WHAT NOT TO EAT!
10 WORST FOODS
1) Artery Crust
Judging by the label, Stouffer’s Satisfying Servings (16 oz) White Meat Chicken Pot Pie has “only” 590 calories, 13 grams of saturated fat, and 930 mg of sodium, but those numbers are for only half a pie. Eat the entire pie, as many people do, and you’re talking 1,180 calories, 26 grams of saturated fat (more than a day’s worth) and 1,860 mg of sodium (over a day’s worth).
2) Triple Bypass
Can’t decide what to pick from a restaurant menu? Now you can order not just one entrée, but two, or three, all at once. Olive Garden’s Tour of Italy– Homemade Lasagna, Lightly Breaded Chicken Parmigiana, and Creamy Fettuccine Alfredo – comes with 1,450 calories, 33 grams of saturated fat, and 3,830 milligrams of sodium. Add a bread stick (140 calories and 370 mg of sodium) and a plate of Garden-Fresh Salad with dressing (150 calories and 760 mg of sodium) and you’ll consume almost 1,740 calories (almost an entire day’s worth) and 4,960 mg of sodium (over 3 days’ worth) in a single meal!
3) Salt’s On!
An average cup of Campbell’s regular Condensed Soup has 760 mg of sodium, but most people eat the whole can, which contains 1,900 mg of sodium – more than most adults should consume in an entire day! Look for Campbell’s Healthy Request, Progresso Reduced Sodium, and Healthy Choice soups with sodium in the 400s (still a lot if you eat the whole can). Better yet, choose reduced-sodium soups by Amy's, Imagine, Pacific, and Tabatchnick.
4) Tortilla Terror
Want a Chipotle Chicken Burrito (tortilla, rice, pinto beans, cheese, chicken, sour cream, and salsa)? Think of its 1,010 calories, 18 grams of saturated fat, and 2,250 mg of sodium as three 6-inch Subway B.L.T. Subs! Skipping the cheese and sour cream cuts the saturated fat to 6 grams, but you still end up with 790 calories and more than a day’s worth of sodium.
5) Factory Reject
People don’t expect low-calorie desserts at The Cheesecake Factory. But the Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake kicks things up a notch. It weren’t served on its side, this one would stand over six inches tall and upright or not, the slab of cake still weighs in at three-quarters of a pound. What do you get for all that heft? Just 1,700 calories and 2½ days’ worth of saturated fat (50 grams), mostly from chocolate, sugar, cream, white flour, and butter.
6) Burial Grands
No one thinks of biscuits as health food, but each Pillsbury Grands! Southern Style frozen biscuit has 170 calories and 1 ½ grams of saturated fat, plus 3 ½ grams of trans fat (more than a day’s worth). Companies are dumping their partially hydrogenated oils left and right, yet Pillsbury still makes most of its rolls and biscuits with the stuff.
7) Transgression
“0 mg Cholesterol” says the box of Parkay Margarine sticks and Bonnet, Land O’ Lakes, and beware of the other trans-filed sticks by Blue Bonnet, Land O' Lakes, and Fleischmann’s. Shopping Tip: Buy tub margarine instead; most have little or no trans fat.
8) Starbucks on Steroids
The Starbucks Venti (20 oz) White Chocolate Mocha with 2% milk and whipped cream is more than a mere cup of coffee. It’s worse than a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Few people have room in their diets for the 580 calories, 14 grams of saturated fat, and 11 teaspoons of added sugar that this hefty beverage supplies, but you can lose 130 calories and more than half of the saturated fat if you order it with nonfat milk and no whipped cream.
9) Extreme Ice Cream
An average half-cup serving of Häagen-Dazs ice cream puts half-a day’s saturated fat and a third-of-a-day’s cholesterol into your arteries and makes a 300-calorie down-payment on your next set of fat cells– if you can stop at a petite half-cup!
10) Stone Cold!
Cold Stone Creamery’s Oh Fudge! Shake (chocolate ice cream, milk, and fudge syrup) starts at 1,060 calories for the small “Like It” (16 oz) size. That’s more than a large (22 oz) McDonald’s McCafé Chocolate Shake . The medium “Love It” (20 oz) has 1,360 calories and the large “Gotta Have It” (24 oz) reaches 1,600 calories (almost an entire day’s worth) and 62 grams of saturated fat (3 days’ worth). That’s the saturated fat content of two 16-oz rib eye steaks plus a buttered baked potato, all blended into a handy 24 oz.
