Fast Food or Healthy Fast Food?

Fast food has not taken many steps to sooth America’s want for healthier foods. All they’ve done is post the nutritional values to their menu, which doesn’t solve the problem at all. Panera Bread is one of the only positive results of the health craze in California. Their menu, differing from a normal fast food menu, only consists of salads, sandwiches, and soups. They are easily becoming the new and easy way to eat healthy. They are Zagat rated number 1 in healthy fast food. This is making the health craze turn into the Panera craze. They’re popping up everywhere. In the Long Beach/South Bay area alone, there are already 3 locations.

Since none of their menu consists of mass amounts of grease, the usual consumers tend to eat healthier than, let’s say, someone who eats at Mcdonalds. To put this to the test, I’ve checked both websites for comparison. If you order the special You Pick Two deal from Panera, you pick (2) between a cup of soup, a half a salad, and a half a sandwich. The most fatty things on the Panera menu are the cup of broccoli cheddar soup and the half smokehouse turkey hot Panini. These items, together, with everything total a whole 550 calories. A big mac from Mcdonalds is a whopping 540 calories alone! This doesn’t even include the fries. At Carl’s Jr, the new Teriyaki Six Dollar Burger is 840 calories! Again, this doesn’t include the fries. An In n Out Double-Double is 590 calories. No fries, again. We can go on and on with this comparison, but you can see how you get more for less at Panera, literally.

So, to put things clearly, if you’re looking to eat healthy, and do not want to sacrifice the serving size, Panera is your place. They are one of the only fast food chains taking the bull by it’s horns when it comes to healthy food.

On a side note, if you’re from the east coast, you might be familiar with Corner Bakery. It’s the same sort of menu set-up with a few more options, but they’re hard to find on the West Coast. If you’re up for a food adventure, try Panera, and then try Corner Bakery. The closest Corner Bakery that I am aware of is in the Orange Country area, near Huntington Beach. Put yourself to the healthy fast food test. Does it measure up?