Eat Out Eat Well

Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food

Bigger and Biggest Burgers: Tips for Burger Eaters

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  • Battle On:  who has the biggest burger? 

I love burgers – much more than steak of any kind.  So, I budget them into my food plan.  Holding the bacon, cheese, and fried onions cuts down on the calories – but for occasional indulgences it’s even possible to have those – just keep a close eye on the portion size.

According to the Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter (2/10), the fight for our dollars to purchase the biggest burger is on. The trade journal, Advertising Age, is calling the marketing war for the consumer’s bucks for big or biggest burger:  “Battle of the Big Burgers.”

  • Bigger and biggest nutritional stats*

Applebee’s A1 Steakhouse Burger:  1085 Calories, 60g Fat, 80, Carbs, 52g Protein

Burger King Steakhouse XT:  970 Calories, 55g Carbs, other info N/A

Carl’s Jr.  $6 Burger:  890 Calories, 54g Fat, 58g Carbs, 45g Protein

Chili’s Classic bacon Burger:  1140 Calories, 72g Fat, 61g Carbs, 59g Fat

Denny’s Western burger:  1160 Calories, 65g Fat, 79g  Carbs, 63g Protein

Hardee’s $6 Thickburger:  950 Calories, 59g fat, 58g Carbs, 45g Protein

Krystal BA Double Bacon Cheese:  850 Calories, 59g Fat, 48g Carbs, 32g Protein

McDonald’s Angus Deluxe:  750 Calories, 39g fat, 61g Carbs, 40g Protein

Wendy’s Bacon Deluxe Triple:  1140 Calories, 71g Fat, 47g Carbs, 79g Protein

These burgers can range from 1/2 to 3/4 of most people’s usual daily caloric and fat (especially saturated fat) allowance, and I didn’t include the amount of sodium in each burger, which is equally alarming.


How to choose?  Sticking to ordering an ordinary hamburger might be your best bet if you exercise caution with the caloric fatty sides (French fries, onion rings) and not sugared drinks.  A McDonald’s regular burger:  250 Calories, has less calories than any other sandwich on it’s menu.  Burger King’s Whopper Jr. clocks in at 370 calories.

Don’t be misled by the healthier sounding veggie burger with it’s added on toppings.  Burger King’s Veggie burger has 420 calories and 16g Fat – it’s Whopper has 670 calories and 40g fat.  Ruby Tuesday’s Veggie Burger chalks up 952 Calories and 53g fat and it’s Classic Cheeseburger has 1160 calories and 81g total fat.

  • SocialDieter Tip

If you know that your routine, maybe for workday lunches or after your kid’s soccer game, is probably going to include a stop at a fast food or casual dining chain, arm yourself with information by checking out the chain’s website for nutrition data.  Figure out ahead of time which choice is the best for you and then stick to it when you order.  If you haven’t figured out your preference before hand, chains in many states are now obliged to post in the restaurant the nutritional information for their products.  Bottom line: to save calories and fat, ignore the touted “big” or “biggest” burger (even if it’s the special) and order the small, ordinary burger and ask for extra onions, pickles, and other veggies.

*All data is from Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter February 2010

Blizzards, Hurricanes and Menu Choices

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Apples, apples, and more apples. NYC farmer's market in the snow.

The weather forecast is all doom and gloom:  a foot and a half of snow, or torrential rain with 60 miles an hour wind gusts. Rush to the supermarket and, it seems, along with everyone else who lives in your town or city, buy bread and milk and then lots of other stuff.  You need to be prepared for the apocalypse — which in many cases doesn’t happen — and, unfortunately, sometimes does.

The weather comes and forces you to be housebound. Eventually you start going stir crazy, have to get out of the house. Maybe you have lost power.  So,  you venture out to eat.  Perhaps not during the height of the storm, but right afterwards.  The trick is to find someplace that is open and has power.  Wow — you find one.  Hmmm . . . what to order?  Gee, the fresh fish of the day sounds great.

Fresh fish? If there’s a foot and a half of snow, the snow plows are struggling to clear the main roads, the local waterway is iced over, trains and buses are running on limited schedules if at all, the airports are empty because there are no flights in or out, and even professional sports teams have cancelled their games, how is that “fresh” fish getting to your local restaurant?

A moment to analyze the menu is in order.  The chef may have a whole bunch of stuff languishing in the freezer in the back.  Okay, it may be fine, but it’s certainly not fresh.  And those leafy vegetables and berries — if the delivery trucks can’t drive through the streets, how did they get there?

If the chef ordered enough food before the storm and the restaurant’s business was way down because customers didn’t want to fight the weather, what happened to the unused food?  Restaurants are in business to make money.  Unsold food taking up space in the refrigerator and freezer does not bring in the bucks.  So, does the unused food appear in the days after the storm in a frittata or stew? Soup, cassoulet?   Of course, the frittata, stew, soup, or cassoulet  may still taste great, or maybe not.

Exercise some thought — and in some cases caution — when you make those menu choices during, or just after, blizzards, hurricanes, monsoons, and mudslides, and especially power outages!  Does grilled cheese and tomato soup sound good?

Ever Wonder About Restaurant Reviews (and reviewers)?

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Who were some of the famous restaurant reviewers?  Did they really keep their identity secret?  Did their reviews have a significant effect on the restaurant’s performance?

If you want to read about restaurant reviews and restaurant reviewers – and how the process has changed over the years, check out  Robert Sietsema’s, “Everyone Eats . . . but that doesn’t make you a restaurant critic,” the feature article in the January/February 2010 edition of the Columbia Journalism Review.

Sietsma, the restaurant critic for the Village Voice, talks about the different approaches of some famous reviewers and the effect the internet has had on restaurant reviewing through the proliferation of food blogs.

You can also read an interview with him in Gothamist where he also talks about his cover story for the Village Voice in which he calls Iron Chef America bogus after attending a taping of the show at the Food Network’s Chelsea studios.

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Drive Thru Diets: Say What?Drive Thru Diets: Say What?

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fast foodSo here’s the dilemma: you’re stuck in an airport or an Amtrak station – it’s late at night and you haven’t had any dinner.  You’re starving.  Look around.  What’s open to grab a bite of food?  You guessed it fast food, fast food, and more fast food.

Or, you’re driving your kid and a bunch of teammates home from a hockey game – or soccer game – or lacrosse game – that they played in the middle of nowhere.  The kids are hungry, and so are you. What’s available at rest stops and off the nearest exit? Fast food, fast food, and more fast food.

“Can eating fast food help you lose weight?” That’s the question asked in an article in The New York Times.  Some of the fast food chains have started offering reduced fat, low calorie, and/or lighter items on their menus.  We all know about Jared and Subway (Subway now has Fresh Fit subs as well as other low calorie options), but other restaurants have jumped on the moving train.

According to the article, Taco Bell has a Fresco menu which has seven items, including burritos and tacos, with less than 9 grams of fat; Starbucks has panninis that are 400 calories or less; Dunkin’ Donuts has egg white sandwiches; and Quiznos lists menu items that are 500 calories and under. Other name brand fast food places offer grilled chicken and other lower fat items.  And people are choosing to make these foods a routine part of their diets – some in an attempt to lose weight.

So, is this good or bad?  Can you make a habit of dieting on fast food?

Experts have mixed reactions ranging from good, bad, and no way!

Even though the calorie count of these foods may be low, in almost all cases the sodium levels are way too high. And, do you really know how nutritious they are?  What additives are there? Where did the food come from?  Most fast food outlets receive their portion controlled, seasoned, and probably frozen protein sources like chicken and burgers from a central processing facility with explicit instructions on how they are to be prepared.

In his book, The End of Overeating, David Kessler explains how our bodies get addicted to sugar, fat, and salt. Food vendors want to sell food and so they cater to these tastes by adding these ingredients to their food.  We may not know what’s been added, we only know that it tastes good and eventually we begin to crave the food. So, does this create a slippery slope:  eat fast food and consequently crave it?

Asked a slightly different way:  Is fast food always bad and to be avoided at all costs?

Probably not — although some may disagree. Will occasional fast food lunches or dinners spell disaster? Not likely.  If you do eat a fast food meal can you make some choices that are better calorically than others?  You bet.

Bottom line, the SocialDieter has been stuck in airports and train stations late at night and has driven her three sons to many games.  She knows that there are times when the choice is fast food or fast food.  It’s comforting in those instances to have choices that are grilled — maybe with some vegetables — rather than fatty, fried, and sauced with a side of fries.  Sure there may be a lot of sodium and  probably other additives, but an occasional meal isn’t going to break the bank.

Making fast food a regular part of your lifestyle may be asking for trouble. Building a diet around foods that are fresh, delicious, healthy, nutritious, additive free, and easily available is key – but note the words fresh, nutritious, additive free, and healthy.  Are these descriptive of a steady diet of fast food?

What do you think? Is the occasional fast food meal okay to have?  If you do eat fast food, what menu selections are the best?

Want To Save Close to 100 Calories at Lunch?

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sandwichLunchtime.  What will it be?  Maybe a sandwich – it’s nice outside – good day to eat on a bench in the park.  Salad is way too messy.  Sandwich or a wrap is the way to go.

Lots of choices for the sandwich filling:  ham, turkey, roast beef, cheese, tuna, grilled veggies . . .

Lots of choices to wrap around the protein:  rye, wheat, white, roll, wrap . . .

Lots of stuff to put inside along with the protein: lettuce, tomato, onion, sprouts, olives . . .

What’s going to give your sandwich a pop of flavor and hold it all together  . . . mayo, mustard, ketchup, oil and vinegar???

Here’s where you can save close to 100 calories – without sacrificing flavor. My math is not fuzzy.  Note that all calorie counts are for a tablespoon.  In my experience, it’s awfully easy to use at least a tablespoon, if not more, of mayonnaise on a sandwich – and pretty tough to use that amount of mustard (you’re far more likely to use closer to a teaspoon).

Calories per tablespoon:

  • Dijon mustard:                                                     12
  • Yellow mustard:                                                   9  (1 packet, 3 calories)
  • Deli mustard (Grey Poupon):                           15
  • Honey mustard:                                                   around 30 (check brand)
  • Spicy brown mustard (Gulden’s):                   18
  • Classic yellow mustard (French’s):                  0  (yep!, it’s water and spices)
  • Dijonnaise (Hellman’s):                                       15
  • Ketchup:                                                                  15  (1 packet, 6 calories)
  • Russian dressing:                                                 54
  • Mayonnaise:                                                          99 (1 packet, 86 calories)
  • Light mayonnaise:                                               49
  • Fat free mayonnaise:                                           13
  • Tartar sauce:                                                          74
  • Relish, sweet:                                                         20  (1 packet, 13 calories)
  • Horseradish:                                                           6
  • Vinaigrette:                                                            43
  • Olive oil:                                                                  119
  • Butter:                                                                     102

To save calories:

  • Experiment with different kinds of mustard and relish
  • Swap the mayo for mustard
  • Swap the mayo for ketchup
  • Swap the Russian dressing for ketchup or relish

These are some small swap-outs that you can learn to do routinely – they become a mindless way to save calories.  Of course you could also walk or run a mile in the park instead of sitting on a bench eating your slimmed down sandwich.  The mile will burn off around 75 to 100 calories (depending on your weight and speed)– the same amount you might save with some of the swap-outs suggested above.