It's lunchtime and you're driving down the road and need something quick.
You see the exit sign displaying a plethora of options. Your better angels are suggesting a healthy option while your demons are begging for a cheeseburger. You want to satisfy both, but how do you do that?
PlushCare, a telehealth platform providing virtual primary care appointments through their browser and mobile app, researched the nutritional value of typical fast-food items – collecting the calories, sugar, saturated fat and sodium values for the available products – then used the Department of Health's nutrient profiling method to score the relative unhealthiness of each item on the list.
While customers don't hit the drive-thru at fast-food joints for healthy options, some restaurants are better than others. Here's a look at their results.
Healthiest fast-food cheeseburger
In PlushCare's research, the healthiest cheeseburger was Culver's Butterburger with an unhealthiness score of 17. However, the closest Culver's to Delaware is in Ohio. It's a shame, too, because Culver's is fantastic – especially its frozen custard. Second place is available in Delaware – the McDonald's cheeseburger and Burger King's cheeseburger, which have an unhealthy score of 18. Realize, this isn't the Quarter Pounder with cheese or the Whopper with cheese, but rather just the cheeseburgers.
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The unhealthiest cheeseburger was at Five Guys with 984 calories, 26.5 grams of fat and 12,050 milligrams of sodium. The Five Guys burger weighed in with an unhealthiness score of 50.
Healthiest chicken sandwich
McDonald's McChicken sandwich, with an unhealthiest score of 14 was the healthiest chicken sandwich. The McChicken has 400 calories, 3.5 grams of saturated fat and 560 milligrams of sodium. Second place went to Dairy Queen's Original Chicken Strip Sandwich and Culver's Crispy Chicken Sandwich with a score of 21.
The unhealthiest chicken sandwich was at Popeyes. The Chicken Sandwich Classic scored a 39 and weighs in with 700 calories 14 grams of saturated fat and 1,440 milligrams of sodium.
Healthiest chicken nuggets
McDonald's, again, took the top honor. The 10-piece Chicken McNuggets scored an 18. The nuggets have 410 calories, 4 grams of saturated fat and 850 milligrams of sodium. KFC's 10-piece fried nuggets
The unhealthiest nuggets were Popeye's eight-piece nuggets. It scored a 30 with 475 calories, 14 grams of saturated fat and 1,100 milligrams of sodium.
Healthiest french fries
The healthiest french fries are at In-N-Out Burger, but the closest restaurant to Delaware is in Texas. The second-place restaurant is McDonald's with an unhealthiness score of 7. The fries have 320 calories, 2 grams of saturated fat and 260 milligrams of sodium.
Five Guys had the unhealthiest fries with a score of 28. The fries have 953 calories, 7 grams of saturated fats and 962 milligrams of sodium.
Healthiest vanilla shake
McDonald's can call it a clean sweep with its shake rating a score of 26 with 480 calories, 8 grams of saturated fat and 210 calories.
The worst shake was Fatburger, but the closest location is Northern Virginia. The unhealthiest fast-food milkshake in Delaware is found at Sonic, which scored a 55. The shake has 710 calories, 20 grams of saturated fat and 630 milligrams of sodium.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Who has the healthiest, unhealthiest fast food? The answers may surprise you
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