Sometimes it's hard to eat healthy especially with the fast-paced life many of us lead these days but that is where fast food salads come into play. Fast food restaurants are everywhere and offer inexpensive food prepared quickly so you can get where you need to go. Now, because of so many health conscious consumers in the market, fast food restaurants are offering a lot of healthier options for meals but, what are the best of all those healthy salad alternatives?
Most fast food restaurants offer at least one, or more, salad options on their menus. Generally speaking, they are the healthier alternatives to a fat laden burger and fries but, some are definitely better than others. Here is a listing of 5 of the best options available for fast food salads.
1) Taco Bell Chicken Ranch Taco Salad
This salad from Taco Bell only has 240 calories and a low 6 grams of total fat with only 1 gram of saturated fat. The ingredients in this salad are re-fried beans, fiesta salsa, rice, white meat chicken, tomatoes, and lettuce. It does come served in a fried tortilla shell but, you don't need to eat that. Just be sure to ask for the Fresco style salad.
2) Taco Bell Chipotle Steak Taco Salad
This similar salad from Taco Bell has only 220 calories and 7 grams of total fat with only 2 grams of saturated fat. The ingredients in this salad are re-fried beans, fiesta salsa, rice, lean steak, tomato, and lettuce. Just as all Taco Bell salads, it comes in a friend tortilla shell, which you don't have to eat or you can ask for no shell. Be sure to order this Fresco style.
3) McDonald's Premium Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken
This option from McDonald's only has 370 calories with 12 grams total fat and 3.5 grams of saturated fat if you use half of the dressing it comes with. The totals will be even less if you don't use any dressing at all. The ingredient list contains grilled chicken, lettuce, corn, black beans, poblano peppers, cheddar and Monterrey jack cheese, and tortilla strips.
4) Chick-fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Garden Salad
This salad from Chick-fil-A comes it at 390 calories with 15 grams of total fat and 4.5 grams of that being saturated fats when using their Fat Free Honey Mustard Dressing. The ingredients for this salad are lettuce, grape tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, grilled chicken, cheddar and Monterrey Jack cheese, garlic butter croutons and honey-roasted sunflower seeds. Calorie levels will be lower if there is no dressing on the salad at all.
5) Wendy's Mandarin Chicken Salad
When only using a half of the Oriental Sesame dressing and no crispy noodles, this salad from Wendy's comes in with 395 calories and 18 grams of total fat with 2.3 grams of that being saturated fats. The ingredients for this salad are mixed greens, Mandarin oranges, toasted almonds and grilled chicken fillet. Without the dressing at all those numbers will be even lower.
It doesn't matter how busy you are, even going to fast food restaurants you can can still eat healthy and maintain your diet. This is not to say that eating only salads from fast food restaurants is the way to go but, in a pinch, there are many healthy options available to keep you on track.
