Although fast food is undeniably tasty, it’s also notoriously bad for your health. When you roll up to the drive-thru on a diet, it can be difficult to know what you should and shouldn’t order. Of course, everyone knows to stay away from fat-laden Big Macs and deviously delicious French fries. But, unfortunately, even seemingly healthy options could be unexpectedly terrible for your body. In fact, believe it or not, that includes many salads at some of the most popular restaurants.
That’s right: a salad isn’t always the best option for your health. That’s because many fast food restaurants load their salads with fattening, processed ingredients that could do more harm than good. Below, we’ll dive into a few of the biggest culprits: Chick-fil-A Cobb Salad, Wendy’s Taco Salad, and Zaxby’s Cobb Zalad.
1. Chick-fil-A Cobb Salad
Although Chik-fil-A does offer up some healthy meals, this salad is not one of the best options. Sure, it rests at a decent 510 calories, and features some nutritious veggies like lettuce, corn, and tomato. But when you add in fried chicken, bacon, shredded cheese, and fattening ranch dressing, it's hard to call this salad "healthy."
The real kicker is the amount of salt. The Chick-fil-A Cobb Salad comes in at a staggering 1360mg of sodium; that's over half the recommended daily amount. Over time, all of that salt can lead to a range of health issues.
2. Wendy's Taco Salad
Nachos become healthy when you put them in salad form, right? Uh, not exactly. A taco salad is a great example of an option that just isn't good for you, despite the fact that it has "salad" in the name. Just look at Wendy's Taco Salad, which comes in at 660 calories. Believe it or not, that's more than even the Baconator!
And if the high calorie content wasn't enough to keep you away, consider this: The Taco Salad comes in at 1820mg of sodium. That's more than you should have in a single day! You're probably better off with a burger—but Wendy's does have a few healthy-ish salads to choose from.
3. Zaxby's Cobb Zalad
Fried chicken is delicious—but it's also terrible for your health when eaten in excess. Which is why it shouldn't be surprising to hear that Zaxby's Cobb "Zalad," which is topped with their famous fried chicken, isn't exactly the healthiest meal around. On top of the lettuce and chicken, it packs in fattening ingredients like shredded cheese, fried onions, and even a side of Texas Toast.
All of this adds up to a whopping 700 calories and 1910mg of sodium, bringing you right up to the World Health Organization's recommendation of 2,000mg per day. Yikes!
The bottom line
Of course, most people don't pull up to a fast food restaurant because they're looking for something healthy to eat. If you're eating at Wendy's, you've probably already resigned to eating something a little bad for you. But it's always important to at least be aware of the risks at hand, rather than being fooled into thinking that an item can support your health goals just because it has some lettuce in it. And while there are certainly healthy fast food salads out there, these ones are not good examples.
