Three Ways to Stay Healthy as a Youth Pastor on a Fast Food Diet
[This is a guest blog post by Matthew McNutt, a youth pastor in Maine and a consistent host on the Who Are These Guys Podcast.]
Okay, obviously I’ve done the fast food thing. I value-mealed my way right onto Biggest Loser! The whole “my second office is Taco Bell” line was absolutely true for me. But now I’m trying to keep myself at an appropriate weight and still eat out on a youth pastor salary … is it possible to do fast food without big time damage? Here’s a few tips for what to look for:
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Find out the calories in what you are eating! Every fast food restaurant has the nutritional information somewhere! Whether it’s in the form of a poster or just a pamphlet, they’ve got the calorie counts in print. It only takes a few moments and it can make a world of difference in what you eat - the calorie counts for similar looking items can be wildly different. If I can do a fast food meal for around 500-700 calories, I’m thrilled.
Sometimes that means simple modifications; removing the cheese and mayo from a Whopper lowers it’s calorie count by over 200 calories, and hitting the Fresco options at Taco Bell mean I can have two to three burritos for around 600 calories.
- The easiest step is to make a choice before you ever go through the door: if you want low calorie and healthy options other than a salad, then you’re not looking for Burger King. You want Subway, Baja Fresh, or some other fast food place that has the ingredients fresh and out there, ready to put together something that isn’t deep fried, or otherwise mutilated. There’s a reason why Jared lost so much weight - Subway blows away McDonald’s any day when it comes to healthier options. And while I can’t speak for your town - it’s just as popular to the teens in mine as the Burger joint.
- Finally, skip the regular soda! One 32 oz. Coke has as many calories in it as a healthy portioned adult meal! Piles of sugar! Lets be honest, we youth pastors and youth workers like to have our caffeine by the gallon, but let’s be smart about it. Do water, or at the very least Diet Soda. And yes, you can retrain your taste buds to like Diet Soda! I sure did!
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[...] blog post over on the Who Are These Guys? podcast/blog page! Check it out, it’s entitled: Three Ways to Stay Healthy as a Youth Pastor on a Fast Food Diet. You don’t have to be a youth pastor to read it, though - the tips are applicable to anyone [...]
Three Ways to Stay Healthy as a Youth Pastor on a Fast Food Diet | Who Are These Guys…
When Taco Bell is your second office you need to watch what you eat. Good advice on how to keep from being a contestant on “Who’s a Bigger Loser than Marko? http://www.ysmarko.com/?p=2447...