Know Your Options. First, whenever possible, choose the chains with real healthy options. Chick-fil-A is our preferred choice. We get chicken nuggets, fruit salad and milk. Subway is cited as the best in the study, with fruit and yogurt options and is the only chain that doesn't offer soda with kid's meals.

Choose Milk. Sure, in a perfect world organic milk would be available, but non-organic milk is still light years better than soda! (Stick to unflavored if you can, but generally chocolate milk has less added sugar than vanilla milk.)

Fill up on Fruit. McDonald's fruit & walnut salad is a perfect kid-sized helping of apples, grapes and nuts -- the fiber will fill your kids up faster than the empty calories from fries, and is often more appealing to kids than a veggie salad.

Lead by Example. Don't order fries for yourself if you don't want your kid to ask for them. Sometimes we share an order, other times I get a side salad and top it with some of the toddler's chicken nuggets.

Avoid the Worst. Avoid the chains that won't even release their nutrition info - Applebee's, TGIFriday's, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster and IHOP (International House of Pancakes), according to the Post. (Is that even legal?) If a chain isn't even trying to provide healthy options, don't support them. I'm not surprised that IHOP doesn't want to divulge their stats, considering the "healthy option" kid's meal I chose when we went there during a power outage. A full-plate size smiley-face pancake (is it so hard to make kid's sized pancakes?) topped with banana slices (real fruit) and sugar-soaked artificially-red strawberries. With icing and whipped cream and a tube of "go-gurt" for further decorating. I probably don't have to tell you the "yogurt" contained high fructose corn syrup. If you do find yourself at IHOP, you can get silver dollar pancakes, fruit and scrambled egg on the side, and make your own smily face with the fruit and a moderate amount of the syrup on the table -- still loaded with sugar, but at least a controlled amount. IHOP's website says their "healthy option" kid's choices are under 600 calories - hardly reassuring, and that means their other kid's options contain more than half your child's daily calories.

Bring your Own. Yeah, sometimes we're out later than expected or trapped in an airport with limited options, but whenever possible throw a few healthier options into your bag before you set out. String cheese, organic fruit snacks, granola bars - anything to help fill your kid up before you find yourself in the drive-through line.

Anyone have other tips for healthier food on the go? In the spirit of National Farmers Market Week , I will add that if you live somewhere with lots of markets, you can keep a schedule in your car. If you happen to be passing by, a quick stroll through for fresh snacks can be done about as quickly as a stop for fast food. With far less saturated/trans fat! Last week, the toddler and I stopped at a morning market for berries, cheese and a loaf of sweet potato bread - instant lunch for our picnic in the park.