What do you do if you forgot to eat or bring a snack and you need to eat?  A lot of peo)le get junk food because it is cheap and convenient.  However, cheap and convenient is not necessarily good for your waist line.

I have seen people who stop through and get what they think is “just a burger.”  But because of the bun (and not healthy, no fiber white bread on top of it), breaded items and french fries…..that quick convenient stop could have just put your entire day’s load of carbs into your body before breakfast or lunch is over.

So, let’s go over waistline-friendly food choices that you can get at fast food places.

1.  Salad 

Obviously, if you can get a salad and not smother it with carb-loaded dressing, that is the best bet.  Get the one that has chicken or egg in it (not breaded).  It is filling and tastes good.  For example, Chick-Fil_A has a Chargrilled Chicken Salad that is only 11g of carbs.  Their ranch dressing has no carbs, and they have other dressings–just read the back of the bag to determine which to get or how much you can afford to use in the bag.  Even Starbucks and Subway have some really decent salads.

Even Costco has a chicken salad that is pretty decent, just watch how much dressing you use and throw out the croutons! If you watch the dressing and have no croutons, then you are looking at lower than 20g for a huge salad with chicken, cheese and veggies.  However, their pizza is one of the most fattening slices in town!  Their cheese pizza by the slice is 70g of carbs, veggie pizza slice is 31g of carbs, their hot dog with the bun is 46g, turkey wrap is 33g of carbs, .  Their yogurt is a whopping 82g of carbs!  (and you thought yogurt was good for you)

2.  Burger without the bun.

Now, if you don’t want a salad, there are other choices.  For example, at In and Out Burger, which is a California-specific place  (and I am sure that if you ask other places will do this too), you can get a protein-style burger (burger minus the bun or you can just throw your bun out or feed it to the birds).

If you do a double burger, it is 11g carbs or 8g net carbs or you can do a cheese and one patty burger for the same amount of carbs.  The double burger though has 33g of protein and the cheese and single patty is 18g of protein.  Both are very good.  At least the meat at In and Out is real and not that McDonalds weird meat.  Try to find a place where you can see their nutritional content before you order or do your HW BEFORE you get caught hungry.  Part of being thin is not being lazy and doing your HW in advance and preparing for emergency food crawls.  In you are indeed just plain lazy, then keep reading my blogs and you will learn about more and more places to go and learn about carb counts.

Skip mayo and go for just a tad bit of ketchup if you must (that has sugar too).

You can have turkey, fish, veggie or chicken burgers too. (Veggie patties have carbs, so find out the number of grams)

Try to fight temptation and do not to get the fries!  A small bag is about 30g of carbs and a large bag or a one-size In and Out bag is over 50g of carbs!  And if you think you will just eat a few and throw the rest out, that could be harder than you think!

3.  Eggs and/or bacon

A lot of fast food places do breakfast up until a certain time.  Some might do it longer.  I was hungry after my exercise class today, despite having a hard-boiled egg on the way to class.  I stopped by Jack in the Box and got an egg and bacon (see picture).  It was delicious, it was only $1.13!!!!! and it was low in carbs.  At the most my snack before lunch was maybe 2g of carbs.  Breakfast food can actually be healthy!  THIS IS THE CHEAPEST OPTION!

4.  There are power protein meals at Mexican food fast food places like Chipotle, Poquito Mas, Sharkey’s, etc.  You can even just get some plain chicken and vegetables at El Pollo Loco. You can get meat and vegetables.  I personally would not have the rice, but you could have a little, if you choose.    Try to have it in a bowl and not wrapped up in their full carb tortillas.

5.  Ready to eat oatmeal at places like Starbucks.  This is 25g carbs.  A bit high, but not too shabby.  Maybe you could leave a little in the cup and make it more like 20g.  However, it is a very healthy option, and just watch the number of carbs you do throughout the day.

6.  There is always a quick run into the market!  Do not be fooled into thinking that frozen yogurt is low in carbs.  Greek yogurt from the market is low and you are better off buying it or something with low carbs in the made-to-go items from a grocery store.  I know that Trader Joe’s has some great things to get,  like salads and wraps (watch the carbs in wraps and sandwiches), and you could always pick up a Power Crunch bar or some greek yogurt.

So, try to prepare things to take with you in advance, but if you get caught, you have these options!