Favorite Low Carb Fast Food
 

Today I went out to lunch with some co-workers.

I usually don't like to do this, but also don't want to be Mr. Anti-Social so I decided to go. I let everyone know about my low carb eating habits so we picked "In N Out Burger" (a popular burger joint here in Southern California). I figured I could just get a couple of burgers, toss the bun and be fine.

While in line I was talking to one of my co-workers about the diet (or WOE as you folks like to call it) and a gal in front of me over heard our conversation. She said that In N Out will make your burgers "protein style" if you ask for it. I found out that "Protein Style" means that they just make the burger with meat and cheese and then wrap it in a lettuce leaf. It was really good, and I didn't have to toss the bun for once.

This got me wondering if other fast food restaurants were coming up with low carb friendly items as well.

Anyone else find some low carb friendly foods at fast food places?

Thanks,

Dustin

I havent really came accross any fast food places around here that do that, but I have come accross very accomodating ones that are nice about fixing things "special". My favorite is Hardee's hot ham and cheese and they fix it in a little tray and its great. I often wonder though......why cant they tell you the carb count on things WITHOUT the bun??? LOL Too much involved I guess....so, I hope I do ok with the ham and cheese, since it is prob processed ham.
I would imagine you could get some of those restaurants to do that if you just ask. I always bluntly tell them, Im on a low-carb diet and they totally understand. I think next time I will just ask them if they will put my cheeseburger or grilled chicken patty in a lettuce leaf......some restaurants have shredded lettuce though, so that wouldnt work at certain places.
Hardees cheeseburgers have totally changed the way they make cheeseburgers...I used to hate their burgers, but now they have those humongous patties and cheese is melted on patty....and they have grilled onions now. I just take the bun off and all the toppings are still on the patty, and being such a thick patty, its easy to hold and eat with your toppings on top.

I eat Burger King Bacon Double Cheeseburgers without the bun or ketchup. It is 1 carb per burger. :) I also get a side salad with it. I get ranch dressing, and I take off the shredded carrots.

I like to get a couple of taco supremes from Taco Bell and toss the shells. Sometimes I have them add onions and Jal's.

You can order the taco salad from Taco Time without the shell; they just make it in a plastic tray. Beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream dressing. The large is quite filling, and only about 7.1g without the tortilla. (Source: Taco Time website [for the whole salad] and CalorieKing database [for individual ingredient counts]).

Yeah, I used to live in the Seattle area and would get the Taco Time taco salad. It sure was good, but now I'm down here in SoCal and Taco Time is no where to be found.

I did check out the double cheese burgers at Burger King. They are going for $0.99 each right now. Never been a huge fan of BK but these burgers were actually really tasty without the bun. And you can get 2 or 3 of them and really fill up.

BK also has a great chicken salad, where the chicken is actually freshly made and hot, unlike Wendy's and McDonalds who had theirs already packaged and the chicken is cold, YUCK!!! With a touch of ranch dressing and tossing the croutons its pretty low carb.

I'm going to be e-mailing the other fast food places to see if I can get nutritional information on individual ingredients

For example, occasionally I would go to Taco Bell and get a bunch of their 2 for $0.99 tacos. Then I would just eat the meat, cheese and lettuce out of them. However I noticed that I was stalling when I did that. That got me thinking that their taco meat is loaded with carbs. Unfortunately, like most fast food places, Taco Bell's site is not exactly filled with nutritional info and the people working there have no clue.

I'll post what ever I get back from them here. I'm also planning on sending similar e-mails to other fast food places to see if they will list the carb count on individual ingredients.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no longer a fast food fiend, and I try to cook up my own food when possible. But it can be tough sometimes when friends and family want to go grab something to eat at a fast food place. It would be great to know for sure the carb counts on these items so us LC'ers have options and know for sure what we're eating is not going to wreck our WOE.

I tried the new McDonald's bacon ranch salad with grilled chicken. I think they are trying to imitate the Wendy's BLT salad, right down to the grape tomatos.

The Newman's Ranch Dressing is 4 carbs for a package.


Wendy's is better, with caeser dressing, you need 2 packages because they are small, but they are 1 carb each.

Beth

Hey, there, DustOweb, at a wild guess it isn't the MEAT but the seasoning ... checked out a package of taco seasoning in the store lately? It's flavourings and sugar/dextrose/cornsyrup solids, etc.....

Hope this helps.

Yeah Judi, that's what I meant by loaded with carbs. I didn't think they injected the cows full of sugar or anything :p

Still waiting for my reply from Taco Bell. I'm sure their seasoning is full of carbs, but it would be nice to know for sure.

I'm steering clear of their food until I know for sure.

Sounds sensible to me, Dustoweb.

However, you might be surprised just how many people think seasoning doesn't count (for anything). Hence the response.

very good point. guess that's why it's better to make your own food, that way you know what's in it.

Speaking of knowing what's in the food you eat I heard once that Taco Bell uses MEAL WORMS :eek: as thier base for ground.....meat? Is that likely? Anyone else ever heard of that? I stopped eating Taco Bell after that!

That sounds suspiciously like an urban legend. I did some checking and didn't find that particular assertion, but did find this link at the comprehensive Snopes urban legends page.

The meal worm story is refuted here, on economic grounds of all things! Seems mealworms are nearly ten times as expensive as ground beef, pound for pound... :lol:

Gross!!! :eek:

I've eaten maybe 3 times in my life ~ Taco Bell. Just don't care for their food, any of it.

Normally, I don't eat fast food as I can make much better at home. However, when I travel, I like to eat the protein style burgers at In 'n Out. I wish they had bacon. :(

Recently I went to a Mongolian BBQ place and realized that this maybe a pretty good low carb place to eat out at with co-workers, if you watch the sauces and don't use the noodles. I piled on the meat and vegetables and used mostly sesame and hot oil for flavoring. Then they stir fried it on a hot surface. It was pretty darn good and very filling.

V

good fast food
 

I really like the Naked Burrito's from Qdoba. Basically, no tortilla, no rice and no beans. Just Meat, Cheese, Sour Cream and one of their salsa's if I feel like it. Having it Fajita style is good too. Their website also has a calculator for how much fat, carbs and so on would be. You can pick whatever combo you want and it'll calculate for ya. Really good stuff. :daze:

Oh my god moo I love QDoba! I have the same thing at least twice a week. It is yummy!

You just described my Monday evening dinner before school! Have you been following me???

Burger King now has Triple Cheeseburgers for $1.49. I ordered 2 and just about exploded after eating them all. :D

Nice bargain for LC. In-N-Out is still the best burger going though, even having them "protein style" is still darn good.

Hardee's 1/3 bacon and cheese burger is my new fav. The beef patty is huge and very filling.

McDonald's New Salads Nutrition
 

I wanted to know how the new 'Micky Dees' salads stacked up carb wise. All the salads have 8 net carbs, and 3 of the 4 dressings contain 4 more, for a 12 carb net meal. Warning: the Cobb Dressing has 9 carbs per serving. Here are the specifications:

Newman's Own® Creamy Caesar Dressing
A rich creamy Caesar dressing with a perfect blend of olive oil, cheeses and garlic.
Cal 190
Fat 18
Sat Fat 3.5
Cholesterol 20
Sodium 500
Carb 4
Fiber 0
Protein 2

Newman's Own® Cobb Dressing
A Creamy Vinaigrette - a hearty, creamy full-bodied dressing with a blend of cheeses, hints of sweet pepper and savory herbs.
Cal 120
Fat 9
Sat Fat 1.5
Cholesterol 10
Sodium 440
Carb 9
Fiber 0
Protein 1

Newman's Own® Light Balsamic Vinaigrette
A delicious, premium vinaigrette with the distinct, full flavor of aged balsamic vinegar and 50% less fat and 50% fewer calories than Newman's Own regular balsamic dressing. ¤ Light balsamic dressing: 90 calories, 8 g fat per serving. Regular balsamic dressing: 180 calories, 16 g fat per serving, ? carbs.
Cal 90
Fat 8
Sat Fat 1
Cholesterol 0
Sodium 950
Carb 4
Fiber 0
Protein 0

Newman's Own® Ranch Dressing
A creamy buttermilk dressing made with chives and parsley for a delicious savory flavor.
Cal 290
Fat 30
Sat Fat 4.5
Cholesterol 20
Sodium 530
Carb 4
Fiber 0
Protein 1

Grilled Chicken California Cobb Salad
Premium mixed greens tossed with sumptuous grape tomatoes, shaved carrots, crumbled bleu cheese, hickory-smoked bacon and chopped egg, topped with a warm breast of grilled chicken.
Cal 280
Fat 14
Sat Fat 6
Cholesterol 130
Sodium 960
Carb 11
Fiber 3
Protein 30

Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad
Premium mixed greens tossed with sumptuous grape tomatoes, shaved carrots, jack and cheddar cheese with hickory-smoked bacon, topped with a warm breast of grilled chicken.
Cal 270
Fat 13
Sat Fat 5
Cholesterol 75
Sodium 830
Carb 11
Fiber 3
Protein 28

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
Premium mixed greens with sumptuous grape tomatoes, shaved carrots, and grated Parmesan cheese.
Cal 210
Fat 7
Sat Fat 3.5
Cholesterol 60
Sodium 680
Carb 11
Fiber 3
Protein 26

Remember this though, that's NOT for 2 TBS, but the whole packet, which is kinda big. It comes out to around 2 g per TBS.

thanks for the info, I was wondering about those salads! now how do they taste?

I really love the Bacon Ranch one!!!!!
Vicky

:tears: In Canada, all they have is *light* caesar (ie full of carbs) and some mandarin orange something-or-other. :rolleyes: I usually end up getting a quarter pounder and tossing the bun.

I love these salads!!!!!
 

You don't have to eat the Newmans dressing. They will give you a cup of mayo. I did this the other day and it was great.
It's also a very big salad.

Keep the faith. :wave:

I have eaten one of these salads every day for lunch, I'm on induction and I'm in ketosis.

What I usually do is pick the "carby" stuff out of the salad-the tomatoes, the carrots. At least for induction..

Also, my salad comes with a packet of croutons-do you think they might be counting those in the carb count? I certainly don't use them.

I eat either the ranch or the vinaigrette dressing. The creamy vinaigrette has too many carbs....

What are the best fast food options?
 

Because I work away from home, I have to be creative when I eat lunch. I don't have time to prepare a brown bag, so here are a few of my favorite fast foods that are low carb. Please list yours or comment on these.

1) Western Bacon Six dollar Burger at Carl's Jr. (Protein Style) sans onion rings and bbq sauce. This 1/2 pound treat comes with preseasoned meat 3 slices of bacon and a slice of cheese all wrapped up in two large lettice leaves. Yummmm! After this I am totally full!

2) All you can eat Pizza (tops) at Round table , $5.99. I do my best to scrape off all the sauce but I wonder if anyone has any tips on how many carbs I may be eating. This doesn't seem to kick me out of ketosis, and it really hits the spot. I just feel a little guilty when I dump the crusts (with a discreet napkin on the top to cover my crime) before I go back for a second helping.

3) Sweet Tomatoes Salad bar : Standard all-you-can-eat joint with an AWESOME salad bar. I make a quick trip to the soup section where the stash the REAL bacon bits and liberally spread it with cheese etc. I figure I'm eating about 10 carbs or so because of the cheese and veggies. But man is it tasty! Again, doesn't kick me out of ketosis.

4) Chicken Fajitas at Castillo's Mexican Restaurant. THis little gem, hole in the wall is very accomodating. They happily replace the beans, rice and tortillas with extra MEAT!, and extra bell pepper and other veggies I request. I have no clue what the season the meat with but I figure it's good for a few carbs.

Quick Breakfast
 

Sometimes for a quick breakfast I'll go to McDonalds and order bacon strips, a sausage patty and plain eggs with a slice of cheese on top. Do you think they sneak in carbs? Maybe 1 gm for the sugar in the cheese and a gram or two in the sausage? I'll have to consult the nutritional fact sheet.
Jeff

I like Hardee's Angus burgers w/o the bun. You can get them in 1/3, 2/3, 1/2 pound sizes depending on how hungry you are. They are the best resturant burger I have tasted. Also for breakfast their loaded omelet biscuit w/o biscuit is great "fast" choice, $1.39. I usually get 2, it has ham, bacon, sausage, cheese and eggs.

For the summer, McDonald's brought back the Johnsonville Brats. $2 but a definite treat!