Healthy Fast-Food Meals. Really.

Looking for something healthy from the drive-through? Here's a list of "seriously healthy" fast-food meals, courtesy of Prevention Magazine:

Guacamole Salad at Chipotle

1. CHIPOTLE: Barbacoa and Guacamole Salad
"Make your own salad with no-hormone-added barbacoa, which doesn't use unnecessary antibiotics (chicken, pictured here, is also a great choice). Add romaine lettuce, guacamole, a little sour cream, and tomatillo-green chili salsa. It's definitely a sodium splurge, but full of MUFAs and quality ingredients." [Note from the Healthy Foodie: No surprise here, as Chipotle is my #1 favorite fast-food chain, and I can't even think of what might come in second place.]

2. DOMINO'S PIZZA: Veggie pizza with gluten-free crust

3. STARBUCKS: Protein bistro box (with herbal iced tea or coffee) -- Not sure all Starbucks have this option, but the box contains hardboiled egg, cheddar cheese, multigrain bread, peanut butter, apple slices, and grapes. [I'll have to look for this one, although I'm not a fan of hardboiled eggs.]

4. MCDONALD'S: Premium Southwest Salad

5. WENDY'S: Sour cream and chive potato. [I've never eaten at Wendy's, as far as I can recall, but Prevention says this is a healthy, filling and yummy dish.]

6. PANERA: "Power chicken hummus bowl." Apparently, this is available if you ask, from Panera's "hidden menu." 

Go here to see the entire list of ten healthy dishes.

Starbucks food gets healthier (but still...)

If you've been reading your Starbucks paper napkins lately, you've noticed that the coffee chain (finally) has gotten rid of trans fats in their pastries. They also claim to have eliminated artificial flavors & dyes along with high-fructose corn syrup.
Those are steps in the right direction. But as I stand in line looking at the pastry case, I still have a hard time seeing anything I should eat--fat and calorie-wise. Once in awhile they have a pastry that's promoted as healthier--whole grains, fruit-based--but most of the time, not.