This Is The Healthiest Fast Food Burger You Can Buy Right Now
The idea of a healthy fast food burger seems a little bit contradictory. Obviously, fast food hamburgers aren't the healthiest foods you can eat, even if there's some evidence that fast food is healthier than fast casual. But that doesn't mean that some choices aren't better than others. If you're looking for the best option, there are a few factors to consider. After all, what do we mean by healthiest? We can look at calories versus overall weight, but we should also consider the amount of protein, fat, and sodium in any given burger. With all that in mind, a Wendy's Jr. hamburger is your best fast food burger option if you want the healthiest possible choice.
Five of the biggest hamburger chains in America are McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Sonic Drive-In, and Five Guys. Each offers a wide array of burgers, but some are obviously much more calorie- and sodium-dense than others. It's their simplest burgers that you need to look at for your healthiest option (without going to the kids menu).
Burger King, for instance, has a plain hamburger that weighs about 99 grams. It's officially 250 calories, giving it a caloric density of 2.53 calories per gram. Wendy's Jr hamburger, at 117 grams and 240 calories, has a caloric density of 2.05. McDonald's hamburger works out to 2.63; Sonic's Jr. hamburger comes in at 2.66; and Five Guys' Little Hamburger has a caloric density of 3.8 calories per gram. Strictly by calories, Wendy's wins out.
Other factors to consider
You want to look at more than just calories when you're determining health. In fast food especially, sodium can be a concern. Five Guys' burger has 380 mg of sodium, but Burger King's has 560 mg. McDonald's hamburger has 510 mg, while Sonic's has a whopping 609 mg. Wendy's ranks second here with 470 mg. The American Heart Association recommends limiting yourself to 1,500 mg in a day, so a single burger from Sonic, Burger King, or McDonald's would get you more than a third of that.
Another thing you want to consider is protein. Sonic's burger offers just shy of 16 grams, while you'll get 23 grams from Five Guys (7 from the bun alone). Burger King is only about 13 grams, while McDonald's and Wendy's come in at 12 grams. Five Guys offers a great source of protein with relatively low sodium, but its caloric density makes it a poor choice if you're trying to be health-conscious. It has the highest fat content at 17 grams, contains 39 grams of carbs, and weighs in as the heaviest of all the burgers at 142 grams. With the extra fries Five Guys gives, you can imagine how unhealthy a whole meal might be.
The low calories and moderate sodium of the Wendy's Jr. hamburger make it a standout from the group. It's the most nutritionally well-balanced burger here, and the serving size isn't excessive. In terms of fat, it's middle of the pack at 11 grams, with 4 grams of saturated fat, and it has the lowest carbs of all five burgers at 24 grams. If you're looking for the overall healthiest choice, Wendy's Jr. hamburger is what you want, even if it didn't rank high amongst all the Wendy's burgers we tried.