Raerae
Well-known member
Personally I order kids meals when I go to these places if I can. Else I always order a small (which is still like a medium lol) and generally only eat 1/2 of it. Or better yet, go to the store and buy microwave dinners for lunch @ work. It's really interesting how an entire MEAL in a microwave dinner like healthy choice or lean cusine, is like 250-280 calories. Less than the calories in most of the soft drinks people drink with their 1000 calorie burger and 500 calorie fries.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20825325...5773?GT1=10514
Quote:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20825325...5773?GT1=10514
Quote:
| By any other name, it's still a supersize Fast-food portions keep getting bigger, but you might not know it Image: Hardee's Country Breakfast Burrito Hardee's Country Breakfast Burrito, which the fast-food chain introduced Monday, packs 920 calories and 60 fat grams. Fast-food restaurants may brag about their premium salads and apple fries, but for all the healthier items they've added to menus, portion bloat is bigger than ever. Not only are servings getting larger, some top fast-food chains are engaged in a sleight-of-name game — marketing ploys which could confuse customers who think they're ordering less than they actually are, according to a study I co-authored with Dr. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University, published in a recent Journal of Public Health Policy. When McDonald's dumped its Supersize selections three years ago, many nutritionists were hopeful that restaurant chains and fast-food establishments would get back to thinking small. Story continues below ↓advertisement Click Here! Fat chance. Are you going to finish that? In the last few years, Hardee’s, Burger King and Wendy's all have introduced 1,000-calorie-plus sandwiches stuffed with 12 ounces of beef — the amount of meat recommended for two days for most adults. In addition, Hardee's just rolled out a new Country Breakfast Burrito, a tortilla wrap stuffed with two egg omelets, sausage, bacon, ham, cheddar cheese, hash browns and gravy. The burrito contains 920 calories and 60 grams of fat, almost all the fat an adult needs in a single day. How much is too much? A serving may be smaller than you think. Use these visuals as a guide. — 3 ounces of meat = 1 deck of cards — 1 cup of cereal = a baseball — 2 tablespoons salad dressing = a shot glass — ¼ cup nuts = a golf ball Source: The Portion Teller Plan: The No-Diet Reality Guide to Eating, Cheating, and Losing Weight Permanently Gorging on fast-food occasionally wouldn't be such a disaster, but Americans spend half their yearly food budget eating out. In my research on portion size trends, I found a parallel between rising rates of obesity and increasing portion sizes. Current fast-food servings are two to five times larger than they were in the 1950s. It's hard to believe the Big Mac was considered large when McDonald's introduced it 40 years ago. Today the Big Mac's roughly 3 ounces of meat are puny compared to the new mega-burgers. When McDonald’s first opened, a soda was 7 ounces. Today, the child size is 12 ounces, a small is 16 ounces, and the large 32 ounces. Are we that much thirstier or hungrier than we used to be? That's a really big gulp You can't order a Supersize soda at McDonald's anymore, but the fast-food giant recently introduced the Hugo, pouring in at a bladder-busting 42-ounces and 410-calories. Last year Wendy's rolled out its own 42-ounce version and Burger King also promotes a 42-ounce King Size soda. 7-Eleven offers the 64-ounce Double Gulp soda — a half-gallon, nearly 800-calorie drink marketed for one person. And Starbucks sells jumbo-sized coffee drinks, such as the Venti Frappuccino Strawberries and Crème which contains well over 600 calories. Biggie lives The problem is, people tend to eat or drink what's in front of them. We also significantly underestimate how many calories we consume. But even when consumers try to do right by their diets by choosing a small or medium of something at a fast-food chain, they may be getting more than they expect. Click for related content Vote: Should fast-food chains dump huge servings? The workweek diet leaves room for feasting Report: Obesity a result of modern life Wendy's dropped the fattening-sounding Biggie sodas and Great Biggie french fries and went back to small, medium, and large sizes. But it was just a marketing gimmick. What was a medium order of french fries is now a small; the Biggie became a medium, and the Great Biggie became a large. Instead of a Biggie soda, you can order a large drink — but large is now 42 ounces, 10 ounces larger than it was a year ago as the Biggie. Scaling back To be fair, some restaurants have tried to scale it back. When Ruby Tuesday cut serving sizes in 2004, customers balked, and the big portions returned. But that's because consumers are programmed into thinking that bigger size means bigger value. Larger portions are presented as a bargain for consumers because they're relatively cheap for restaurants to offer. Food costs less than other operating costs such as rent, staff, and equipment. Big servings are not going away any time soon, but you don’t have to be a victim of portion distortion. Here are some strategies to try: * Steer clear of large, jumbo and king size orders. Even a medium portion can be big, so share it with a friend. Better yet, opt for the small. * Eat half of what you order. Ask for a doggie bag and enjoy the rest on another day. * Have a bottle of water or diet soda instead of a regular sugar-laden soda. * Order a side salad with your meal. * Savor your food and eat more slowly. Put your fork down between bites. This will help you eat less. Reality check: More food = more calories Before you order, know how much you're eating and drinking Food Brand or establishment Calories (Regular or small) Calories (Large or Jumbo) Soft drink Coca-Cola 100, 8 fl. oz 250, 20 fl. oz. French fries McDonald's 210 540 Hamburger Burger King 320, 4.4 oz. Double Whopper, 920, 12.6 oz. Coffee Frappuccino Starbucks 180, 12. fl. oz. (Tall) 300, 20 fl. oz. (Venti) Popcorn (popped in oil) Movie theater 400, 7 cups 1,160, 20 cups Source: "The Portion Teller Plan: The No-Diet Reality Guide to Eating, Cheating and Losing Weight Permanently" (Broadway, 2005)• Print this Lisa R. Young, Ph.D., R.D. author of "The Portion Teller Plan: The No-Diet Reality Guide to Eating, Cheating, and Losing Weight permanently" (Broadway, 2005) is a nutritionist in private practice in New York City and an adjunct professor at New York University. 2007 MSNBC Interactive |
