How To Identify Healthy Foods?

I am a huge fast-food eater (college!). I've been counting Calories like there's no tomorrow, but I seriously doubt what I'm taking in is good for me in the long run. I've been wondering how you can identify what is considered "healthy" by looking at the nutrition values. Also, doing this without much calculation involved would be a huge plus. It's fine to look at this forum for things I can eat at home, but I have two meals a day when I commute to college and my friends and I eat at different places all the time, so being able to identify on the fly (or even at grocery stores) what is good for me and what isn't would be extremely helpful.

Thanks!

I've learned when eating out that dairy is not my friend.  Cheese adds another 100+ calories to virtually any sandwich/salad.  Ditto for mayo.  Cut those two out of any fast food burger and you've knocked 200 calories off your meal. 

Other than that, fried foods are worse for you than grilled, salads with light dressing will probably be better for you than fries (I say probably because there are always exceptions).  I love grocery store sushi when I'm on the run,  or Subway, or a naked vegetarian Chipotle (still kinda high in calories but filling and okay if I can plan for a smaller meal at dinner).

those are my rules of thumb anyway. Maybe it will help.   :o)

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spoiled_candy, that doesn't help me analyze what I'm looking at for myself if I already have a nutrition menu with me. Plus, if I were to want to compare somethings by judging it on the grade that CC gives it, I'd be sending a lot of texts. =(

go_lucky, that's sort of helpful. I'm talking more about being able to look at the nutritional values listed for a meal and being able to decide which one has "good" calories.

You want to eat foods that are higher in protein and fiber to fill you up. Fat is not the enemy but saturated fat is inferior to unsaturated fat and trans fat is truly bad for you. You want to order something that's lower in sodium. Excess carbs aren't good if they come from bad sources (a good source would be whole grains, fruit, veggies - a bad source would be processed white carbs). You can read this http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition _articles.asp?id=145 for more information on how to read a nutrition label

In general, you might want to learn to pack a lunch. You could go to a convenience store and buy fat free yogurt, hard boil some eggs, buy lunchmeat - it's really not too difficult though I don't know your living situation. 

Maybe this will help

List of The World's Healthiest Foods

When I first started trying to transform the way I eat, this was my shopping list.  I printed it out and then crossed off the foods I dislike.  I made it my goal to try one new thing each week.

Check out the rest of the website too.  It's non profit, dedicated to helping people improve their diets.

Eating packaged foods prepared by someone else, or manufactured, and eating restaurant meals, is a real problem.  But your college years won't last forever and if you make it a project to add a new food each week, by the time you graduate you'll have a handle on eating right.

I'd also thoroughly recommend relying less on food bought out and making more food yourself, taking packed lunches along etc.  Restaurant and cafe owners are concerned with profit, principally.  Which often narrows down to using lower quality (cheaper) ingredients, zapping up the flavour with added extras .... fat, sugar, flavourings and salt.... and then charging the earth for the privilege.   In moderation it's not a bad thing, of course.  But if you eat out all the time you're likely to be getting an unhealthy diet, even if you do your best to pick the healthiest-looking thing on the menu.  Preparing your own food puts you more in charge of the content and it's a lot cheaper.  If anything is making Westerners fat and unhealthy it's too much 'eating on the fly'.

"Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants" (Michael Pollan) .... isn't a bad thing to remember.

I found something else that might help you

Healthy Dining Finder

for when you just have to eat in a restaurant.

I'm sorry your mother never taught you how to identify healthy from unhealthy when she's not around. I know that sounds arrogant but it is not at all meant to be. It's simply the truth. I feel like you are asking how to differentiate between hard and soft, something you should have learned from the time you were just barely speaking.

"Grilled" is always better than "battered", "breaded", or "fried"

"sauteed" means cooked in oil and butter.

the word "sauce" no matter what kind, what resturant, and what the sauce is on, is ALWAYS bad. "sauce is always fat or cream based. yes, oils are heart healthy, but no matter what resturant you are at, the amount they use is not healthy.

i didnt read any of the above replies but the first one, and go_lucky is right on target. when eating out, cheese and mayo are not your friends. at home they can be safe because you can control them, but eating out you NEVER REALIZE how much they're giving you.

usually alot of people think when they eat out a salad is always healthy. not so much. always get the dressing on the side. "candied" nuts are never good, and even though nuts are healthy in moderation, usually when eating out and they are on a salad, it's not a healthy portion. dired cranberries and any other dried fruit is nothing but sugar. skip it. creamy anything is bad. honey dijon, ranch, caesar, creamy italian, etc. bad bad bad. Kraft now makes single-serving salad dressings that look like a bigger version of a ketchup packet. you can buy a package of like 8 at the grocery store, it is a LARGE portion of salad dressing for 25 calories. i carry packets in my purse whenever there is an emergency if i need to get a salad at a grocery store or bad resturant, i have very low-cal dressing with me at all times. one packet is good enough for even a huge salad.

"steamed" at chinese/thai/japanese resturants is always good. everything else is not. tempura, "sauce", "deep fried"...all of these words in a dish description are bad.

fresh fruit and fresh veggies are always good. low fat/fat free yogurt is good.

bagels are bad but if necessary, use lowfat/fat free cream cheese. otherwise cream cheese and butter are OUT. most eggs are good but if possible, egg whites are better. sausage, bacon, canadian bacon, scrapple, spam, corned beef hash, home fries, hash browns, and potato patties/pancakes are bad. if you go to a bagel place or something, opt for the bagel with low fat/fat free cream cheese. if you're dying for a breakfast sandwich, get it without meat.

good luck

This is easy.  Stuff grown in the ground, on a tree or in a bush, that arrives at your table, directly from the bush, tree or ground, is healthy.   Anything, and I mean anything, that is done to it in between the ground/bush/tree, reduces the health of that particular food, sometimes to the point where it has no redeeming qualities and actually is harmful.  Fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds are for the most part, very healthy.   Most meat is highly processed as are most meat products like eggs, cheese etc. and their healthful qualities are dubious at best.  

If it comes in a box or a bag or package of any kind, eat it only as a last resort, and only then, after reading the label and understanding exactly what it is you are eating....

Simple eh?