Most fast foods contain some unhealthy ingredients, but a few menu items have them all. The components of these foods that pose threats to a healthy diet include salt, sugar, fat and cholesterol, according to the USDA Dietary Guidelines for American. Large amounts of these less desirable nutrients restrict the content of beneficial vitamins and minerals. If you eat these foods often, you can avoid creating health problems by limiting portions of meat, cheese and sauces, and by not super-sizing your orders, the American Heart Association counsels.
Extra-Meat Burgers
The FDA considers fast foods with 480 mg or more of sodium, or 20 percent of the 2,400 mg daily recommended value, high in salt. A regular-sized, double-meat cheeseburger contains 1,051 mg of sodium. You can increase this total by ordering large-sized burgers or adding an order of French fries.
These beef sandwiches have high amounts of all the nutrients that threaten healthy diets: a double cheeseburger also delivers 9 g of sugar, 21 g of fat and 60 mg of cholesterol, as reported by the USDA Nutrient Database.
Milkshakes
The Food and Drug Administration doesn't recommend a safe sugar intake. To avoid blood-sugar health problems, you should consume as little added sugar as possible in a healthy diet.
That effort may entail giving up fast food chocolate milkshakes, which contain an extremely high 62 g of sugar, compared with 44 g in a regular cola and 0 g in a diet cola, per 16 oz. Commercially prepared chocolate and vanilla milkshakes are also high in salt, with as much as 323 mg; fat, with up to 22 g; and cholesterol, with up to 77 mg in 16 oz.
Fried Chicken Nuggets
The USDA reports that total fat DVs usually include high ratios of saturated fat, which causes health problems such as obesity and high blood pressure. Of the 65 g total fat allowed by the FDA in a healthy diet in one day, fast food chicken nuggets that are breaded and fried have nearly 33 percent DV, or 20 g per regular serving size. Sugar content equals 1 g; fat, 20 g; and cholesterol 48 mg.
Breakfast Sandwiches
Eating breakfast sandwiches made with biscuit, egg and sausage on a regular basis can lead to high-cholesterol health problems. At 290 mg, these items offer nearly 100 percent DV of the 300 mg of cholesterol allowed daily by FDA standards.
These sandwiches and others made from croissants and English muffins also have far more than 20 percent DV of salt, as per the USDA. Biscuit, egg and sausage sandwiches also contain 1,210 mg of sodium, 2 g of sugar and 37 g of total fat.
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