Eating fast food while dieting is hard, but finding keto-friendly foods can be especially challenging. The high-fat, low-carb diet calls for approximately 70 percent of your daily calories to come from fat, 20 percent from protein and only about 10 percent from carbs. Although the drive-thru is full of fat-laden menu items, these foods are typically loaded with carbs–a keto no-no. But sometimes, fast food is handy, like when you need to grab some fuel in between work meetings.
So what’s a busy keto dieter to do?
Many fast food options are customizable and can be adapted to fit a keto lifestyle, says Jenny Kramer, R.D., who specializes in the ketogenic diet at Indiana University. Since staying in ketosis, or burning fat for energy, requires a lot of diligence and adherence to maintaining the proper fat, protein and carbs ratio, Kramer recommends carrying your own source of fat.
“Most of the time it’s not going to be easy to find olive oil to pour right on your salad,” she says. In addition, it’s best to be mindful about protein portion sizes too. “You want to be careful that you’re not overdoing it on your meat serving,” she says. So maybe don’t go for that triple cheeseburger.
And if you’re consuming more protein at lunch, you may want to increase fat and reduce protein at dinner to stay within the daily recommendations. Although finding keto-friendly fast food requires some work, here are options from 10 popular chains that you can easily adapt to fit your diet.
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Burger King
Whopper sandwich (no bun): 430 calories, 36 grams of fat, 21 grams of protein and 7 grams of carbs
Bacon cheeseburger (no bun): 190 calories, 14 grams of fat, 13 grams of protein and 4 grams of carbs
Garden side salad: 60 calories, 4 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein, and 3 grams of carbs. Use olive oil for dressing
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Carl’s Jr.
Famous Star with cheese (no bun): 420 calories, 34 grams of fat, 20 grams of protein, and 9 grams of carbs
Super Star with cheese (no bun): 670 calories, 53 grams of fat, 40 grams of protein, and 11 grams of carbs
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Chipotle
Salad with chorizo, fajita vegetables, and cheese: 440 calories, 26 grams of fat, 40 grams of protein, and 10 grams of carbohydrates. Use olive oil and splash of lime juice for dressing
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Five Guys
Burger patty with cheese, lettuce, grilled mushrooms, tomato (no bun): 411 calories, 25 grams of fat, 22 grams of protein, and 3 grams of carbs
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KFC
Caesar side salad: 300 calories, 28 grams of fat, 5 grams of protein, and 6 grams of carbs
Grilled Chicken Thigh: 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, 17 grams of protein, and 0 grams of carbs
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McDonald’s
Cheeseburger (no bun): 150 calories, 10 grams of fat, 10 grams of protein, and 5 grams of carbs
Bacon ranch grilled chicken salad: 320 calories, 14 grams of fat, 9 grams of carbs, and 42 grams of protein
Steak, Egg & Cheese Biscuit (no biscuit): 260 calories, 18 grams of fat, 20 grams of protein, and 3 grams of carbs
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Moe’s Southwest Grill
Salad bowl with choice of meat, cheese and guacamole: roughly 339 calories, 23 grams of fat, 30 grams of protein, and 10 grams of carbs. Use olive oil and splash of lime juice for dressing
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Starbucks
Sous Vide Egg Bites Bacon & Gruyere: 310 calories, 22 grams of fat, 19 grams of protein, and 9 grams of carbs
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Taco Bell
Chicken Power Bowl without beans and rice: 250 calories, 15 grams of fat, 21 grams of protein, and 8 grams of carbs
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Panera
Greek Salad: 390 calories, 36 grams of fat, 6 grams of protein and 11 grams of carbs
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