by Ashley Izbicki
Chea Matherne imagined tasting a deliciously greasy McDonald’s burger topped with American cheese, pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard on a sesame seed bun, salty french fries and a medium Coke. Then she remembered the little black dress she needed to squeeze into later that night and instead ordered a chicken caesar salad, devoured it in less than four minutes and was hungry again two hours later.
Most fast food restaurants in recent years have beefed up their menus with “leaner” options to keep customers at their counters despite the health crazes sweeping the nation. Customers often think they are ordering healthier when they choose menu items dubbed as fresh, premium or select, but nutrition facts show they are actually still blowing their diets.
Nutritionists said careful menu selection and skipping the salad dressing all together are key tips while dining out. Look at McDonald’s. Most salads are worse than a quarter pounder, chicken nuggets or an egg mcmuffin: The Caesar salad with crispy chicken has 550 calories and 32.5 grams of fat and the premium southwest salad with grilled chicken has 420 calories and 36 grams of fat because of the creamy salad dressings, butter garlic croutons and bacon bites.
“All this time I thought I was doing well by not ordering hamburgers or chicken nuggets. I assumed salads were automatically healthier,” Matherne said. “I guess I should start looking at the facts before ordering what the menus portray as healthier choices.
“A quarter pounder has 410 calories and 19 grams of fat, but the premium grilled chicken club has 570 calories and 21 grams of fat. The words premium, grilled and chicken may sound healthy, or at least healthier than a burger, but the McDonald’s USA nutrition fact sheet shockingly proves otherwise. The chicken sandwich’s liquid margarine, bacon and mayonnaise drench its nutritional value.
“I would advise avid fast food consumers who want healthy options to still order the salads, with lots of raw food, like greens, carrots, tomatoes, and even grilled chicken, but to order them without dressing,” said Renee Barasch, owner of Nutritional Health Solutions and a weight management specialist in Chicago. “And remember to always choose grilled chicken, not fried. Always.”
A roast beef and Swiss market fresh sandwich with lettuce and tomato on honey wheat bread at Arby’s sounds healthy, right? Totaling 810 calories and 42 grams of fat, the sandwich is almost twice as bad as the basic super roast beef sandwich, according to Arby’s nutritional calculator.
“I eat the Market Fresh sandwiches all the time,” said Baohan Wu, a regular customer at Arby’s. “I am a very athletic and active guy. With the veggies, all natural meat and whole wheat bread they seemed like the healthiest menu items.
“The market fresh sandwich is loaded with fattening mayonnaise and Italian sub sauce, and topped with a thick slice of processed Swiss cheese. The two pieces of honey wheat bread alone contain 361 calories and 68 grams of carbohydrates, but the super roast beef sandwich’s sesame bud has half the carbs and it substitutes the mayo with a lower-calorie spicy pepper sauce, according to “Eat This, Not That, by Men’s Health Editor-In-Chief David Zinczenko.
At Wendy’s, the chicken club sandwich tops the list with 610 calories and 31 grams of fat, while an order of chicken nuggets and chili only adds up to 450 calories and 21 grams of fat. “Arby’s and Wendy’s are my favorite restaurants. They have healthy options, and Wendy’s is super cheap,” said Blaire Embrey, a 20-year-old dance major at Columbia College Chicago. After Embrey saw the nutrition sheets, she dropped her fork, pushed the Santa Fe Salad away and slid back in her chair. “There is seriously 773 calories in this thing? I’d rather eat a Big Mac.
“Some see fast food chain’s attempts to lure customers in with their “healthier” options as a marketing and business scheme targeted to women, who are under the most societal pressure to stay fit. “Dieting, worrying about weight and worrying about healthy food is a woman’s position,” said Judith Gardiner, director of gender and women’s studies at University of Illinois, “For a man’s appetite, you still see the super size options based on the previous historical times and positions that men deserve more calories because they do a lot of physical labor.
Fast food chains are trying to use both positions to appeal to everyone. “Public relations contacts at McDonald’s, Arby’s and Wendy’s did not respond to repeated calls for comment.
Some customers are too health savvy to fall for the marketing. Nutritional facts are easily accessible online, and many fast food chains offer in-store brochures or display posters with information about the menu items.”Americans are often too lazy to really look into things. They hear the word ‘salad’ and automatically think they’re sticking to their diets,” said 28-year-old customer Justin Neal, while looking up at the overhead menu options. “If people really want to lose weight they should stay out of places like McDonald’s and Wendy’s and figure out healthy and balanced options from places like Subway, Panera and other sandwich shops.”
But dieting customers should look closely at menu options before assuming Panera and Subway items are automatically healthy. Panera’s sierra turkey sandwich has over 800 calories and 40 grams of fat, but its BBQ chicken crispani boasts only 380 calories and 15 grams of fat. The sierra turkey is coated in chipotle mayonnaise and there are six grams of fat per slice in the Asiago Cheese Focaccia bread.
“When I found out I could eat pizza here instead of the usual turkey sandwich I was so excited pizza didn’t have to be a guilty pleasure,” Haley Fritz, 20, said.
“I started eating at Subway, too, when I found out a steak and cheese was healthier than a turkey breast salad.”
Subway’s six-inch steak and cheese sandwich has 400 calories and 12 grams of fat, whereas a turkey breast salad has 430 calories and 37.5 whopping grams of fat because of the ranch dressing and high sodium content. The best salad option is its oven roasted chicken breast salad with fat free Italian dressing, which only has 175 calories and 2.5 grams of fat.
With all of the “healthy” misconceptions at common fast food chains, nutritionists said going back to the basics is always the best way to stay fit and lose weight.
“If dieting individuals want to eat McDonalds and Arby’s, they should remember that exercising is critical,” Barasch said. “But if they really want to lose weight, they should stay clear of the restaurants all together. Try going back to the kindergarten days of brown bag lunches. They definitely beat the burgers and so-called fresh sandwiches.”
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