Xtreme Eating Award Announced

Written by Britney Ellis, nutrition student at Rutgers.

The Xtreme Eating Awards were presented to restaurants by the Center for Science in the Public Interest for dishes that exceeded 1000 calories and a day’s worth of saturated fat. You might be surprised by the restaurants who were lampooned, I know I was.

And the awards go to…

• Most Extreme Meal goes to Five Guys for their 920 calorie bacon cheeseburgers, 1,460 calories—mostly from fat, for the large fries and another 300 calories for 32 ounces of sugar sweetened soda. The total meal provides 2,680 calories and about 3 days worth of saturated fat. Even for the typical fast food fanatic, this meal makes the Big Mac at McDonalds look like kid’s food. {excellent comment is it yours?!]
• Cheesecake Factory wins for the most extreme dessert with it’s Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake. It is boasting 1,670 calories and 2 ½ days worth of saturated fat stacked six inch tall slice. Anything with the word “tower” in it should provide fair warning.

• P.F Chang makes the list for their double fried noodle combo. This Lo Mein dish packing 1,820 calories and,  a whopping 5 days worth of sodium. As a student studying nutrition and a vegetarian, I couldn’t imagine that people could eat these dishes with no idea of their bad nutritional content. That is, until I found that some of my favorite dishes, including my choice for pizza on the list. The Xtreme Award for a vegetarian’s worst nightmare goes to…
• California Pizza Kitchen’s Tostado pizza. As a vegetarian friendly pizza, and my favorite pizza, I was disgusted to learn that the individual pie contained 1,440 calories,  a day’s worth of saturated fat and more than a day’s quota for sodium ( 2.630 mg). This was a good lesson when even if advertised with many healthy vegetables, we can not assume it is automatically a healthy meal.

What I learned is that no one is safe from excess calories, saturated fat, and sodium lurking in  the most popular restaurant meals. Yet, by planning ahead, we  can avoid the deadly nutrient excesses when eating out. For example, meat, dressings and sauces, and condiments add unnecessary calories and fat. Though going out to dinner can be an enjoyable and social experience, the possible sacrifices to our health means we must become smarter students of restaurant food.

To see all the dishes and restaurants that made the Xtreme list go to: Xtreme Eating Awards

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