Fast Food

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Self here on POPSUGAR Fitness!

You know how some restaurants highlight their lighter offerings in an attempt to woo their healthier customers? Well, at Panera Bread, some of the healthiest and most flavorful options don't appear anywhere on their menu. It turns out that earlier this year, Panera Breads nationwide started offering a new lineup of "power foods" with lean proteins, complex carbohydrates and veggies as part of its all-new Hidden Menu. These six "power foods" items aren't promoted in-store, but fans and followers of Panera's social media channels will get the inside scoop. Lucky for you, we've got the inside scoop now, too. Check out the six pack here — plus the skinny on each of 'em.

A healthy home-cooked meal is always best, but some mornings are just too hectic. Since skipping breakfast altogether isn't an option, you're forced to resort to fast food. For mornings when you want something other than oatmeal or yogurt, order right with one of these low-calorie fast-food breakfasts. These six options from popular chains have lower saturated fat and sodium than nearly every other option on their menus.

Starbucks Chicken Sausage Wrap
Calories: 300 calories
Total Fat: 10 grams
Saturated Fat: 3 grams
Total Carbs: 33 grams
Fiber: 5 grams
Sugars: 7 grams
Sodium: 700 milligrams
Protein: 14 grams

Burger King French Toast Sticks (three pieces)
Calories: 320 calories
Total Fat: 11 grams
Saturated Fat: 2 grams
Total Carbs: 29 grams
Fiber: 1 gram
Sugars: 8 grams
Sodium: 260 milligrams
Protein: 3 grams

Wendy's Baked Oatmeal Bar
Calories: 280 calories
Total Fat: 10 grams
Saturated Fat: 4.5 grams
Total Carbs: 46 grams
Fiber: 5 grams
Sugars: 24 grams
Sodium: 220 milligrams
Protein: 4 grams

Keep reading for three more options for breakfast.

McDonald's Egg White Delight McMuffin (left) and Egg McMuffin (right)

I take whole milk (or even half-and-half) in my tea and have been known to add an extra yolk to my morning scramble, so to say that I'm not the intended demographic for the latest McDonald's offering — the Egg White Delight McMuffin — is an understatement. Still, I tried to put my bias aside. I snapped up the Gabby Douglas-endorsed breakfast sandwich and sat down with our food team to see if it stacks up to the beloved original. Thanks to a swap of egg whites for the original griddled egg, the Egg White Delight McMuffin has 50 calories fewer and nearly half the fat of its classic counterpart. There's one other subtle substitution — white cheddar instead of American cheese — but the new option is otherwise unchanged.

Though McDonald's has found itself at the center of egg controversy in recent years, the star of the McMuffin is undoubtedly still the egg. How would a switch-up in the sandwich's standout ingredient, we wondered, affect the chain's bestselling breakfast sandwich? Keep reading for the answer and to find out which McMuffin we'd pick.

When you're on the road or in a rush, fast food might be the only option. If you're always counting calories in a hurry, this cheat sheet of nine meals will keep the calorie count at 400 or fewer.

Wendy's

• Large Chili: 310 calories
• Side Salad: 25 calories
• Fat-Free French Dressing: 40 calories
• Total Calories: 375 calories

McDonald's

• Chicken Nuggets (4-piece): 190 calories
• Tangy BBQ Sauce: 50 calories
• Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait: 150 calories
• Total Calories: 390

Subway

• Fresh Fit Turkey and Ham Sub: 280 calories
• Small Bag Baked Lays: 120 calories
• Total Calories: 400

KFC

• Grilled Drumsticks (3 drumsticks): 270 calories
• Mashed Potatoes Without Gravy: 90 calories
• Green Beans: 25 calories
• Total Calories: 385

Keep reading for five more fast-food meals under 400 calories.

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Prevention here on FitSugar!

There’s a catch, though. Here’s what you need to know.

By Mandy Oaklander, Prevention

There’s no need to speed up every time you drive by a fast-food joint with a rumbly stomach. We all succumb to the siren song of fries every once in a while, and according to a recent survey on Prevention.com, 80 percent of you eat fast food at least occasionally. The drive-through mantra to remember? In moderation, friend. In moderation.

But moderation wasn’t on the minds of these brave souls. In fierce (and sometimes foolish) exhibitions of brand loyalty, some people will go to extremes in their efforts to lose weight. We can appreciate the urge to simplify your diet — it sure makes deciding what to have for dinner a breeze — but go too simple and you might not be getting the nutrients you need. Take the five devoted diners in our "Five Fast-Food Diets For Big Weight Loss." Sure, their meal plans might have helped them shed pounds in the short term, but we hate to think about what havoc those McNuggets can wreak over time.

Make Any Meal Healthier

1. Starbucks Diet
Think you’re a Starbucks regular? Meet Christine Hall, a 66-year-old law librarian who ate all of her meals from Starbucks for two years. Every. Single. One.

That doesn’t mean she drank three Frappuccinos a day, of course. Hall noshed on the bistro boxes for lunch and paninis for dinner, reported Shine. Hall’s expensive diet allowed her to drop nearly 80 pounds and qualify to be an organ donor, which are both great things. But depending on one fast-food shop to deliver all your nutrients? Not our tall, pumpkin-spiced cup of tea.

2. Convenience-Store Diet
If you’re a sucker for Snickers, do yourself a favor and stop reading now. This diet is a meal plan you do not need to know exists.

We’re talking about the convenience-store diet, a two-month experiment performed in 2010 by Mark Haub, PhD, professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University. A nutrition professor seems like an unlikely candidate for eating straight-up junk for 60 days, but his mission was to demonstrate that no matter how you get your calories, as long as you cut them back, you can drop pounds.

He did so by mostly consuming Twinkies, Doritos, and snack cakes. But he also supplemented with vitamins, exercise, protein shakes, and some fresh veggies. Here’s the scary part: Professor Haub lost 27 pounds, and his good HDL cholesterol went up. But you might want wait for a more long-term guinea pig before you toss the kale for Kit Kats.

See which other fast-food diets are good for weight loss after the break!

Did you know there are ways to improve your fast food experience? Business Insider shares a few tricks so you can enjoy fast food in a whole new way.

How can you make a fast food dinner even better?

By bypassing the menu and using these ordering tricks to get VIP treatment.

A Reddit forum revealed tips from fast food employees and savvy customers. We pulled out the best tricks that could enhance your next dining experience.

RELATED: The Fast Food World's Latest Trendy Buzzword Makes Things Seem Extra Fancy

We have tips for how to get the freshest fries at McDonald's, pay less for more food at Arby's, and make that Gordita Crunch even more delicious.

There are also tricks for better service at Chipotle, Starbucks, and Chick-Fil-A.

• Order your fries without salt at McDonald's. This will ensure you get the freshest fries, because they have to make them on the spot.
• Order absolutely anything you want at Outback. The company's "no rules, just right" culture means staff members have to meet your demands. One employee says he has seen people make custom omelettes at midnight or go to the grocery to get ingredients for a special request.
• You can incorporate a Dorito shell into your Cheesy Gordita Crunch at Taco Bell.
  It's just 30 cents extra for the delicious addition.
• You can customize your Jamba Juice. An employee says that you can order a smoothie with "light" or "extra" of an ingredient. You can also substitute any ingredient, and employees have to honor it.

Read on for more tips when ordering at restaurant chains.