Elaine’s Top Six Health Picks At McDonald’s

Even this nutrition expert finds herself needing a fast food fix sometimes, be it a breakfast on the run, a cold refreshing afternoon treat, or a drive-by dinner on the way home from a long workday.  In these situations, I often end up at McDonald’s, so I thought I would share my top health picks there. The way I figure, McDonald’s serves millions of people every day so if more people order healthful options there, it can have a huge impact on the health index of this nation.

Fruit & Maple Oatmeal

This very satisfying hot breakfast with two servings of whole grains, plus diced apples, dried cranberries and raisins and light cream, gets the job done with 290 calories, 5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. Order it without brown sugar and the calories go down to 260 and the carbohydrate goes from 58 grams to 49.

Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait

The yogurt parfait starts with lowfat vanilla yogurt layered with berries and ends with low fat crunchy granola. With 150 calories and 4 grams of protein, it works well as part of a breakfast or as a snack or dessert!

Egg White Delight McMuffin

This 250-calorie breakfast sandwich with 5 grams of fiber and 18 grams protein is an easy healthful option that pairs egg whites with lean Canadian bacon and white cheddar cheese served on an English muffin with 8 grams whole grain. If you have your heart set on another breakfast sandwich, keep in mind you can order egg whites on any breakfast sandwich.

Premium Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken

This salad is full of flavor and fiber (7 grams) and tops 3 cups of vegetables with cilantro lime glazed grilled chicken and chili lime tortilla strips. Without dressing this salad is 290 calories with 27 grams of protein and 8 grams of fat. Toss it with half the packet of Southwest dressing and it totals 340 calories and 11 grams of fat.

Premium McWrap Sweet Chili Chicken (grilled)

This 360-calorie wrap is packed with protein (26 grams) and offers a combination of flavors and textures with spring greens, cucumber slices, grilled chicken with both sweet chili sauce and creamy garlic sauce.

Vanilla Cone

This 170-calorie vanilla cone (5 grams protein, 4.5 grams fat and 27 grams carbohydrate) is the ultimate example of a “slow food”. You can’t eat this fast if you tried, so you naturally eat this refreshing and delicious treat slowly and by the end you can’t help but be satisfied.

Customize Your Order

You can always order your sandwich without mayo or creamy sauces or with grilled instead of crispy chicken. You can ask for their bakery-style bun with any sandwich as well. Something to look forward to in 2014, you can choose a side salad, fruit or vegetable instead of fries when ordering from the extra value menu.