The 20 Worst Foods In America

I linked to this article on this weekend’s roundup, but I thought it deserved a full discussion. It’s a link from Men Health.com and it discusses some of the worst foods available in restaurants today. The restaurants in question are chains, so you may see these dishes almost anywhere in the US.

The link to the full article can be found here.

As a summary, here’s the list of the 20 worst foods along with their calorie numbers:

1. Worst Food – Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing – 2900 calories
2. Worst Starter – Chili’s Awesome Blossom – 2710 calories
3. Worst Nachos – On The Border Stacked Border Nachos – 2740 calories
4. Worst Pasta – Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatballs with Meat Sauce – 2430 calories
5. Worst Pizza – Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza – 2310 calories
6. Worst Fish – On the Border Dos XX Fish Tacos with Rice and Beans – 2100 calories
7. Worst Chicken – Chili’s Honey Chipotle Crispers with Chipotle Sauce – 2040 calories
8. Worst Chinese – P.F. Chang’s Pork Lo Mein – 1820 calories
9. Worst Dessert – Chili’s Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream – 1600 calories
10. Worst Breakfast – Bob Evans Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes – 1540 calories
11. Worst Steak – Lonestar 20oz T-Bone (no sides) – 1540 calories
12. Worst Burger – Carl’s Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger – 1520 calories
13. Worst Salad – On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef – 1450 calories
14. Worst Sandwich – Quizno’s Classic Italian (large) – 1510 calories
15. Worst Kids’ Meal – Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni ‘n’ Cheese – 1210 calories
16. Worst Mexican – Chipotle Mexican Grilled Chicken Burrito – 1179 calories
17. Worst “healthy”Burger – Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger – 1145 calories
18. Worst Supermarket Meal – Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie – 1020 calories
19. Worst Drink – Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo’d Power Smoothie – 900 calories
20. Worst Fast Food Chicken Meal – Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips from McDonald’s (5 pieces) with creamy ranch sauce – 830 calories

Lesson 1, Educate Yourself

I think the first lesson learned is to educate yourself.  Many of these restaurants post nutritional information on their websites of have them available on site.  This information is there for you to use so please don’t ignore it.

Lesson 2, Personal Portions Aren’t

All of these meals are supposedly single serving.  That means they’re usually supposed to be eaten by one person.  The one exception being the starter which is usually shared, but that one is even worse since it’s meant to be eaten in addition to your meal.  The truth is that restaurants serve you too much food.  So either avoid restaurants like this or decide ahead of time to cut these portions in half and take the rest home.

Lesson 3, Customize

If you read the full article, you’ll see some of the advice they give you on how to make these a little healthier.  Most of it revolves around things like asking for no rice on your burrito or avoiding the ranch sauce on your salad.  In many cases you can take something that’s unhealthy and make it a little bit healthier.  You’re still not going to end up with a healthy meal, but at least you’re not in instant heart attack land.  So ask the waiter for no rice, fruit instead of the mashed potatoes and the dressing on the side.  If they won’t do it, you’re in the wrong restaurants.

Lesson 4, Fried = Bad

Of the meals that are up there, the ones you cannot fix, even a little bit, are usually the ones which involve frying.  The Awesome Blossom for example.  Sorry folks, but deep frying your food is not healthy.  It hasn’t been healthy in the past and it’s not healthy now.

Lesson 5, Covering Your Food With Melted Processed Cheese = Bad

Again, take a look at those meals up there.  Even better, go to the Men’s Health site and look at the pictures.  How many of them look like they’re drowning in melted cheese?  Some cheese is fine.  Using it as dressing and coating your food with it?  Not fine.

Lesson 6, Healthy Restaurant Dishes Aren’t Healthy

Salad sounds healthy, right?  So does chicken and how about that power smoothie?  All perfectly healthy choices.  Well, unless you happen to be buying the ones on that list.  A salad with over 1000 calories, most of them fat!  A smoothie (and I loved that “power” in the name) with almost 900 calories!  These choices might be billed as healthy but they most definitely are not.  Don’t assume what the restaurant calls healthy really is.  Look at the nutritional information and judge for yourself.

Lesson 7, Beware the Sidedishes

That steak on the list doesn’t look too bad.  20oz steak for only 1500 calories?  That’s reasonable.  Well, first of all it’s not, but it’s even worse when you add another 1000 calories in potatoes and bread.  Side dishes are sometimes not counted in restaurant calories information and desserts most definitely are not.  So be aware of this and don’t assume that calorie information you read is giving you the full picture.  Again, educate yourself and don’t be afraid to ask your waiter.  Remember, it’s quite literally your life on the line.

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The 20 dishes on the list are just samples of the awful fare available at generic restaurants.  Your best bet is still to make your own food.  Barring that, make sure you educate yourself about food in general and restaurants specifically.  Make the right choice about where to go, what to order and how much of it to eat.  Remember, the restaurant doesn’t care about your health, only about your wallet.