With all the interest in better nutrition, it’s hard to believe that chain restaurant are offerings meals with even more calories, sodium, sugar, and saturated fat.
At Uno Pizzeria & Grill, the chain’s Whole Hog Burger has hamburger, sausage, bacon, prosciutto, pepperoni, four types of cheese, garlic mayo, and pickles and comes with fries and onion rings. It’s more than a day’s worth of calories, 2,850; three days’ worth of saturated fat, 62 grams; and six days’ worth of sodium, 9,790 milligrams.
The burger is one of nine recipients of the 2016 Xtreme Eating Awards – given each year by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group.
Instead of helping America reverse the obesity epidemic, America’s chain restaurants offering new creations with super high amounts of calories.
“Unfortunately, these extreme meals are more like the rule, not the exception,” said Lindsay Moyer, dietitian for the center. “America’s restaurant chains are serving up meals that seem engineered to promote diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and strokes. The 3,000-calorie burger platters of today make McDonald’s Quarter Pounders look like sliders.”
Besides the Whole Hog Burger, some of the “winners” include:
- Fried Chicken and Waffles Benedict from The Cheesecake Factory. Since 2007, The Cheesecake Factory has always had an Xtreme winner. This year’s is a Belgian waffle topped with fried chicken strips, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce, served with maple-butter syrup and usually a side of breakfast potatoes. With more than a day’s worth of calories, 2,580; four days’ worth of saturated fat, 86 grams; two days’ worth of sodium, 3,390 mg; and a day’s worth, 15 teaspoons, of sugar, it’s like eating two Marie Callender’s one-pound Chicken Pot Pies topped with half a stick of butter and a quarter cup of maple syrup.
- Short Rib and Cheesy Mac Stack from Dave & Buster’s. This sandwich is stuffed with beef short rib and macaroni and cheese and is served with “crispy seasoned tots.” With a day’s calories, 1,910, and two days’ worth of saturated fat, 42 grams, and sodium, 3,390 mg, it’s like eating three McDonald’s Big Macs and a medium fries.
- RT 44 Grape Slush with Rainbow Candy from Sonic. Icy slush made with “sippable candy” is how the chain describes this 44-ounce, 970-calorie drink, which has 1¼ cups of sugar. That’s like drinking three XL Fanta Wild Cherry Slurpees, 40-ounce each, from 7-Eleven.
- Dessert Nachos from Buffalo Wild Wings. A fried flour tortilla with four scoops of ice cream, sugar, and “gooey breaded cheesecake bites” topped with chocolate and caramel sauce. This dessert has 2,100 calories, 64 grams of saturated fat, and 5 grams of trans fat. That’s like eating four Taco Bell Crunchy Tacos, filled with beef and cheese, topped with a 14-ounce container of Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream and two melted Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars.
Other chain restaurants with “winning” meals are Applebee’s, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Romano’s Macaroni Gersey Mike’s Subs.
If you visit one of the “winning” chains, look for menu items under 600 calories.
Calorie counts will be required on menus and menu boards at chain restaurants with 20 or more outlets beginning in May of 2017, with other nutrition information available on request.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will carry out the regulation, which was part of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
