Healthiest Fast Food Breakfasts

You know how important it is to eat a healthy breakfast. What if you are running late for work and don’t have time to prepare  your own meal? Busy people can find healthy fast food breakfast foods. Some fast food breakfast menus offer nutritional items that are high in fiber and protein, but may still be loaded with saturated fats and sugar. Many fast food restaurants make nutrition information available to their patrons by printing the information on the food packaging or providing nutrition information leaflets. Take the time to do a little research and you will be prepared to make wise fast food choices on the run.

McDonald’s is a popular fast food stop for people on the go. The fast food giant offers a wide variety of breakfast foods. According to  Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, writing for the WebMD website, the Egg McMuffin is the best McDonald’s breakfast choice with 300 calories, 12 grams of fat and 2 grams of fiber. The McMuffin does contain more than 800 mg of sodium. The hotcakes at McDonald’s is the next best fast food breakfast choice. If you skip the margarine and syrup, your hotcakes breakfast contains about 350 calories, 3 gram of fiber and 590 milligrams of sodium. 

Burger King offers some fast food menu items that contain fewer calories than the McDonald’s choices. The King’s ham omelet sandwich contains only 290 calories, but 13 grams of fat and 870 milligrams of sodium. The French toast stick breakfast contains fewer calories, about 240 but it has 13 grams of fat and 2.5 grams of saturated fat. These tasty breakfast goodies have zero cholesterol, 250 milligrams of sodium and only 1 gram of fiber.  

Dunkin’ Doughnuts offers some delicious breakfast bagels. The sweets specialist offers customers wheat, blueberry and honey bran raisin muffins. The blueberry and wheat bagel contain about 330 calories. The honey bran raisin muffin has more calories and sodium, about 40 milligrams of each, and 15 grams of fat. The blueberry bagel has 600 milligrams of sodium but is lower in fat than the other healthier breakfast options. 

It is important that you always eat breakfast. Don’t skip breakfast unless you cannot avoid it. Your body needs the nutrients and energy to function. If you have no time to make breakfast or stop for a meal, drink some juice on your way out the door. Drink a glass of orange juice or low-fat milk instead of coffee if you have to opt for a fast food breakfast.

For more information about fast food breakfasts, see:

WebMD, Best and Worst Fast-Food Breakfast, by Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, reviewed by Louise Chang, MD, 2011