by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
August 26, 2025
Not like conventional quick meals chains, fast-casual eating places supply customers freshly ready, higher-quality meals.
If you’re caught up in a busy workday, a fast and wholesome lunch from a close-by fast-casual salad or bowl chain could be a lifesaver.
Not like conventional quick meals chains, fast-casual eating places supply customers freshly ready, higher-quality meals. They function in an off-the-cuff setting, with counter service to maintain issues speedy for the nine-to-five crowd. Whereas the salads and sandwiches provided at these eating places typically seem wholesome on the floor, hidden components and add-ons could make for startling vitamin information.
Hers selected standard menu objects from the 4 largest fast-casual eating places within the nation, and, from there, centered on 5 dietary information factors to rank a listing of 16 from healthiest to unhealthiest:
Energy: Energy symbolize the power our our bodies derive from the meals and drinks we eat. Nonetheless, analysis reveals that consuming extra energy—significantly energy from carbohydrates and fats—causes weight acquire. Whereas calorie counting isn’t the important thing to weight reduction, being conscious of your basic consumption might be useful.
Saturated Fats: Your physique depends on wholesome, unsaturated fat from sources like avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil to thrive. Excessive saturated fats consumption, nonetheless, is taken into account unhealthy and is linked to coronary heart illness and weight problems. Whereas saturated fats from butter, cheese, pink meat, and extra is protected to eat moderately, it shouldn’t be the central a part of your food plan.
Sodium: Extra dietary sodium has been linked to elevated blood stress and poor cardiovascular well being. Restaurant meals usually comprise extra salt than home-cooked meals, so it’s important to be conscious of your consumption when consuming out.
Sugar: Added sugar is a confirmed contributor to weight acquire and weight problems. Whereas they typically style savory, salad dressings are identified to comprise sugar to boost the flavour.
Protein is crucial for producing nutritional vitamins, hormones, and enzymes all through the physique. A protein-rich food plan may additionally assist with weight administration. Making certain your lunchtime meal comprises sufficient protein will enable you to keep full and scale back the probability of snacking all through the afternoon.
Key Findings
Sweetgreen and Cava are the three healthiest choices for fast-casual lunches once you’re on the go. They every have low sodium, sugar, and saturated fats ranges whereas nonetheless containing over 20 grams of protein.
The highest 5 healthiest lunches have been all salads or bowls. Different meals, like pita wraps and sandwiches, ranked decrease on this record as a result of they comprise added energy and sodium from bread or tortillas.
Chipotle’s meals have been the best in energy, primarily as a result of they contained calorie-dense components like cheese and tortillas. When making a customized bowl or burrito, prioritize greens and protein.
All the eating places on our record supply wholesome and unhealthy choices. Which means you’ve loads of selections, no matter the place you select to seize lunch.
Able to order your weekday lunch with confidence? This record is ranked primarily based on the chosen information factors and methodology beneath.
Common Quick-Informal Lunches Ranked From Most to Least Wholesome
Sweetgreen Kale Caesar
Sweetgreen Shroomami
Cava Greek Salad
Chipotle Hen Bowl
Sweetgreen Harvest Bowl
Sweetgreen Tremendous Inexperienced Goddess
Cava Steak + Feta Pita
Behavior Burger Harvest Chopped
Behavior Burger Hen Membership
Behavior Burger Santa Barbara Cobb
Chipotle Sofritas Bowl
Chipotle Hen Burrito
Behavior Burger Grilled Hen Sandwich
Chipotle Steak Burrito
Cava Harissa Avocado
Cava Crispy Falafel Pita
Lunchtime Diet: Traits and Insights
Questioning which fast-casual meals are finest and worst in particular vitamin classes? We appeared nearer on the information that will help you make conscious selections primarily based in your well being targets.
Which Meals Have the Most Energy?
Meals With the Most Energy
Chipotle Hen Burrito (1210 energy)
Chipotle Steak Burrito (1180 energy)
Cava Crispy Falafel Pita (955 energy)
Meals With the Fewest Energy
Sweetgreen Kale Caesar (405 energy)
Sweetgreen Tremendous Inexperienced Goddess (490 energy)
Sweetgreen Shroomami (595 energy)
Which Meals Have The Most Sugar?
Meals With the Most Sugar
Behavior Burger Harvest Chopped (28 grams)
Sweetgreen Tremendous Inexperienced Goddess (16 grams)
Sweetgreen Harvest Bowl (15 grams)
Meals With the Least Sugar
Sweetgreen Kale Caesar (3 grams)
Behavior Burger Hen Membership (3 grams)
Chipotle Hen Bowl (4 grams)
Which Meals Have The Most Sodium?
Meals With the Most Sodium
Chipotle Steak Burrito (2600 mg)
Chipotle Hen Burrito (2580 mg)
Cava Crispy Falafel Pita (2440 mg)
Meals With the Least Sodium
Sweetgreen Harvest Bowl (1090 mg)
Sweetgreen Tremendous Inexperienced Goddess (1141 mg)
Sweetgreen Shroomami (1198 mg)
Which Meals Have The Most Saturated Fats Content material?
Meals With the Most Saturated Fats
Behavior Burger Santa Barbara Cobb (15 grams)
Behavior Burger Grilled Hen Sandwich (14 grams)
Behavior Burger Hen Membership (13 grams)
Meals With the Least Saturated Fats
Sweetgreen Tremendous Inexperienced Goddess (4 grams)
Sweetgreen Shroomami (4 grams)
Cava Crispy Falafel Pita (6 grams)
Which Meals Comprise the Most Protein?
Meals With the Most Protein
Chipotle Hen Burrito (60 grams)
Chipotle Hen Bowl (52 grams)
Behavior Burger Santa Barbara Cobb (50 grams)
Meals With the Least Protein
Sweetgreen Tremendous Inexperienced Goddess (20 grams)
Sweetgreen Shroomami (21 grams)
Cava Crispy Falafel Pita (22 grams)
Methodology: How Scores Had been Calculated
Hers began with a Yahoo Finance record of the 25 largest United States eating places by market capitalization, then narrowed down the 4 largest fast-casual chains: Chipotle, Cava, Sweetgreen, and Behavior Burger (owned by Yum! Manufacturers). From there, Hers selected 4 menu objects from every chain and recorded the protein, saturated fats, energy, sugar, and sodium information, not accounting for substitutions. Hers added the vitamin information from the person components frequent in burrito and bowl orders for Chipotle, which has a build-your-own menu.
After giving every vitamin class a rating from one to 16, Hers ranked menu objects decrease with extra saturated fats, energy, sugar, and sodium, whereas meals with extra protein have been ranked greater. From there, Hers averaged the rankings in every vitamin class. In cases the place menu objects had the identical total rating, meals with extra protein broke the tie, given their impact on satiety. Get the information right here.
Suggestions For Staying Wholesome on a Busy Schedule
Lengthy work days could make constructive life-style habits difficult, particularly you probably have a prolonged commute to and from the workplace or are balancing work with caregiving duties. However sustaining a nutritious diet and staying lively doesn’t need to be time-consuming. Listed below are three ideas for becoming wholesome routines into your busy weekday schedule:
Prioritize fiber. Whether or not you deliver your lunch to work or order out, purpose so as to add fruits, greens, beans, or plant-based carbs to your mid-day meal. That might imply selecting brown rice in your bowl or sprinkling chickpeas into your salad. Fiber is crucial for sustaining a wholesome weight. It will possibly assist stave off coronary heart illness, excessive blood sugar ranges, irritation, and obesity-related circumstances like hypertension.
Incorporate motion. Bodily exercise doesn’t have to incorporate coaching for a marathon or becoming a member of an costly Pilates studio. Any type of motion can provide the advantages related to train: stopping power sickness, serving to with weight administration, coronary heart well being, and extra. You would possibly take into account investing in a standing desk, strolling whereas taking a piece name, or going to the grocery retailer in particular person slightly than ordering on-line.
Wind down correctly. Work emails, social media scrolling, and TV information can all interrupt your capacity to go to sleep. In keeping with the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, long-term sleep loss can intervene with work efficiency and social actions. For good sleep hygiene, purpose to close down your units earlier than mattress and guarantee your bed room is a darkish, quiet house the place you’ll be able to prioritize relaxation.
This story was produced by Hers and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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