Happy Friday, friends! Last week’s post caused a bit of controversy, and Aprille and I want to speak to it here before sharing her continuation of the post, which includes allergy-friendly on-the-go options. Eating healthy, truly healthy, is a goal that we are both pursuing. Ultimately, we would both love to eat whole foods exclusively. Unfortunately, we also both have extenuating circumstances that keep us from always achieving that goal – such as severe food allergies, back-to-back therapies, and family members who experience frequent anxiety attacks.
We started this series for women like us, who find it difficult to eat 100% healthy 100% of the time. Women who find themselves constantly on-the-go rushing to and from therapies, appointments, play dates, and balancing various stressful realities that impact their daily lives.
For both of us, prepping healthy snacks ahead of time can be achieved some of the time, but not all of the time. And, in light of that, Katie shared with you some “healthy” fast food options for on-the-go families last week. Though those choices arguably may not be truly “healthy,” because, yes, they are fast food, they are still better choices than not caring at all. And that is what this series is all about. We moms all have many pressing priorities. Pursuing faithful fitness is one of those priorities, but we understand that there are many others as well. Sometimes, one priority has to give a little bit because other priorities in life and motherhood are more pressing. It is all a balancing act.
With that said, we honor and appreciate each family’s individual choices and hope that this series will provide you with a few friendly insights, exercises, and honesty based on our personal experiences. Thank you, as always, for reading and joining us along this journey. Without further ado, here is Aprille’s post that includes allergy-friendly foods for on-the-go families.
Love,
Aprille and Katie
Chick-Fil-A
We started going to Chick-Fil-A when my son was just a baby, long before either of us were diagnosed with food allergies. When he was old enough to get a kid’s meal (around the same time I got diagnosed with a wheat allergy), I started to realize how much more cost effective it was to eat a kid’s meal than to get a bun-less entree. Now, our standard order is to both get a kid’s meal.
Chick-Fil-A’s grilled chicken nuggets are gluten free and come in a set of four or six (which is nice, because my hunger levels vary). You can get fruit, fries, or applesauce as a side. Contrary to a lot of hype, Chick-Fil-A’s fries are NOT fried in peanut oil* (while some of their other products are), but rather canola oil. I personally do not use canola oil for my personal cooking at home, but while we are out, sometimes having a few fries is a fun cheat.
So, the order for myself and my son looks like this:
Me: Kid’s Meal, grilled, six count, with fries and a water
Him: Kid’s Meal, grilled, four count, with fruit and an apple juice.
Cost? $8-9
Then, we split the fries and the fruit – so we are both getting maybe 2-3 bites of fries and a little bit of fruit. This meal could be made more healthy by excluding the fries and choosing the fruit.
{**My son’s peanut allergy and my wheat allergy are not so severe that I am worried about cross-contamination. We had both eaten at CFA countless times before being diagnosed with absolutely no allergic reaction. Obviously, if you have a more severe allergy or gluten sensitivity in your family, this is something you would have to determine risk factors and make the best choice for your family.}
Chick-Fil-A has a whole section on their website with allergen, gluten, and diabetic information about their options.
McDonald’s
I truly do avoid going to McDonald’s, but sometimes it happens. I find myself there more often for breakfast, if I’m out unusually early. McDonalds does not have a gluten-free menu and even their hash browns have wheat in them (unlike CFA’s hash browns).
But what you can get, that maybe you didn’t know about, is bacon à la carte. You can ask for a side of bacon and walk out with three slices in a container. Normally, when I go to McDonalds in the morning I’ll ask for bacon and a Strawberry Banana Smoothie. There’s still a lot of sugar in the smoothie, but no HFCS, so a better option than other things I could choose.
Starbucks
Starbucks is definitely a more costly option, but their ingredients tend far more toward natural and whole foods than the other fast food chains. You can order classic oatmeal and fresh fruit. Some Starbucks have offered “protein platters” with hardboiled eggs, cheese, peanut butter and fruit. {The peanut butter comes in a separate container that can easily be tossed.} They offer a much better yogurt parfait than McDonald’s as well as a nice line of breakfast sandwiches. Unfortunately, they will not give you bacon à la carte (tried that) because their sandwiches come pre-made.
Subway
At Subway you can also order à la carte high protein meat and cheese options. While these meats are not nitrate-free, I would rather have simple meat, provolone cheese, and vegetables than some other options. Deli meat is also very easy to pass to the backseat to hungry littles.
Subway has never given me any trouble for ordering à la carte – but this also isn’t something they are accustomed to handling, so they might look at you strangely at first. Remember to be patient with the people working.
The more people with allergies ask for allergy-friendly options, the more awareness will be raised and hopefully the more changes to restaurant menus we will see.
To read more about my journey into physical and mental health, check out the Health and Wellness section of my blog or start here on this post about my weight-loss journey.
Also, be sure to follow our Faithful Fitness board on Pinterest where we share great workouts, exercises, health and nutrition tips, and more!
~Aprille
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