FIT FAST FOOD FAST FOOD shouldn’t be your first option, but sometimes it’s your only option. Here’s what to order — and what to avoid — at your favourite joints By Shawn Donnelly BURGER KING Best Bet >> LA Flame-Grilled Chicken Salad Top it with a choice of four delicious dressings, less than 140 calories) excluding dressing): 2 g fat, 7 g carbs and 19 g protein. Sleeper >> Chicken Whopper We, too, were leery of the Whopper’s expansion into poultry, but this sandwich rocks. Hold the mayo, and you’re left with 7 g fat and 38 g protein. (Go bunless to shed a whopping 45 g of carbs.) Worst Bet >> Original Double Whopper with cheese In terms of calories, this one breaks into four digits. It’s also got 79 g fat. Impostor >> Bacon & Cheese Steak Burger The burger draws 64% of its calories from fat, and the sandwich provides 83% of your daily sodium. Tip: “Have It Your Way” is the company slogan — and your invitation to be demanding. So if you’re watching carbs but don’t want to go breadless, request a small bun and cut 17 grams. Ask for extra veggies like lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. You may be quite sure you’ll never be there, standing in line between a couple of chubby strangers, staring up at a glowing board filled with words that make you think of grease. But you never know. Maybe you’re busier than usual one day. Or your flight is horribly delayed. Or your daughter scored a hat-trick, and all she wants to do to celebrate is go you-know-where. Relax. Finding yourself in a fast-food restaurant is no longer the end of the culinary world. With all due respect to that guy who made Super Size Me, there are actually some decent things to eat at these places. The problem is, the good items are often buried in a sea of crap. So how do you know what to order and what to leave for that salad-dodger behind you? Let us help. We analysed the menus at five of the biggest fast-food chains to uncover the best and worst choices at each place, along with the items that sound bad but are actually good (“Sleeper”) and those that sound good but are actually bad (“Impostor”). Take our advice, and you’ll never, ever be mistaken for Billy Bunter. McDonald’s Best Bets >> Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Here’s a tasty salad with excellent numbers: 6 g fat, 9 g carbs and 29 g protein. Top it with Newman’s Own Low Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (3 g fat, 4 g carbs) and you’ve got yourself a decent meal! If you’re extra hungry, order an additional grilled chicken breast fillet. >> Chicken McGrill The restaurant’s best sandwich gets even better when you substitute barbeque sauce for mayo — leaving 4.5 g fat and 27 g protein. Hold the bun and the 47 g carbs drop to 4. Sleeper >> Burger If you really like burgers, get one! The sandwich that launched the franchise is still a respectable choice, with 10 g fat and 12 g protein. If you’re freaking about the 36 g carbs, remove the top bun and try it open-faced. Worst Bets >> Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese The restaurant’s heaviest sandwich contains 430 calories from fat and 47 g fat. Now, if you still crave this beast — it does boast 46 g protein — take one of these damage-control measures: order it without cheese; order it without condiments and a bun; order it but drive off without picking it up. >> Large French Fries Healthwise, this may be the chain’s weakest link: 25 g fat, 66 g carbs and only 7 g protein. Quips Cindy Heroux, author of The Manual That Should Have Come With Your Body, “Don’t super-size your fries unless you want to super-size your thighs.” Impostor >> Filet-O-Fish People think that fish is better than beef. People are wrong. Actually, this sandwich has almost as much fat (20 g), more carbs (41 g) and less protein (15 g) than a Quarter Pounder! Tip: Get a Happy Meal, with a Fruit Bag of slices of fresh apple and grapes and a bottle of organic semi skimmed milk. PIZZA HUT Best Bet >> 14" Large Thin ‘N Crispy You can’t go wrong with any of the Hut’s six three-topping combos under 7 g fat per slice. Sleeper >> 14" Large Chicken Feast Pizza Don’t be scared by the thicker dough. Per slice, this pie has 7.4 g fat and 14 g protein. To reduce its 29 g carbs, stop eating when you hit the outer crust. Worst Bet >> 14" Large Sausage Meat Feast Crust Pizza Each slice lugs 430 calories, 19 g fat and 43 g carbohydrates. Whatever you do, don’t add extra cheese. Impostor >> Individual Veggie Lover’s 4forAll Pizza Don’t be fooled by its small size: Even with veggies, just one of these mini pizzas packs 23 g fat and 65 g carbs. Tip: Load your pizza with veggies and chicken, says Cindy Heroux, “The veggies give you all the benefits they’re famous for, and the chicken adds protein without the saturated fat.” SUBWAY Best Bets >> 6-inch Turkey Breast, Ham & Roast Beef on Wheat Bread On a menu loaded with excellent choices, including seven sandwiches with less than 7 g fat, this one might be the best, with four times as much protein (24 g) as fat (6 g). To keep it this low, don’t add cheese, mayonnaise or oil. >> Mediterranean Chicken Salad This has one of the best protein-to-fat-and-carb ratios in the entire fast-food nation: 22 g protein to 4.5 g fat and 11 g carbs. Supplement with fat-free Italian dressing, which adds 35 calories, 1 g protein and 7 g carbs. Sleeper >> 6-inch Roasted Chicken It might sound a little plain. So what? This isn’t a “look how interesting my sandwich is” contest. The sub contains 5 g fat, 38 g carbs and 25 g protein. Worst bets >> Foot-long Double Meat Meatball Marinara In case you thought everything at Subway was light and breezy, check out this heavyweight: 1,480 calories, 76 g fat and 122 g carbs. Steer clear. >> Chocolate Chip Cookie Don’t ruin a healthy meal with too many of these bad boys, which contain 10 g fat apiece. Impostor >> Atkins-Friendly Turkey Bacon Melt Wrap Although you drop around 28 g carbs by going breadless, your fat climbs by about 17 g. Not a great trade-off. If you still want a wrap, get Mediterranean Chicken. Tip: Unless you’re wicked hungry, don’t inhale a 12-inch sub in one sitting. “Eating to the point of full is not advised,” says Jill Fleming, author of Thin People Don’t Clean Their Plates. “It causes your body to increase its lipogenic enzymes, which store fat.” Take half home. KFC Best Bets >> Chicken Breast The big thing here — as with all KFC chicken — is to remove the Original Recipe skin or Extra Crispy breading. The top layer might be finger-lickin’ good, but its fat is love-handlin’ bad. Peel it off, and you shed more than 84% of the fat. The remaining bird has just 3 g fat, no carbs and 29 g protein. Solid. Oh yeah, and never (and we mean never) polish off a whole bucket by yourself. >> Green Beans Some KFC side dishes are fairly healthy, and this one might be the best. Only 50 calories, 1.5 g fat and 7 g carbs. Most of your protein will come from chicken; still, the green beans contain a decent 2 g. Sleepers >> Mashed Potatoes and Gravy contain only 4.5 g fat and fewer carbs than you might expect (18 g). Besides, who can resist the Styrofoam bowl and spork? >> BBQ Baked Beans have 1 g fat, 8 g protein and 7 g fibre — which will help control your cholesterol, not to mention straighten you out in ways we won’t go into here. Worst Bets >> Chicken Pot Pie This glorified TV dinner is high in fat (40 g) and sky-high in carbs (70 g). If you do order it, don’t eat the crust. >> Coleslaw Be sceptical of anything whose base ingredients are cabbage and mayonnaise. It’s got 11 g fat and 22 g carbs. Plus, does anybody actually like coleslaw? >> Apple Pie Minis They may be cute, but they sure won’t help you get cut. Just one order has 400 calories and 22 g fat. Impostor >> Oven Roasted Twister Sandwich Wrap You see “oven” and “wrap”, you think nutrition, but this sandwich has 38 g fat, 55 g carbs and nearly as many calories (670) as anything on the menu. Tip: Make your chicken choices as white as the Colonel’s hair. “White meat contains less than half the fat of dark meat,” says Fleming. “Less fat means more protein per ounce.” M&F