Study: The healthiest & unhealthiest chain restaurants

[AnnInLa]

America's healthiest chain restaurants:

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/25787/americas-healthiest-restaurants/

America's unhealthiest chain restaurants:

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/26542/americas-unhealthiest-restaurants/

[snappyturtle]

1. Thanks AnnInLa! There were some surprises on the list.

Seems as if the fast food industry over all is trying to do a better job at offerring healthier menu items.

[Jennicut]

2. Eating healthy at fast food restraurants is way easier then at the big chain ones

I love my Outback but its a killer in calories and fat. I am a diabetic too so I have to be careful. The grilled wraps, grilled sandwhiches and salads are very good (ask for the lower fat the salad dressing and stay away from the "crispy" chicken)at Wendy's and McDonald's Stay away from the fries and huge hamburgers.

[AnnInLa]

3. Sometimes I absolutely CRAVE

a giant whopper.....after about 6 months of doing without the high-calorie, fat-filled foods, I will go on a binge of eating unhealthy foods. What is in the world accounts for these cravings? Psychology?

[tjwash]

6. Fast food is actually addictive...

If you watch "supersize me" there is a point in the documentary, where we starts to get all of the symptoms of addiction while eating Mcd's crappy food.

I quit fast food years ago. I used to have enormous cravings for the bacon double cheeseburgers from BK. The same-type cravings I had after I quit drinking and smoking. One day I succumbed, after not partaking in any of that greasy, nasty, swill in over a year and got sick as a dog.

I did the same thing with cigarettes a couple of times before I quit for good. Sometimes I'm just a slow learner I suppose.

[Jennicut]

8. Yes, my husband is on the road all the time for his job and is totally addicted to it.

I am currently attempting to break him of it. Loved Supersize Me.

[high density]

4. Yeah, I go to Denny's for a healthy meal

:eyes:

File this under "Statements of the Obvious"

[tjwash]

7. You forgot the quotes around "meal"

:puke:dennys:puke:

[Wednesdays]

12. Some obvious, others less so

We got the "Eat This, Not That" books and found a whole lot of things that totally shocked me.

A lot of it has to do with corporate conditioning of the masses. For example, granola was originally a very healthy blend, that one could rarely find outside of bulk food co-ops. Then corporations got wind of granola's popularity, and began churning out "healthy" granola bars, stuffed with sugars and fats and chemicals. That completely defeated the granola's original purpose, but that doesn't bother the corporations so long as they keep raking in the $$$$.

Ask your average Joe on the street, and far more likely than not he'd repeat the corporate propaganda that granola bars are "healthy and nutritious."

[tjwash]

13. Oh...those mass produced granola bars are packed with ldl's and trans fats.

Not to mention processed sugar, and chemical preservatives. Then there's the chemical "paste" that they use to hold it together in the bar shape.

Yuck.

Although...I can still get my granola fix by going to the bulk bins at Windmill Farms, or Henry's. They still have the actual natural grains and ingredients in those.

[gauguin57]

5. Yay for Subway being on the healthy list. They're my fast-food fave.

I get a Veggie Delite with a tiny strip of low-fat honey-mustard sauce, and I get a cup of yogurt as my side dish/dessert. They also offer apples and raisins as sides.

[dustbunnie]

9. There are two great techniques for ordering at fast food and chain places.

One is the Meg Ryan, a la When Harry Met Sally, routine.

You just drive the staff nuts with your instructions and menu substitutions. At Denny's for instance, you can still have a relatively low cal/healthier lunch if you order the club, substituting whole wheat for white, hold the bacon and get the mayo on the side. At Outback, they're fine with patrons insisting on no butter/glaze cooking instructions, plus substitute fries with a baked potato and steamed veggies and that's also fine.

The other cal saver is the "share a lunch" plan.

If stuck at a fast food joint, order "to go," even if you're doing a sit down meal. Before you even start eating, cut the burger in half, pull five fries out of the jacket and pack the rest back into the bag. Forget the soda. Once you've finished lunch, give the other half of your lunch to the first homeless person you can find, along with a dollar.

Thanks for posting those articles AnnInLa, btw.

[NeedleCast]

10. I'm still going to Baja Fresh for Lunch

and I'm still going to rock it Enchillada style.

[TCJ70]

11. Looks like it's Wendy's for lunch...

[bullwinkle428]

14. I don't know...I smell a rat. McDonald's & Wendy's on the "best" list?

And a place like Baja Fresh on the "worst" list, while another "Mexican fast food" place like Taco Bell ends up on the "best" list?

Baja Fresh examples:

Taco Americano

Grilled Mahi-Mahi-Taco

Quesadilla


I've never been to Baja Fresh, but I've eaten at similar restaurants (based on the menu options), and have to say, those dishes don't give me that horrible "greasy gut bomb" feeling after the meal at all like all of that deep fried shit that Taco Hell consistently pushes in their advertising campaigns!!

There is a serious lack of consistency in the judging criteria, for sure...

[Igel]

15. It's a methodology problem.

If a menu doesn't offer many oversized options then it tends to score well, and picking and choosing among the offerings to find a low-cal/low-fat/low-salt option is the norm.

Take Chik-Fil-A. "Value-size" things and suddenly they tend to bomb--all the additional French fries is a killer. I don't think they salt the fries and that shows up as a nearly sodium-free side. Most people add the salt themselves, but surely the restaurant can't be blamed for that.

If a menu offers many oversized options then it tends to score less well. There's no attempt to pick and choose for find low-cal/low-fat/low-salt options, instead they pick and choose to find the worst offender.

I also note that at places like Baja Fresh you get what you get--a burrito, for example. At a burger/chicken place you'll get a sandwich with sides. But they compare the "main event", not the sides, so anything with all the sides built in, like a burrito, will come out much worse. The same goes for pizza, an all-in-one meal.