Coach Brian Parana (0:2.119) Back in 2006, Taco Bell built an entire campaign around something called the fourth meal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and then that fourth meal, somewhere around midnight and maybe three o'clock, four o'clock, whenever they close. Three meals apparently weren't enough. Coach Brian Parana (0:26.808) Three meals apparently weren't enough. I'd bet you couldn't tell me real calorie numbers that come from how many you eat in that fourth meal, especially at that time of night. Especially in relation to whatever you're doing while you're out at Taco Bell after midnight. What are you doing? Nobody's checking the math at that meal. Coach Brian Parana (0:54.142) And that's how the fourth meal turns into a real belly buster in a sense without you ever really paying attention to it. I mean, of course you know, but you're in more of an aware but don't care state at that point. And whatever, we're just gonna have some Taco Bell. By the end of this, you'll know what to order at Taco Bell, fourth meal or not. Welcome back to Driven for Health. I'm Coach Brian Parana. This is episode 152. Coach Brian Parana (1:20.970) And of course, we're continuing our eighth stop on the restaurant tour. What to order at this restaurant? Today's Taco Bell. And it's built its whole brand on speed and value menu. And that's the combination that gets it to be acclaimed for what it is. It's really easy to order. And you just don't even think twice about adding an extra taco, burrito or Coach Brian Parana (1:49.709) the crunchy taco there. The menu has a big range on it. One side of the menu, the list that barely has any protein at all. And the other side is some of the better protein options that could possibly be in some of the series here that we're listing. The gap in between is just one tap here on the app versus another. If you know what I mean, if you have the Taco Bell app. Coach Brian Parana (2:19.096) I don't have the Taco Bell app. I've never had the Taco Bell app. I probably won't ever have the Taco Bell app. It's just not a place that I have gone much to. Now, everyone knows the fourth meal, though. Let's go through the tier list. This has been very popular. I get a lot of comments that they enjoy the worst to the best. And it really does help them pick better choices, which is great. Coming in, there's gonna be eight orders Coach Brian Parana (2:47.288) from worst to best. The nacho fries, unfortunately, if you're a fan favorite of those, sorry to say the regular size is a two out of 10. 335 calories, only four grams of protein. Yeah, that's right. Four grams, and that is all you get there for you to manage trying to get some protein in there. This is not a good option. Now, the fat, on the other hand, there's 18 grams. So Coach Brian Parana (3:14.840) we do some quick math. Remember, nine is the calorie calculator. So 18 times nine. We'll just do 10 for quick math. That's 180 minus 9 is 171 out of 335. So that's pretty much 50% fat, and the rest are going to be carbs coming primarily from the chips and the other stuff that's on there. So it's a lot of fat in this thing. This is a side that we'll eat. Coach Brian Parana (3:43.563) It sounds like a fun splurge, but it gives you nothing to show for it. I mean, yeah, everyone loves chips, but this one just doesn't pack any protein behind it. And number two, the Crunchwrap Supreme. Three out of ten. It's roughly 500, 530 calories, 16 grams of protein, 21 grams of fat. In my opinion, that sounds a lot like a typical 80% Coach Brian Parana (4:13.806) ground beef type situation here, which is just not that quality. It might even be lower, more like 70%. We're gonna talk about some of the quality meat a little bit later. But it has 21 grams of fat and 1200 milligrams of sodium. Again, sodium being 2,000 milligrams, that being the daily limit. So it's over half. This is the most iconic thing on the menu, and it is Coach Brian Parana (4:42.826) one of the worst, unfortunately. Number three, the beefy five layer burrito. It's a four out of ten. Roughly about 500 calories, 18 grams of protein and 18 grams of fat. Still got 1200 milligrams of sodium. It's a lot. Now we can see that the protein is inching up here one by one, and that's helpful for you to start paying attention to. The next one Coach Brian Parana (5:11.864) does a little hop and a skip and a jump from the Crunchwrap. This is the chicken quesadilla. Of course, anything with chicken, I would hope has more protein in it. This is going to be five out of 10 at 500-ish calories with 27 grams of protein. Remember, we're still trying to get 40 to 50 in a meal. So ordering two of these to account for getting Coach Brian Parana (5:37.877) over 50 grams of protein, it's gonna cost you a thousand calories just in the chicken quesadillas. If you were to want to get more protein, you could order two chicken quesadillas, dump all the insides onto one of those and eat that. Then you can get that extra boost in the overall protein there. Alright. This is the best protein number on the menu so far, but again, it comes with 26 grams of fat, which is [unclear] Coach Brian Parana (6:7.734) basically if you're trying to lose fat, that's about where we're at, 50 to 60 grams of fat, maybe 70-ish if you're a lot more active and burn a lot of calories. So there's a big amount of protein, but still a lot of fat. Alright, keep going. Cheesy Gordita Crunch. I remember back in the day when I would do it, a Gordita was the one that I would pick. Coach Brian Parana (6:35.264) Six out of ten, five hundred calories, twenty grams of protein, twenty-eight grams of fat. This one has a little less sodium, hence why it edges out the quesadilla. The name says cheesy twice. Alright, and that is a big challenge here for that. Number six is the soft taco. Seven out of ten, it's 180 calories, nine grams of protein, nine grams of fat. So people will end up buying more of these. Coach Brian Parana (7:5.280) You could stack again, do two soft tacos with one taco shell. That could be a power plate. There's about 500 milligrams of sodium. So they're small but mighty in the sodium sense, and they will stack up when you order two or three of them. Number seven, the Crunchy Taco, ordered fresco style. This means more fresh. It's eight out of ten. The regular Crunchy Taco runs about 170 Coach Brian Parana (7:34.713) calories and nine grams of fat. When you order it fresco style you end up dropping 30 calories, excuse me, and you drop another gram of fat on there. It's the same taco, but that one word will make a little bit of difference in how they prepare it in the back kitchen area. Number eight, rounding out, is the Cantina Chicken Bowl. Alright, nine out of ten. This is the winner winner Coach Brian Parana (8:4.620) chicken dinner. 490 calories, 25 grams of protein, the best protein to calorie ratio on the menu. And it's about $7 to $9, depending on obviously your location. So that one can be a winner. I'm sure there are other combinations here that we might be able to squeeze out, but if we look at ordered as is off the menu, this is where it is. When you go up to that Coach Brian Parana (8:30.238) drive-thru at fourth meal because that's the only thing open, we do want to order that Cantina Chicken Bowl, and that will help you get at least 25 grams of protein. If you're gonna order tacos, fresco style for sure, please. Same order of whatever you're doing. We're just gonna cut down on some of the fat, which helps. Alright. We're looking at the company here, Taco Bell. It's been around for a long time, but Coach Brian Parana (8:58.754) looking at this, Taco Bell in twenty eleven was actually sued by a law firm over what was in the seasoned beef. The claim was less than thirty five percent of it was real beef. The rest was filler and binders. And Taco Bell CEO at the time, Greg Creed, did not like this. He went head first and said, well, you start with 100% USDA inspected beef. Coach Brian Parana (9:27.714) Then we simmer it in our own proprietary blend of seasonings and spices. The company put its real recipe out to the public. It spent millions on ads to defend itself, and the lawsuit was actually dropped a few months later. So hey, good job for Taco Bell for stepping up and showing behind the curtain of what it actually is, what it's serving us, right? That's really important. The real number here that comes Coach Brian Parana (9:56.713) out is that Taco Bell seasoned beef is about 88% beef, and the other 12% are the seasoning and binders. This is like maltodextrin, which is a form of sugar used to carry the spice blend there. That's just how they disclosed it, and that's what's actually in it. A few years later, after that, 2015, Taco Bell made a separate public promise: Coach Brian Parana (10:25.166) pull artificial colors and flavors out of the menu, cut added trans fats. That was a big thing back in the 2010s or so. Get rid of trans fats and drop palm oil for more sustainable versions. This was a real pledge with a real date attached, and the promise was from 2015 on, and is worth double checking against what's on the menu today before you check. We want to make sure that the company is still Coach Brian Parana (10:54.402) doing that. Taco Bell got publicly challenged on what's in its food and answered with real numbers, and it didn't just hide and place blame on someone else. So that's somewhat commendable, of course. And so we just need to make sure that you are aware of what is going into your food, and that's why I bring that up. The menu has a gigantic range of what's healthy, Coach Brian Parana (11:23.906) what's not, what empty calories could be on there, or what has more protein. Again, fresco. I'm gonna say it again. Fresco. You want to order that way. Please look at the menu. It gives you actionable understanding of what is in there and how it looks. That would be great. If Taco Bell is a once-a-month stop, it really doesn't change what you order. You just want to make sure that it fits into your day. But Coach Brian Parana (11:51.809) if you go here time and time again and do late night runs, this could get your belly in a bust. Alright, you could actually grow in your waistline, and it doesn't matter how much protein style you try to do it, it can add more calories and sodium throughout the week. So moving on to the Fast Five. Number one, who started Taco Bell? Where in the heck did this come from? Well, a guy named Glenn Bell. Coach Brian Parana (12:20.438) A Marine who served in World War II. In 1954, eight years before Taco Bell even existed, he sold tacos at 19 cents each on a stand called Taco Tia. He's the one credited with popularizing the crunchy taco shell, the same shell that still is most of the menu to this day. Number two, Coach Brian Parana (12:51.008) what's the real story behind the fourth meal? Back in 2006, Taco Bell launched this real marketing push for a time called the Fourth Meal. Between dinner and breakfast. Dietitians and nutritionists in the fitness community said this is not good. And the idea still shows up on the menu. It's something that I remember very Coach Brian Parana (13:20.654) clearly from Taco Bell, the Fourth Meal. They even have a neon light that shines in their windows. Does fresco style save you anything? Yes, it does. It will cut down the calories and fat in the food that you get. It'll be a lighter, fairer version of it. So fresco is the way to go. That rhymes. Number four, Coach Brian Parana (13:46.047) is there a real low carb move here? Can you do something to cut this down? Well, the Cantina Chicken Bowl with no rice. This will give you more like 320 calories with 22 grams of protein, 24 carbs, and it's down from 44. So it cuts the carbs in half, which is excellent. So you can actually get away with something that's reasonable that can hold you over for a couple hours. Coach Brian Parana (14:15.818) Number five, how many Taco Bell locations are there? There's over 9,000 worldwide as of this year, opening new ones across 15 countries in the last quarter alone. So they're still expanding and growing, and that's pretty cool. It's not as big as Domino's that had 22,000 stores or so. I hope that the Fast Fives are doing it for you. So some different angles on these stores. Now, as we close up on Taco Bell at 2 or 3 a.m., Coach Brian Parana (14:45.494) whatever you buy at Taco Bell, whether it's in the day or that fourth meal, the Cantina Chicken Bowl, cutting out the rice, would be the super option to get you in and out in a healthy way. But if you want more on Taco Bell and a lot of other restaurants that I've been showcasing this whole time, we have the Eating On The Go guide. You can find that at go.brianparana.com/eatingonthegoguide, one word. Coach Brian Parana (15:14.930) It'll be in the show notes for you to grab. Download it, and start using it. It's chock full of really good, useful information. Chick-fil-A, McDonald's, Subway, all the ones I've covered and will be covering soon enough, even from fine dining, on the go, in the airport, all those things. But if you really want a full system and a process on how to do your best while you're out and about and on your way in real Coach Brian Parana (15:44.321) life, well, that is the Call To Rise. That's my flagship program. It's a hundred-day fat loss challenge that gets you to change your identity of why are you doing this in the first place. Why is it important to you to take better care of yourself? And every single guy I've talked to has a different reason. There's some general ones. I want to feel confident, or I want to be around for my kids. I want to walk my daughter down the aisle, which happened in episode 113 with Mike. Coach Brian Parana (16:13.922) You can hear his story on Driven For Health. There is episode 117. Chris travels for a living. And it was really important that he was showing up at any given place and being his best. We've got the Forge is another pillar. It's pillar number two, the exercise, burn fat, build muscle. From there, we move into the Fuel, which is eating the right food at the right time in the right amount. I teach you a heavy amount about nutrition to make it simple and easy for long term Coach Brian Parana (16:43.370) sustainable success here. The Code, which is the mindset, the way you think, has a huge amount to do with this. If you struggle with your weight but have been successful in other areas of life, then this is where we have to flip the script on how you think, how you feel, and how it impacts you every day. Last up is the Brotherhood. Doing it with other like-minded men. You do not have to do this alone. You don't have to follow some weird rando diet, some fitness influencer. We're doing this, and I have Coach Brian Parana (17:13.198) plentiful amounts of episodes that share real life transformations of guys who've been in your shoes, struggling with all or nothing, with not knowing what to eat, with just making this a lot harder than it needs to be. So if you're someone sitting on making a decision, then make a choice. Decide to change, do something different here so that it betters you Coach Brian Parana (17:42.966) and it betters the people around you as well. If I drop a pebble in your pond, it will ripple out to those around you in a very positive way. That's it for this episode. If you liked it, please write a review, Apple, Spotify, and beyond. If a guy loves Taco Bell and you want to share some of this, what a good order could be, please pass it along. And that's it for this episode of Driven For Health. Train hard, Coach Brian Parana (18:12.724) eat smart and I'll catch you in the next one.
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