you save 10, 20 even 30 pounds by the end of 2008."

So Zinczenko delved deeply into the world of fast food and found that getting nutrition facts for many meals was about as easy as getting a Big Mac at Burger King. Many fast food franchises weren't forthcoming with the facts.

"One of the most concerning things we uncovered over the year we spent researching this book is the fact that many chains obfuscate the fat and calorie counts of their menu items, and fight any attempt to shed light on what, exactly, is going on between their buns and inside their taco shells," Zinczenko says.

If you barely have the time to pack your lunch, we know you don't have the time to canvas restaurants in your area to get all the food facts, so we've supplied some simple tips to cut fat and calories from your lunch.

Tips for a Leaner Lunch:
"Simply ordering your sandwich or burger sans mayo saves up to 25 grams of fat (go with barbeque sauce or honey mustard instead)," David suggests. "And every slice of American cheese you melt on your burger adds 6 grams of fat."

Save 370 calories and 20 grams of fat by skipping the over-sized shell with your next taco salad at Taco Bell. Also, you can order almost any menu item "fresco" style which will replace the cheese and sauce with chunky salsa to dramatically cut calories and fat.

"Always opt for the thin crust variety rather than the pan pizza or the deep dish -- that alone will save you at least 100 calories per slice," David explains. "Eating just four pieces of pepperoni on your pizza packs an additional 100 calories."

Instead of ordering a foot-long sandwich at Subway, order the six-inch sub and double the meat. You'll save more than money -- this simple switch will save you 230 calories on a turkey sub.

Get a side salad instead of fries. Even eating three garden salads from Burger King would still give you less calories than one small order of French fries. A Whopper Jr. (without mayo) and a garden salad from the King weigh in at 365 calories and 12 grams of fat, while a BK Big Fish Sandwich and medium fries tip the scales at a staggering 1,000 calories and 52 grams of fat.

So even at a place like Burger King, which David ranks as pretty low on the healthy list, "with more harmful trans fat clogging its menu than McDonald’s or Wendy’s and several 1,000-calorie-plus burgers," it is possible to make a healthy choice.

So if the King doesn't rule when it comes to a leaner lunch, what places top the list for healthiest fare?

"Chick-Fil-A is a clear winner," David proclaims. "Not a single entree on the menu breaks the 500-calorie barrier, a feat unmatched in the fast-food world. Subway is another good choice, as long as you go easy on cheese and dressing. They offer an impressive selection of 6-inch sandwiches containing less than 400 calories."

Those are just a few easy ways to make your lunch a little leaner, because life very rarely goes according to plan and, sometimes, you have eat on the fly. Just remember, when they ask, "Would you like fries with that?" The answer is "no." Order up!

For more information or to buy a copy of Eat This, Not That! click here.

Have you crafted an emergency meal that satisfies your craving for fast food without destroying your diet? Do you have your own tips for successful lunchtime survival? Tell us about it!

Labels: career, diet, food, tips

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