Fast food can fit into a healthy, balanced diet as an occasional treat. However, some food options are worse than others and could have serious consequences for your health, even if you’re not eating them all the time! Let’s go through 19 of the most unhealthy options available at fast food restaurants.
Large Milkshakes
Most people love a good milkshake, but many fast-food restaurants allow you to order an extremely large one. They’re loaded with sugar and calories and often unhealthy chemicals are added to give them an appealing color or taste. Large milkshakes could cause you to gain weight, so consider a smaller one instead.
Super-Sized Fries
CNN suggests that “supersized portions and high-calorie dishes in restaurants are often blamed for contributing to America’s obesity epidemic.” Fries are no exception to this, and super-sizing them can easily cause the calories to pile up. The excess amounts of unhealthy fats and sodium won’t do you any favors either.
Triple Cheeseburgers
The larger cousin of the double cheeseburger, triple cheeseburgers are a recipe for health disaster. They’re high in saturated fats and cholesterol and often have an extremely high number of calories. Eating too many triple-cheeseburgers could lead to heart disease and obesity.
Fried Chicken
Every once in a while, some fried chicken might be a tasty snack. But the breading that fried chicken is coated in increases its calorie count and makes it high in fat. Try to stick to non-breaded chicken if you’re eating out, as that’s a healthier alternative.
Jumbo Hot Dogs
While many Americans enjoy hot dogs on BBQs and from fast food restaurants, they’re not always a wise choice – especially when they’re jumbo-sized. USA Today says hotdogs contain “harmful nitrates,” which don’t appear in “a fresh hamburger patty.” Too many hotdogs means too many nitrates, which may increase the risk of some cancers.
Large Sodas
Similarly to large milkshakes, large sodas can be a problem when it comes to portion control. They’re packed with sugar and empty calories, and drinking too many can put you at risk of developing diabetes. They also have little to no nutritional value, so it’s best to keep them out of your diet.
Breakfast Sandwiches
Many of the breakfast sandwiches that fast food restaurants have on the menu are full of grease, saturated fats, and cholesterol. They can put you at a greater risk of getting heart disease, cause you to gain weight, and add a ton of calories to your daily intake.
Large Pizza Slices
Having a bit of pizza now and again is perfectly fine as part of a balanced diet, but when you’re ordering large or extra-large pizzas, the portion sizes are too big to be healthy. They’re high in fats and sodium which can strain your body and cause cardiovascular problems.
Large Burritos
The problem with burritos from fast food restaurants is that they often contain processed meats and cheeses, which aren’t good for you. According to the NHS, “processed foods can lead to people eating more than the recommended amounts of sugar, salt and fat”, causing an unhealthy and unbalanced diet.
Jumbo Ice Cream Sundaes
This is definitely a dessert to save for special occasions because jumbo ice cream sundaes are full of sugar and fats. Eating them regularly could cause weight gain and diabetes. This is another case of portion sizes being far too large, which can lead to overeating.
Bacon Cheeseburgers
Combining bacon and a cheeseburger might sound like heaven for your tastebuds, but it’ll wreak havoc on your heart and blood pressure. The combination of high saturated fats, cholesterol, and sodium puts you at risk of heart disease, obesity, and high blood pressure.
Nacho Platters
It might be fun and tasty to share a nacho platter with friends, but it isn’t a dish that you should be eating alone. If you do, then you’ll be eating far too large of a portion for one person, which can cause you to put on weight and lead to cardiovascular problems.
Fried Chicken Sandwiches
We love the concept of putting meat between bread, but when it comes to fried chicken, that causes a carbohydrate overload. Breaded chicken in a bun can be very high in calories, and then you have to consider the mayonnaise or other sauces added as well.
Double-Stacked Cheese Quesadillas
They might taste delicious, but cheese quesadillas can be full of grease, oil, and fat. When you get a double-stacked cheese quesadilla, then you’ve just doubled the amount of unhealthy food going into your body. Cheese is particularly high in fat, which has been linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease.
Large Bacon, Egg, And Cheese Breakfast Biscuits
CBS discovered a shocking statistic regarding bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits: “heart disease, diabetes, and obesity are higher in the very same region where bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits” are more popular than the “McMuffin.” When looking for a fast-food breakfast option, it might be best to give these a miss.
Large Bacon Breakfast Burritos
Another unhealthy breakfast choice, bacon breakfast burritos are full of fats and contain a large amount of calories. When you go for the bigger portion size, you end up consuming even more calories, which can make you put on weight and is not good for your body.
Loaded Fries
On their own, french fries are high in sodium and unhealthy fats, which already isn’t great. However, when you order loaded fries, you’re also getting a ton of calories on top of that, as well as the chemicals added to any processed toppings.
Large Fried Chicken Meals
Fast food restaurants often offer meals containing large amounts of fried chicken, which are intended for friends or families to share. But if you’re consuming one of these meals on your own, then you’ll be taking in far too many calories and unhealthy fats.
Double Cheeseburgers
Since we started with the triple cheeseburger, it’s only fair to cover the double cheeseburger as our last unhealthy fast food option. Although double cheeseburgers are marginally more healthy than triple cheeseburgers, they still contain a lot of calories, cholesterol, saturated fats, and sodium, none of which are ideal for a healthy diet.
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