You CAN find fast food made with fresh, whole, and calorie-conscious ingredients.
If you are traveling for the holidays this year, you will inevitably have to stop for a bite to eat along the way. Whether in the airport food court or road tripping across state lines, you can stick to your clean eating routines by choosing from one of the following healthy fast food restaurants. You heard me right. You can find fast food restaurants that serve meals with fresh, whole, and calorie-conscious ingredients. Here are six to try.
Utilize El Pollo Loco's drive-through as you road trip up to see the family this season. They serve grilled, skinless chicken breasts, black beans, sliced avocado, fresh salsa, and an "Under 500 Calories" menu to help you know how much is in each entrée. You can also choose from sides such as steamed broccoli, salad, and chicken tortilla soup. The "Pollo Fit" menu contains Keto-friendly meals with lower carbs and calories and higher proteins and healthy fats. For example, you can order the Double Chicken Avocado Salad for 310 calories and 47 grams of protein. Ask for the dressing on the side and only add what you need or nix it completely and ask for a few extra sides of salsa to save you on kcals and fat.
Flame Broiler keeps their menu simple, clean, and organic. You can choose a base of white or brown rice, veggies, salad, or a mix of rice and veggies. Then you choose your meat—beef, chicken, or tofu. Ask for their sauce on the side or a light drizzle of it in order to reduce your intake of sodium, sugar, and extra calories.
If you are traveling through California, Arizona, or Nevada, you may come upon a Rubio's. They have cleaned up their menu in the recent years and offer a wide array of wholesome options. You can sub your regular rice out for cauliflower rice, choose black beans instead of refried, and try their many salsa options that burst with flavor and hold off on the calories. They also offer a vegetarian, vegan, keto-friendly, and gluten-friendly menu to help hone in on healthy choices.
CAVA is like the Chipotle for Mediterranean food. You can build your own "SuperGreens" salad or order a grain bowl with "RightRice®," which looks like rice, but consists of 90% veggies. Top your bowl with grilled chicken, grilled veggies, or roasted white sweet potatoes. Finish it off with one of their house-made sauces and dips, which they make in small batches without any unnecessary additives, preservatives, calories, fat, or sodium.
Starbucks offers pre-made salads with a hearty scoop of protein, whole grains, and light salad dressing, served on the side. Since you can find a Starbucks on every corner, it's nice to know that you can also find a quick and lean lunch spot too. They also serve packaged snacks for the trip that you and the kids can munch on to hold you over in between meals—nuts, cheese, popcorn, dried fruit, granola bars, etc.
In-N-Out is a popular California tradition of a family company with fresh, not frozen, burgers. Their secret menu is an inside tip that many patrons don’t know about. For example, you can order your burger "protein style," which wraps your hamburger in lettuce instead of bread. You can also order a glass of ice water with a lemon to wash down the healthy burger.