Can fast food really be healthy?

Can fast food really be healthy?

The truth is that it’s extremely difficult to follow a healthy diet when you’re eating regularly at fast food restaurants. Fast food is typically high in trans fat, saturated fat, sodium, and calories. And it also tends to be low in nutrients and almost totally lacking in fruits, vegetables, and fiber.

That doesn’t mean you have to avoid fast food entirely. It’s OK to indulge a craving every once in awhile, but to stay healthy you can’t make it a regular habit. The key is moderation—both in how often you frequent fast food chains and what you order once you’re there. There are always choices you can make that are healthier than others. The following tips and menu recommendations can help you stay on track. Just remember that even the healthiest fast food options often have other nutritional drawbacks such as high sodium. So try to keep fast food to the occasional treat.

• Try to keep your entire meal to 500 calories or less. The average adult eats 836 calories per fast food meal—and underestimates what they ate by 175 calories. So don’t guess! Most chains post nutritional info both on their websites and at the franchise location. Take advantage of this information.
• Opt for foods that are lower in fat and higher in protein and fiber. Look for items with more good stuff, like fiber, whole grains, and high-quality protein. Also aim for options that are relatively low in saturated fats. And steer clear of all items that contain trans fats.
• Bring your own add-on items if you really want a health boost. Even when you order wisely, it can be pretty tough to get enough fiber and other important vitamins and nutrients from a fast food menu. If you plan ahead, you can bring healthy sides and toppings like dried fruit, nuts and seeds, carrot sticks, apple or pear slices, and cottage cheese or yogurt.

how does the fast diet work

How does the Fast Diet work?
(A TDEE / BMR / BMI calculator)

If we were to distill the Fast Diet into a single sound-bite, it would all come down to 5:2. That’s five days of normal eating, with little thought to calorie control and a slice of pie for pudding if that’s what you want. Then, on the other two days, you reduce your calorie intake to 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men.

Since you are only fasting for two days of your choice each week, and eating normally on the other five days, there is always something new and tasty on the near horizon. In short, it’s easy to comply with a regime that only asks you to restrict your calorie intake occasionally. It recalibrates the diet equation, and stacks the odds in your favour.

Bear in mind that the programme is designed as a well-signposted path towards a longer, healthier life; weight loss is simply a happy adjunct to all of that.

How many calories on a non-Fast Day?

You may have wondered how we came up with the recommendation that women have 500 calories and men have 600 calories on a Fast Day. We used the rule of thumb that women need 2000 calories and men need 2400 calories per day and on a Fast Day you should eat a quarter of a normal day’s recommended calories. Some of you have also wondered exactly how many calories you should be eating on days when you’re not fasting.

We thought we’d bring everything together in one place for you so you can do the calculations here. You can use the calculator on the right to calculate your BMI, BMR (basal metabolic rate) and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). We’ll go into these in more depth below.