Eating out at restaurants - How to make healthy choices - Part 2

Okay friends, let's move on to another group of restaurants:

• Chick-fil-A
• Subway
• Zaxby's

If you missed our post on previous restaurants - Frontera, Macaroni Grill, O'Charley's and Nagano, you can find it here.

Again, not going to throw numbers at you, well maybe a couple, but not many. What's more important to me than the numbers is the mindset. The mindset of making healthy choices, the mindset of not caring what people around you think when it comes to your food, the healthy food that your body needs. Make sense? So, here we go:

Chick-fil-A

Love:

• Chargrilled chicken sandwich, Southwestern chargrilled salad - any chicken that is grilled, not fried
• Chicken soup, in moderation. This soup is great is you are sick! But, it is high in sodium, so be sure to drink plenty of water if you have it and only once a week!
• Cool wraps with grilled chicken. 

Avoid:

• Chicken salad sandwich, over 500 calories
• Yogurt parfait with granola, 39g sugar
• Waffle fries, between 300-400 calories alone and no nutritional value
• Here's a little trivia for you - just because they come out with "holiday" flavors, it doesn't mean it is healthy for you. Peppermint chocolate chip milkshake has 930 calories and 127g sugar. At 32g a day, yes, that's nearly FOUR days worth of sugar!

Subway

Love:

• 6" Sub sandwiches are great! Best meats to choose: Oven-roasted chicken, roast beef or turkey breast. 
• 9-grain wheat bread or wrap
• Pile of veggies on sandwich: Green peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes
• Olive oil and vinegar drizzled on top
• Fresh fit sides - apple slices or yogurt

Avoid:

• High sodium meats like ham
• Mayonnaise
• Cheese, too fatty and processed
• Chipotle southwest sauce, over 100 calories for just a small amount
• Pickles, high in sodium
• Cookies

Zaxby's

Love:

• Grilled chicken sandwich meal, honey mustard dressing on the side
• House Zalads with grilled chicken
• Buffalo wings meal, all meals are served with celery sticks
• Basket of celery sticks with Zax sauce

Avoid: 

• Onion rings, over 600 calories in appetizer
• Fried pickles and crinkle fries
• Chicken salad sandwich, mayonnaise alone adds over 200 calories to this sandwich [just because it says "chicken" doesn't always mean it is healthy]
• Milkshakes, Caramel pecan pie is over 800 calories and 92g sugar, not as bad as Chick-fil-A's above, but still almost 3 days of sugar in one beverage

Remember friends, as I said before:

• You are in control. No one is making you order something you don't want to eat. 
• Keep it light. Restaurant portions are 3 to 4 times a normal serving. So take some of it home for lunch tomorrow. 
• Don't stress and don't be swayed by opinions of others at the table. It's your business what you eat, not theirs. 
• Be strong and be healthy, you CAN make good choices.

You CAN eat healthy when you go to restaurants, you CAN be in control. Is it worth it to your health to be?