According to Health Magazine, McDonalds ranks pretty well if you want a healthy meal. The publication recently ranked the top 10 healthiest food chains and Micky D’s as many of us know it, came rolling it at #8. Keep in mind that this list is only comprised of the 100 largest quick service chains. Quick service excludes places like Houston’s and other similar, sit down restaurants.
Here’s the list in order:
1. Panera Bread
2. Jason’s Deli
3. Au Bon Pain
4. Noodles and Company
5. Corner Bakery Café
6. Chipotle
7. Atlanta Bread
8. McDonald’s
9. Einstein Bros. Bagels
10. Taco Del Mar
It sounds as if this publication really did a little homework. They created a scoring criteria that included the use of healthy fats, sodium content in entrees, organic produce and whether or not the nutrition information for their menus is available.
And, if you look at this list, the first two should come as no surprise. Panera Bread has many healthy choices, even for kids and, most chicken is antibiotic free. Even my favorite item on their menu – the French onion soup, has just over 200 calories and only 10 grams of fat (not bad for a soup that contains cheese and croutons). Jason’s Deli is another one of my favorites. There are a ton of healthy options on their menu and calorie counts for many if not most right there on the menu. You can even create your own salad from their salad bar, dig in to their frozen yogurt for dessert or choose from a plethora of organic options. My item of choice: the turkey Rueben (which is piled high with turkey).
But how did McDonald’s end up in the top 10? McDonalds is the one burger chain that I can think of that actually has a hamburger the size a hamburger is meant to be. And, this is a good option – just 200 calories and 9 grams of fat (the last time I checked). The days of supersizing made us super fat and should be over with. McDonald’s also has quality salads, apples with low-fat caramel dip, low-fat milk and other healthy choices. Some select stores also have Starbucks-quality specialty coffees (though I can’t vouch for the nutrition content, I can vouch for the taste).
Though most of the choices from this article were right on target, I would have definitely included my favorite fast food place – Moe’s Southwest Grill.