Fast Food Tips for Athletes

Fast Food Tips for Athletes

Fast food restaurants provide a quick, cheap and filling meal. However, many fast food menu items are high in fat, calories and sugar. They’re also low in vitamins, minerals and fiber. Here are some tips to help you eat a healthy fast food meal.

Fast foods are often FAT foods! Too many fat calories get in the way of eating enough carbohydrates. If you eat too few carbohydrates, you lose energy for sports performance. About 60% of your calories should come from carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables, beans). Fat takes longer to digest than carbohydrate, which means you should cut down on high-fat pre-game snacks or meals. You don’t want to be sluggish, throw up or have stomach cramps during sports.

What’s good?

Thick crust pizza tastes great and provides lots of carbohydrate. The cheese also gives you calcium. Pepperoni or other greasy meats add fat, so try veggie varieties, meatballs or plain cheese.

Order burgers with extra tomatoes and lettuce. Hold the sauce. If you’re in the mood for fries, choose the small size.

Roasted or grilled chicken dinners are definitely better than fried chicken. But there’s still a lot of fat in the skin. So remove the skin before you start munching.

Pasta (spaghetti or noodles with meat/poultry/veggies), chili, hearty soups are mmm good!

Salad bars can offer healthy high carbohydrate meals. Ask for extra broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, beans or other colorful veggies on top of your salad. Go easy on the salad dressing; you may add nearly 400 calories of fat! Or try diet dressing. Enjoy whole grain rolls or pasta salads. Be careful of cream sauce.

When ordering deli sandwiches, emphasize the bread and veggies. Go light on the spread. Choose whole grain breads to add fiber.

Wraps and pita sandwiches are a new trend in fast foods and they can be low or high in fat calories depending on the ingredients. Choose wraps that are filled with lots of fresh vegetables, as well as meat or cheese. Watch out for high fat toppings which soak the wrap with calories.