Fast food is the term given to many items that can be prepared and served quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, such as TV dinners, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store which is rapidly prepared and served to the customer in a packaged form for take out/take away.Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.The capital requirements to start a fast-food restaurant are relatively small, particularly in areas with non-existent or poorly enforced health codes. Small, individually-owned fast-food restaurants have become common throughout the world. Fast food restaurants with higher sit-in ratios, where customers can sit and have their orders brought to them, are known as fast casual restaurants.

The food served at neighborhood casual-dining chain restaurants is positively loaded with fat, calories and sodium, in amounts far surpassing those usually found in fast-food meals. Sodium ranged from a low of 245 milligrams (lightly dressed salad) to 4,450 (chicken fajitas). Also see http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2007/11/07/calorie_confidential

As the food industry continues to constantly flood the food market with high calorie, processed foods filled with excessive fat, sugar, additives, and poor nutrients in each serving, Americans rank low on the health scale and we are getting fatter and sicker with each and every passing day. Medifast shows how to fight back and get back our health.

Burger joints and pizza parlors get a bad rap, but you can find healthy options anywhere-if you know how to navigate the menu. That's why we've created our Grab-and-Go Guide below. We've got the best (and worst) picks from a dozen popular restaurant chains, and we promise there's more than just salad to choose from!

We recently updated our Low Calorie Fast Food page to include Panera Bread. Many of the sandwiches will not do a dieter any favors, but a pleasant surprise came from the breakfast menu. The Banana Nut Muffin has just 230 calories and 11 grams of fat.

I always wondered about this one. If I want to watch my weight and still eat a sandwich at a Fast Food restaurant what should I eat? The article lists the top 10 sandwiches that are supposedly low calorie. Pretty Interesting stuff.