Fast food—two words that connote high-calorie, fat-laden, salty, not-good-for-you foods in many people's minds (okay, I admit it, in my mind as well). However, I was pleasantly surprised recently when I did an online search of popular fast-food restaurants: They seem to be working on at least a few healthy options, perhaps by popular demand. Information about these outlets' healthier choices is listed below in alphabetical order. (Disclaimer: I don't own any stock or have any financial ties to any of these restaurants.)

• Au Bon Pain®. On it's Web site, this restaurant chain features a "Café Smart Menu" option whereby you can search foods and beverages by various categories, including calories, saturated fat, sodium, carbohydrates, and cholesterol. Another option lets you search by highest fiber and protein content. This Web site takes a lot of the guesswork out of finding the healthiest choices, and makes it easier for you to locate what you most want to include in your diet. I like the Carrot Ginger Soup (large, 16-oz portion, only 180 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 6 grams of fat). Compare this lunch choice to their baked stuffed potato, which carries a whopping 460 calories and 27 grams of fat (the equivalent of more than 5 pats of butter, 13 grams of which is artery-clogging saturated fat).
• Burger King®. This chain recently decided to limit sodium in advertised kids' meals, making it the first quick-service restaurant to commit to this. Their initiative limits sodium to 600 milligrams or less, and is part of Burger King's "Positive Steps™" commitment to helping children eat and live better. At 340 calories, the Kids Meal contains 505 milligrams of sodium, and is a great source of calcium, vitamin D, and potassium, providing a half-cup serving of fresh fruit and 8 oz of low-fat milk. Since too much sodium can potentially increase the risk of high blood pressure and other health issues for both children and adults, I generally advise my patients to aim for no more than 600 milligrams of sodium at a meal. Thus, Burger King's initiative seems like a step in the right direction. Other kid's-meal options are said to be in development, and are expected to be available by this summer.
• Dunkin' Donuts®. Having grown up in New England and spending many years in Boston, I saw Dunkin' Donuts restaurants everywhere. It appears that they're not only offering sandwiches now, but also some healthier options, such as their "DDSMART" menu items. One I particularly liked was their Egg White Turkey Sausage Flatbread Sandwich, providing a reasonable 280 calories and a respectable 6 grams of fat, 3 grams of fiber, and 19 grams of protein. Not a bad choice, in my opinion, if you're on the go and want a filling but healthier sandwich. Compare this to DD's Caesar Salad, which packs 390 calories (300 from fat), 33 grams of fat (that's equal to 6½ pats of butter) and only 10 grams of protein. Most Americans need roughly 60 grams of protein a day, so 15-20 grams of protein at lunch and dinner (and at least 10 grams at breakfast) will better help you meet this goal while keeping hunger at bay.
• McDonald's®. Their Web site contains a page, "Simple steps to making balanced meals choices at McDonald's," that includes links for cutting calories, fat, and sodium. The site also features a section for people with diabetes with meal suggestions complete with calories, servings of meat (aka protein), carbohydrates, and info on vegetable servings and fat content. Although not all the selections listed are what I would call healthy (for example, the diabetes link includes a small order of fries and a Quarter Pounder®, albeit without cheese), there seems to be a good-faith effort overall to help people choose healthier meals.
• Taco Bell®. If south-of-the-border is what you crave, you might be surprised to know that this chain, too, seems to be creating healthier options. They have something called a "Fresco Menu," which includes 9 items under 9 grams of fat each (not too bad—"yo quiero Taco Bell," as that cute little Chihuahua was wont to say!).

Even though eating in your own home and eating fewer processed foods are probably better for you than even the healthiest options above, I'm happy to see that more and more fast-food places are starting to offer health-conscious options geared especially to people on the go. I'm sure there are more healthy choices out there, so I'd love to hear about some that you've run across.

Cheers to your good health!