The 10 Healthiest Fast Food Menu Items in the Philippines

When we talk of healthy food, it’s almost certain we’re not talking about fast food. Fast food menu items have (understandably) gained a bad reputation for being high in fat, salt and sugar, and low in vitamins, minerals and fiber. 

But like it or not, fast food is hard to avoid. When you’re in a hurry, or if you don’t want to go to a restaurant where you’ll have to wait half an hour for your meal while you chase your restless child all over the place, then fast food becomes the most convenient option. 

So there you are, stuck with fast food but still want to feed your kids as healthy a meal as possible. What do you order?

1. Jollibee

Let’s start with the Philippines’ most popular fast food of all time – Jollibee! For the healthiest Jollibee meal possible, try ordering the Yum! with TLC. TLC stands for tomato, lettuce and cheese. It’s a great way to sneak vegetables into your kids’ burgers, just make sure they don’t pick the veggies out before they eat the sandwich.

(Note: The Yum! with TLC is similar to their Jollibee Champ sandwich – both have tomato slices, lettuce, and cheese – but the former is smaller, so it’s more suitable for small appetites. Adults may prefer to order the more filling Jollibee Champ.)

For dessert, skip the sundaes and order the fruit-filled Peach Mango Pie instead.

2. McDonald’s

If you’re looking for the healthiest menu item at McDonald’s, go straight for the Big ‘n’ Tasty, which is fully loaded with veggies such as tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, and onions. It’s similar to the Big Mac, but smaller.

For dessert, get an apple pie. Among all of McDonald’s Philippines’ dessert options, the apple pie has the least amount of calories (250) and the lowest cholesterol content (0 mg). In addition, it provides 4% of the recommended daily allowance for vitamin A and 25% for vitamin C. 

[previous|page|next]

3. KFC

If you’re craving for KFC chicken but still want a healthy meal, try the Chicken Salad, where the chicken is served in a sea of fresh lettuce. Skip the dressing.

Or, even better, you might decide to skip the chicken too and order the Garden Salad instead.

Now if you simply must order a chicken and rice meal, you could at least peel off the skin and leave it on the side of your plate, where it can do you no harm. Then, choose the KFC Coleslaw for your siding, to add some greens to your plate.

4. Chowking

The biggest Chinese fast food chain in the country offers Chopsuey Rice and Fried Tofu for a veggie meal, and Stir Fry Kangkong for a veggie siding. 

For meat lovers, you can get the Chicken Mami, which is mostly carbohydrates, has less fat and sodium than most of the other menu options, and has a topping of sliced greens.

[previous|page|next]

5. Greenwich

Greenwich offers the Garden Fresh pizza, which is loaded with green bell pepper slices, olives, mushrooms, and pineapple tidbits. If you can feed this to your kids, that would be great! 

If you can’t get your kids to eat the all-veggie pizza, then you can get them the Hawaiian Classic instead. That at least has pineapple chunks to boost the fiber content of your meal.

(Related story: 10 Fast Food Birthday Party Packages around the Metro)

6. Tokyo Tokyo 

There’s a wealth of healthy food at Tokyo Tokyo! The Bento tray comes with a vegetable side dish and miso soup. 

For low-fat meat, choose the teriyaki dishes rather than the breaded and fried tonkatsus.If you’d rather have sandwich than rice, try the Shiitake Mushroom Burger, for a yummy, meaty-tasting meat-free burger!

[previous|page|next]

7. Goldilocks

For a filling snack at Goldilocks, try the salad wraps, which are lumpia wrappers filled with grilled chicken or pork strips, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, and hard-boiled egg. Even better, go for the All-Veggie Lumpia, which is filled with carrots, green beans, mushrooms, squash, lettuce, and tofu.
For a full meal, you can go for the Bangus Belly Sinigang or Rellenong Bangus.

Goldilocks’ Mango Mousse is composed of mango slices, custard, vanilla chiffon cake, and gelatin. It doesn't have a crust, so you don't get all that fat that is a common ingredient in making crust. 

The Cathedral Window and the Mais Con Hielo are also sweet but low-fat desserts.

8. Kenny Rogers Roasters

Kenny Rogers makes it easy for health-conscious diners to order by offering preset healthy meals. There’s the High-Fiber Meal of roast chicken, fruit and vegetable salad, and corn on the cob. There’s the High-Protein Meal of roast chicken, tuna vegetable salad, and steamed rice. There’s the Low-Calorie Meal of grilled fish, steamed veggies, and garlic rice. And there’s the Classic Healthy Plate of roast chicken, vegetable salad, fresh fruit salad, and corn muffin.

All meals come with 12 ounces of iced tea.These meals are pretty good options, considering that they’re fast food. It would be better, though, if you skip the corn muffin, to keep down the fat and sugar content of your healthy Kenny Rogers meal.

[previous|page|next]

9. Mang Inasal

With its unlimited rice offering, Mang Inasal could be dangerous ground as far as calories are concerned. But remember that you also have the option to not get more rice.

Mang Inasal grills most of its meat dishes, so their fat content is lower than in most fast foods, where most of the meats are deep fried. You can get grilled chicken or inihaw na bangus. Better to skip the pork sisig or bangus sisig, though.

If you’re looking for vegetable dishes, Mang Inasal also offers pinakbet and ensaladang talong.

10. Reyes Barbecue

Another fast food that offers great-tasting grilled food is Reyes Barbecue. They have grilled chicken, grilled bangus, grilled tuna, and grilled squid!

The danger here, though, is that their restaurants welcome you with that mouth-watering tagline, “Barbecue, Peanut Sauce, Java Rice. Best way to go!” Don’t fall for this high-sodium combination. Keep your meal healthy by ordering plain rice, and skip the peanut sauce.

As you can see, the fast food scene in the Philippines is not entirely hostile to healthy living. Sure, fast food restaurants are definitely not the healthiest places to eat in – that we have to admit – but a visit to them now and then does not have to harm you and your kids’ health, if you know which of their menu items to order.

Source:

“McDonald’s USA Nutrition Facts for Popular Menu Items” nutrition.mcdonalds.com 

Photo by mooglet via flickr creative commons