Tag Archives: healthiest menu choices

5 Tips to Eat Healthy at 100 Montaditos

Have you heard? There’s a new fast-food chain in town: 100 Montaditos. OK, so as of now there’s only one location in the United States (Miami), but the Spanish sandwich chain has the ambitious goal of opening 4,000 restaurants in the next five years. This means that there will be almost as many 100 Montaditos out there as there are Sonic Drive-Ins.

To make sure you’re armed with nutrition knowledge and prepared to eat healthy when you try this new chain, we’ve rounded up the top five tips to eat healthy at 100 Montaditos. Unfortunately, 100 Montaditos doesn’t have its nutritional facts posted online and a quick call in to its Miami location confirmed that nutritional facts are not yet available. In the meantime, here are some guidelines to follow!

(more…)

Posted on August 24, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Menu Choices at In-N-Out Burger

For those on the West Coast, In-N-Out Burger is a fast food legend. Every location almost always has a line of cars out and around the block with its patrons hungry for burgers, fries and shakes.

While not exactly healthy, nor an extensive menu, the regional fast food chain prides itself on the quality of its food. All burgers are made with 100 percent pure beef and are free of additives, fillers and preservatives, according to In-N-Out Burger’s website. Additionally, its American cheese is all real, the potatoes used for the fries are cut in each store, and no food is frozen, microwaved or stuck under a heat lamp. (It’s easy to see why they have a following, right?)

Freshness aside, we wanted to take a look at In-N-Out Burger’s nutritional menu to see if any options would meet our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield’s healthy guidelines of having less than 500 calories and less than 500 milligrams of sodium, according to the the new daily sodium recommendations. Because the menu is so limited to begin with — and unfortunately the company doesn’t list nutritional facts on its underground “styles” of burger preparation like Monster and Animal — our list is pretty short.

(more…)

Posted on April 28, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Menu Choices at Papa Murphy’s

I’m not a fast-food connoisseur by any means, but I love to indulge in the occasional slice of pizza. When I don’t have time to make my own pizza at home, one of my favorite things to do is call in an order to Papa Murphy’s and, as their slogan goes, “take and bake!” For me, the ingredients just seem fresher, and they have more topping options for a veggie-lover like me than other pizza chains do. Plus, it’s fun to cook it at home.

But, really, how healthy is the food at Papa Murphy’s? Do the meals meet our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield’s healthy guidelines of having less than 500 calories and less than 500 milligrams of sodium, according to the the new daily sodium recommendations? We looked at the menu, and found the healthiest options based on that criteria. Below are the results!

(more…)

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Menu Choices at Quiznos

With a variety of subs, soups and salads, Quiznos seems like a pretty healthy place to eat at for lunch or dinner, but because sometimes things that look healthy aren’t really that good for our waistlines, we decided to take a deeper look at the menu.

Below are meals that met our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield’s healthy guidelines of having less than 500 calories and less than 500 milligrams of sodium, according to the the new daily sodium recommendations. Thankfully, there are quite a few options!

(more…)

Posted on April 1, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Menu Choices at Carl’s Jr.

Carl’s Jr. isn’t exactly known for their healthy options. In fact, they may be best known for their unhealthy burger creations. However, because life gives you no other option than eating in unhealthy establishments from time to time (think driving cross-country or it being your boss’s favorite burger joint), we wanted to see if we could find at least a few options that could be considered healthy.

The below meal options all meet the requirements of our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield who says that meals should have less than 500 calories and less than 500 milligrams of sodium, according to the the new daily sodium recommendations. As you can see, it’s slim pickings.

(more…)

Posted on March 31, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Meal Choices at Chick-fil-A

I know a lot of people who darn near worship Chick-fil-A. While most of their following is because of their delicious fried chicken sandwiches and seasoned waffle fries, I’ve always thought that the chain had some of the freshest salads of any fast-food chain, and the chargrilled chicken sandwiches are always pretty tasty. Flavor and freshness aside, does Chick-fil-A really have healthy options? And if so, what are they? We recently took a look at the menu to see if its meals met our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield’s healthy guidelines of having less than 500 calories and less than 500 milligrams of sodium, according to the the new daily sodium recommendations. The options below are what met our criteria — we wish there were more!

(more…)

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Menu Choices at Panda Express

Panda Express has a few things going for it. All of their dishes are trans-fat free, they don’t add MSG to the food, and you can get a number of options that are heavy in the vegetable department. But can this Chinese fast-food chain measure up to the recommendations by our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield and the new daily sodium recommendations that all meals contain less than 500 calories and 500 milligrams of sodium? We recently examined the menu to find the healthiest menu options, and were pleasantly surprised with the variability!

Healthiest Meals at Panda Express

1. Half an Entree of Eggplant and Tofu and Half an Order of Steamed Rice. Enjoy this veggie-based meal for only 365 calories and 340 calories. If you have a sweet tooth after, you can even indulge in a Fortune Cookie for just another 32 calories and 8 milligrams of sodium.

(more…)

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Menu Choices at Starbucks

We’ve already showcased some of the worst drinks at Starbucks, so today we thought that we’d take a look at the rest of the Starbucks’ menu — the food. About a year and a half ago, this popular coffee-shop chain added more waist-friendly and nutritious options than just scones and muffins to go along with those lattes.

While the food item offerings are healthier in that they don’t include high fructose corn syrup and artificial ingredients, we wondered how they would stack up to the recommendations of our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield who says that meals should have less than 500 calories and less than 500 milligrams of sodium, according to the the new daily sodium recommendations. So, we took a look!

(more…)

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Menu Choices at Arby’s

We’ve been doing these fast-food healthiest meal listings based on our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield’s healthy guidelines of having less than 500 calories and less than 500 milligrams of sodium per meal, according to the the new daily sodium recommendations. And, generally, we’ve been able to find a few options at all of the fast-food chains thus far. Today is a challenge though. We’re looking at Arby’s, and while there are a number of options that fit the calorie requirement, the sodium is just ridiculous. Having just a sandwich or a salad will put you at more than half of what you’re supposed to get in a day. For real. So with some creativity (because we really can’t tell you to eat a Jr. Shake for lunch just because it’s low in salt), we’ve come up with the following healthiest items.

Healthiest Meals at Arby’s

1. Half of a Roast Chicken Sandwich with Half of a Chopped Side Salad. This protein-filled pairing has 270 calories and 485 milligrams of sodium. Told you we had to get creative!

(more…)

Posted on March 18, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Menu Choices at Long John Silver’s

Now that Lent is in full swing, you may be wondering what the best place is to get a healthy fish meal on the go, right? Well, we recently scoured the seafood chain Long John Silver’s menu for the healthiest options. Based on recommendations from our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield and the new daily sodium recommendations, the following four items, when paired with a Corn Cobbette without Butter Oil, have less than 500 calories and less than 500 milligrams of sodium per meal. So go get your fish on!

Healthiest Meals at Long John Silver’s

1. Three Battered Shrimp. If you’re really craving fried food, indulge smartly with this small portion that comes in with a Corn Cobbette at just 225 calories and 480 milligrams of sodium.

(more…)

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Jennipher

Healthiest Meal Choices at Sonic

When it comes to most fast-food places I don’t have a problem driving by, but there’s something about Sonic that really tests my willpower. (Mostly it’s the tater tots, Cherry Limeades and the novelty of have someone serve you in your car.) In our ongoing review of what to eat and what to avoid at fast-food restaurants across the country, today we’re putting Sonic’s menu to the test. The below menu options meet the recommendations of our registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield’s healthy guidelines of having less than 500 calories and less than 500 milligrams of sodium, according to the the new daily sodium recommendations.

(more…)

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Jennipher