It’s lunchtime, you’re driving down the road and need something quick.
You see the exit sign with a plethora of options. Your better angels suggest a healthy option while your demons beg for a cheeseburger. You want to please both, but how do you do that?
PlushCare, a telehealth platform that offers virtual primary care appointments via its browser and mobile app, conducted a study on the nutritional content of typical fast food items. They compiled the calorie, sugar, saturated fat, and sodium counts for the available items, then used the Department of Health’s nutrient profile method to rate the relative unhealthiness of each item on the list.
While customers don’t head to fast food drive-thrus for healthy options, some restaurants are better than others. Here’s a look at their results.
The healthiest fast food cheeseburger
In PlushCare’s study, the healthiest cheeseburger was Culver’s Butterburger, which had an unhealthy score of 17. However, the closest Culver’s to Delaware is in Ohio. That’s a shame, because Culver’s is fantastic, especially the frozen custard. Coming in second place in Delaware is McDonald’s Cheeseburger and Burger King’s Cheeseburger, which had an unhealthy score of 18. Keep in mind that these aren’t the Quarter Pounder with cheese or the Whopper with cheese, they’re just cheeseburgers.
Halloween: McDonald’s is bringing back Boo Buckets. Here’s what we know
The unhealthiest cheeseburger was at Five Guys with 984 calories, 26.5 grams of fat and 12,050 milligrams of sodium. The Five Guys burger had an unhealthy score of 50.
Healthiest Chicken Sandwich
McDonald’s McChicken sandwich, with an unhealthiest score of 14, was the healthiest chicken sandwich. The McChicken contains 400 calories, 3.5 grams of saturated fat and 560 milligrams of sodium. Second place went to Dairy Queen’s Original Chicken Strip Sandwich and Culver’s Crispy Chicken Sandwich with a score of 21.
The unhealthiest chicken sandwich was at Popeyes. The Chicken Sandwich Classic scored a 39 and weighed in at 700 calories, 14 grams of saturated fat and 1,440 milligrams of sodium.
The healthiest chicken nuggets
McDonald’s once again took home the top honors. The 10-piece Chicken McNuggets scored an 18. The nuggets contain 410 calories, 4 grams of saturated fat and 850 milligrams of sodium. KFC’s 10-piece fried nuggets
The unhealthiest nuggets were Popeye’s eight-piece nuggets, which scored a 30 with 475 calories, 14 grams of saturated fat and 1,100 milligrams of sodium.
The healthiest fries
The healthiest fries are at In-N-Out Burger, but the closest restaurant to Delaware is in Texas. The second-ranked restaurant is McDonald’s, with an unhealthy score of 7. The fries contain 320 calories, 2 grams of saturated fat and 260 milligrams of sodium.
Five Guys had the unhealthiest fries with a score of 28. The fries contained 953 calories, 7 grams of saturated fat and 962 milligrams of sodium.
The healthiest vanilla shake
McDonald’s can call it a clean slate, with a score of 26 for the shake with 480 calories, 8 grams of saturated fat and 210 calories.
The worst shake was Fatburger, but the closest location is Northern Virginia. The unhealthiest fast food milkshake in Delaware is Sonic, which scored a 55. The shake contains 710 calories, 20 grams of saturated fat and 630 milligrams of sodium.
This article originally appeared in the Delaware News Journal: The Healthiest and Unhealthiest Fast Food Options in Delaware
