As summer season rolls in and vacation-starved people begin planning road trips to sunny destinations, images of sandy beaches, palm trees, flashing lights, margaritas and (unfortunately) greasy fast food restaurants comes to mind.
It’s probably inevitable that there will be a good number of fast food stops along the way to pick up some burgers and fries from McDonald’s or Burger King or some sandwiches from Subway or Quiznos. That’s why it’s important to know all the nutritional facts—from calories and grams of fat to sodium and cholesterol—about the menu items at the leading fast food restaurants, burger joints, taco bars and sandwich shops.
Calories, Fat and Obesity
According to a New York Times report, eating too much saturated fat can greatly contribute to heart disease as a result of clogged arteries. But fast food menu items are high in saturated fats and contribute to America’s high rate of obesity and heart disease.
While the American love of fast food may not fade away anytime soon, knowing which fast food restaurants have items with relatively less calories and lower levels of saturated fat, can help shave off some calories.
Take, for example, a FindTheBest comparison of McDonald’s vs. Burger King. A regular hamburger at McDonald’s has 250 calories and 80 calories from fat, while the same hamburger at Burger King has 260 calories and 100 calories from fat. At McDonald’s, medium French fries have 380 calories and 170 calories from fat, while the same fries at Burger King have 440 calories and 200 calories from fat. The burgers and fries may taste the same, but the extra calories can be cut by doing the research first and choosing the option with the least amount of calories and fat.
In addition to calories and fat grams, it’s also important to be aware of other nutritional information like sodium.
Sodium—the White Poison
According to a New York Times report, high levels of sodium can contribute to high blood pressure. High levels of sodium intake may also lead to a dangerous build-up of fluid in people with congestive heart failure, cirrhosis or kidney disease.
Most reports say that the average person should have no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. That might sound like a lot, but there are roughly 2,300 mg of sodium in a single teaspoon. It’s particularly important for people to frequent fast food restaurants to watch levels their sodium intake, as about 77 percent of the average person’s sodium intake comes from processed and prepared foods.
A Blimpie Turkey and Bacon Super Stacked sandwich, for example is loaded with 5,250 mg of sodium, while a Carl’s Jr Western Bacon Six-Dollar Burger is laced with 2,520 mg of sodium. Both of these items have more than the daily allowance of sodium for the average person.
Yet another important thing to watch for is cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol and Heart Disease
According to the American Heart Association, about 106.7 million Americans aged 20 and older have high cholesterol. The breakdown by gender is 50.8 million men, and 55.9 million women. According to the AHA, of these 106.7 million, 37.2 million have total blood cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or higher.
Therefore, it’s important to know the cholesterol contents in your food.
According to the National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that the average person should consume less than 200 mg of cholesterol a day. But many fast food items, in and of themselves, contain much more than that.
Take for example the McDonald’s Big Breakfast with Hotcakes and regular size biscuit, which comes with 575 mg of cholesterol—that’s 192 percent of your daily value. It’s not just McDonald’s. Carl’s Jr.’s Steak & Egg Burrito has a whopping 535 mg of cholesterol—178 percent of your daily value.
Though it’s likely impossible to escape the hidden calories, fat, sodium and cholesterol contents of these delicious fast food burgers, golden fries, turkey clubs and bacon cheeseburgers while on the road this summer, it’s important to be aware of your best options and to eat accordingly.
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