The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group who also puts out the terrific newsletter Nutrition Action Health Letter announced its most recent Xtreme Eating Awards. To summarize: “Stacked, Stuffed, and Topped” is the trend at Applebee’s and other chain restaurants.
Many of the “winners” contained nearly as many calories as American’s should eat
in an entire day. And that is without the drinks, side dishes, and desserts. These “winners” ranged in calories from 1200 to 2500 calories. (The average American should eat around 2000 calories daily.) Huge portions are also to blame for many of these jumbo calorie counts.
Here are some of the winners of the X-Treme Eating Awards:
The Cheesecake Factory Farmhouse Cheeseburger: This burger is “topped with grilled smoked pork belly cheddar cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato, mayo and a fried egg.” It contains 1,530 calories and 3,210 milligrams of sodium. That’s assuming you just eat the burger: Adding a side of Fries will add another 460 calories! As CSPI indicates, eating this burger is “equivalent of eating three McDonald’s Quarter Pounders with cheese.”
Cold Stone Creamery PB&C Shake: A 24-oz. “Gotta Have It” size shake of peanut butter, chocolate ice cream, and milk has 2010 calories, equivalent to an entire day’s worth of calories (2,010). And it is just a drink!! As CSPI indicates, this is equivalent eating “two 16-oz. T-bone steaks plus a buttered baked potato.”
Applebee’s Provolone-Stuffed Meatballs With Fettuccine: This dish contains four cups of pasta, two sauces, and “cheese-injected” meatballs and delivers along with garlic bread 1,520 calories and 3,700 mg of sodium (more than two days’ worth). It’s like eating two of Applebee’s 12-oz. Ribeye Steaks plus a side of Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
The Cheesecake Factory Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake: This slice weighs in at three-quarters of a pound and contains 1,540 calories and 59 grams of saturated fat (three days’ worth). As CSPI indicates, eating one slice is like equivalent in calories to eating one Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza plus two Quarter Pounders with
cheese.
My suggestion if you insist on ordering such dishes is: share, share, and share!! And be sure to do plenty of exercise.