Call it a mid life crisis, but I’ve recently started stoking up the social life with a night out every fortnight or so. With only weeks to go until my 39 turns to in to forty, and with significantly more childcare on hand (thank you parents, sister and cousins!) it would be silly not to.
Usually a conversation in the pub eventually gets to “what do you do?”, or hilariously (well, it seemed the funniest thing I’d ever heard after a few Bushmill Mojitos): “What is your role in life?”
When I tell people that I am a dietitian, a lot of people ask the ‘Which Is Better’ question e.g. “gin with slimline or fat tonic?”, “Guinness or beer?” or “what’s the least bad thing to have from the take-away”.
So takeaways: can fast food be fit food?
Purely for research purposes, today, I attended one of the best fast food joints Bangor Ring Road has to offer: KFC@Balloo.
What was the healthiest/least ‘bad’ thing on offer?
I had been slightly terrified that I was going to have to get one of those great big buckets that used to be advertised on TV in the 80’s. How things have changed! It felt like a chorus of angels had descended when I spotted the KFC Rice Box. It looked remarkably similar to the boxes you can get in Leon – a healthy fast fast food mecca in snazzy London.
Original Recipe Rice Box: in a box, there was a large portion of rice, a crispy chicken fillet, some salad (lettuce and tomatoes), a dollop of tomato chutney on the rice, and a splash of creamy dressing on the lettuce.
| KFC Rice Box | Adult Recommended Intake per day | |
| Calories | 500 | 2000 |
| Fat | 17 | 70 |
| Saturated Fat | 2.3 | 20 |
| Carbohydrates | 64 | 260 |
| Protein | 28 | 50 |
| Salt | 2.5 | 6 |
- Taste: It was quite tasty indeed. The chicken wasn’t at all dry, the rice was flavoursome, the lettuce was crispy and the tomatoes great too (I am clearly not a food critic with extensive foody vocabulary!)
- Nutrition:
- the rice provides a good source of carbs (although there was a bit too much for me so I left about half).
- great amount of protein from the chicken
- the chicken has been deep fried so higher in fat than a grilled fillet, unfortunately KFC doesn’t have this option. I guess that’s reasonable as the joint is has ‘fried chicken’ in it’s name.
- the salad provides about one of your five a day of fruit/veg
- Horribly high in salt, giving you almost half of your recommended daily salt intake. The salt is probably what makes the rice so tasty.
How to ‘health it up’:
- add a bottle of water
- add a side of corn on the cob to double your veg intake
- only eat half the rice, unless you’re very hungry or have just been working out
- remove the crispy skin from the chicken
- DO NOT add any more salt
- DO NOT add chips or Coke
As a post sport/exercise/workout recovery meal, this is pretty good. It provides a decent amount of carbs, protein, and veg. The salt can be a good thing if you are a heavy sweater.
So how does it compare to healthy restaurant Leon’s box? Well, Leon has lots of different versions, but typically, there isn’t a massive amount of difference when comparing calories and overall fats. The KFC one is higher in salt and carbs (probably due to the big portion of rice), but as a positive KFC is higher in protein. Leon’s usually also contain healthy fats from avocado, olive oil and seeds.
Would I get this again from KFC? Yes, sure I would. Thumbs up 🙂
sarahdietitian.com 