"don't" Supersize Me

[Taggart]

For those who like the speed and convenience of fast food places, aside from ordering salads with low fat dressing or no dressing, and saying no to soft drinks and fries, has anyone found items on the menus which have lower calories and fat content than the normal offerings on the menu? In other words food that you think may be at least a little bit healthier for you. Also were you able to stick with these items over the long term whenever you went to your favourite fast food restaurant?

[JimmyTheMook]

For those who like the speed and convenience of fast food places, aside from ordering salads with low fat dressing or no dressing, and saying no to soft drinks and fries, has anyone found items on the menus which have lower calories and fat content than the normal offerings on the menu? In other words food that you think may be at least a little bit healthier for you. Also were you able to stick with these items over the long term whenever you went to your favourite fast food restaurant?

The only healthy things in these fast food places is the doorway.

[suegha]

I agree, just don't eat that sh1t! If you do, have whatever you like, even super sizeing!

[Ulysses G.]

I ate the BK Broiler - a Burger King broiled chicken sandwhich with no skin - for many years when I craved fast food. Low calories and tasty enough.

[thai_narak]

agree, i like BK but only the chicken where you can see that it's a real chicken. can you imagine how these fastfood process the burger patties in truckloads?

[billd766]

Most times when I go I eat at KFC and choose the big size but as my naerest fast food place is 125km away it is only about oncw a month and I have the choice of KFC or Pizza company and I usually take a pizza back home to the family. They eat it cold or re-heated in the microwave and its still OK sort of.

[canadiangirl]

No offence, everyone has their own taste in food, but i really don't understand people who regularly eat fast food in a country like thailand, where you can just as easily eat a bowl of noodles on the soi just as quickly and more cheaply than having mcds.

in north america we have no good street food, there's little else that is cheap, quick and convenient, but in thailand????

even KFC: on my soi there is a woman who makes som tam and friend chicken so good she should put that place out of business.

there's really nothing healthy about fast food. i think you should have it as a guilty pleasure every once in a while, and just eat whatever you want, and then eat healthy the rest of the time. :-)

[onethailand]

No offence, everyone has their own taste in food, but i really don't understand people who regularly eat fast food in a country like thailand, where you can just as easily eat a bowl of noodles on the soi just as quickly and more cheaply than having mcds.

in north america we have no good street food, there's little else that is cheap, quick and convenient, but in thailand????

even KFC: on my soi there is a woman who makes som tam and friend chicken so good she should put that place out of business.

there's really nothing healthy about fast food. i think you should have it as a guilty pleasure every once in a while, and just eat whatever you want, and then eat healthy the rest of the time. :-)

Two words: Comfort Food.

I prefer the street vendors myself, whether in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong... but you have to have some variety in life as well.

[whatsupdoc]

Fast food is not synonymous with burgers, french fries etc. In my opinion it is oversimplified to state that all fastfood is not healthy. It depends very much on the chain and on your personal choice. A Subway sandwich is quite healthy isn't it?

[Fred Sanford]

No offence, everyone has their own taste in food, but i really don't understand people who regularly eat fast food in a country like thailand, where you can just as easily eat a bowl of noodles on the soi just as quickly and more cheaply than having mcds.

in north america we have no good street food, there's little else that is cheap, quick and convenient, but in thailand????

even KFC: on my soi there is a woman who makes som tam and friend chicken so good she should put that place out of business.

there's really nothing healthy about fast food. i think you should have it as a guilty pleasure every once in a while, and just eat whatever you want, and then eat healthy the rest of the time. :-)

I agree with you but this is the western food section of the forum where people ask about this sort of thing. I eat the street food myself rarely as I have a problem with the cleanliness issue and handling of money and food interchangably. I also freaked a while back when I saw a couple of rats crawling all over a parked food cart. If i eat the Thai food, I do it a food court but even there I see roaches crawling on walls, floors and even on eating tables.

my solution to this has been to buy my food at a supermarket and prepare it myself.

[Taggart]

I got the idea for this thread a few days ago. I'm in Canada, and for the last few weeks I've gone to the local library to pick up books on nutrition. A book that sat on the shelf, week after week, was one with the title "The Fast Food Diet" by Stephen Sinatra M.D. who claims he's a cardiologist. I never bothered looking at the book, because the title turned me off, and made me skeptical. I was in a store a few days ago, and saw the book there. I leafed through it, and thought it was at least worth a read. Next day I headed back to the library and it was still on the shelf so I took it out. I checked Amazon this morning, and there were only two reviews, and since it was published in 2006, it probably isn't a blockbuster seller. In the book, he mentions Jared Fogel who once weighed 425 lbs., but lost 245 lbs. after a year eating the sandwiches at Subway. The author also briefly talks about Merab Morgan who claims to have lost 37 pounds in ninety days by only eating at McDonalds. Now I'm not suggesting that fast food joints are the healthiest places for food, but if you monitor your choices, you can find a few items that are reasonably low in calories, total fat and saturated fat. One problem in my mind, would be the high salt content.

Now, one of the pluses about the fast food restaurants, is at least in the West, they are obliged to put up a list on their websites of their foods along with the nutritional value. Unfortunately, I can't read Thai, so whether they show this on for example McDonalds Thai website, I just don't know.

As for myself, last year when I was in Thailand, over a period of three weeks, I was guilty of eating once at KFC and one other time at the Burger King in the airport. Most of the rest was Thai food. I'm always looking for options to refuel, with a preference towards healthier alternatives.

Anyhow, it's good to hear your opinions, whether positive or negative.