What Can I Eat at Chick-fil-A with Diabetes?
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Chick-fil-A is one busy place, but as we know, eating out virtually anywhere is tricky when we have diabetes. I've reviewed Chick fil A's menu for you, and have some recommendations.
Table of contents
Here's My Answer On Chick-Fil-A
I have many friends that keep telling me that they love this restaurant, and on our recent road trip, every chick fil A that we drove by had long lines of cars - a very busy place. SO, I’ve been super curious about what is on their menu. What are the best food choices at this fast-food restaurant? What are the best choices for people with diabetes at Chick Fil A? So, here are my answers on what you can eat at Chick Fil A.
Let's Review Our Options - Nutrition Information
As a review, when we are looking at the nutrition information, we want to focus on the total grams of fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sodium, and protein. For this series on “eating out,” I set the parameters at 750 calories, 50 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams saturated fat, 0 trans-fat, and 750 milligrams sodium as our upper limits. Ready?
Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Grilled chicken sandwich: 320 calories 41 grams carb, 6 grams fat, and 28 grams protein…this is their lowest sandwich in saturated fat (with 1 gram) and 680 mg sodium per sandwich. The only side that can somewhat fit into this meal is the Kale Crunch side BUT, it does push this meal above the milligrams of sodium by 70 milligrams.
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Grilled Nuggets
They also offer grilled nuggets which are also a good option since they are: 130 calories, lowest in carb with only 1 gram, low in fat (3 grams), the saturated fat is only half a gram. The grilled nuggets have 25 grams of protein and 440 mg sodium. If you’d like to have a side, I was able to calculate two sides with the grilled nuggets as the entrée. You can add a fruit cup and waffle potato chips. In total, this meal will be 410 calories; 40 grams of carb; 16 grams of fat; 4 grams of saturated fat; and 690 milligrams of sodium.
Salads - A Moment of Aha
Ok, this may be an aha moment for you. Salads aren’t the best selection as most of the choices are higher in saturated fat compared to the other entrees offered. And don’t be fooled by the salad options thinking that salads would be the healthiest and lowest in carb choice because the salads here also contain carb - they aren’t low in carbs. The salads average between 540-850 calories; 31-61 grams of fat; 6-13 grams saturated fat; 29-41 grams of carbohydrate and wow, the sodium content of the salads is anywhere from 1020-2220 milligrams - that’s half to the full amount of sodium requirement for the whole day in just one salad.
My Findings
Hats off to this restaurant, they do have the nutrition information on their website. That is great news for us. That offers us the opportunity to check the nutrition info before we order so we make the most informed decision about what we are eating to help manage our blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure. I’m glad I could find a couple of “in target” options for us.
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Until next time, cheers to your health.
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