Fast food is not good for you.  It is usually filled with fat, refined sugars, gross amounts of sodium and countless carbohydrates, but most Americans seem to enjoy having fast food.  Besides eating a balanced diet, exercising, and taking vitamins and supplements, maintaining or improving your health is about making daily choices. 

If you have high blood pressure or are going to have a high sodium meal, make sure that whatever you eat the rest of the day balances with your goals.  The best diet for your overall health is one rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and whole grains that supply a lot of nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber.

Even though I’m giving you my recommendations on what to eat at fast food restaurants, I’m not endorsing that you should eat there.  I will say, however, that many of your favorite chains have done a better job recently of considering your nutrition and have provided you with some good alternatives. 

The one thing to remember is that just because something is low in sodium or cholesterol doesn’t mean it is healthy.  Almost everything a fast-food restaurant offers is saturated in fat and has a high caloric count.  Even salads, which appear to be healthy, are not healthy once you add the calorie and fat laden dressing. 

Be aware!  Many of these chains have different tricks or standards for calculating sodium and cholesterol, or any of their nutritional facts for that matter.  Some base it on a 2,000 calorie per day diet, others on a 1,500 calorie per day diet.  Also, serving sizes might differ between chains. 

If you click on your favorite fast-food chain, it will take you directly to the nutritional facts section of their website and you can put together your own choices for a high blood pressure diet.

If you need to order a burger, go with the Big Hamburger. It has 1060mg of sodium.  The Low Carb Six Dollar Burger comes in second at 1290mg of sodium

If you prefer a chicken or fish sandwich, go with the Carl’s Catch Sandwich, which has 1290mg of sodium, or better yet, you could have the Charbroiled BBQ sandwich, which has 1150 mg of sodium.

Fries, Onion Rings, and Zucchini have no cholesterol, but do contain saturated fat.  The lowest amount of sodium would be in a small order of fries at 180mg.  Avoid the Fried Zucchini at 850mg of sodium.

A side salad without the dressing only has 5mg of cholesterol and 60mg of sodium.  Add a dressing and it goes up over 400mg of sodium.

For breakfast, you have limited choices.  I would recommend the French Toast Dips, which have no cholesterol and only 530mg of sodium.  The Hash Brown Nuggets have no cholesterol, but are loaded with fat and have 460mg of sodium.

The Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake is your best choice for dessert at 55mg of cholesterol and 230mg of sodium, but I doubt it would be worth the calories and high fat

All of Church’s chicken has saturated and trans fat.  The original leg has 55mg of cholesterol and 280mg of sodium, and is your best choice.

All of Church’s chicken and fish sandwiches come in between 25-35mg of cholesterol and vary widely regarding sodium.  The best sandwich would be the Spicy Fish Fillet at 350mg of sodium and the worst would be the Churchs Fried Steak Sandwich at 880 mg of sodium.

1 Chicken Tender has 25mg of cholesterol and 440mg of sodium.

When ordering sides, I would recommend the corn, which has only 15mg of sodium

If you have to order dessert, I’d stick with the Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie, which has 15mg of cholesterol and 130mg of sodium.

Avoid all of the condiments except the Purple Pepper Sauce, which has 26mg of sodium per servin

If you need to order a burger, go with either the Hamburger deluxe, which has 45mg of cholesterol and 560mg of sodium.

If you prefer a chicken or fish sandwich, go with the Chicken Sandwich, which has 35mg of cholesterol and 730mg of sodium. Almost all of  the other sandwiches exceed 1000mg of sodium.

Fries, Seasoned Curly Fries, and Onion Rings, have no cholesterol, but do contain saturated fat.  The lowest amount of fat would be in a small order of fries, and they have 620mg of sodium.

A side salad without the dressing only has 10mg of cholesterol and 60mg of sodium.  Your best dressing choice is probably Creamy Southwest Dressing, which has 210mg of sodium.

For breakfast, you have limited choices.  I would recommend the French Toast Sticks, which have no cholesterol and only 450mg of sodium.  The Hash Browns have no cholesterol, but are loaded with fat, trans fat and 230mg of sodium.

The Original Glazed has 65mg of sodium and is your best choice.  The rest of the Krispy Kreme donut line falls between 75-280mg

Pizza usually has lots of sodium regardless of where you buy it

The Veggie Lover’s Pizza at 15 mg of cholesterol and 550mg of sodium per slice is probably your best choice.  All the other pizza slices run from a low of 550mg of sodium to a high of 1690mg of sodium per slice, the latter being the Meat Lover’s pizza.

If you want a salad, stick with the French dressing at 180mg per 2 tablespoons

All of their desserts have no cholesterol, but are loaded with other stuff you might not want.  If you ‘have to have’ a dessert, the Cinnamon Sticks are the lowest in sodium at 180mg.

If you need to order a burger, go with either the DQ Home-style Hamburger, which has 50mg of cholesterol and 400mg of sodium,

The All-Beef Hot Dog is 30mg and 870mg of sodium.

If you prefer chicken, go with the Crispy Chicken Sandwich, which has 45mg of cholesterol and 700 mg of sodium.

A side salad without the dressing has no cholesterol and 50mg of sodium.  Add a dressing and it goes up to 25-35mg of cholesterol and approximately 370mg of sodium, except when you order DQ Blue Cheese, which come in at a whopping 700mg of sodium.
 
Fries and Onion Rings have no cholesterol, but do contain saturated fat.  The lowest amount of fat would be in a small order of fries, which has 760mg of sodium and the Onion Rings have 740mg of sodium. 

DQ has so many ice creams and desserts you need to check it out for yourself, but probably the best one would be the Arctic Rush Slush, which has no cholesterol.

Blimpie has many good no-to-low cholesterol choices.  Here’s a list of their sandwiches with no cholesterol:  Blimpie 6” Turkey Sub on White, Blimpie 6” Turkey Sub on Wheat, Blimpie 6” Chik Max on White, Blimpie 6” Chik Max on Wheat, Blimpie 6” Vegi Max on White, Blimpie 6” Vegi Max on Wheat, Blimpie 6” Mexi Max on White, Blimpie 6” Mexi Max on Wheat. Almost all of these sandwiches exceed close to the maximum amount of sodium you should have per day.  If you absolutely had to have one of their sandwiches, the Blimpie Grille Max on wheat comes in at 823.2mg of sodium.

All of Arbys sandwiches are high in sodium.  With the exception of their Spicy Cajun Fish Sandwich at 883mg of sodium or their Regular Fish sandwich at 956mg of sodium, we cannot recommend any of their sandwiches.

Fries, Seasoned Curly Fries, and Onion Rings, have very little cholesterol, but do contain saturated fat.  The best fries for you would be a small Curly Fries at 791mg of sodium 

A salad without the dressing has less than 10mg of cholesterol.  Add a dressing and it goes up to 25-35mg of cholesterol. The Raspberry Vinaigrette has 387mg of sodium.

Subway is known for their lighter choices and fresh ingredients, but try to stay away from some of the creamy sauces.  The 6” Veggie Delite has no cholesterol and only 500mg of sodium.

You could also try a mixed-green salad, but ask about the dressings. 

We’re still trying to figure out their nutritional values.  What they cleverly do is breakdown each of their menu items but do not give an overall total for nutritional values.  Overall, I would stick to a basic cheese or veggie pizza, and I would limit your slices.  You don’t want to eat too much pizza as it is generally very high in sodium.

Taco Bell now offers “Fresco” Style items under 10grams of fat.  All of these options are 25mg or less of cholesterol.  If you want a taco, stick with the basic one at 25mg of cholesterol and 370mg of sodium.  The Bean Burrito only has 5 mg of cholesterol and 550mg of sodium.

If you need to order a burger, go with either the Whopper Jr w/o mayo which has 490mg of sodium, or the Hamburger, which has 40mg of cholesterol and 560mg of sodium.  A double Whopper with cheese delivers you 1520mg of sodium.

If you prefer a chicken or fish sandwich, go with the Tender Grill Chicken Sandwich w/o sauce. It has 75mg of cholesterol and 1090mg of sodium.  BK’s Big Fish Sandwich w/o Tarter Sauce is 50 mg of cholesterol and 1240mg of sodium.

Fries and Onion Rings, have no cholesterol, but do contain saturated fat.  The lowest amount of fat would be in a small order of fries, and they have 380mg of sodium. 

A side salad without the dressing has no cholesterol and no sodium.  Add a dressing and it will have 25-35mg of cholesterol and between 440mg and 740mg of sodium.

For breakfast, you have limited choices.  I would recommend the French Toast Sticks, which have no cholesterol and only 260mg of sodium.  The Hash Browns have no cholesterol, but are loaded with fat, trans fat and sodium (between 500mg and 1200mg).  Probably the worst item for you to have would be the Enormous Omelet Sandwich with 330mg of cholesterol and 1940mg of sodium.

The Dutch Apple Pie is your best choice for dessert because it has no cholesterol, but I doubt it would be worth the calories and high fat.  Its sodium content is 270mg.

If you need to order a burger, go with the Hamburger, which has 25mg of cholesterol and 520mg of sodium.

If you prefer a wrap, chicken or fish sandwich, go with the McChicken, which has 40mg of cholesterol and 790mg of sodium.  The Fillet-of-Fish has 35 mg of cholesterol and 660mg of sodium.  The Chipotle BBQ Snack Wrap with Crispy Chicken has 25mg of cholesterol and 780mg of sodium.

Fries and Onion Rings, have no cholesterol, but do contain saturated fat.  The lowest amount of fat would be in a small order of fries, which has 140mg of sodium.  For every ketchup package you use, add another 100mg of sodium to your count.

A side salad, Asian salad, or Southwest salad without the dressing has no cholesterol.  Add a dressing and it goes up to 20mg save for any of the Newman’s Low-fat choices, which have none.

For breakfast, you have limited choices.  I would recommend the fruit, biscuit, or English Muffin, which have no cholesterol or you could go with the yogurt at 5mg.  The Hash Browns have no cholesterol, but are loaded with fat, trans fat and sodium.

McDonald’s has many choices for no-or-low cholesterol desserts, but I doubt they are worth the calories and high fat.

All of KFC’s chicken has saturated fat, but no trans fat (except the Chicken Breast without skin or breading).  The chicken breast without skin or coating has 65mg of cholesterol and 520mg of sodium, and plain wings come in around 55mg of cholesterol and 350mg of sodium.  Avoid specialty Wings;  they begin at 65mg and go up to 105mg of cholesterol. Their sodium content is between 740mg and 2260mg for a serving of 5 wings.

All of KFC’s chicken sandwiches come in between 25-70mg of cholesterol depending on their size and condiments.  The best choice for sodium is a KFC Snacker Honey BBQ at 530mg of sodium

Two Chicken Crispy Strips have 50mg of cholesterol and 800mg of sodium.

The best KFC sides would be corn on the Cob at 5mg of sodium for the small corn and 10mg of sodium for the large corn.  Cole Slaw is pretty good at 270mg of sodium

If you have to order dessert, I’d stick with the Quaker Chewy S’mores Granola Bar, any of the sweet life cookies, and the Lil’ Bucket Strawberry Short Cake.

If you need to order a burger, go with the Jr. Hamburger, which has 25mg of cholesterol and 500mg of sodium.  The Baconator has 1920mg of sodium

If you prefer a chicken or fish sandwich, go with the Crispy Chicken, which has 30+mg of cholesterol, and about 660mg of sodium, or the Home-style Chicken Fillet Sandwich at 45mg of cholesterol and 1140mg of sodium.  The 5-piece Chicken Nuggets come in at 35mg and 520mg of sodium, but try to avoid the sauces because they will add on another 120mg-220mg of sodium per serving

Fries, Onion Rings, and the Plain Potato have no cholesterol, but the fries and onion rings do contain saturated fat and have sodium ranging from 210mg to 550mg.  The lowest amount of fat would be in a small order of fries.  The Plain Potato has only 25mg of sodium

A salad without the dressing has no cholesterol and 25mg of sodium.  All of the dressings are around 220mg of sodium per serving 

For dessert – if you must – stick with the Mandarin Orange Cup or Low-Fat Strawberry Yogurt

All of their bagels contain no cholesterol except their reduced Carb Bagel with Cheese, which comes in a 20mg.  In terms of sodium, all of the bagels have between 600mg and 650mg of sodium except for the salt bagel, which is at 4520mg of sodium. 

We’re still trying to figure out their nutritional values.  Overall, I would stick to a basic cheese or veggie pizza, and I would limit your slices.  Balance your meal out with a salad and try to avoid the salad dressings.