{"id":11501,"date":"2009-08-31T01:00:07","date_gmt":"2009-08-31T06:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=11501"},"modified":"2009-08-27T15:39:02","modified_gmt":"2009-08-27T20:39:02","slug":"how-healthy-is-hardees-alternative-menu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/08\/how-healthy-is-hardees-alternative-menu\/","title":{"rendered":"How Healthy is Hardee’s Alternative Menu?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I posted an article on a few menu options at Hardee’s that were\u00a0– um, how should we say –\u00a0less than healthy? (See the Fried Bologna Biscuit<\/a> for yourself.) So in order to give this fast-food chain a fair shake, we took a closer look at their alternative menu, which is touted as being healthier and able to meet the specific dietary needs of its customers.\"hardees<\/a><\/p>\n

Rather than creating a menu of low-cal fast-food\u00a0options, Hardee’s instead\u00a0takes its traditional menu of burgers and sandwiches and gives you the option to reduce carbs, lower the fat, eliminate the gluten,\u00a0trim the calories or lose the meat for a vegetarian<\/a> option.<\/p>\n

But is this alternative menu all that healthy? At closer inspection, it resembles a sneaky marketing ploy that slaps on catchy healthy lingo to high-fat and high-calorie fast-food eats.<\/p>\n

While we give\u00a0Hardee’s a pat on the back for reaching out to the vegetarian and gluten-intolerant<\/a> populations, we’ve decoded their alternative menu to give you\u00a0the straight-up facts minus any deceptive marketing buzz.<\/p>\n

Vegetarian<\/strong>: You can order a Hardee’s burger, sans meat but with all the fixings, or have a breakfast cheese and egg biscuit but hold the bacon. Both options even without meat will save on\u00a0calories and saturated fat but the cheese, eggs, buttery biscuits, mayonnaise and carb-heavy white bread are a far cry from a low-fat, low-cal meal.<\/p>\n

Gluten-Free or Low-Carb<\/strong>: You can order any sandwich or burger without a bun and instead use lettuce leaves in place of bread. We’re all in favor of swapping out nutrient-void white foods for green, leafy ones. But once again, you’re still left with high-fat burgers and cheese. Hardee’s also has a Low Carb Breakfast Bowl loaded with sausage, cheese, eggs and bacon. Yikes! This is a 650 calorie and 50 fat gram start to your day!<\/p>\n

Low-fat\/Low-cal<\/strong>: You can make this work if you order the following, on occasion:<\/p>\n