We, the American eaters, are the perky
blondes in horror movies who are always running up the stairs when we
should run down. We never fail to unlock the dietary door when a knock
comes in the middle of the night. And we continue to peek at the
darkest corners of the appetizer menu even though we are suspicious of
what's lurking behind those sordid descriptions. Because we, like the
slasher-film scream queens, are notorious for ignoring imminent danger.
We need help.
Research says we are woefully ill-equipped to calculate what we're
putting in our bodies. A 2006 study in the American Journal of Public
Health showed that unhealthy restaurant foods contained an average of
642 calories more than people estimated. If you're like the average
American who eats out five times a week, that's 47 pounds a year you
didn't know you were consuming.
Now look at what our ignorance has wrought: The top three killers of
Americans are heart disease, cancer, and stroke—all three of which are
strongly rooted in lifestyle.
Translation: Our diets stink. It's time
for us to put an end to the horror how. This list presents the 20 most
cunning villains in a world filled with shadowy characters. So be wise.
Next time one of these nutrition nightmares comes knocking on your
door, double-bolt it and turn off the lights.
20 Worst Foods in America: 2012
20. Worst Side Dish: TGI Friday’s Loaded Mashed Potatoes
930 calories
What appears to be two potatoes' worth of mash is corrupted with fat, fat, and more fat. First, they're whipped with butter and cream and then they're blanketed with Cheddar cheese and finally pelted with bacon pieces. This would be a poor entree order. As a side, it's just gross. Because Friday's won't supply nutritional information other than calories, we can't tell you how much of a fat toll this feast will take on your gut. It can't be light. We do know it will chew up half your calories for the day.
Eat This Instead!
Basket of Sweet Potato Fries
400 calories
19. Worst Supermarket Meal : Hungry-Man Pub Favorites Classic Fried Chicken
1,030 calories, 62 g fat (14 g saturated) , 1,610 mg sodium
Mammoth pieces of fried chicken, sweet corn, mashed potatoes, and a chocolate brownie add up to what the box proudly proclaims is "1 lb" of food. Every bit of it—minus the corn—is loaded with trans fat-heavy partially hydrogenated oils. How much of the sludgy stuff? You don't know because despite a 2006 FDA requirement, Hungry-Man doesn't list the trans fat content on its box-length list of ingredients.
Eat This Instead!
Marie Callender's Honey Roasted Turkey
320 calories, 11 g fat (3.5 g saturated), 920 mg sodium
18. Worst "Healthy" Sandwich : Quizno's Veggie (large)
1,090 calories, 61 g fat (19 g saturated), 2,540 mg sodium
In most people's minds, "veggie" is synonymous with "healthy," which is what makes this sandwich such a sly beast. You might think it's a welterweight, but topped as it is with the trio of mozzarella cheese, Cheddar cheese, and guacamole—which together provide a full day's worth of fat—this sub fights its way into the big boys' division. If it's vegetables you seek at Quizno's, it's either the Pan Asian Chopped Salad or a fistful of fat.
Eat This Instead!
Pan Asian Chopped Salad (regular)
430 calories, 17.5 g fat (4 g saturated), 1,915 mg sodium
17. Worst Fast Food Breakfast: Burger King BK Ultimate Breakfast Platter
1,310 calories, 72 g fat (26 g saturated, 1 g trans), 2,490 mg sodium
Platters are meant to feed groups, not individuals. But serving size isn't the King's only flagrant foul. He hacks away at your arteries with buttered eggs, fried potatoes, gristly sausage, and a trans fat-filled biscuit. (And we're not even talking about the diabetic debacle that is the pile of pancakes and syrup.) You'd better have run 12 miles before queuing up for this breakfast at BK. That's what it would take for the average person to burn through this platter's 1,300 calories.
Eat This Instead!
Ham, Egg, & Cheese Croissan'wich
350 calories, 17 g fat (7 g saturated) , 1,100 mg sodium
16. 16. Worst Frankenfood: Friendly's Grilled Cheese Burger
1,540 calories, 92 g fat (35 g saturated) , 2,490 mg sodium
Used to be that only carnivals served ill-advised food mash-ups. No longer. KFC's 2010 release of the Double Down, a sandwich of bacon and cheese nestled between two fried chicken strips, opened food innovation doors that should have remained closed. Friendly's has taken up the audacious challenge with its new riff on the basic patty melt.
A galling use of grilled cheese sandwiches as buns forms what appears to be three full meals stacked together. Not surprisingly, then, this burger is also loaded with more fat than three people should eat in one sitting.
Eat This Instead!
Caprese Chicken Sandwich
550 calories, 13 g fat (3 g saturated), 1,970 mg sodium
15. Worst Salad: California Pizza Kitchen Waldorf Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing
1,561 calories, N/A g fat (31 g saturated), 1,821 mg sodium
After we castigated its Santa Fe Chopped Salad for years, TGI Friday's finally removed them from its menu. Unfortunately, there are plenty of unsettling salads to take its place. None are worse than this tangled heap of trouble from CPK. And the potential it had! The first half of this menu description reads like nutritional poetry—field greens, fresh grapes, sliced apples—but it stops there. Sugar-coated walnuts, Gorgonzola, and a flood of blue cheese dressing all conspire to saddle this salad with more calories than any of CPK's whole pizzas.
Eat This Instead!
Classic Caesar Salad with Grilled Shrimp
649 calories, N/A g fat (15 g saturated) , 1,338 mg sodium
14. Worst Fast-Food Burger: Sonic Ring Leader Loaded Burger Double Patty
1,660 calories, 120 g fat (44 g saturated; 4 g trans) , 1,450 mg sodium
The recent unveiling of this menacing burger marks a new low for a chain already firmly entrenched among America's worst eateries. Before you even nosh a fry or sip a soda, you've packed in three-fourths of your day's calories. The bacon strips and onion rings will corral much of the criticism, but it's the less-flashy components that hold the hidden danger. Next to the half pound of beef, the two slices of Cheddar cheese and the double slather of mayo account for a third of the fat. (That's not to mention the "bun oil" squeezed on.) There are less perilous ways to get your burger fix.
Eat This Instead!
Jr. Deluxe Burger with Bacon and Green Chilies
425 calories, 25 g fat (8 g saturated; 0.5 g trans), 705 mg sodium
13. Worst Chinese Entree: PF Chang's Double Pan-Fried Noodles Combo
1,820 calories, 84 g fat (8 g saturated), 7,692 mg sodium
Consider
this: Experts recommend that endurance athletes consume no more than
300 mg sodium per hour of exercise. At that rate, you would need to
exercise for 25 hours to utilize the salt found in this one dish. While
by no means low calorie, it's the noodles' status as the Saltiest Dish
in America that truly terrifies us. Eat this and you don't need another
milligram of sodium for 5 days.Eat This Instead!
Shanghai Shrimp with Garlic Sauce
390 calories, 40 g fat (4 g saturated), 2,100 mg sodium
12. 12. Worst Sandwich: The Cheesecake Factory Grilled Shrimp & Bacon Club
1,890 calories, N/A g fat (24 g saturated), 2,964 mg sodium
It's hard to blame a diner for thinking he or she might be taking a safe route by opting for this sandwich based on its menu description: "Charbroiled Shrimp, Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato with Our Special Dressing." Only through a feat of dark nutrition arts did the Cheesecake Factory cram more calories than the worst fast-food burger has into such an innocuous-sounding sandwich. (In fact, you can have the hearty Factory Burger and save nearly 1,200 calories.) Why would a restaurant knowingly subject its loyal customers to such punishment?
Eat This Instead!
The Factory Burger
730 calories, N/A g fat (15 g saturated), 1,016 mg sodium
11. Worst Dessert: Baskin-Robbins Fudge Brownie 31 Degrees Below (large)
1,900 calories, 80 g fat (39 g saturated, 1.5 g trans) , 1,350 mg sodium, 225 g sugars
When Baskin-Robbins began to phase out its catastrophic line of Permium Shakes (the worst of which contained an eye-popping 2,600 calories), we cheered what we thought was the beginning of a more health-conscious corporate strategy. But this thick gulp of caloric excess is a reminder of just how deep their arsenal of belt-buckling treats runs. We might even go as far as to call this 24-ounce orgy of soft-serve, brownie, and hot fudge the most nuritionally imbalanced food in America, punishing ice cream hounds with not just an excess of calories and saturated fat, but also a concerning dose of trans fats, a dizzying amount of sugar, and, most disturbingly, more than half a day's worth of sodium.
Eat This Instead!
Premium Churned Light Aloha Brownie Ice Cream
250 calories, 8 g fat (4.5 g saturated), 33 g sugars
10. 10. Worst Fries: Chili's Texas Cheese Fries with Chili and Ranch
2,120 calories, 144 g fat (69 g saturated) , 5,920 mg sodium
How do you make deep-fried potatoes even more detrimental to your health? Easy. Glob on a ladleful of gooey cheese and a pile of chili and dip the whole mess in ranch dressing. We know Americans love their fries (we eat more potatoes in this form than any other single vegetable), but this version veers into the farcical. With multiple food threats in one dish, it's best to choose the tamer side of original fries.
Eat This Instead!
Homestyle Fries
380 calories, 13 g fat (3 g saturated), 1,210 mg sodium
9. Worst Mexican Meal: On the Border Dox XX Fish Tacos
2,150 calories, 144 g fat (31 g saturated), 3,740 mg sodium
Mexican food at its best can be a well-balanced cuisine built around fresh vegetables, grilled meats and fish, and healthy condiments like fresh salsa and guacamole. Unfortunately, the faux-Mexican food dished out by monster chains like Chili's, Chevy's, and On the Border bears little resemblance to the real stuff, reliant as it is on deep-frying, cream-based sauces, and the ubiquitous blankets of melted cheese. These tacos represent what happens when an irresponsible corporate kitchen hijacks an entire culinary culture.
Eat This Instead!
3 Chicken Tostadas
390 calories, 15 g fat (6 g saturated) , 1,050 mg sodium
8. Worst Fish Meal: Culver's North Atlantic Cod Filet Meal (3 pieces)
2,156 calories, 140 g fat (21 g saturated, 2 g trans), 2,378 mg sodium
Frying anything is a bad idea, but frying fish is a debasement of one of nature's purest foods. Why ruin what could be a protein-packed, muscle-building meal by sticking it in a vat of bubbling oil? But Culver's doesn't stop with its battered and oiled cod filets; it ups the risk to your waistline and overall well-being by adding heaping helpings of the default sides of cole slaw, fries, tartar sauce, and a dinner roll. We challenge more restaurants to do what's right with fish: buy it fresh, cook it with minimal flourishes, and let diners enjoy the simple beauty of a lean, well-cooked meal. Until Culver's takes up the challenge, make it the roasted chicken sandwich and tomato soup and move on.
Eat This Instead!
Flame Roasted Chicken Sandwich with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
449 calories, 10 g fat (2 g saturated), 1,374 mg sodium
7. Worst Burger: Chili's Jalapeno Smokehouse Bacon Burger with Ranch
2,210 calories, 144 g fat (46 g saturated), 6,600 mg sodium
The average burger-and-fry combo at Chili's packs 1,786 calories—about 85 percent of your daily allotment if you're an active female and more than two-thirds of an active male's caloric allowance. That's a heavy price to pay for a staple the average American consumes up to 150 times a year. Of course, this tricked-out number takes the havoc to a new high. Laced with more bells and whistles than a Michael Bay blockbuster (tortilla strips, bacon, Cheddar, mayo, and jalapeno-ranch dressing), this burger punishes partakers with more than 2 days' worth of saturated fat and as much sodium as you'd find in 6 pounds of McDonald's french fries.
Eat This Instead!
Margarita Grilled Chicken
550 calories, 14 g fat (4 g saturated) , 1,870 mg sodium
6. Worst Pizza: Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Deep Dish Pizza (individual)
2,310 calories, 165 g fat (54 g saturated), 4,650 mg sodium
Chicagoans beam with pride when claiming rights to the deep dish pizza, as if the invention of one of the world's most dangerous foodstuffs is somehow a source of civic satisfaction. The problem starts, of course, with the crust, which is bathed in oil, rich in refined carbohydrates, and about three times thicker than a normal pizza in order to support the onslaught of toppings it invariably houses. Tack on oozing layers of mozzarella, Romano, and sausage (the "classic" topping of choice), and you have an individual pizza with more calories than you'd cosume if you took down an entire extra-large Domino's Thin Crust chorizo pie. If it's pizza you seek at Uno's, turn to the admirable new thin five-grain crust to avoid total catastrophe.
Eat This Instead!
Thin Five-Grain Crust Roasted Eggplant, Spinach & Feta Pizza (1/2 pie)
435 calories, 17 g fat (5 g saturated), 600 mg sodium
5. Worst Appetizer: Applebee’s Appetizer Sampler
2,430 calories, 166 g fat (48 g saturated) , 6,070 mg sodium
Sample platters are the lairs wherein all menu miscreants hang out and nearly every chain offers a criminal version. Applebee's is the undisputed kingpin. Its repository of cheap, fried, monochromatic foods is a lesson in the perils of restaurant eating. It begins with chips and spinach-artichoke dip, a euphemism for a crock of cream and cheese with a few token shards of vegetable matter. From there, it gets worse: fried chicken wings, fried mozzarella sticks, and greasy cheese quesadillas. You could eat the celery on the plate to make yourself feel better, but by that point, the damage is done.
Eat This Instead!
Chicken Wonton Tacos
590 calories, 24 g fat (4.5 g saturated) , 2,150 mg sodium
4. Worst Breakfast: IHOP Big Country Breakfast with Country Fried Steak & Country Gravy
2,440 calories, 145 g fat (56 g saturated), 5,520 mg sodium , ,
This smorgasbord is an unabashed siren call to gluttons everywhere. It's a 12-ounce steak breaded, fried, and dripping with gravy; three eggs; hash browns; and three pancakes crowned with an ice cream scoop of butter and a sugary tide of syrup. Heck, this meal wears its pride in its name. You could feed a small nation with the Big Country, though doing so would be grounds for UN intervention.
Eat This Instead!
Simple & Fit Spinach, Mushroom & Tomato Omelette
330 calories, 12 g fat (5 g saturated) , 690 mg sodium
3. Worst Ribs: TGI Friday's Caribbean Rockin' Reggae Ribs
2,450 calories, 52 g saturated fat, 3,810 mg sodium
Of all the foods on this list—burgers, fries, pasta, ice cream—no food is more consistently catastrophic than a rack of restaurant ribs. Part of that is due to the fact that ribs comprise a nutritionally flawed cut of meat, redolent as they are with both external and intramuscular fat. But restaurant cooking methods, which invariably involve layer after layer of oily, sugar-dense barbecue sauce, only compound the problem. Want ribs? Fire up the grill in the backyard and use our recipe for Dr Pepper Ribs in Cook This, Not That! It will save you 2,050 calories. In the meantime, cut your losses and order the sirloin.
Eat This Instead!
Petite Sirloin
460 calories
2. Worst Chicken Entree: The Cheesecake Factory Chicken and Biscuits
2,580 calories, N/A g fat (68 g saturated), 2,621 mg sodium
Weighted down with more 1,000-plus-calorie meals than any other chain in America (26 at last count), the Cheesecake Factory offers diners a Russian roulette of choices, only with worse odds. Every time you pick up your fork, you risk absorbing days' worth of unsavory macronutrients. Take the Chicken and Biscuits for example. It's a classic like Grandma used to make—this is, if your grandma used every form of fat in the pantry and doled it out by the bathtubful. Even worse, the Factory seems to patronize those seeking to go lighter by putting its lower-calorie choices on the Weight Management menu. Anyone order a side of condescension?
Eat This Instead!
Weight Management Spicy Chicken Salad
440 calories, N/A g fat (1 g saturated), 771 mg sodium
1. The Worst Food in America : Cheesecake Factory Bistro Shrimp Pasta
2,730 calories, N/A g fat (78 g saturated fat), 919 mg sodium
The
Cheesecake Factory has earned the title of America's Worst Restaurant
for the 4th year running. No establishment better represents the
confluence of factors that have saddled America with an ever-worsening
obesity crisis. First, portion sizes are large enough to feed an NFL
offensive line. Second, the use of cheap sources of flavor—oils,
butter, cream, salt, and sugar—knows no limit. Finally, the percentage
of dishes fit for consumption is absurdly small (we count 8 on a menu
of more than 200 dishes). Amidst the carnage, one dish sinks below all
the rest: the Bistro Shrimp Pasta. Tangled up in these noodles are more
calories than you'd consume if you ate three sticks of butter for
dinner.
Eat This Instead!
Fresh Grilled Salmon
490 calories, N/A g fat (6 g saturated fat), 290 mg sodium
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