5 Fast Food Chains You Should Avoid
Ok, so we all know fast food is bad. But, the truth is, even if we’re trying to be health conscious; we wind up eating at a fast food restaurant every now and then due to time constraints or travel.
The best rule is – avoid fast food whenever you possibly can. You’ll consume 30% fewer calories and a lot of fat and sodium by simply preparing and eating meals at home. But, when you do find yourself in a position of eating fast food, do your best to avoid these places.
1. Dairy Queen – Dairy Queen’s food is some of the most unhealthy you can find. Their food is heavy on the trans fats, and seriously high in calories. Of particular note – their ½ pound Flame Thrower Grill Burger has over 1000 calories and 73 grams of fat (4 grams trans fat). Their chicken strip basket ranks as the absolute worst one out there, containing 1270 calories (for 5 chicken strips) 67 grams of fat and a whopping 12 grams of trans fat.
2. Arby’s – First of all, I’m pretty sure an Arby’s roast beef sandwich has never been anywhere near a cow. But, that aside, one serving of their curly fries has 631 calories and 37 grams of fat, making it one of the worst servings of fries in the whole world of fast food. And, don’t be fooled by their “market fresh” sandwiches. While they are certainly less fatty than some of their other menu items, they are by no means low calorie, and they’re pretty high in sodium, too.
3. Hardees – Hardees has some of the fattiest burgers around, particularly if you go with their larger burgers. Their Monster Thickburger, which is their worst has over 1400 calories, which is about twice the number of calories in McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with cheese) and it also has over 100 grams of fat. Even their chicken is crazy high in calories – the big chicken fillet has 800 calories and 37 grams of fat. And, by the way, on their nutrition information, Hardee’s, unlike most other fast food chains, doesn’t even post the trans fat counts, which in itself is pretty scary. To their credit, however, their Charbroiled BBQ chicken sandwich has just 340 calories and 4 grams of fat.
4. Carl’s Jr. – Another big supporter in the fight to keep America fat – Carl’s Jr. has the worst small hamburger of any fast food chain. Their big hamburger (which is really their smallest burger) has 470 calories. ( A regular burger at Wendy’s, McDonald’s or Burger King is under 300 calories). Their Double Six Dollar Burger has over 1500 calories and over 100 grams of fat.
5. Jack in the Box – When it comes to trans fats, Jack in the Box may have all the other fast food chains beat. Their Sourdough Ultimate Cheeseburger has 4.5 grams of trans fats, 29 grams of saturated fat and nearly 1000 calories. Their Bacon and Cheese Ciabatta Burger and Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger both also have over 1000 calories and around 30 grams of saturated fat.
We’re by no means suggesting that eating at the fast food restaurants that did not make this list is a healthy choice. In fact, it took some time to sort out just which ones should make the list, since we could only have five. Regardless of where you choose to eat, read the nutrition information. Some choices are better than others – no matter which fast food restaurant you choose.
Phyllis Zerkle writes about how to obtain your online mph.
Tags: Fast Food Chains, food chains