Xtreme Eating Awards 2009

Jun 04, 2009

Today’s blog treat comes courtesy of The Center for Science in the Public Interest and their 2009 Xtreme Eating Awards. Winners from 2007, like Uno Chicago Grill's 2,000-calorie Pizza Skins, have been replaced by BIGGER! BETTER! FATTIER! abominations. Applebee’s has created a fat-bomb bastard child of cheeseburgers and quesadillas. Olive Garden (Disclosure: I worked as a greeter here in high school--wore the jewel-toned vegetable tie and everything--so I have a teeny soft spot in my heart for it) has a new dish called the Tour of Italy, where the cooks manage to cram lasagna, chicken parm AND fettuccine alfredo onto one dish. And The Cheesecake Factory's Fried Macaroni and Cheese balls will make your heart explode with 1,570 calories and 69 grams of saturated fat. According to CSPI, eating an entire stick of butter would be healthier.

This reminds me of a story I wrote for Women’s Health a while back called "Restaurant Revolution," where I was charged with the task of eating at 10 popular chains like Olive Garden, TGIFriday’s, Red Lobster, Ruby Tuesday’s, etc. My goal: To find the three “healthiest” meals at each spot. Not an easy task when my Cheesecake Factory waitress let it slip that, when I asked what was in the sauce of my delish Miso-Glazed Salmon (heart-healthy!), “Oh, well they call it a ‘Miso Glaze’ but really, it’s just butter.”

Read on for a few of CSPI’s Xtreme Eating Award winners. Keep in mind that most people should limit themselves to about 2,000 calories, 20 grams of saturated fat, and 1,500 mg of sodium per day:

Applebee’s Quesadilla Burger: This one is crazy. Applebee’s came up with the brilliant idea to stiff a bacon cheeseburger INSIDE a quesadilla. Wrapped up in two monstrous flour tortillas, sprinkled with extra cheese and lettuce (a vegetable!! This is practically a salad!), slathered with “Mexi-ranch sauce” and served with fries, this puppy has 1,820 calories, 46 grams of saturated fat, and 4,410 mg of sodium. “Bonus heart-stopper,” says CSPI: Applebee’s invites you to top the fries with chili and even more cheese.

Cheesecake Factory Chicken and Biscuits: You wouldn’t sit down and shove yourself with an entire eight-piece bucket of KFC Original Recipe plus five biscuits, would you? Well, unless you live in a city with menu labeling (like Nashville, NYC, Philadelphia, Portland), you wouldn’t know that ordering this Cheesecake Factory dish is practically the same thing at 2,500 calories.

Red Lobster Ultimate Fondue: Red Lobster’s Ultimate version, “shrimp and crabmeat in a creamy lobster cheese sauce served in a warm crispy sourdough bowl,” is crammed with 1,490 calories, 40 grams of saturated fat, and 3,580 mg of sodium. That’s two days’ worth of both artery-clogging fat and blood-pressure-spiking sodium.

Chili’s Big Mouth Bites: Enjoy four mini (actually, they’re each the size of a quarter-pounder) bacon-cheeseburgers accompanied by french fries, fried onion strings and jalapeno ranch dipping sauce. As an entrée: 2,350 calories, 38 grams of saturated fat, and 3,940 milligrams of sodium.

Please, I beg of you, avoid these Strokes On a Plate at all costs.

Comments

From: bdaiss
Date: 06/04/2009 - 10:50 am

Okay, I admit it. I've had the Big Mouth Bites. But! I ate them over two meals... *sigh* yeah, it's still a lot of calories. And they weren't *that* spectacular. (Hey - I'm pregnant. I - I mean the baby! - really wanted a bacon cheeseburger and fries!)

It's scary what we've come to think of as "normal" servings anymore...one reason we don't eat out very often. And when we do we always end up making it last 2 meals.

From: Robinjs03
Date: 06/04/2009 - 10:46 am

Yikes! It amazes me that with all of the money people put into the diet and weight loss industry, and with the idea of losing weight and slimming down advertised as the thing to do everwhere we turn, that these meals exist...and are eaten by people! It's kinda crazy that both extremes are so popular yet so contradictory.

Another thing I think would be interesting would be to see the behind the scenes on the restaurants that manage to make menu items that seem healthy (ala your miso salmon) so incredibly unhealthy. All of these extreme eating award winners at least don't advertise themselves as healthy or sound healthy in the least, so you know you're getting something pretty bad for you when you order them. But things like salmon with miso glaze being made out of straight butter...I'm sure there are many items like this that we scarf down thinking we're doing something good for our bodies. I'm sure you also discovered that when doing your Women's Health article...I just always wonder if the "healthy" item I'm choosing is really all that healthy. Your post a little while back on the edamame soaked in salt water was another one of these eye openers!

From: Trish F
Date: 06/04/2009 - 10:45 am

That. Is. Terrifying.

Think of all the uninformed people who don't read blogs like this (or don't care to read blogs like this) and have no idea what they're putting into their bodies! And we wonder why healthcare in this country costs so much - it takes a lot of effort (and therefore money) to try and reverse the effects of the horrible, irresponsible things we all do to our bodies before we know better (if that ever happens). How do I make my city require mandatory labels on food?! Sign me up for that petition. At least there is some info out there about chain restaurants - but I avoid those like the plague - what about the local joints that don't have a website with nutritional info?

From: Alyssa
Date: 06/04/2009 - 10:34 am

Scary.
Scarier than "The Ring," which scared the crud outta me for months!
I must admit, I saw the ad for that cheeseburger quesadilla and my first thought was "EW!" followed quickly by "Why?!"

We don't eat out much.