One of our readers recently asked if it was possible to eat healthy from a fast food restaurant.

I'm (Jen) not going to be shy, but upon reading the question, I thought, of course not. However, being a columnist, I decided to review menu items at a few of our local fast food chains and see if any menu items meet the criteria based on USDA and American Heart Association guidelines. I also am making the assumption that the meal would be one of three meals a day and allowed for one-third of the diner's daily allowance with the meal. I also based my parameters on normal, active men and women. Keep in mind that smaller women or sedentary individuals need fewer calories and therefore, less fat, protein and carbohydrate.

Here are the criteria I used to determine a healthy meal:

• Carbohydrate: No more than 60 percent of total calories or 104 grams for a man and 83 grams for a woman
• Protein: 15 to 30 percent of calories, up to 33 grams for women and 44 grams for men
• Fat: No more than 35 percent of calories, up to 32 grams for men and 26 grams for women
• Sodium: No more than 2,400 mg a day, or 800 mg per meal or for those with high blood pressure, no more than 1,500 mg a day or 500 mg per meal.
• Trans fat: 0 g; there are no health benefits for this fat.
• Sugar: 38 grams for men and 25 grams for women per The American Heart Association

Starting with the ever popular and basically ubiquitous McDonalds, the first thing I noticed on the McDonald's nutritional bulletin is that many of the menu items have trans fat. So if you are eschewing trans fat, as most dieticians recommend, then be sure to look carefully at this number. The other number to be very careful about is sodium. More than 80 percent of the entrée-sized menu items have more than one-third of your daily sodium allowance and almost two-thirds of your sodium needs if you are limiting your sodium. Even most of the salads are killers when it comes to sodium.

Chick-fil-A beats McDonalds hands down when it comes to trans fat. However, Chick-fil-A serves up a sodium nightmare, particularly if you need to manage your sodium intake due to high blood pressure.

We all remember when Subway weight-loss superstar, Jared, lost 245 pounds eating his six-inch turkey sandwiches for lunch and dinner everyday. I hope that Jared didn't have high blood pressure because his two sandwiches contained a total of 1,820 mg of sodium, yet only 560 calories, putting him well above his sodium needs and far below his caloric needs for the day.