Healthy fast food joint, Sweetgreen, opens new NJ location

I've said it before, how dare these Sweetgreen locations call themselves fast food. But when I wrote who needs a house salad out in Hackensack, I also said truth be told we all do.

It's not just the typical calories and fat and artery clogging that we're necessarily looking for when we get fast food. It's the convenience. The speed. The fact that we're not so good at having the patience to slice, dice, chop, and throw so many ingredients together into something healthy.

Sweetgreen pounced on that latter idea. They thought, yes, there CAN be a fast food place that's healthy.

More than a hundred Sweetgreen locations exist and are doing just fine serving up salads (maybe a Garden Cobb which is avocado, hard boiled egg, roasted sweet potatoes, tomatoes, red onions, blue cheese, roasted almonds, spring mix, chopped romaine, balsamic vinaigrette?), warm bowls (how about a Chicken Pesto Parm described as roasted chicken, spicy broccoli, tomatoes, shaved parmesan, za’atar breadcrumbs, warm quinoa, baby spinach, sweetgreen hot sauce, pesto vinaigrette?), or a plate of bbq chicken and squash.

If this sounds delicious, and it does, keep reading.

There's a brand new Sweetgreen that just opened in Montclair at 460 Bloomfield Avenue. This is the fourth New Jersey location. The first was in Jersey City in 2020, and then others in Shrewsbury and Hackensack. See? You DID need a house salad out in Hackensack!

They were popular before this in Manhattan with a ton of locations but this is fairly new to New Jersey. If you're still on the fence about this healthy fast food concept take a look at their menu and I bet you'll come around.

The newest Jersey location of Sweetgreen opened on March 21 and is a 3,250 square foot building that seats 30 guests. Hours are every day from 10:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m..

While we're talking about the concept of a better, healthier you with food that you actually want to eat, take a look at some surprising options to look for at the grocery store.

These are 7 surprisingly healthy foods that taste great:

Peanut Butter

Studies show folks who regularly eat peanut butter are less likely to get heart disease or Type 2 Diabetes than people who rarely eat it. And it makes sense.

While yes there's a lot of fat, it's unsaturated fat, which is not bad for you. It's also a good source of something most Americans are lacking, potassium.

Chocolate

It's all about the flavonoids, baby! They help prevent cell damage. And studies show flavonoids may also reduce your risk of heart disease, lower your blood pressure and improve blood flow to your heart and brain.

Dark chocolate is even healthier because it has less sugar and even more flavonoids.

Coffee

People at risk for stroke or heart disease used to hear their doctors warn them about too much coffee. But now research shows heavy amounts of coffee not only don't increase your risk, three to five cups a day might even lower the risk.

Avocado

Not only delicious, but linked to healthy hearts and lower cholesterol and may help with belly fat and could protect your skin and eyes.

Popcorn

You think of popcorn as a junky snack, right? But it's only junky if you insist on slathering it in butter and dumping a bunch of salt on it. If you can enjoy just the popcorn, you have a homerun.

Popcorn is loaded with fiber, Vitamin B, magnesium, manganese and antioxidants. All great things.

Pasta

Just like popcorn, it's more about what you put on it. If you go with whole grain pasta with olive oil and just a bit of parmesan here's what you get: a food that's then low in fat, low in salt, and keeps you satisfied longer therefore less likely to snack on less healthy food.

Potato Salad

Resistant starch is something potatoes have when cooled, as in potato salad, and resistant starch acts like fiber and keeps your gut healthy. Also, hot or cold, potatoes have lots of nutrients like magnesium and potassium.

Just look for low-fat, low-calorie mayonnaise for a healthy potato salad.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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