Avoid Fast Food

  • Fast food is designed to be incredibly cheap, addictive, and identical at every restaurant.
  • They contain poor quality ingredients (often sourced from far away), chemicals, and lots of bad fats, added sugar, and salt—all having negative health and/or environmental consequences.
  • Sticking to a low sugar-added, whole foods diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains is best accomplished by avoiding fast food, and can significantly decrease your risk for obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, and much more.
  • Check IN whenever you a) consciously avoid fast food by making a check mark on the check-in screen, or b) consume fast food by using a slip (aka free pass) on the check-in screen. If you realize you’ve made it the entire day without any fast food, check-in by making a check mark at the end of the day.

What’s Inside

What’s IN

  • Not all food that is fast, is considered to be fast food. There are fast-casual restaurants that are quick, nutritious and sustainable, and therefore, allowed and encouraged! Examples include but are not limited to Dig, Sweetgreen, Urban Plates, Chopt, Everytable, and Pret A Manger.
  • You can often distinguish allowed quick restaurants from other not allowed fast food restaurants due to their changing seasonal menus, and their use of sustainable, local, organic ingredients. Feel free to ask an employee about the ingredients. If they know their food is sourced locally and seasonal, it’s safe. If they don’t, go somewhere else.
  • Telltale signs of good quick restaurants: menus made up entirely of salads, whole grains, vegetables, and sustainable proteins.

What’s OUT

  • No fast food. Fast food is typically mass-produced food that can be prepared very quickly. Telltale signs of fast food: menus that include burgers, fries, pizza, fried things and soda.
  • Some examples of forbidden fast food restaurants include but are not limited to: Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, Arby’s, Burger King, Carl’s Jr, Domino’s Pizza, Dunkin’ Donuts, Hardee’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Quizno’s, Sonic Drive-In, Subway, Taco Bell, WingStop, WingStreet, Checkers, Five Guys, In-N-Out, Jack in the Box, Panda Express, Popeye’s, Potbelly Sandwich Works, and Sbarro.
  • Eating a salad at a fast food restaurant is still considered to be fast food and is not allowed. Fast food salads often contain as many calories, chemicals and sugar as other fast food menu items due to fatty dressings with inferior ingredients. Note: if you are in a bind, eating a fast food salad without the chemical-laden dressing is the better option.
  • If you slip, no biggie. Slipping means you’re trying, which is what counts! You can get back on track for the rest of the day.

Why This Is A Good Idea

Fast food is designed to be incredibly cheap, addictive, and identical at every restaurant. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use poor quality ingredients (often sourced from far away), chemicals, and lots of bad fats, added sugar, and salt—all having negative health and/or environmental consequences. These “food” items are typically highly processed, and highly refined such that ingredients have been stripped of their natural fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Sticking to a low sugar-added, whole foods diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains is best accomplished by avoiding fast food, and can significantly decrease your risk for obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, and much more.

Over 70% of strokes and colon cancer can be avoided, as can at least 80% of heart disease and 90% of type 2 diabetes, and diet is a significant factor. Along with exercise and not smoking, developing good eating habits (less animal products, less processed food and more veggies and fruit) can help cut your risk of diabetes by 95%, your risk of heart attack by 80% and risk of a stroke by half.

Basic Tips

  • Check IN whenever you a) consciously avoid fast food by making a check mark on the check-in screen, or b) consume fast food by using a slip (aka free pass) on the check-in screen. If you realize you’ve made it the entire day without any fast food, check-in by making a check mark at the end of the day.
  • If you need a meal on the run, stop in a nearby grocery store and make a salad at the salad bar, get a sandwich at the deli, or find a freshly prepared item with limited, recognizable whole food ingredients.
  • Prepare breakfast at home. Yogurt with fresh fruit and muesli, two eggs on whole grain toast with a piece of fruit, and overnight oats are all fast, portable options.
  • Prepare for snack time when it’s easy to grab something processed. Carrots and hummus, or an apple with nut butter are both portable options.
  • Stash nuts and fruit in your bag for emergencies—bananas, apples, grapes, and berries are all convenient and easy to eat.
  • Raw veggies are also a great on-the-go snack—cut up cauliflower, broccoli, bell peppers, and/or carrots, and put them into a container to take on the road.
  • If you’re going to be away from home at mealtimes, research healthy options before you leave so you’re prepared.
  • If you’re traveling, pack nutritious snacks such as nuts and fruit (and a cooler if you’re traveling by car!), and evaluate the least offensive option on the road or in the airport.
  • Make a salad at home to take with you, and pack your dressing in a separate container so the lettuce doesn’t get soggy (unless it’s a kale salad, which only gets better the longer it’s dressed.)
  • Try a portable, assembled antipasto lunch with hummus, carrots and cucumbers, cheese, olives, artichoke hearts (from a jar is great), rice crackers, sliced tomato, roasted nuts and a piece of fruit. No cooking involved, and everything can be eaten cold.
  • Eat regularly. When you let yourself get too hungry, you’re going to grab whatever is closest—often fast food.
  • Stay hydrated. You might think you need a sugary afternoon snack, when really you’re just thirsty.
  • Get support! Tell your friends you’re avoiding fast food so they can help you stick to it.

Shopping List

  • Visit the produce section of your grocery store to stock up on fruits to keep on hand. Fruit is portable and full of fiber, making it the perfect on-the-go snack. Bananas, apples, pears, berries, and grapes are all easy to keep in your bag.
  • Veggies too—particularly ones that can be eaten raw as a snack, dipped in something, or cooked for dinner on hand—like zucchini, cauliflower, green beans, bell peppers and carrots.
  • Hummus, for the veggies.
  • Nuts, to pair with the fruit.
  • Be sure to stock up on leafy greens like kale, swiss chard, spinach, and broccoli—these guys are the kings of nutrition, and they are easy to cook. If you don’t have time to chop during the week you can chop all at once over the weekend and store your produce in a vented or perforated bag in your fridge. Or buy pre-chopped in a pinch, and let the grocery store do the heavy lifting for you.
  • Hit the bulk bins, the mothership of protein-rich, nutritious beans and whole grains like amaranth, bulgur, brown rice, buckwheat and quinoa. These grains can all be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge to grab on the go. Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt, and pile high with roasted veggies.
  • Your favorite proteins—sustainably-sourced fish, free-range chicken, organic grass-fed meat, etc. Cook them ahead of time and store them in the fridge to eat with the whole grains and veggies. Simply assemble in a to-go container and pile in your bag.
  • Eggs. They cook incredibly quickly and are good with almost anything.
  • Nut butter and rice cakes
  • Plain popcorn

Fast / Portable Recipes

Cheesy Scallion Scrambled Eggs by annefood Cheesy Scallion Scrambled Eggs

Creamy Green Smoothie by annefood Creamy Green Smoothie

Yogurt Breakfast by annefood Yogurt Breakfast

Israeli-Style Hummus by lauren Israeli-Style Hummus

Sweet Potato Fries by annefood Sweet Potato Fries

Eggplant “BLT” Sliders by Newgent Egglpant BLT Sliders

Blackened Barramundi Sliders with Lemon Tartar Sauce by thebetterfish Blackened Barrmundi Sliders with Lemon Tartar Sauce

Make-your-own Sweetgreen Harvest Bowl by darkchocolatepeanutbutter Make-your-own Sweetgreen Harvest Bowl

Charred Asparagus Pasta Salad by Newgent Charred Asparagus Pasta Salad

Carrot and Fennel Salad by debspots Carrot and Fennel Salad

Cucumber Basil Avocado Soup by rawbox Cucumber Basil Avocado Soup

Slow Cooker Stew by Rachna Slow Cooker Stew

Smart Things To Read

Note: Diet ID is not focused on the number on the scale. Weight loss can be a byproduct of developing healthier eating habits, but if you have questions about your weight, please contact your physician.

Join this challenge now!