Salad Does Not Always Equal Healthy

If you think ordering a salad from a fast food restaurant means you're eating healthily, guess again. Certainly, many of us have had our suspicions, but the sharp-eyed consumer advocates over at The Consumerist have done a side-by-side comparison of one salad with one sandwich at four fast food restaurants—Wendy's, McDonalds, Burger King and Taco Bell.

In all four cases, there were more calories in the salads, and in three out of four, there was more sodium and more fat in the salads, too. Yep. That means if you feel good about your choice when you order a Wendy's Garden Sensations Mandarin Chicken Salad instead of the ½ lb. Double Stack—yes that's two burgers —you've been duped. What you get instead is 110 more calories (total, 550), 9 grams more fat (53), 26 grams more sugar (33), 290 more milligrams of salt (1230), and 6 more grams of fat (26). Not exactly a healthy salad. It takes work to turn greens and meat with no bread into a calorie-and-fat-laden meal, and by gosh our fast food chains have met the challenge.

Check out the full comparison on The Consumerist. Then vow to stay away from fast food joints if you really are trying to lose weight and be healthy.

Surprised?

LINK: The Myth of Salads: Why Fast Food Salads Aren't Necessarily Going to Help You Lose Weight [The Consumerist]