Sometimes I have people contact me and ask if they are or are allowed to eat a carefully chosen fast food salad as their “lean and green” medifast meal. I occasionally do this and find it perfectly acceptable in a pinch. However, the key is to select very wisely. Some fast food salads are quite diet friendly and some load you up with as many calories and fat as a burger and fries from the same restaurant. I’ll take a closer look at this (and tell you which deals I like) in the next article.
Keep in mind what Medifast’s “lean and green” criteria are when choosing your fast food salad: When making your selection, you’ll want to remember exactly what you’re looking for. The daily “lean and green meal” consists of 5 ounces of lean protein and three servings of low-glycemic vegetables. A salad can accomplish this beautifully, but only if you choose one that has all three of those components without any extras. Of course, you want to keep fat, carbs, and calories low, but many offerings stay within these guidelines.
Many fast food offerings load their salads with fried meats, bacon, croutons, and cheeses. And you can really get into trouble with his bandages. But, if you look closely, there are several good and viable options. Several companies offer options with lean grilled meat and only the basic vegetables for the diet.
Some of my favorites include:
1. McDonald’s Premium Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken: This one has grilled chicken, dark green leafy lettuce, and grape tomatoes. It does have a bit of cheese, but you can remove it or ask for your salad without it. Also, I use my own dressing spray to save a lot of calories and fat.
2. Taco Bell Chipotle Steak Taco Salad (from the Fresco menu): This salad is great, but it needs to be modified. Obviously you can’t eat the shell and you can’t add the tortilla chips and cheese. You should also ask them to hold the rice. But lean steak, lettuce, tomatoes, and sauce are fine in my experience. I put nonfat sour cream on the side and use the sauce for my dressing. It is still very tasty.
3. Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salad: This one has a good variety of vegetables, carrots, tomatoes and broccoli. I omit the tangerines because the carb and sugar content is too high. But the chicken and toasted almonds stay. Again, I use my own salad dressing spray because they are invaluable for saving fat, carbs, and calories.
4. Kentucky Fried Chicken Grilled Chicken BLT Salad: Of course, you’ll have to skip the bacon in this one. But lettuce, tomatoes, and grilled chicken are perfectly fine.
This is not an exhaustive list. These happen to be the ones I like. However, any offering that has basic low-glycemic vegetables and lean protein should work. Just remember to skip the unwanted extras like croutons, bacon, cheese, pastas, and heavy toppings. As I mentioned, those spray dressings are invaluable. They’re flavorful and just a few sprays really coat the salad and give it the flavor you’re looking for without the fat of some of the dressings that contain more bad stuff than burgers from those same restaurants.
