If I can bring awareness to just one person that the food they consume regularly is life threatening, I have done my job; you’re worth it.
Okay… I will be the first to admit that having a health rating on ValueGrub is a bit strange. It’s fast food, most of it is high in calories, fat and cholesterol. You would be right, for the most part.
I think it is possible to navigate fast food in a way that is healthy (moderation is important here). You can read some of my tips on how to start dieting. Below are some simple tips to reduce your calorie intake, quickly and easily.
- Remove fatty condiments (like mayo). Ordering “plain” could cut the calories and fat down by 10%.
- Would you like cheese with that? No thanks. Cheese is high in calories, fat and cholesterol. Ordering “no cheese” can reduce calories by as much as 15%.
- What do you want to drink? Water, please. Reducing or removing soft drinks from your diet is going to drastically reduce your calorie and sugar intake. This is huge and if you take anything away from ValueGrub, please consider water during your meals and throughout the day. Not only is it healthier to drink water, it’s free! Saving money is always a win, win.
- French fries? Take a pass. French fries are extremely high a calories, carbs and cholesterol. It doesn’t attribute to the overall meal. Passing on this will allow you to eat more whole food, keeping you fuller, longer.
- A quick note on salad. Just because you eat a salad doesn’t mean you’re eating less calories, you would be surprised. The main culprit is the salad dressing… use it sparingly.
Quick guide on measurements: 1 tsp (teaspoon) is 33% of a spoon. 1 tbsp (tablespoon) is 100% of a spoon.
How our health scale works:
I rate the healthiness of the item(s) I am reviewing on a 5 point scale (taking into account the amount of calories and saturated fat).
The lower the number, the more unhealthy the item is. The higher the number, the more healthy it is.
The equation:
I 
determine this number based on a super duper complex math equation. Einstein would have been impressed. Who am I kidding? Haha.
I divide the amount of calories the item has into 675. I take that number and times it by the amount of saturated fat. I now take that number and divide it by the amount of daily suggested saturated fat (22). What did he just say?
For example, if a burger has 500 calories and 8g of saturated fat per serving…
675 / 500 (the calories) = 1.35
1.35 x 8 (the saturated fat) = 10.80
(22 / 10.80) = 2.04
This example gives us a 2.04 on our health rating scale.
Health Rating: 
The reason I divide the food item into 675, is to 1.) make all items fair/even (if an item has 150 calories, it doesn’t make it any healthier than an item that has 500 calories) and 2.) why 675? Based on a 2,000 calories diet, three meals = 667 and since I am so bad at rounding numbers, I made it 675.
If you have any questions, please contact me.