9 chain restaurant items that will basically kill you as soon as you order them

[one_voice]

Last edited Wed Jul 30, 2014, 05:21 PM - Edit history (1)

It’s an honor that no restaurant wants to win. (Although, if we’re being honest, most probably take perverse pleasure in receiving it.) Awarded annually by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Xtreme Eating Awards single out the biggest and baddest of unhealthy menu items — entrees, platters and desserts that can top 3,000 calories, and which come packed with enough fat, sodium and sugar to (arguably) kill you outright.

In a way, the “winners” seem to be almost unfairly singled out — it’s not like anyone who orders Red Robin’s A1 Peppercorn Burger with Bottomless Steak Fries and a Monster Salted Caramel Milkshake doesn’t know what they’re getting into. And does anyone really go to the Cheesecake Factory, a restaurant whose name references one of the most fattening types of dessert and the industrialized food system, and expect to have a light lunch?

Still, when one “small” deep dish pizza can be equated to three personal pepperoni pies from Pizza Hut — themselves each more meal than you probably ever need — it seems fair to argue that chain restaurants have passed the point of self-parody. As CSPI dietitian Paige Einstein put it, “it’s clear that caloric extremism still rules the roost at many of America’s chain restaurants.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/07/30/9_chain_restaurant_items_that_will_basically_kill_you_as_soon_as_you_order_them/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

A1 Peppercorn Burger with Steak Fries and Monster Salted Caramel Milkshake

One meal, 3,540 calories, 69 grams of saturated fat, 6,280 milligrams of sodium and about 38 teaspoons of added sugar. The unlimited refills mean that technically, you could just keep adding to those numbers forever.



Cheesecake Factory
The most extreme menu items of 2014

Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic

Bow-Tie Pasta, chicken, mushrooms, tomato, pancetta, peas and caramelized onions are an okay start, until you get to the cream sauce. It clocks in at 2,410 calories and 63 grams of saturated fat -- but "only 1,370 milligrams of sodium.




Maggiano's Little Italy
The most extreme menu items of 2014

Prime New York Steak, Contadina style

It's like five McDonald’s Quarter Pounder beef patties, with extras, for a total of 2,420 calories, 66 grams of saturated fat and 5,620 milligrams of sodium


more at link





We need to be healthier than this.

edited to add this: I'm amending the 'we' to I'm glad *****I**** eat healthier than this....Wasn't really trying to tell people how/what to eat.

[closeupready]

1. In my experience, dietary fat does not lead to weight gain but carbs

like pasta DO lead very rapidly to weight gain. So I find this article's aim to be misguided. For starters, though I haven't read the article yet, I will do so however.

On edit - okay, there's not much science to this, nor much article to this article.

[Trajan]

2. So a tub of lard might be considered healthy?

I'll stick to the whole wheat pasta and veggies

[closeupready]

4. A tub of lard sounds unappetizing and unbalanced.

So no.

A bowl full of whole wheat pasta with some garlic shavings? Also, not really.

[one_voice]

3. It's not just a weight concern...

did you see the amount of sodium? It's horrible.

[closeupready]

5. Good point. I've never had any obesity problem nor cardiovascular issues,

so sodium is simply not a consideration in my own diet, and I have regular doctor check-ups, and getting my results is kind of like that film where Steve Martin is a meteorologist in LA who taped his forecasts months in advance "another beautiful sunny day in LA today" - "cholesterol is beautiful, kidneys are great, etc.".

[get the red out]

6. Loks like there's both

I kind of agree with you about fat vs ubber-carbs, but it looks like these dishes have enough carbs to go around too.

[closeupready]

7. Right, but note, however, with the farfalle item, the pasta is given an 'ok'

and then when discussing the cream sauce, suddenly, it's bad. It's a subtle point I'm making, though, but I definitely see it, and it definitely dovetails with a longstanding bias in health journalism against all dietary fat in favor of breads and pastas (in the Ornish way of thinking).

[REP]

8. The cream sauce actually decreases the 'badness' of this dish from a glucose standpoint

The fats in the sauce make the carbs from the pasta release into the blood stream less rapidly (not the most technical description, but a close thumbnail).

I don't think any of these dishes are intended to be everyday, daily fare; eating any of these once or twice a year isn't going to kill anyone. Well, unless someone chokes on it.

[get the red out]

10. That's true

I stay hungry if I eat a very high carb - low fat diet and end up eating more. So the whole low-fat thing is a bias, so many low-fat foods have just gobs of sugar, how healthy can that be?

I see where you are coming from. They are promoting very old information.

[closeupready]

11. Yup.

[Arugula Latte]

15. Well, you if eat a 3,500-calorie meal, you're going to gain weight, unless

that is the only thing you eat for two days or you are some sort of extreme athlete who burns thousands of calories a day.

[closeupready]

18. These meals are called "Extreme" in part because they are

intended for consumption on a non-regular, non-daily basis.

Most diet plans and dietiticians will say that you need to take a break from your diet rules on occasion. Now if that occasion happens once per month, then will consuming one of these meals result in a weight gain of 20 pounds, or just a momentary 0.5 lb that disappears a couple days after you splurged?

This is basically how I do it - my diet is essentially low in refined carbs, moderate in complex carbs and fats, liberal with protein. But once per week, I splurge.

I've lost my craving for pasta, but I'd order that burger/fries/milkshake on my splurge day - looks tasty. BUT, I would eat only as much as I'm comfortable eating (if that means I eat the whole thing because on that day I'm comfortable doing so, then so be it).

[mike_c]

9. it's worth noting that these are "extreme" menu items....

I don't have a problem with restaurants offering unhealthy meals as long as they also offer healthy ones. No one forces us to eat these extremely unhealthy items.

My breakfast this morning? Two fried corn tortillas, topped with two sunny side up eggs, a ladle of homemade red chili gravy with pork and a sprinkling of cheese. Yum.

[spinbaby]

12. I want to have breakfast at your house

Yum.

[NaturalHigh]

19. Now I'm hungry!

[JI7]

13. the thing with these foods is they should be a once in a while treat or shared

cheesecake factory portions are huge so you can usually 2-3 meals out of it. and i guess if would be ok to eat it all as long as you don't eat that much regularly. but you can also share or save some for the next day meal.

the same with the burgers and fries. it's not something you should eat regularly.

and you don't need to get a milk shake with the burger. you can get a burger with side salad. or a salad with a side of fries.

so there are many adjustments you can make so it's not so bad.

usually if i'm going to eat out i would prefer to get whatever looks the best and tastiest .especially if i'm going to be spending a bit more money than i usually would. but i would make sure to eat healthier the other times .

[randome]

24. You should never treat food as a 'treat' or a 'reward'.

When you do, you open the door to letting your taste buds dictate what you eat. Most people can't stop lusting after food, from what I've seen.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Sometimes it seems like the only purpose in life is to keep your car from touching another's.[/center][/font][hr]

[JI7]

25. isn't it the opposite ? if you view it as a treat or reward

you realize it's just something you can have once in a while. and you acknowledge it's not very healthy .

but i wouldn't say it's literally a treat or reward but more about just something you can have once in a while if you mostly eat healthy the other times.

i don't think you can change taste buds.

[hifiguy]

14. A couple of times a year

I want something like that burger. Right now is one of them.

[raccoon]

16. Hyperbole much? nt

[Retrograde]

17. That explains why every time I walk past The Cheesecake Factory

I have to pick my way around the dead bodies clustered around it. CSPI has a somewhat unscientific approach to its yearly "OMG! You're all gonna die!" hyperbole.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Um. . .

. . .you said
"We need to be healthier than this."

Why? Why would you care what i choose to eat or not eat?

People against eating meat, i get. There's an ethical consideration with which i may or may not agree.

But, deciding that someone else needs to eat healthier isn't ethics. It's arrogant presumption.

High sodium levels don't negatively affect everyone the same. I don't salt anything, so if i eat something high in sodium, oh well.

Besides, as life expectancies continue to rise, i for one think we're a little too worried about day to day eating. Long term habits seem way more an issue than a single piece of cheesecake.

Last point: Some of this concern about what others choose to eat seems rooted in a very strong desire to live a long, long life and the assumption that everyone wants that.

Me, i've had MS for >20 years and my legs hurt every day. I want enough time to enjoy retirement, and if enjoying my food, and occasionally splurging on something like these pictures kills me at 75 instead of 78, that's perfectly fine by me.

[LiberalLoner]

28. +1 from another MSer.

[First Speaker]

21. uhh...could you give us some addresses, please...?

[one_voice]

23. Haha..

the first burger is at Red Robins...which is right up the street from me. I could jog/run there eat it then run back home. Work off some of the yummy badness...

Cheesecake factory is further but within 20 mins of where I live. I've never been there, though I hear the cheesecake is good and the portions are ginormous.

[frylock]

22. saw a pic of that burger on my phone and thought it had spaghetti in it

[Shrike47]

27. Why'd they ruin that burger with those tomato slices? Too tall to eat now, at least for me.

[jmowreader]

29. Fuck CSPI. Just fuck 'em.

They're the PETA of Vittles.

If food has flavor at all, CSPI is against it. They're probably sitting in some cold little room somewhere trying to figure out how to make Soylent Green without putting people in it, for it is the perfect food for them: a product you can eat without gaining one iota of pleasure.

Everything in moderation, including your excesses.