What if I HAVE to eat out!?

Imagine this... You ate your breakfast. You got in the car to run errands. It took longer than you expected and in a matter of 20 seconds you went from mildly hungry to viciously hangry. The problem is that you are over 30 minutes away from your home where your planned lunch awaits and no healthy snacks nearby. What do you do?

Let's be real, there will be times where we all have little choice in the matter of eating fast food. I try very very hard to make these occurrences a rarity, but, it happens. Today, it happened. I went from mildly hungry to a road raging, cell phone throwing (to the passenger side seat), hangry bitch in a matter of seconds.

So what did I do? Grabbed my phone and sweetly asked Siri to direct me to the nearest Jack in the Box. I knew exactly what I was going to get, because it's my default meal there and I knew exactly how many calories / carbs I was about to consume and at that point in the day, I was ok with it. I am a firm believer that fast food is bad, but, if you need to eat, it's better than starving yourself. Just get the lesser of all evils.

For example, I used to LOVE the Sirloin Cheeseburger, Medium French Fries and a Coke. I won't lie to you, I used to eat the entire meal. For some perspective here are the deets:

Sirloin Cheeseburger

Calories: 943
Total Fat: 65g
Sodium: 1989mg
Carbohydrates: 51g
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 40g

Medium French Fries
Calories: 450
Total Fat: 21g
Sodium: 821mg
Carbohydrates: 61g
Fiber: 4g
Protein: 5g

These two items alone are over 1300 calories, 80g fat, 2700mg of sodium and 100g of carbs. SICK!!!!!!!

Today, I make much wiser choices. I ordered a Chicken Fajita Pita, small fry (of which I only eat 1/2 of), and a small coke.

Chicken Fajita Pita

Calories: 326
Total Fat: 10g
Sodium: 987mg
Carbohydrates: 35g
Fiber: 3g
Protein: 23g

Small French Fry (1/2 serving)
Calories: 150
Total Fat: 7g
Sodium: 300mg
Carbohydrates: 22g
Fiber: 1g
Protein: 2g.

These two items are UNDER 500cals with only 17g fat and 57g carbs. The sodium is on the higher side, but thats to be expected with anything from a fast food location (or prepackaged). It is very obvious to see that there ARE options you can in eat when in a pinch, you just have to look for them.

I try my hardest to avoid having to eat any fast food meals but I do not stress over them either. You HAVE to enjoy what you are eating. I learned over the years that stressing over my bad meals led to me binging on those meals because I missed them so much. I am ok having a cheat meal every now and then, but, I don't let it become habit.

Advice: Don't be afraid to ask to see a restaurants nutritional information- some places have it right out in the open, others will give you a book. Don't be afraid to stop eating when you're full vs continuing to eat because it "tastes good."

Keep on Keepin on!