Healthy Fast Food: Can You Allow After Guilt? 2
Hurley aswell gives top marks to Subway, which, carefully speaking, is in the "quick casual" rather than fast-food restaurant category. She praises Subway for beat and announcement healthy, adorable sandwiches with fewer than 6 grams of fat.
Eating out acclimated to be an casual thing, but today Americans absorb about one-third of their absolute calories in restaurants, says Margo Wootan, DSc, CSPI's diet action director.
"Both adults and accouchement eat about alert as abounding calories out compared to bistro at home," she says. "And they eat added saturated fat, and less calcium, fiber, fruits and vegetables."
She says that advantageous fast-food choices generally are not obvious, and that consumers charge advice in adjustment to accomplish acceptable decisions. "One of the policies we're alive on is to get the chains -- both (sit-down) restaurants and fast aliment -- to account calories on their airheaded or card boards," she tells WebMD.
Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD, WebMD Weight Loss Clinic Dietitian and American Dietetic Association spokesperson, advises attached visits to fast-food restaurants to a few times a week. "All foods fit, including an occasional burger and fries," she says. "You just can't be active there. Most of the time, try to ample up on salads or broiled chicken." Given the epidemic of blubber a part of children, Zelman advises parents to address healthy substitutions for kids' meals, like a baby bloom instead of fries. "You might accept to pay a little more, but you don't accept to get the accepted kid meal," she says.
And by all means, the diet experts say, break abroad from the chains' "value pricing" promotions, which action huge portions for a few cents more than approved portions.
"Who doesn't like a bargain?" Hurley asks. "But already it's on your tray, it will apparently accomplish it to your mouth."
Future Fare
Of course, this latest advantageous fast-food trend could end up traveling the way of the McLean burger, but industry assemblage say there are some promising signs.
"Garden Sensations apparently accounted for 10 percent of Wendy's sales when it aboriginal formed out aboriginal in 2002," Butkus says. "That could have been a amusement period, but everybody would like to accept an added 10 percent of sales. If this trend is successful, the chains will cycle out added products, promote added craven articles and attending for means to accomplish kids' meals healthier."
And there accept been added developments, including:
- In England, McDonald's offers a bag of apples and grapes to customers. The fruit can be purchased alone or commissioned for French chips in Happy Meals.
- McDonald's is testing all-white meat Craven McNuggets.
- Kentucky Fried Craven will acquaint added non-fried products.
- Jack in the Box affairs to accessible an "Innovation Center" in 2004 to develop lighter articles to allure added changeable customers.
- Fast-food chains are paying absorption to the address of "quick casual" restaurants like Panera Bread, Cosi, and Au Bon Pain, that serve fresh, non-fried foods. Butkus says the fast-food chains ability borrow menu ideas.
- CSPI, acquainted the alarming access in blubber a part of children, is pushing the chains to stop targeting accouchement with ads for ailing foods. "We'd like for them to be acceptable accumulated citizens," Wootan says, "but if not, we'd like the government to footfall in and absolute the commercial to accouchement of foods that are low in diet and top in calories, saturated fat and sugar."
Similiars
- Healthy Fast Food: Can You Allow After Guilt? 3- Healthy Fast Food: Can You Allow After Guilt?