Eating healthy at Chinese or Mexican restaurants requires understanding nutritional values and sodium content. Compare the best and worst chain restaurant meals to find vegetarian options or low-calorie swaps that fit your diet.
Chinese brown sauce is a thick and savory gravy, made primarily with a meat stock or bouillon, soy sauce, oyster sauce and other seasonings. Thickened with corn starch, the sauce is commonly served on meat and vegetable dishes.
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McDonald’s publishes information regarding potential food allergens found in their products online and in nutritional pamphlets and posters. However, the fast-food restaurant acknowledges that recipes often change and this published information can become outdated or inaccurate quickly.
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White northern beans are light-colored beans with a hard outer shell. Cooks often use them as an ingredient in white chili and soups. Like pinto and black beans, white northern beans are high in minerals, fiber and protein. Values listed are for one cup of cooked northern beans, boiled without salt.
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White Castle is a fast-food chain that has been in operation since 1921. According to White Castle, the chain was the first to sell 1 billion burgers. White Castle is known for its small burgers, which can be high in calories if you consume several during one sitting.
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Udon soup is a traditional Japanese dish consisting of udon noodles -- a noodle made from all wheat flour -- and vegetables that can range in heat from mild to spicy. Meat and seafood, most often pork, chicken and shrimp, may also be added to soups for a flavor and protein boost.
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Easy Mac, a product of Kraft Foods, comes with a cup and a single serving of pasta and cheese sauce to which you add water and microwave. While the product may be convenient and quick to prepare, it contains additives that provide no nutritional advantage over traditional macaroni and cheese.
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The plantain is a variety of banana popular in Latin American cuisine. Plantains are much larger than regular bananas and have firm, mild-flavored flesh. Plantains are often prepared like potatoes, however the most popular way to enjoy plantains is fried. A serving of fried plantains is 1 cup, which has 365 calories.
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A chain restaurant with locations throughout the world, Subway offers a range of hot and cold sub sandwiches. The menu includes subs with a variety of deli meats, cheeses and toppings. Many of the sandwiches also include a sauce or dressing to enhance the flavor.
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It is wise to consider the nutrition information for the beverages you consume with your meals, and eating at Taco Bell is no exception.
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Banana bread is typically made from flour, sugar, bananas, spices, baking powder and butter, margarine or oil. Unless you make it with whole wheat flour or add walnuts, banana bread provides calories but very few essential nutrients.
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Dining at the Cheesecake Factory can be torturous if you’re dieting, but if you stay away from the dessert portion of the menu, you can find healthy, low-calorie options.
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The flowering plant Nigella sativa, native to the Middle East, produces seeds commonly called black seeds or black cumin. People use the seeds in cooking to add spice, and also consume powdered black seed and black seed oil for health benefits, according to Diet Spotlight, a diet and health website.
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The Melting Pot is a restaurant chain that began in 1975, according to its official website. The restaurant focuses on fondue dinners with multiple courses. Because these fondues are cheese- and chocolate-based, they can be high in calories, especially if you are consuming multiple courses.
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The McDonald’s menu choices include hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, salads and a host of side orders and beverages. As with any fast food outlet, the fat and calories can add up quickly to undermine good nutrition.
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When you find your stomach growling on a road trip, you might be tempted to pull into the nearest Sonic Drive-In. The fast-food chain restaurant, which calls itself "America's Drive-In," is known for its hot dogs, burgers and beverages, including several flavors of milkshake.
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McDonald's is an iconic American fast-food restaurant, and the Golden Arches logo is recognizable throughout most of the world. In the U.S., the McChicken sandwich is popular with diners on a budget, since it is part of the Dollar Menu.
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With piles of cheese, fat-laden refried beans and baskets of fried tortilla chips at every turn, a Mexican restaurant may seem like an unlikely place to order a healthy meal.
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With the McDonald’s guarantee of a fresh pot every 30 minutes, you are sure to get a piping hot cup of coffee that hasn’t been sitting around all morning. Made with 100 percent pure Arabica coffee beans, McDonalds’s medium roast coffee has been coming from the same master blender for 25 years.
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From its humble start in 1960 in a single store in Ypsilanti, Michigan, to more than 9,000 locations across the world, as of publication time, Domino's Pizza has become a fixture in many U.S. cities.
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The Chipotle restaurant serves Mexican-style food in a fast-food, restaurant-type setting. The company started serving customers in 1993. The Chipotle cheese quesadilla can be partially made to order so that you get the ingredients you want on the quesadilla.
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