Fast Food

Healthy Recipes and Nutrition, Nutrition
on March 15, 2012

Work, school, meetings and activities can fill a day completely. When you are continually on the run, it can be difficult to find time eat, let alone to eat healthy. It’s often easier to slip through the drive-through of the local fast food restaurant for a quick meal or snack. What if you could satisfy your hunger without the high-fat, high-calorie commercial fast foods? Consider three grab-and-go varieties of fast foods that are convenient while offering nutrition.

1. Fresh fruit. Fresh fruits contain essential vitamins and minerals a body needs for optimum health. Citrus fruits can provide vitamin C, an antioxidant good for your overall health. Clementines are the smallest mandarin orange. It’s ideal as a grab-and-go fruit, as it is easy to peel and rarely has seeds. One large apple with the skin on contains 5.4 grams of fiber and has only 116 calories. Fiber can help you feel full and keep you from snacking on not-so-healthy foods. Other fast food fruits include bananas, plums, peaches and nectarines. Plums, peaches and nectarines often can be quite juicy, so don’t forget to bring a napkin. Grapes can be plucked from their stems, washed and placed in a baggie for another quick fruit-to-go.

2. Fresh vegetables. They may not offer the same sweetness as a plum or a clementine, but fresh vegetables can be a tasty, healthy fast food. The trick to turning fresh vegetables into fast food is preparation. The day before your workweek begins, stock up on carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers and colorful bell peppers. Wash, cut and prepare the vegetables into individual pieces. Create single-serving to-go bags filled with the fresh vegetables. Grab a bag on your way out the door instead of chips or sweets. Broccoli and bell peppers have vitamin C while carrots have vitamin A, which can help protect your vision. A one-cup serving of chopped raw cauliflower has only 27 calories plus 320 milligrams of potassium.

3. Protein sources. Your body needs protein to help repair cells and make new ones, states the National Institutes of Health. Adding lean protein sources into your daily diet is nutritionally smart. Grilled, boneless/skinless chicken breasts are a lower fat protein source. Cook the chicken the night before and then make a sandwich using whole grain bread, a sliced tomato and baby spinach instead of lettuce. This easy-to-grab sandwich will contain fewer calories and fat than many commercial fast food options. Protein bars are another easy way to satisfy hunger without expanding your waistline. Be sure to read the labels on all protein bars and choose ones that fit your dietary needs.

Other ideas for healthier fast foods include low-fat string cheese, turkey jerky paired with an apple or bag of grapes, low-fat yogurt and nuts such as almonds. Remember that while nuts are a good protein source, they do contain fat and are often prepared with salt. One ounce of dry roasted almonds without added salt has about 15 grams of fat. Always eat nuts in moderation.