What do you do when you've forgotton your healthy snacks and your only option is...nothing but fast food joints? Do you give up and go eat the greasiest, cheapest burger and fries and then throw away a bag full of garbage? Your excuses to indulge in unhealthy and unsustainable fare are dwindling. These days, there's lots of diet-friendly options at most fast food purveyors, and they are also making strides towards being healthier for the planet too (some more so than others, so read on).

Consult Greenopia’s newly released Fast Food Ratings Guide to find out which of your fave quick-stop meal joints have the lowest impact. We've rated which fast food restaurants are making strides to be more sustainable, considering back-end practices, packaging, and transportation and we've noted the number of veggie and vegan choices and typical meal calorie ranges for each chain too (cause . 

According to the guide, when faced with a growling belly, your best bet is to go with a smaller chain whenever possible, like: Pizza Fusion, Burgerville (39 locations in the Pacific Northwest), Le Pain Quotidien (30 national locations)  or Evos; each earned between a 3 and 4 leaf rating for initiatives like serving local and/or organic foods, offering biodegradable cutlery, choosing green buildings for new restaurants, or offsetting with wind credits. 

What do you do when you've forgotton your healthy snacks and your only option is...nothing but fast food joints? Do you give up and go eat the greasiest, cheapest burger and fries and then throw away a bag full of garbage? Your excuses to indulge in unhealthy and unsustainable fare are dwindling. These days, there's lots of diet-friendly options at most fast food purveyors, and they are also making strides towards being healthier for the planet too (some more so than others, so read on).

Consult Greenopia’s newly released Fast Food Ratings Guide to find out which of your fave quick-stop meal joints have the lowest impact. We've rated which fast food restaurants are making strides to be more sustainable, considering back-end practices, packaging, and transportation and we've noted the number of veggie and vegan choices and typical meal calorie ranges for each chain too (cause . 

According to the guide, when faced with a growling belly, your best bet is to go with a smaller chain whenever possible, like: Pizza Fusion, Burgerville (39 locations in the Pacific Northwest), Le Pain Quotidien (30 national locations)  or Evos; each earned between a 3 and 4 leaf rating for initiatives like serving local and/or organic foods, offering biodegradable cutlery, choosing green buildings for new restaurants, or offsetting with wind credits. 

Larger chains like McDonald’s and Subway are making strides, but still have a ways to go, earning only 1 leaf each (to get even one leaf, a company must be making concerted environmental efforts). McDonald's promises responsibly-sourced beef (no former-rainforest grazing cattle allowed) and recycled content in their packaging, but could be using Energy Star efficient cookers and source more food locally. Subway has built green stores and is installing energy-saving CFL's, but lacks a sustainability report outlining what it's doing now and most importantly, how it plans to green next. Read about other restaurant's good, bad and wasteful in the fast food guide.

How We Did It: This was an independent study conducted by Greenopia's research team using an extended list of test criteria including green building design, supply chain, stock, recycling/take-back programs (i.e. end of life management) and sustainability reporting (i.e. transparency). The criteria data were gathered, calculated and analyzed using Greenopia's proprietary lifecycle eco-cost methodology.