Healthy Fast Food - Good Choices Gone Bad

Filed under: Food and Nutrition, Diet and Weight Loss Fast food restaurants have long been criticized for their fatty, salty menu options -- greasy burgers, salty fries and gigantic sodas. So they've started adding choices for the health conscious, like salads, baked potatoes and yogurt. But it seems when healthy choices are on the menu, people might actually let down their guards and go big -- choosing the least healthy option instead of the salad.Three small studies turned up this conclusion, and it's an intriguing finding. Study author Keith Wilcox attributes it to the "licensing effect." You know how sometimes after a long run, you think to yourself, "Well, I can indulge at dinner tonight, I worked out." The same appears to happen in the brain when salad or other healthy choices show up on a fast food menu. "People give themselves license to eat more indulgently because there is a healthy option," Wilcox tells That's Fit. Chris and Robin from Good Morning America Robin Roberts and Chris Cuomo attend ABC Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com Chris Cuomo attends ABC Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com NEW YORK - JUNE 13: Singer Cyndi Lauper and hosts Chris Cuomo and Robin Roberts talk to the audience on ABC's "Good Morning America" on June 13, 2008 at Bryant Park in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Cyndi Lauper;Chris Cuomo;Robin Roberts Getty Images Ja Rule, Ashanti, Chris Cuomo and Diane Sawyer attend ABC Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com Ja Rule, Ashanti, Chris Cuomo and Diane Sawyer attend ABC Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com NEW YORK - JUNE 06: Ja Rule, Ashanti, Chris Cuomo and Diane Sawyer perform on ABC's "Good Morning America", on June 6, 2008 at Bryant Park in New York. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ja Rule;Ashanti;Chris Cuomo;Diane Sawyer Getty Images Usher and Sam Champion attend ABC Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com Usher, Robin Roberts, Diane Sawyer and Sam Champion attend ABC Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com Usher, Robin Roberts, Diane Sawyer and Sam Champion attend ABC Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com NEW YORK - APRIL 25: (L-R) Chris Cuomo, Robin Roberts, Mariah Carey, Diane Sawyer on ABC's "Good Morning America" in Times Square on April 25th in New York. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Diane Sawyer;Robin Roberts;Chris Cuomo;Mariah Carey Getty Images In one study, Wilcox gave participants -- college students -- two different menus. One had french fries, chicken nuggets and baked potatoes. The other had all three choices, plus a salad. Participants were three times more likely to choose fries when offered the menu with the salad than without.