[lundyt]

As I sit here nomnomnoming on some Nandos chicken it got me thinking. Is Nandos really that healthy. It is compared to McDonalds but what about some of the other alternatives out there.

What are some healthy alternatives if your eating out and quick.

Pho?
Subway?
Quiznos?

where do they rank?

I'm trying to eat healthier but some times the smell of churches chicken is sooooooo:bowdown:

[Santofu]

Honestly, you're better off making food at home if you want to eat healthy
However every meal you eat out contains a little or a lot of fat. It's not a bad thing really.

[chin3se604]

I'm trying to eat healthier but so times the smell of churches chicken is sooooooo:bowdown:


peel off the skin and just eat the chicken

[unit]

honestly it depends on your definition of healthy...
-weight loss
-chemical content
-specific diet
etc...

[lundyt]

^lets go with weight loss and non artery clogging food.

[RacePace]

Nando's with a side of coleslaw is probably the best you can do.

Others will chime in on the other ones, blah blah Subway blah blah carbs

[unit]

eat fewer carbs.... weight lost.
easy peasy. hard part is doing it.

[sonick]

Pho?
Subway?
Quiznos?


None of these could be considered really "healthy."

Pho, although less processed, has a poor macronutrient mix with a lot of carbs in the rice noodle and not much protein.

Most of Subway's ingredients are processed and full of sodium and preservatives. Their chicken breasts are suspiciously consistent in shape and grill marks. I would avoid.

Quiznos is better than Subway in terms of ingredients, but they use a lot of sauces and the calorie count on them is likely pretty high compared to subway.

+1, Nandos is probably the healthiest, albiet not the cheapest. Quarter chicken breast with peri veg is solid.

In terms of weight loss, the most basic formula is burn more calories than you eat. There are other schools of thought besides this such as low-carb or calorie-timing, but the easiest rule of thumb for beginners is to burn more calories than you eat.

It is possible to eat ONLY church's chicken and still lose weight, so long as you don't eat a LOT of it. What trips many people up is that fat is more calorie dense than carbs or protein by more than double (9 cal per gram vs. 4 cal per gram), fatty foods make it easier to take in too many calories. Fat doesn't make you fat, eating too much makes you fat.

Artery-clogging is due to cholesterol deposits. Dietary cholesterol and fat do not clog arteries. Sugars and processed carbohydrates do. Avoid them where possible. This includes sugar, bread, white rice, etc. Soft drinks and candy are the WORST. If you have those on a regular basis, simply cutting them out of your daily diet will do wonders.

Lastly, eat more vegetables wherever possible. Iceberg or romaine lettuce in salads don't count, so if given the choice between sauteed veggies or a side salad for a meal, go with the veg.

[Splmash]

Not all carbs are bad. And Nando's is not healthy.

[RayBot]

Everything so far in question is 'fast food.' Nothing fast food is meant to be a lifestyle food. Its meant to eat if youhave only 15+/- minutes to spare. Nothing more or less than that.

Having said that, compared to the rest of the fast food....Subway is an EXCELLENT fast food choice. Sure, none of their trimmings are organic and cold cut meat is crap quality, but same is the stuff you'll find in deli and produce section at safeway. The meatballs have a similar texture to spam, and I am sure that the chicken has a lot more filler than they claim to have. But theres 30 items on the menu...so, go pick and choose. I usually have a wrap whenever I go and I am content.

No matter what fast food chain you go to...you'll find 'better' alternatives (except for Jack in the Box, that stuff is bat shit nasty!) But bottom line is....its fast food. But a body needs to eat!!! If you can't get to your kitchen within an hour, and you're hungry now....McDonald's is better than starving your body.

[gdoh]

i always try to go with subway whole wheat bread very small amount of sauce and chocolate milk but if you cant, then just eat less of the shit tier food as long as your not eating bad every single day then it should be fine if you live a active lifestyle....or have a shake for now and eat when you get home

thats what i would do if i was really concerned but mostly i just go with a half assed diet and when i need to cutting is easy and quick

[sonick]

+1 on half-assing it. Strict dieting (absolutely no white bread, no pasta, chicken breast only, etc.) is very, very hard, which makes it very easy to fall out of it and will drive you crazy.

My philosophy is eat what you like, but make it a habit to make the better choice when given the choice (i.e. go to mcdonalds but don't get pop and fries, if have the choice of veggies and potato get the veg, get the roast chicken vs. the chicken alfredo) and eat in moderate portions.

Yes strict dieting will get you in good shape way faster and if you have the discipline to do so, all the power to you. But if you don't, half-assing continually is better than whole-assing it for a week then failing, then binging for two.

[RayBot]

As I sit here nomnomnoming on some Nandos chicken it got me thinking. Is Nandos really that healthy. It is compared to McDonalds but what about some of the other alternatives out there.

What are some healthy alternatives if your eating out and quick.

Pho?
Subway?
Quiznos?

where do they rank?

I'm trying to eat healthier but some times the smell of churches chicken is sooooooo:bowdown:

I assume that you go to the Garden City and Blundell location a lot.....whenever I go for a quick bite at the Subway there, the Church's chicken just steals her away.

[SkinnyPupp]

Subway is 10x worse than McDonald's btw. Quiznos too

[gdoh]

Subway is 10x worse than McDonald's btw. Quiznos too

how could that be??

[sonick]

how could that be??

Nice job tee-ing it up. Eagerly awaiting Skinnypupp subway/quiznos rant :fullofwin:

Not sarcastic, I do enjoy when he puts people in their place about McDonalds vs. Subway.

[SkinnyPupp]

We discussed this before somewhere, do a search. Basically they lower the good stuff (the pure meat) and increase the bad stuff (the bread) and convince you to leave out the only real food they offer (cheese and mayo) and on top of all that, market it as healthy.

[tubbyboi]

im on a low carb diet right now and honestly after the first 2weeks of doing it, the withdrawal isn't bad bad anymore. I haven't had any rice, pasta, bread (any sort of strachy carb) for about 2 months but the results have been good (about 2.5p every week).

Kept myself motivated by telling myself that yeah sure i can binge here and there with the carbs but if i didn't then i would get to my goal a lot quicker. I say try it for yourself even if its just for 2 weeks and weigh yourself after 2 weeks, once the results start rolling in it'll keep u going.

[unit]

what i find gross about subway is how half the time their lettuce looks brown and rotten, and its already chalk full of preservatives. must be some OLD ass lettuce.

[Death2Theft]

Not sure why fried chicken gets such a bad rep. Looking at the nutritional numbers on the website vs mcdonalds u could eat 2-3 peices of churches to equal a mcdonalds burger.

[RayBot]

Basically they lower the good stuff (the pure meat)

Is there a fast food joint that sells pure meat thats not deep fried? Honestly, I can't name a single chain that does.

and increase the bad stuff (the bread)

I don't recall bread being evil. Bread is bread.
If you are referring to carb intake, yeah...carb intake should be limited but if the bread in a 6 inch is all the carb intake you take in for the day, thats definitely not bad at all. Depending on lifestlyle like regular runners, people is gonna need carbs to function. Of course, picking your carbs is essential....i'll have toast for breakfast but I actually never touch white rice and potatoes anymore.
If you are talking about the quality of the bread...as I recall McDonalds has most of their menu served on buns. Last time I checked (which is still 10+ years ago), McDonalds makes their buns with potato starch. I can't imagine that being better than subway, or subway being worse than McDonalds.

I prefer wraps....but those have TONNES of preservatives, but thats my preference above eating a 6inch. [/QUOTE]

Regardless, both joints are fast food....nothing less to expect. And its not like sit down joints make'em any better. But realistically, if you're looking at every aspect in your bread, vegetables and meat make and it makes that much of a difference...you're gonna be spending a lot in organic product. And going there, thats nowhere near the topic of fast food. Pick and choose your poison.


However, all this can be put to a (fun but not fully conclusive) test. Buy the healthiest value meal you can find and eat it. Do a spin class an hour later. Whatever makes you feel like shit the fastest....is the unhealthiest. Again, as i said, not fully conclusive, but still worth a shot.

[BrRsn]

You guys need to find a cheap greek restaurant to visit on a regular basis. Thee's a place on hastings I go to regularly and it's pretty damn healthy. I usually just get kebabs and veggies.

If you want the easiest way to cut calories though, don't drink anything but water. If you think about it, anything that you drink with food is just there to help you eat the food and make you less thirsty, if it contains any calories they're extra. So drink water, and avoid diet soft drinks, the aspartame isn't good for you either.

If you can eat BBQ chicken breast 3-4 times a day, and have access to a barbecue, I got a wicked easy recipe I use. I make 6 chicken breasts (a box) every night before I go to the gym, and eat them all the next day. 90 calories a breast, takes 20 seconds to heat up in microwave after they're cooked, and about 25 minutes to cook the night before. Heat up and serve with any veggies.

There's tons of ways to lose weight, once you figure that out its easy. The hard part is sticking to your diet when all your friends are eating double cheeseburgers with fries and coke, and you're nibbling away at a lukewarm chicken breast with a few veggies.

[DaFonz]

If you can eat BBQ chicken breast 3-4 times a day, and have access to a barbecue, I got a wicked easy recipe I use. I make 6 chicken breasts (a box) every night before I go to the gym, and eat them all the next day. 90 calories a breast, takes 20 seconds to heat up in microwave after they're cooked, and about 25 minutes to cook the night before. Heat up and serve with any veggies.


How did you calculate 90 calories a breast? Chicken breast is about 1cal/g, so for just the meat alone it'd be at least 130 calories (average half breast being 130g).

Can you post your recipe?

[SkinnyPupp]

Is there a fast food joint that sells pure meat thats not deep fried? Honestly, I can't name a single chain that does.
All McDonalds burgers use nothing but pure beef. And they aren't deep fried (not sure why you said that)

I don't recall bread being evil. That doesn't make it not true :)

Anyway, going to ANY chain restaurant, be it fast food, slow food, or marketed as healthy, you are going to get crap. The only way to really eat healthy is to do it yourself. If you can't or don't want to do that, you have to do the best you can.

[mkings]

Just avoid the junior chickens and the nuggets, its all preservatives and chemicals and a mixture of flour, 10% chicken and bones......:speechless:

edit : at dhillon09, damn all this food gets pricy man. LOL

[RayBot]

All McDonalds burgers use nothing but pure beef. And they aren't deep fried (not sure why you said that)


I said it because the only thing I can think of fast food that isn't processed meat is chicken parts...and the only way I can recall fast food joints serving chicken parts is being deep fried. (is Nandos considered fast food?)

Even though Mcdonalds uses purebeef patties, its still 'processed meat.' All it has to do is come from a cow, and its considered 100% beef.

On a side story, urban legend storytells that McDonald's beef supplier's name is 100% Beef.....which is how McDonalds is able to legally claim they have 100% Beef patties.

[BrRsn]

How did you calculate 90 calories a breast? Chicken breast is about 1cal/g, so for just the meat alone it'd be at least 130 calories (average half breast being 130g).

Can you post your recipe?

It's not really a recipe as much as it is a sauce I really like.

What I do is I take Superstore Bluemenu Easycook Chicken breast burgers (DO NOT get the "thick and juicy" burgers, they taste like shit and are processed), and throw em in a plastic bag with Kraft Marinade overnight (Southwest barbecue is the name I think). I use about 2 teaspoons/breast. I add a bit of lemon juice + salt pepper aswell, and throw it in my fridge.

The next day I grill it for about 15 mins turning frequently, and brush on the juice from the bag everytime I flip. Closest I've ever come to having chicken breasts that taste like nando's breast. I love it so much that I eat it 4xdaily. You may or may not like it.




I said it because the only thing I can think of fast food that isn't processed meat is chicken parts...and the only way I can recall fast food joints serving chicken parts is being deep fried. (is Nandos considered fast food?)

Even though Mcdonalds uses purebeef patties, its still 'processed meat.' All it has to do is come from a cow, and its considered 100% beef.

On a side story, urban legend storytells that McDonald's beef supplier's name is 100% Beef.....which is how McDonalds is able to legally claim they have 100% Beef patties.

+1! I've heard this as well. Pretty smart how they market it.

[tubbyboi]

i use to work at McDonalds back when i was 15 and i remember when the rumor came out about how the company was called 100% beef. Haha im not too sure if any of you guys were aware or went to the same meeting as i did, but there was a meeting at Science world shortly after with a lot of McDonalds employees from all over Vancouver and we had to do a sit in about how it wasn't true and that we should relay that information to our family and friends.

Saying that i worked at McDonalds and even i didn't believe it was 100%. NO WAY.

[JSilver]

^ True story

[SkinnyPupp]

I can't believe that people exist who are stupid enough to believe stories like that. Truly, it blows my mind. :fulloffuck:

[RayBot]

I can't believe that people exist who are stupid enough to believe stories like that. Truly, it blows my mind. :fulloffuck:



Whether the tales are true or not....It seems to me that you've been convinced that you've been eating quality meat. I don't know where the surprise....since when was ground beef considered a quality meat?

[sonick]

How did you calculate 90 calories a breast? Chicken breast is about 1cal/g, so for just the meat alone it'd be at least 130 calories (average half breast being 130g).

Can you post your recipe?

??? Protein is 4 calories per gram, fat is 9 calories per gram.

[lundyt]

most of the fast food places that deem themselves "healthy" dont actually come out and say it. They just say eat fresh, subway, nandos etc.... Guess I need to start looking for the mom and pop stores hole in the wall type diners

[JSilver]

I can't believe that people exist who are stupid enough to believe stories like that. Truly, it blows my mind. :fulloffuck:

:speechless:

[sonick]

most of the fast food places that deem themselves "healthy" dont actually come out and say it. They just say eat fresh, subway, nandos etc.... Guess I need to start looking for the mom and pop stores hole in the wall type diners

Every napkin at Nandos says "Seriously Healthy Chicken"

[BrRsn]

I can't believe that people exist who are stupid enough to believe stories like that. Truly, it blows my mind. :fulloffuck:

Yes, because hearing something and telling someone else that you heard it when they mention it makes you stupid. :fulloffuck:

[SkinnyPupp]

Whether the tales are true or not....It seems to me that you've been convinced that you've been eating quality meat. I don't know where the surprise....since when was ground beef considered a quality meat?
Yes, because when you take meat and GRIND IT, it suddenly becomes bad for you.

[JSilver]

Thats like saying their chicken nuggets are 100% chicken meat, no?

Either or, I'd avoid McDs.

[SkinnyPupp]

Thats like saying their chicken nuggets are 100% chicken meat, no?

Either or, I'd avoid McDs.
No it's not. Not at all.

Ingredients of a chicken Mcnugget:

White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning [autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid], sodium phosphates, natural flavor (botanical source). Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, bleached wheat flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, dextrose, corn starch

Ingredients of a beef patty:

Beef

Avoiding McD's because it is 'bad' is like avoiding water because it can drown you. If you go in there and use your head, avoid the crap, and don't eat there exclusively, there is nothing that makes it automatically bad.

[RayBot]

Yes, because when you take meat and GRIND IT, it suddenly becomes bad for you.

Okay....nobody grinds quality meat. Thats why its ground up.....because after the butcher takes the good quality meat, the crap edibles go into the grinder. Its still 100% Beef.


However, there is still the issue that McDonalds patties have 4x the sodium then a standard beef patty of the same weight.

[SkinnyPupp]

So what makes meat "good quality" if it's just meat? Amino acid profile? molecular weight? How do you determine that the peptides and lipids in a sirloin steak for instance are somehow more healthy than the peptides and lipids found in ground beef?

The patties have no sodium added, it is sprinkled on during cooking. You can request no salt added. Not that it matters, because there's nothing bad about sodium, if you are not sick with kidney disease.

[mkings]

SkinnyPupp puts up a good fight, beef is beef, and mcdonalds is mcdonalds, and it will remain an unhealthy choice.

[SkinnyPupp]

Some things at mcdonalds are unhealthy choices. Mcdonalds itself is not in itself an entirely unhealthy choice.

[JSilver]

Honestly, bad or not, I would still avoid McDs.

Double Big Mac or a Chicken Salad, I could care less.

[SkinnyPupp]

And that's fine. Personal choice. But spreading stupidity is what irritates me. Things like "they use a BRAND of beef called 100%" and "ground beef is bad for you because it's ground" and "salt is bad for you"... it's all such bullshit needs to stop.

[JSilver]

No for sure.

Everything has to be eaten in proportion to what is healthy for your body.

At the end of the day no one can really say what exactly is in their beef patties or not.

[RayBot]

And that's fine. Personal choice. But spreading stupidity is what irritates me. Things like "they use a BRAND of beef called 100%" and "ground beef is bad for you because it's ground" and "salt is bad for you"... it's all such bullshit needs to stop.

Not saying that you are wrong, but it seems like you are the only one defending your own comments.
If McDonalds tasted better (to me), id be having that more often.

The topic definitely isnt healthy food...its about healthier fast food, and McDonalds as a whole is not unhealthy. But for me, the determining factor is this...what fast food can i have and in 1.5 hours have a good workout without having my lunch bogging me down? Regardless of sodium, cholesterol, carbs, fat, preservatives, etc. etc. etc.

For me, it definitely isnt McDonalds...on the other end, it IS Subway and Taco Del Mar.

Have you ever convinced a person with a family history of high blood pressure that there is no problem with salt?
Or convince a marathon runner that carbs are bad for them?
Everyone has different diet requirements.
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[MarkyMark]

As far as what your body looks like, you can look great eating mcdonalds everyday, that's not saying it's super healthy for you, but do you think your body knows the difference between 40 grams of protein from mcdicks and 40 grams from a chicken breast cooked at home? Yeah the sodium content is higher but let's assume no one is stupid enough to eat mcdonalds every meal of the day.

As for carbs, they don't make you fat, and you dont need to avoid them. Eating way more calories than you burn off in a day makes you fat...you can get fat if you eat too many chicken breasts in a day, given it puts you at a big caloric surplus.

[mkings]

Does a Mcdouble really have 22 grams of protein like they say =o

[DaFonz]

??? Protein is 4 calories per gram, fat is 9 calories per gram.

Pure protein. A chicken breast (or any meat for that matter) has a lot of water content by weight.

[DaFonz]

And that's fine. Personal choice. But spreading stupidity is what irritates me. Things like "they use a BRAND of beef called 100%" and "ground beef is bad for you because it's ground" and "salt is bad for you"... it's all such bullshit needs to stop.

Good luck with that. You could link to real studies and people on revscene will say stupid shit like "OMG, you think you're so smart because you linked to a study, but you're WRONG because my cousin who knows everything says so. So there!"

Just breathe... and accept that there will be a lot of stupid people spouting stupid shit everywhere you go.

[SkinnyPupp]

The problem is, for every well-done study that shows correct information, there are 10-20 horribly done studies, manipulated to show what "everyone knows" about nutrition. You can even look at the exact same study, and see how its figures are twisted and manipulated to show what they want. If you leave the figures alone, it's a completely different outcome.

As long as that continues, it will still be "everyone knows" salt is bad for you, "everyone knows" fat makes you fat, "everyone knows" etc. Meanwhile, we get fatter and sicker than ever before, dying from diseases that never existed just decades ago :facepalm:

[DaFonz]

The problem is, for every well-done study that shows correct information, there are 10-20 horribly done studies, manipulated to show what "everyone knows" about nutrition. You can even look at the exact same study, and see how its figures are twisted and manipulated to show what they want. If you leave the figures alone, it's a completely different outcome.

As long as that continues, it will still be "everyone knows" salt is bad for you, "everyone knows" fat makes you fat, "everyone knows" etc. Meanwhile, we get fatter and sicker than ever before, dying from diseases that never existed just decades ago :facepalm:

And not everyone is willing to spend the time reading about study design and beyond the abstract to see if they ARE good studies let alone come up with their own conclusions from data.

The reason that people fall back on the "everyone knows..." is because they're lazy.

Take intermittent fasting as an example on revscene here. You have basically everyone in this forum except for me and sonick saying "OMG, 6 meal a day or your muscles get catabolized!" while a large body of research has shown that oh wait, that's not true. In fact, more protein in one sitting could actually be better than protein multiple times a day.

Everyone wants shortcuts and this is one way they do it. If you keep arguing with idiots, the only thing that will happen is that you'll repeatedly :facepalm: wondering how people can be so dumb

[mkings]

And not everyone is willing to spend the time reading about study design and beyond the abstract to see if they ARE good studies let alone come up with their own conclusions from data.

The reason that people fall back on the "everyone knows..." is because they're lazy.

Take intermittent fasting as an example on revscene here. You have basically everyone in this forum except for me and sonick saying "OMG, 6 meal a day or your muscles get catabolized!" while a large body of research has shown that oh wait, that's not true. In fact, more protein in one sitting could actually be better than protein multiple times a day.

Everyone wants shortcuts and this is one way they do it. If you keep arguing with idiots, the only thing that will happen is that you'll repeatedly :facepalm: wondering how people can be so dumb

I've read that eating 6-7 meals a day increases insulin levels in the long run (Tnation). But i do believe that only so much protein can be utilized at one time.

[kevin7352]

holy crap...just eat what you guys enjoy LOL

btw anyone reading this and craving mcdonalds right now?

[MarkyMark]

I've read that eating 6-7 meals a day increases insulin levels in the long run (Tnation). But i do believe that only so much protein can be utilized at one time.

Thats a bunch of crap, your body just doesn't not process protein after a certain amount in one sitting. I wouldn't worry about meal timing i'd worry more about getting enough calories by the end of the day to make your muscles grow, hitting enough protein and fats while doing it. You want to do that all in one meal, go ahead if you can stuff it down.

btw how do i get thanked and failed by skinnypupp in the same post lol

[RayBot]

Omg...this went from a topic about fast food to a fascist discussion optimal nutrition. Im just gonna stick to the Sex/Relationship forum and hang around the masturbation topic...At least there is nobody there telling me theres a wrong way to kill my boner.
Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)

[JSilver]

Hahaha, wow. I stopped reading from page 2.

:rant

[Gtrr33]

nandos to expensive anyways

[sonick]

I've read that eating 6-7 meals a day increases insulin levels in the long run (Tnation). But i do believe that only so much protein can be utilized at one time.

no this is utter false bro-science.
Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)

[yeshanlim]

oooh

[bcrdukes]

ooooh

You just got banned.