Fast food - is there any benefit? Useful fast food The most useful fast food.

Seeing the Fast Food sign, adherents of a healthy diet turn to another street. We are used to the fact that fast food is unhealthy. This well-established stereotype is trying to dispel restaurateurs around the world. They open a fast food cafe where the main ingredients are high quality products.

Fast Good (Spain)

The Fast Good restaurant chain was born out of a common dispute. The owner of the molecular restaurant elBulli, Ferran Adria, decided to prove that he could do something other than molecular cuisine. The restaurant's menu is traditional for fast food outlets: hamburgers, fried potatoes, salads and paninis. All products used are carefully selected. They serve Spanish "bocadillos" sandwiches with quality Iberian jamon and Mauritanian fried chicken with couscous, basmati rice or potatoes. Instead of sweet soda, they offer freshly squeezed juices and non-milk necks.

Veda (Canada)

The owners of the Veda restaurant took the idea from the well-known hot food vendors in the Bombay offices. There were plans to set up a lunch delivery network in Toronto. Despite the fact that the restaurant's menu consists of Indian dishes, they are prepared according to special recipes. During cooking, a minimum amount of oil and fresh spices are used. There are no heavy national sauces on the menu. The most popular positions are: grilled nan stuffed with chicken or potatoes and Tiffin Tali takeaway lunch, which includes rice, or dal, chicken, beef or.

Gusorganics (USA)

Gustorganics restaurant in New York is a paradise for nature lovers. Not only is all the food made from organic products, but all the furniture is made from recycled wood. And for the maintenance of the premises, wind and solar energy are used, the wrappers are made of biodegradable plastic, and the bags are made of recycled paper. dishes form the basis of the menu. Here you can order special gluten-free pasta, tortilla and salads. A kind of pride of the restaurant is a large menu for children; it is in this institution that the world's first organic bar was created.

Red Veg (UK)

The first Red Veg vegetarian café opened in London in 2004. Due to financial difficulties, it had to be closed, now only a cafe in Brighton is open. The menu of this cafe is very modest: only six types of burgers, a couple of vegetarian hot dogs, three types and a Greek roll. But you can try such non-standard dishes as a light version of dolma, stuffed peppers or fried small ears of corn.

Pret a Manger (UK)

Healthy fast food chain Pret a Manger opened in London in 1986. During this time, more than 225 food outlets of this network have appeared in the UK alone. At the same time, the owners do not forget to regularly update the menu. The latest novelty is sandwiches with smoked mackerel and boiled eggs. In addition, on the menu you can find miso soup, beet and turnip chips, falafel with, yogurt, zaatar, and basil. The restaurant owners state that there are no food additives, preservatives or sweeteners in desserts and salads.

Mosburger (Japan)

One of the most popular fast food chains in Japan is Mosburger. Japanese chefs decided not to abandon the national characteristics of their cuisine. The basis for burgers are rice cakes, instead of traditional lush buns. In addition to the usual fillings, burdock root, carrot rice, soy sauce, seaweed, grated daikon, wasabi, avocado or eel are added to burgers. Network owners do not hide their suppliers, on the contrary, they are proud of them. When buying a burger, the guest is given a sign with the names of the farms that provided the ingredients. The fast food chain is present not only in Japan, but also in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.

Loving Hut (Taiwan)

The owner of a chain of vegetarian fast foods is an enterprising native of Vietnam Ching Hai. In addition to the restaurant business, she practices Kuan Yin meditation, sells jewelry and clothes. On the menu you can find vegetarian versions of the best dishes of Chinese, Vietnamese, Mongolian and Thai cuisines - Sichuan eggplant, pad thai. A large number of dishes are made from tofu, even ice cream. Loving Hut restaurants are located in 18 countries of the world: in Mongolia, Korea, Indonesia, USA, Taiwan, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, etc.

Soup Stock Tokyo (Japan)

The Soup Stock Tokyo fast food chain in Japan was opened by former Mitsubishi employee Masashimi Toyama. Soups make up the bulk of the menu. They are served in special cardboard cups that you can take with you. At the moment, 30 restaurants have already been opened throughout Japan. A special favorite from Hokkaido is soup with vegetables, herbs and kombu seaweed, as well as lobster bisque.

Evos (USA)

At first glance, it may seem that the restaurants of this chain offer the usual unhealthy dishes. But the owners of the chain decided to prove that such food can be made more useful. This becomes possible if you change the cooking method. This is exactly what the chefs of Evos restaurants did: the products are not fried in oil, they are blown with hot air. As a result, the fat content of dishes is reduced by 50-70%. All dishes are prepared from organic products, without the addition of artificial sweeteners and preservatives. At the moment, the network has grown to 10 restaurants in different states.

Mamido Burger (Japan)

Mamido Burger will appeal to those with a sweet tooth. All the ingredients in the dishes have been replaced: cutlet with chocolate mousse, pickles with, tartar sauce with whipped cream, and ketchup with raspberry sauce. A signature mamido burger costs 1,650 yen, while fries cost 380 yen.

The harm of fast food is usually explained by the fact that these are high-calorie fast food and low quality. But is it?

From this article, you will learn how fast food is harmful to health and what fast food products can be consumed for the benefit of the body.

It is a high calorie food that leads to obesity.

All menus of fast food establishments consist of high-calorie dishes consisting of fats and sugar with a low content of nutrients and vitamins. This diet leads to obesity.

Lunch at such an establishment, usually consisting of a sandwich, salad, cocktail and french fries, contains more than 1,500 kilocalories, which is almost a daily calorie intake for a person with a sedentary lifestyle.

Fast food dishes are prepared on the basis of trans fats

Fast food chains are prepared using trans-fats, which can contribute to the occurrence of cancer.

According to WHO, the safe consumption of trans fats for a person is no more than 1% of the total diet, while a serving of french fries contains 30-40% of such fats.

Also, fast food products contain a lot of saturated fats of animal origin, which put pressure on the liver, contribute to hypertension, blockage of blood vessels and the appearance of cholesterol plaques.

Contain a lot of fast carbohydrates, little fiber and protein

Fast food products are rich in fast carbohydrates and fats, but contain almost no fiber. This leads to the fact that the feeling of satiety quickly passes and you need to go to the poppy again. And the worst thing is that due to the lack of fiber in food, they easily penetrate through the walls of the intestine and enter the bloodstream. After 15 minutes, these carbohydrates enter the fat depots and thus we accumulate excess weight.

Eating fast food contributes to overeating

Fast food chains are trying to sell more and for this they come up with marketing ploys such as “two for the price of one”, “buy a Coke and get a potato for free”, and so on. This leads to overeating, you consume more than planned. And all the extra calories again fall into fat depots and it is always difficult for the body to digest large amounts of food.

Fast food is bad for high sugar content

Separately, you need to highlight carbonated and sweet drinks:

First, sugary sodas and drinks contain a lot of sugar, for example, a can of cola contains about 6 teaspoons, which is the daily amount of sugar for men. Women should not consume more than 4 tablespoons per day, children - only 1 spoon. Sugar and all fast carbohydrates are a source of fat accumulation in the body, which leads to obesity and diabetes.
Secondly, the harm of carbonated drinks lies in their ability to act as diuretics (diuretics), which can lead to dehydration. To be healthy, a person needs to drink about 2.5-3 liters of water per day. But sugary drinks are not yet water, but a liquid that needs to be purified to obtain water, which takes additional energy from the body. Therefore, it is better to drink pure water.

Fast food can cause beriberi

The nutritional value of such products is very low and at the same time you quickly get used to it. As a result, a person receives little nutritional micro and macro elements, metabolism is disturbed, obesity and diabetes develop.

Fast Foods Contain Harmful Additives

To prepare fast food and give it a brighter taste, flavors, flavor enhancers, dyes and other additives are used. These additives do not benefit the body, but can be harmful.

Healthy fast food

Fast food items should be avoided whenever possible. In principle, one should not expect any benefit from food of this quality, in addition to the fact that fast food is very heavy and fatty food, the quality of its preparation often leaves much to be desired.

However, there are situations where there is an option to either starve or eat some fast food. Of course, fasting, especially during physical exertion, is very undesirable, so it’s still worth going to the cafeteria and choosing some kind of golden mean, combining the most healthy and tasty dishes. No need to get lost in a cafe and order only vegetables, even fast food has dishes that you can eat without fear for health and diet.

Cafe with local cuisine

The best option of all available is to go to our domestic canteen and eat about the same as at home. Buckwheat is a very good source of carbohydrates, it is noteworthy that buckwheat porridge is offered only in a few Slavic cuisines - in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. In most other countries, no one has even heard of this amazing cereal. So, you ordered buckwheat porridge - an excellent source of carbohydrates, and you can safely take a chicken chop and a steam cutlet with it. Meat try to take chicken or beef, if any.

As a good snack, various pancakes, dumplings or dumplings are perfect. They have enough carbohydrates and very little fat, of course, protein is not enough in such dishes, but as for a snack, it is quite enough. The filling can be any - meat, mushrooms or cottage cheese, to your taste.

In general, try to take in Slavic cuisine what you are familiar with - cereals and side dishes will perfectly saturate you and will not harm your workouts.

Pizza

Choosing the right pizza will also give you maximum benefit with minimum harm. The only condition is that the pizza should be on a thin dough, and the ingredients should be as healthy as possible.

Pizza "4 cheeses" is made from yeast dough, but the layer is always very thin, the ingredients are very useful and safe, the best types of cheese are collected in this pizza.

Pizza "Hawaiian" is very tasty and quite a good option, the dough is again thin, which is undoubtedly a big plus. As a filling, very useful and tasty ingredients are collected here - pineapple, chicken, mushrooms and ham.

Assorted Meat Pizza is a real abundance of meat components, veal, ham and chicken are always present in this pizza.

So do not be afraid to eat pizza, just choose the right ingredients.

The assortment of pizzas in pizzerias is simply amazing, and we have considered only the most useful ones, but this does not mean that you need to choose them, just try to choose those with fewer calories and more useful ingredients.

Eastern cuisine

With the phrase oriental cuisine, many immediately associate with shawarma. But now we will not consider it, because it is impossible to say anything good about this “dish”, it’s just disgusting, harmful disgusting. The use of shawarma leads to the fact that the body wants to cleanse itself as soon as possible, and it does not matter in what way. Cleaning is certainly good, but only the method is not very successful.

In the oriental cuisine, we will immediately include the cuisines of several countries - Turkish, Uzbek and some others. Real Turkish cuisine is a maximum of fresh vegetables. The only drawback is that you don’t particularly eat raw vegetables. Therefore, be sure to take meat with vegetables.

A very big advantage of oriental cuisine is the obligatory presence of good meat. Pork is never used in such cuisines. Few people also use lamb as a meat ingredient for most meat dishes - very expensive meat, only beef and poultry remain. And this meat is just right for us.

The most suitable dish for a good and healthy snack is pilaf. Of course, to enjoy all the splendor of this dish, you need to go to a good oriental restaurant, and fast food pilaf will only allow you to quickly get enough and will give you the maximum benefit from high-quality rice, meat and various spices. By the way, it is very good to take pilaf with various dried fruits and additives - you will like the unusual, but pleasant taste, and there will be much more benefits, because dried fruits are a storehouse of vitamins.

Cuisine of the Far East

We go deep into the East, where the cuisines of China and Thailand are waiting for us. The main dishes here are rice or egg noodles. The choice is best made in favor of egg noodles. From meat dishes here you can find pork, beef, seafood and even poultry. Pork should be discarded immediately, but beef, seafood and poultry can be a good addition to the side dish. By the way, the portions are often quite large, while the prices for dishes of this cuisine are very reasonable.

All roads lead to McDonald's

Even in a fast food restaurant like McDonald's, you can find normal foods that you can eat and not spoil your diet. By the way, McDonald's is the only fast food that provides a complete list of the amount of nutrients in their dishes. For obvious reasons, we will not even consider french fries, but you can take note of some products and safely order them.

Some useful tips - for dessert, it is best to take ice cream or a pie. To reduce the amount of carbohydrates by half, you need to take 2 hamburgers and remove 1 bun. Filet-o-fish contains a lot of unhealthy fats due to mayonnaise, if you try to clean it out, you can get an equally healthy, but less high-calorie dish. Eliminate soda from drinks and take either plain water or a cocktail.

breakdown

Even the most experienced bodybuilders broke down and ate everything that was built for months by diets and loads. But fortunately, such breakdowns very rarely lead to a loss of shape, some even noticed such a pattern - after a good breakdown at McDonald's, the shape improves significantly, it would seem that this is impossible, but in fact everything is easily explained.

The hormone leptin performs a very important function in the body - it, like some other hormones, is involved in burning fat. During various diets, the amount of leptin in the body falls, naturally fat is burned, but more slowly. In addition, leptin is responsible for the uptake of glucose by skeletal muscles, it turns out that fat is burned more slowly, and muscles lose their volume. This is where the dependence of a breakdown in fast food and an improvement in shape can be traced.

Lee Priest once said: “I was working, and then I suddenly broke down, went to McDonald's and ate everything. I went to bed with a terrible sense of guilt, and when I woke up, I realized that my form had improved a lot, I looked much better than before. It turns out that breakdowns can sometimes be afforded, but small and rare. If you feel that you can break loose, then it is better to provoke a breakdown at home, where you yourself can cook what you have long wanted, but at the same time exclude harmful components - sugar, mayonnaise, etc.

It turns out that even in fast food restaurants you can eat with health benefits! The main thing is to know what to choose from the menu.

At our request Anna Malovichko, specialist in clinical nutrition and author of the EdaiFizСultura blog inspected the menus of popular fast food chains and chose the healthiest and healthiest dishes. (Although at first, upon hearing our request, she threw carrots at us!) So, the floor to Anna!

In all networks, I chose dishes that do not contain harmful food additives. Well, they fit at least a little into the concept of a healthy lifestyle. That is why sandwiches with pork (bacon) did not get into my menu: it contains saturated fats, and this is overweight, atherosclerosis, high cholesterol and heart disease.

I also tried to exclude rolls - this is a simple carbohydrate. It provides calories but no nutrients. It breaks down quickly, causing a sharp jump in blood sugar, then a sharp decline. After a sharp drop in blood sugar, there is a feeling of fatigue, loss of strength and hunger. The abuse of simple carbohydrates wears out the pancreas and can lead to diabetes.

From drinks I recommend mineral water, tea, coffee without milk and sugar. All sugary sodas are high in sugar and high in calories. The consumption of sugar requires a large expenditure of energy from the body. For its processing, he spends reserves of B vitamins and an indispensable trace element - zinc. In return, the body receives only a large dose of glucose without nutrients. By depriving the body of vitamins and minerals, sugar weakens the immune system. Sugar-containing foods are the main reason for the development of diabetes and overweight problems.

McDonald's

Breakfast

Oatmeal with honey, jam or cranberries and raisins. Oatmeal is a complex carbohydrate containing fiber. This will not cause a sharp jump in blood sugar and the subsequent sharp drop. Result: stable well-being without a sharp surge of strength, replaced by its sharp decline; satiety and energy for a long time.

Omelette. It is better to eat it without a roll, which provides calories but does not contain any nutrients. For scrambled eggs, it is better to take carrot sticks or apple slices as a side dish. They contain the fiber we need for good digestive health, daily detox, and overall good health.

Any protein food is best accompanied by foods containing fiber. It helps move food through the intestines, improves the functioning of the excretory system. Protein food, on the contrary, inhibits these processes. The better the excretory system works, the less toxins and toxins accumulate in the body.

Main menu

Burgers at McDonald's are made with beef, chicken, and fish patties. The best choice is a hamburger. I recommend eating it without a roll, which, as we remember, is a simple carbohydrate.

Here's what I suggest:

Meat patty from a hamburger with tomato, onion, ketchup and mustard + vegetable salad. Salad dressing - oil or wine vinegar.

Dessert

Chocolate or strawberry smoothie. A small portion is better - fewer calories and sugar.

For those who are on a diet - apple slices and carrot sticks. I think everything is clear with them: fruits and vegetables, few calories, vitamins and fiber.

Burger King

Main menu

I would prefer a hamburger: beef steak, no mayonnaise, additional sauce, the composition of which is unknown. As a rule, sauces contain a lot of fat or sugar, as well as preservatives, thickeners, flavors and flavor enhancers.

Good option - grill chicken bbq. Its main component is chicken fillet (it is better to put the sauce and bun aside). Chicken is lower in calories and saturated fat, and is a lighter protein. Other deep fried breaded chicken burgers have more fat.

It is best to supplement the meat with a vegetable salad (called a salad mix). You can also eat king wings without breading and skin (peel off) + salad mix.

Dessert

Ice cream "horn". Small serving (less sugar, fat and calories), virtually no dough, no added sugar in the form of syrups.

"Baby Potato"

Main menu

The fewer ingredients in the form of bacon, cream, butter, sausages, cheese, the better: all of these products contain saturated fats. Therefore, the best choice would be potatoes with vegetable oil and potatoes with vegetable oil and dill.

Salads and appetizers

Right choice - croutons "8 cereals". It is a complex carbohydrate + fiber.

Soups

I recommend borscht, it has only meat and vegetables, and beef is the leanest version of red meat, it has less saturated fat than pork and lamb. Chicken Noodles: Chicken is a lower-fat, lower-calorie meat option.

Dessert

Strawberry fresh, if in fact it consists of strawberries. And I would like to know the presence of sugar.

KFC

Breakfast

Against the background of breakers, brusters, twisters, biggers, boxmasters, which contain bacon, egg, cheese, breaded cutlet (all together - a cholesterol bomb), sauces, syrniki and scrambled eggs look the most harmless. Fried eggs - yes, fried, yes, contain fat and cholesterol, but just an egg is better than with cheese, bacon, mayonnaise or sauce and a white flour bun. The scrambled eggs come with bytes (peel off the breading).

Main menu

Chicken pieces, skinless wings (less fat, fewer calories) and no breading. Strips without breading + Heinz ketchup. Strips are made from fillets, so they have less fat. Without breading, as breading absorbs deep-frying oil (excess fat and toxic substances). Classic Heinz ketchup has natural ingredients.

Dessert

Ice cream cone "Summer".

"Teremok"

The simpler the composition of the dishes, the easier it is for our digestive system to cope with them. We exclude fried, high-calorie, containing saturated fats: sauces, cream, butter, bacon, hard cheese.

Pancakes and cheesecakes

Cheesecakes with honey, pancake with honey, pancake with sour cream, pancake with cabbage and egg, pancake with banana.

It is better to combine pancakes with vegetables (simple carbohydrates + fiber), lean meat dishes with vegetables (protein + fiber).

Main menu

Buckwheat, buckwheat with grilled chicken breast, buckwheat with salmon, buckwheat with boiled pork, buckwheat with cabbage and egg.

Soups

Borsch (meat and lean), pickle, chicken noodles with meatballs, lean pea soup.

Salads

Vinaigrette with salmon, lean vinaigrette.

Dessert

Banana dessert with nuts.

"Sbarro"

It is better to combine simple carbohydrates (potatoes, spaghetti, pizza) with vegetables (fiber) and meat with vegetables (protein + fiber). The principles of preparation are the same. Less saturated fats: hard cheese, bacon, cream, mayonnaise and mayonnaise sauces. More vegetables, less sugar and dough.

Soups

Minestrone Vegetable Soup.

Salads

Vegetable salad and Greek salad.

Hot dishes

baked potato(the best cooking method: the peel contains fiber, the potato retains its beneficial properties; chicken in sweet and sour sauce with vegetables (protein + fiber); Turin style meat with vegetables (protein + fiber); spaghetti with ragout sauce.

Pizza

The combination of dough and cheese or dough, cheese and meat / fish is not the best combination (lack of fiber, simple carbohydrates and cheese - strengthens; protein and dough - strengthens). It is better to give preference to pizza with vegetables and dilute all this bacchanalia with fiber to minimize unpleasant consequences. Or take pizza and vegetable salad.

With the modern pace of life, many are thinking about how to reduce the time for cooking or visiting catering establishments. Fast food stalls are very helpful. Of course, such food is very difficult to call healthy. Here in the assortment are walking dogs, hamburgers, french fries. Someone swallows another portion without hesitation, but most people are well aware of how such nutrition affects health in general and the figure in particular. But does fast food always mean bad food? Is there a healthy fast food?

All eyes on composition

Indeed, it is impossible to row all recipes for snacks with the same brush. The very concept of "fast food" today has become synonymous with something of poor quality, fatty and very high-calorie. And also cheap. There is one, and it is around in abundance. But healthy fast food is also hardly a rarity. After all, fast food is limited by time, not components.

Show a little imagination - and you can cook up dozens of options for snacks, spending just a few minutes on each. At the same time, they will be made from high-quality, selected products. Of course, such healthy fast food will appeal to even the most strict adherents of a healthy lifestyle.

World experience

The United States is considered the birthplace of hamburgers and french fries. But you need to understand that here, too, the consumer is offered a plug, both price and quality. If you want fast and cheap - take a cutlet fried in butter, with a wheat flour bun and mayonnaise. A huge amount of fat, cholesterol, carcinogens. Ready to pay more - so you can buy a rice or bran cake filled with selected vegetables with chicken breast sprinkled with olive oil. All over the world, healthy fast food is appreciated for its simplicity. Plus, these snacks are a great time saver.

Salad bar and more

Let's push the boundaries a little. Indeed, for many, this concept is limited to a cutlet and a sausage in a bun. But the list does not end there. In Japan, fast food is sushi, selected and fresh fish. In Spain, tapas. In France, it is customary to snack on vegetable-based salads. But that's not all. This concept includes soups and sandwiches, rolls, juices and smoothies. There are enough options to understand that not everything fast is harmful. Plus, healthy food can be delicious.

Choose a manufacturer

Today, all over the world, more and more points are opening where healthy fast food is prepared and sold. Don't expect prices to be low. Most often, these are restaurant-level establishments, where not only dishes are at their best, but also checks for service. At the same time, great attention is paid to the choice of products. They stay fresh, unspoiled by frying, canning, or freezing. The principle here is simple: the less processing they receive, the more useful properties they retain.

A competent menu consists of fruits and vegetables, dairy and sour-milk products, meat and fish. That is, meals should contain a set of proteins, vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates and a small amount of fat. Many people think that eating sandwiches is bad. And if you use fresh bread and grilled chicken for them? Add creamy cauliflower soup and vegetable salad to this. It turns out an excellent menu, light and satisfying.

Examples in a piggy bank

Let's think again, why is it not good to eat fast food? Most often because the dishes served are overloaded with fats and do not contain fresh vegetables and fruits at all. We correct this shortcoming, and the minus in the assessment changes to a plus. So, three whales of healthy and fast food:

Soup. Of course, we are not talking about a heavy, rich stew on a pork bone. No meat and fish broths, only water and vegetables. You can flavor them with cream, cheese, spices. There can be a lot of options. Cream soup of cauliflower, lentils and carrots. How about potato and celery chowder, tomato gazpacho, or pumpkin and corn soup?
Salad. The basis is green vegetables, and olive oil can serve as a dressing. Of course, we are not talking about mayonnaise. You can add almost any ingredient - boiled meat and fish, cheese, vegetables and nuts.
Sandwich. There is also room for creativity here. The main thing is to choose a worthy foundation. Try to give up fluffy buns on wheat flour and yeast. It is better to choose bran cakes or sourdough bread.

Studying the world restaurant experience, it is difficult to understand why eating fast food is not healthy. On the contrary, a balanced menu gives a chance for a productive day without digestive problems.

Salads

Only at first glance they do not fit the role of a daytime snack. Take a lunch box or other convenient box, put a fork with you. And you can cut the vegetables into neat sticks so that they are convenient to take with your hands. Either way, your body will be grateful. For example, chop apples and carrots, beets and radishes into large straws. It remains only to sprinkle with lemon juice.

In 5 minutes

And now let's learn how to cook healthy fast food at home. Salad recipes can be supplemented indefinitely. This is fertile ground for experiments that never end.

Salad "Beijing". The basis here will be the cabbage of the same name. All ingredients are taken in arbitrary quantities to satisfy your needs. The salad includes hard cheese, cabbage, oranges, onions, celery. For a better taste, sesame seeds, vegetable oil, lemon juice, pepper, ginger are added.
Vitamin salad of radish and cabbage. To do this, you need to chop the cabbage into strips and grate the radish in equal quantities. Add natural yogurt for dressing.
"Carrot Miracle" Shred carrots. It needs to be slightly mashed so that the salad is more tender. Now cut the apples into thin strips, you can use a grater. They should be sprinkled with lemon juice so that they do not turn black. A great option for a snack, especially if you add a little walnut.
Mozzarella and eggplant salad. It takes a little longer to prepare, but judging by the reviews, this is a very popular recipe. Healthy fast food should meet the needs of your body and cover the need for nutrients. You will need a few eggplants, 200 g mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. Additionally, prepare apple cider vinegar and olive oil. Eggplants need to be cut into circles, put on a baking sheet and bake in the oven. Put them in a salad bowl, chop the rest of the ingredients and add the dressing. This is not just a snack, but a full meal.

Yoghurts

What could be easier and healthier? It would seem that a solution has been found. You just need to go to the store, buy the coveted jar and the snack is ready. But most products in supermarkets contain a large amount of dyes and preservatives. Their shelf life is such that all beneficial microorganisms should have died long before the jar hit the table. But the benefits of fast food depends on the quality of the products used. Therefore, there is nothing left but to cook it at home.

This will require milk (not rustic, but not skimmed), as well as sourdough. It is usually sold in pharmacies. Dry powder should be mixed with milk and left overnight. In the morning, it remains to pour the finished yogurt into a convenient jar with a lid and take it with you. You can also add fruit to them and freeze the mixture in the freezer. It turns out an alternative to dessert.

pancakes

Many begin to doubt whether they should be considered a healthy snack. Why not? Of course, cheap eateries may contain low-quality cooking oil, but if you trust the cook, then it is quite possible to please yourself with such a dish. Pancakes are fried in a dry frying pan, which reduces their calorie content. Let's give ready-made recipes, and you yourself decide whether fast food of such a plan is useful:

Pancakes on rice broth. To do this, you will need a glass of broth, two glasses of flour (you can take a mixture of wheat and rice, flaxseed), 4 tbsp. l. vegetable oil, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix all the ingredients, from this mass we will bake pancakes. Boiled rice with raisins or low-fat cottage cheese will be an excellent filling.
Pancakes can be stuffed with boiled chicken and vegetables, fruits, cottage cheese and herbs. Such original rolls can be taken with you on the road. They are tasty, nutritious and light.

Sandwiches

Where without them, if we are talking about fast food? Is it good or bad to eat sandwiches? It all depends on the ingredients that are chosen for their preparation. It is better to exclude sausage, and use butter in minimal quantities. Then sandwiches will be a great option for an afternoon snack.

Without regret, we change the bun for pita bread or whole grain bread. Not sausage, but boiled or grilled chicken will go into the filling. You can replace the fish, it will also be very tasty. Top with fresh herbs, cucumbers and tomatoes. If you use sauces, then choose yogurt, not mayonnaise. It turns out a full meal with a sufficient amount of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Enriched with fiber and vitamins. At the same time, it is also very tasty.

Fast food in Spanish

If there is an institution in your city that offers treats that are classic for this cuisine, then fast food is definitely worth a try. Healthy dishes are served here as gourmet snacks that you will definitely want to eat tomorrow. These are a variety of tortillas and hot sandwiches, croquettes with cheese, hot dogs based on dry-cured sausages. Instead of the usual mayonnaise and mustard, a special sauce based on tomatoes and basil is used here. It includes a dozen more secret spices that chefs do not cover.

All variants of tortillas with filling can be both exclusively vegetarian and familiar to the average person. Fish and white meat are cooked on a special, metal board, which is heated over an open fire. The process practically does not require the addition of oil. At the same time, the meat turns out juicy, with a ruddy crust.

Roll with lavash

It may well claim the title of the most useful fast food. Thin pita bread made from rice or corn flour is a source of valuable carbohydrates. This is not a bun that provides a huge amount of calories. Of course, rolls are useful only when using quality ingredients for the filling.

Fried chicken and mayonnaise, even combined with herbs and vegetables, is a bad option. Therefore, preference should be given to grilled or boiled meat. And of course, spice it up with fresh vegetables, a good bunch of lettuce and other greens. Makes a great snack or even a full meal.

Pizza

It can also be different. Thick cheese sauce, ketchup and mayonnaise, smoked meat all create a rich taste, but are completely unhealthy. Therefore, we learn to choose only what your body needs. The rules here are simple: when choosing a pizza, ask not to use mayonnaise and ketchup, ask that the dough be thin and put a lot of vegetables. The result is a fairly healthy lunch that will not be able to undermine your health. The main thing is not to eat the whole thing at once. It is better to add a salad or soup to a slice of pizza.

Dessert is not a taboo

Healthy food and sweets don't go well together. Especially if these are store-bought margarine cakes with preservatives. Examples of healthy fast food allow you to make an afternoon snack the most interesting meal of the day:

Jelly dessert. A sea of options and obvious benefits for the body. You will need gelatin, yogurt or kefir, bananas or any berries. You can also take fruits, but for this it is advisable to bake them and grind them into a puree. Further, everything is very simple. We leave the gelatin to swell, dissolve in a water bath and add to the yogurt. Put a fruit pillow in the mold, and pour the future jelly on top and refrigerate. Instead of yogurt, you can take the curd mass, and bake a thin biscuit for the base.
Homemade cupcakes are also a good option. Take wheat flour as a base, and replace the butter with sour cream. More berries and fruits - and you get a wonderful dessert.
Or you can just cut apples and pears, oranges and grapefruit into cubes. Add some natural yogurt to this - and a dessert for the whole family is ready.

What and how much to eat

We continue to consider useful types of fast food. Don't waste time and fill your cookbook with fresh ideas. After all, so often we are faced with the problem of what to take with us to work as a snack. Sausage, sausages, biscuits and sweets are fast and convenient, but not healthy. But you can do without a lot of time, but at the same time, even on the road, eat right and healthy.

It would seem that fast food and healthy food are two incompatible concepts. But that's just how it seems. The main thing is to understand what this or that product carries in itself. Potatoes are a source of valuable substances. But the same product, frozen with special additives (sold in bags, already cut into cubes) and fried in oil, is a completely different matter. He will not give anything good, except for a portion of fat. Try on everything that you are going to eat. Butter, cheese, lard - at first glance, sources of a colossal source of fat, but the body needs them, just in small quantities. But breaded chicken is better not to eat. In extreme cases, peel the meat from the top layer.

Smoothies

Listing the types of healthy fast food, we got to the drinks. Smoothies are nutritious smoothies that are only gaining popularity today. They do not last long in thermoses, so they are unsuitable for travel. But as a snack for a picnic or for work - a great option.

How to make fast food useful? Do not add harmful ingredients to it. In this case, it is sugar, chocolate, caramel, cream, ice cream. Of course, with them the drink will be tastier, but the very meaning is lost. The optimal ingredients will be low-fat cottage cheese, kefir. You can use egg whites and yolks, bananas and berries. Do not give up on a variety of vegetables. The basis for a smoothie can be a protein shake. It's a great source of protein without the extra calories. Another plus of smoothies: among berries and vegetables, you can mask an unloved, but necessary and healthy vegetable.

How to reduce the harm from fast food

If you still went to a traditional fast food cafe, then you need to think carefully before placing an order. The key point for you is the following: eat and cause minimal damage to your health. How to achieve this:

Don't order ready meals. Such options are more affordable by adding cheap and harmful ingredients.
Choose not pies and sandwiches, but soups and salads.
Instead of french fries, order roasted vegetables.
Anything deep fried is bad. Consider grilled foods.
If only hamburgers are available, don't eat the top bun. It is usually drenched in sauces.
Choose pizza not meat, but with vegetables and mushrooms.
For drinks, choose still water.

Are there any contraindications

Be that as it may, even healthy and healthy fast food is dry food. Smoothies are an exception, but so far the tradition of their preparation in our country is not very developed. Therefore, if you have problems with the digestive organs, then it is better to forget about this method of satisfying hunger. Many are convinced that you can only take pies and similar dry rations with you from home. But nothing like that. Nobody bothers to buy convenient lunchboxes for soup and porridge. Grab a thermos of rosehip tea. Do not be ashamed to stand out from the crowd, you can decide for yourself whether fast food is healthy. Let colleagues stand in line at McDonald's, and you can spend this time quietly on a bench in the park.

Instead of a conclusion

From an economic point of view, a healthy fast food restaurant is more expensive. Take, for example, the need to use olive oil instead of margarine. In addition, all food should be cooked just before consumption. Semi-finished products are no longer so useful. But otherwise, the cost of raw materials can be compared with those in ordinary fast food establishments. And of course, high-quality, tasty and healthy food attracts customers, and they will come again. Much of the menu is fairly easy to replicate at home. It is enough to have a desire and a simple set of products. Try it - and soon you won't have sausages and burgers on your table either.

Fast Good (Spain)

Fast food chain invented by Ferran Adria, creator of the famous molecular restaurant elBulli, which for many years topped the list of the best restaurants in the world. Adria created the concept of Fast Good practically on a dare, trying to prove that he can do more than just molecular cuisine and that fast food is not necessarily an area of compromise. The main menu is defiantly traditional - fried potatoes, hamburgers, salads and paninis. But in hamburgers - only the best beef, potatoes are fried in olive oil from Provence, and salads with dressings from Adria will do honor to much more expensive restaurants. A separate pride of the place is desserts, the “fried chicken” section (which is fried “Moorish”, “Indian” and “traditional manner”) and Spanish sandwiches “bocadillos” with high-quality Iberian jamon. In addition, Fast Good makes freshly squeezed juices and their own milkshakes without preservatives.

Where: two branches in Madrid and one in Santiago de Chile. Preparing to open branches in Barcelona, Valencia and the Canary Islands.

Worth a try: hamburger with guacamole - €5.85; Mauritanian fried chicken (with couscous, basmati rice or potatoes) - €6.35, chocolate mousse with Sichuan pepper - €1.95.

Veda (Canada)

A bold attempt to bring to Toronto soil the experience of "dabbawalla" - the famous Bombay peddlers of hot food to offices. Veda was conceived specifically as a lunch delivery center. Indian food - in the original, not the most useful - is made as low-fat and lightweight as possible. The creators of Veda try to use as little oil as possible when cooking. We can say that it is not used here at all (except when frying onions, and then in homeopathic doses). Veda cooks also don't use ghee oil and heavy sauces, but rest on slow cooking, the competent use of fresh spices and the general principles of Vedic cooking. Their delivery system is not as sophisticated and large-scale as in Bombay, but it works well. There are also two traditional branches of the network, one of them on the campus of the University of Toronto.

Where: two branches in Toronto.

Worth a try: Tiffin Tali takeaway lunch (rice, curry or dal, chicken, beef or tofu) - $6.89; grilled nan with stuffing (chicken, beef or potatoes with peas) - $4.99; curry with chickpeas - €6.49.

Gusorganics (USA)

The first organic restaurant in New York that is about to become a chain. Everything here is prepared from organic products, and the creators claim that Gustorganics approaches the requirements of organic certification more strictly than Orthodox Jews - to the requirements of kashrut: everything here is organic, right down to the flowers on the tables and the uniforms of the waiters. Everything is prepared with specially purified water, solar and wind energy is used in the cooking process, the kitchen is equipped with special energy-saving installations, and the furniture is made from recycled wood. All in all, this is the perfect "green" restaurant with a slightly manic twist. There are many vegetarian options on the menu, and there is a section with gluten-free pasta, tortillas and salads (in general, here is a paradise for those who are on a gluten-free diet). All in all, the food is very inventive, fits just about any idea of healthy eating, and is served at lightning speed. Everything can be ordered at home or bought to take away (naturally, in packages made of biodegradable plastic and recycled paper bags). New Yorkers consider the restaurant not cheap, but for a Muscovite it is dust. A separate pride of the restaurant is a large children's menu and the first organic bar on the planet with organic wines and cocktails based on fruit mixtures. There is even organic vodka, rum, cognac and gin.

Where: Today - only one place: New York, 14th Street.

Worth a try: turnip, beetroot and parsnip Gusto soup - $8; Wild baby salad (arugula, ripe mangoes, caramelized walnuts) - $9; Immune Booster cocktail (spinach, celery, green apples, asparagus, lemon peel, ginger) - $8.95.

Red Veg (UK)

Red Veg considers itself the world's first vegetarian fast food (they opened in 2004). The menu is relatively small: six types of burgers, a couple of vegetarian hot dogs, three varieties of falafel and a Greek roll with sun-dried tomatoes, feta, tahini, olives, peppers and salad. And potatoes. From the unexpected - a light version of dolma, stuffed peppers and fried mini-corn. Red Veg perfectly represents its audience - if desired, all menu items can be prepared for vegans (more radical vegetarians, who, in particular, do not eat dairy products, that is, cheese in burgers does not suit them). It should be noted that Red Veg, despite the laurels of the pioneer, does not feel very well - its flagship cafe in London has closed, although it had a long-term and loyal audience. (According to the owners, this was due to "corporate raiding".) Today, only a cafe in Brighton remains. By the way, the New York followers of Red Veg, the Zenburger vegetarian chain that opened in 2008, are doing better.

Where: as of summer 2010, the only branch in Brighton.

Worth a try: Mexican burger with jalapeno peppers and guacamole - £3.5; falafel with coriander and parsley - £4.35; Greek roll - £4.35.

Pret a Manger (UK)

The most deserving of the health food chains opened in London in 1986. Muscovites are well aware of the concept of this network thanks to its unofficial Russian counterparts - the 5 Stars and Prime networks, which copied everything from the British, right down to the location of the stands and the design of signboards (Pret A Manger itself is not represented in Russia). Pret a Manger's audience is an office clerk running out at lunchtime to buy himself a boxed lunch. The founders of the network were guided by such visitors: they wanted the sandwiches to be fresh and prepared on the spot, preferably from whole grain bread, so that the salads and desserts did not contain unpleasant food additives, sweeteners and preservatives, and that fresh juices were always available. The concept doesn't seem all that radical now, but Pret a Manger still offers a quick and pretty tasty bite to eat, and the menu is more than varied, from beetroot chips and turnips to miso soup. And quite often it is updated - in May, for example, they served a sandwich with smoked mackerel and boiled eggs.

Where: 225 establishments, the vast majority in the UK.

Worth a try: falafel with hummus, yogurt, zaatar, basil and spinach on a slice of whole grain bread - £2.8; yogurt with cherry sauce, nuts, oatmeal and honey - £1.80; chicken and avocado sandwich - £2.

Mosburger (Japan)

It is the second largest fast food chain in Japan and the closest Japanese competitor to McDonald's. Their main invention is the rice burger, in which the traditional bun is replaced with a rice cake with the addition of millet and barley. The line of rice burgers is quite extensive and includes quite exotic options - with burdock root and carrot rice, with chicken, grated daikon and soy sauce, with shrimp and seaweed, with avocado and wasabi, and also with eel. All branches of the Japanese chain use only high-quality Tasmanian beef and farm vegetables. Each burger comes with a hand-written sign that lists the name of the worker who made it and the farms that supply the ingredients. Visitors also respect the local corn soup.

Where: in addition to Japan, it is present in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. There is a trial branch in the States.

Worth a try: rice burger with eel and dried seaweed - $3.70; rice burger with carrots and nori - $3.35; green tea ice cream with adzuki beans - $2.95.

Loving Hut (Taiwan)

A huge chain of vegetarian fast food restaurants founded by Supreme Master Suma Ching Hai, a rather strange native of Vietnam who practices the Kuan Yin meditation method she invented. In addition to meditation, Ching Hai sells clothes, lamps and jewelry of his own design and promotes vegetarianism. Including - by opening new branches of its network. In the restaurants themselves, however, Ching Hai is only reminiscent of the 24-hour zombie TV channel Supreme Master Television, which entertains visitors. Otherwise, there is quite decent and varied Asian food - vegetarian versions of Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and Mongolian bestsellers (pho soup, pad thai, Sichuan eggplant, etc.). There are also many tofu dishes here - even ice cream. Loving Hut has a strong presence in Asia, but is banned in China, where Ching Hai's activities are classified as sectarian. It comes across somewhere in Europe (in particular, in the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany) and is quite popular in the States - Americans especially love its pseudo-meat dishes: fried soy "chickens" and "shrimp" from sweet potato.

Where: branches in 18 countries, most of all in Taiwan, Korea, Mongolia, Indonesia and the USA.

Worth a try: Spicy Cha Cha (spicy sweet potato shrimp) - $9; Champion Burger (hamburger with mushrooms and soy steak) - $9; Crispy Mushroom Delight (fried oyster mushrooms) - $12.

Soup Stock Tokyo (Japan)

A very trendy soup chain, opened by former Mitsubishi employee Masamishi Toyama, who worked on art projects in his spare time. Soup Stock and was conceived primarily as an art project - Toyama himself designed the interior (black and white to make colored soups look more profitable), came up with wooden trays and drew a business plan in the form of a story with pictures, after which he compiled a list of 40 experimental soups that are conveniently served in cardboard cups and taken away. In the first years after the opening, the network almost went bankrupt - it turned out that the cost of high-quality soups is much higher than Toyama expected. But in the end, things went well, the network acquired an almost cult status, and in 2010 the magazine Monocle named Soup Stock as one of the top twenty establishments in the world. Nevertheless, Soup Stock does not intend to move outside of Japan yet.

Where: 30 branches in Japan.

Worth a try: pumpkin soup from Hokkaido - ¥480; soup with vegetables, herbs and kombu seaweed - ¥480; lobster bisque - ¥480.

In appearance, this is a classic American diner with a classic repertoire: burgers, potatoes and necks. In fact, Evos specializes in high-tech versions of traditional dishes. Their french fries, for example, are not fried in oil, but are blown with hot air, as a result of which there is 50-70% less fat in it than in ordinary french fries. The same goes for chicken burgers. Poultry for Evos is taken from small farms, greens for salads are only organic, and milkshakes are made on the spot from organic milk, sugar and fruits, without preservatives and artificial sweeteners. The rest is a similar approach: beef in burgers is guaranteed without hormones and antibiotics, all that is possible is low-fat, in some places the meat is replaced by soy and rice. Overall, Evos doesn't pretend that a hamburger and fries is the healthiest food in the world, but rather artistically makes it as harmless as possible.

Where: five locations in Florida, three in Georgia, one each in North Carolina and California.

Worth a try: burger with spicy carp fillet, tomatoes, lettuce, onion and smoked chipotle pepper sauce - $5; Thai roll with chicken, spicy nut dressing, rice, herbs, rice noodles and spinach tortilla - $4.5; milkshake with mango and guava - $2.

Mamido Burger (Japan)

You can't exactly call this place healthy, but this is by far the most witty fast food in the universe. Mamido Burger sells, as the name implies, burgers, fries and sodas - but only in reality they are all desserts. In the signature "mamido burger", the bun is a biscuit, the patty inside is made from chocolate mousse, and the pickles are made from kiwi. The "fishburger" has a banana topping, and the tartar sauce is whipped cream. French fries, two steps indistinguishable from McDonald's fries, are made from fried biscuit with cream filling; ketchup here - from raspberry sauce.

Where: the only branch in Tokyo is temporarily closed; The company is looking for a new location. So far, sweet burgers can be purchased from their online store.

Worth a try: mamido burger - ¥1650; cookie fries - ¥380.