Fast Food Salads

[Guest guest]

This from another list today - a nice warning, as if we needed it :=)

 

Best, Pat

-------

 

Many fast-food chains are offering salads as a healthy option, but

you might be better off choosing a burger.

(ABCNEWS.com)

Not So Fast Salads From Fast-Food Restaurants May Not Be a Healthy

Choice

 

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/Living/GMA030605Fast_food_salads.html

 

[Not Vegan, but interesting - Fidyl]

 

June 5— Many fast-food chains are now offering salads on their menus,

 

but before you applaud yourself for choosing fresh greens over a

burger and fries, take a closer look at the salad ingredients.

 

Good Morning America's food editor, Sara Moulton, tested 30 salads

from some of the largest national fast-food chains in the world,

including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Subway and a smaller

chain, Au Bon Pain.

 

In some cases, based on the fat and calorie count, diners would be

better off choosing a burger, Moulton says.

Here are Moulton's findings:

 

McDonald's: McDonald's has launched an ad campaign touting its

premium salads, but some of the ingredients deserve closer scrutiny.

" The good news first: McDonald's is trying, " Moulton said. " They use

great grape tomatoes and they have a few 'real greens' in the bunch,

but on the whole, the salad is pure iceberg lettuce. Iceberg lettuce

has zero nutrients and zero grams of fiber. Romaine lettuce, on the

other hand, has 1 gram of fiber per six leaves, and 32 percent of

your daily intake of vitamin C. "

 

At McDonald's you can choose from the following options as a top for

the restaurant's basic salads: Bacon Ranch, Caesar or California

Cobb, all of which come with either grilled or crispy fried chicken.

The Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad contains 270 calories and 13

grams of fat. With light balsamic vinaigrette dressing, it totals 360

calories and 21 grams of fat.

 

" The grilled chicken is too over-seasoned and salty, " Moulton said.

" The fried chicken is tasty, but if you have a California Cobb Salad

with Crispy Chicken and ranch dressing it's a total of 670 calories

and 53 grams of fat. "

 

That is only 130 calories less than a Big Mac and small fries, which

together contain 800 calories. Furthermore, the Big Mac and small

fries is 6 grams lower in fat than the salad. If you choose the

four-piece McNuggets and small fries, instead, it's only 430 calories

and 26 grams of fat.

 

Burger King: Burger King only offers two salads: a side salad and a

Chicken Caesar salad.

" The chicken is very salty and dry, with again all iceberg lettuce, "

Moulton said. " The creamy Caesar dressing is nice though. "

If you have the salad with chicken, croutons and creamy Caesar

dressing it will gain you 390 calories, 26 grams of fat, and 1,370

milligrams of sodium.

For another 65 calories and 3 fewer grams of fat, you can have a

double hamburger, which contains 455 calories and 23 grams of fat.

 

Subway: The idea behind Subway's salads: Take your submarine sandwich

topping and put it over a salad base.

" Subway is making an effort to keep their salads low in calories and

fat with their seven salads under 6 grams of fat, but I say, don't do

it, " Moulton said.

" If you find yourself at Subway, have a sub. "

The base salad consists of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, pickled

jalapeno peppers, and sweet pickles. Calories for these aren't high,

but the salad lacks taste, Moulton said.

" The Veggie Delite salad is only 50 calories, but it's 50 not very

good-tasting calories, so why waste it? " Moulton said. It also has

just 1 gram of fat.

By contrast, the Veggie Delite sandwich is 230 calories and 3 grams

of fat, and the steak sandwich without cheese and oil is 320 calories

and 7 grams of fat with 45 percent of the daily dose of iron.

By contrast, the steak and cheese salad is " 180 awful-tasting

calories with 8 grams of fat, " Moulton says.

Wendy's: In terms of taste, Wendy's salads did well. Just last week,

the chain released a new salad, the Southwest Chicken Caesar Salad.

Available only through August, it has romaine lettuce, corn, black

beans and grape tomatoes.

When you add croutons and Southwest Caesar Dressing, it adds up to

495 calories and 32 grams of fat.

" The chicken BLT has the best chicken, a decent cheese, and good real

bacon bits, plus nice grape tomatoes, " Moulton salad. " Also, the base

salad is mixed greens, not just iceberg lettuce, though the majority

of ones we tried had more iceberg than greens. "

When the " yummy-tasting blue cheese " dressing is added it comes to a

total of 570 cal and 43 grams of fat, Moulton said. The dressings

tend to add a minimum of 100 calories.

" With the mandarin chicken salad, we liked the crunch of the crispy

noodles, the orange slices and Oriental sesame dressing, and romaine

lettuce, " Moulton said. It totaled 460 calories and 22 grams of fat.

Finally, the Taco Supremo Salad, which includes chili, sour cream,

salsa, and chips, totals 670 calories and 34 grams of fat. That is

just 10 calories and 4 grams of fat less than a kids'-size fries and

classic single burger, which totals 660 calories and 30 grams of fat.

 

 

Au Bon Pain: " Overall, Au Bon Pain salads have the best base, nice

'real' greens and vegetables, " Moulton said. " There are some salads

you want to have over others. "

Moulton said she didn't like the Charbroiled Salmon Filet Salad

because the salmon was too fishy and didn't take charbroiled. With

light olive oil dressing, it contained 270 calories and 13 grams of

fat.

The Mediterranean Chicken Salad had crispy lettuce, mild feta cheese,

tender chickens, real olives and tasty Mediterranean dressing. It had

420 calories and 13 grams of fat, but the down side was that it also

had more than 1,000 milligrams of sodium.

" The Thai Chicken Salad was also very nice, but the corresponding

dressing was way too sweet and artificial-tasting, " Moulton said. The

salad contains 430 calories and 32 grams of fat, while the Thai

Chicken Sandwich has 490 calories and 7 grams of fat, which is

significantly less.

Unfortunately, the sandwich also has more than 1,300 milligrams of

sodium.

--

SANTBROWN

townhounds/

http://www.angelfire.com/art/pendragon/

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[Guest guest]

----Original Message Follows----

Sant & Brown <santbrown

 

" This from another list today - a nice warning, as if we needed it :=)

 

Best, Pat "

 

Great article Pat. Good to know. It's funny how they mentioned that some

have flavor and others with less fat weren't quite as tasty. My

question....how much quality and taste can one expect (or assume) to get

from a fast-food joint. Well, I'll stick to my Wendys side salad with blue

cheese...yup it's mostly ice-berg, but it's pretty dern big and feels better

than eating a vat of fries. Oh it also has a couple of cherry tomatoes, red

onions, cucumber slices and shredded carrot. It looks small but put it on a

plate and expando-rama. Take it home, add some sunflower seeds and croutons

and viola!

 

Thanks again,

Shawn

 

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[Guest guest]

See? You're really better off just avoiding these places altogether...and maybe,

just maybe, when the majority of humanity has realized the need for drastic

changes in their diets, when vegetarianism is the norm and eating meat is

unusual...maybe these grease pits will disappear...

 

Maybe...but I ain't holding my breath!

 

 

 

Sant & Brown <santbrown wrote:

 

~~a lot of gross and scary stuff about fast food~~

 

 

 

~~blessed be~~

 

Alison, the ana-spryte

 

 

 

 

 

Free online calendar with sync to Outlook.

 

 

[Guest guest]

maybe this is old news to everyone but mc donald's still puts beef in

their fries (in the actual potatoes, not the oil) and burger king

puts in chicken. i don't know about wendy's.

[Guest guest]

-

dave

 

 

maybe this is old news to everyone but mc donald's still puts beef in

their fries (in the actual potatoes, not the oil) and burger king

puts in chicken. i don't know about wendy's.

 

 

It's in a lot of the store bought fries too.

 

~Janice~

Be your own cheerleader! Encourage yourself every step of the way!

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Tricky buggers! I don't know which is worse, that or Bobby Flay suggesting

frying potato wedges in duck fat.

 

S.

 

 

----Original Message Follows----

" dave " <dave4sale

 

maybe this is old news to everyone but mc donald's still puts beef in

their fries (in the actual potatoes, not the oil) and burger king

puts in chicken. i don't know about wendy's.

 

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[Guest guest]

I like the Wendy's side salad too - inexpensive, not remotely greasy, and

doesn't it have romaine lettuce? Sometimes I dump chick peas on it.

 

Have you tried the spring mix salad? If you scoop off off the traditional

10lbs of shredded cheese, it's pretty good.

 

Laurie

 

______________________

 

Message: 22

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 12:57:30 -0500

" _- matrixenos -_ " <matrixenos

Re: Fast Food Salads

 

----Original Message Follows----

Sant & Brown <santbrown

 

" This from another list today - a nice warning, as if we

 

needed it :=)

 

Best, Pat "

 

Great article Pat. Good to know. It's funny how they

 

mentioned that some

have flavor and others with less fat weren't quite as

 

tasty. My

question....how much quality and taste can one expect (or

 

assume) to get

from a fast-food joint. Well, I'll stick to my Wendys

 

side salad with blue

cheese...yup it's mostly ice-berg, but it's pretty dern

 

big and feels better

than eating a vat of fries. Oh it also has a couple of

 

cherry tomatoes, red

onions, cucumber slices and shredded carrot. It looks

 

small but put it on a

plate and expando-rama. Take it home, add some sunflower

 

seeds and croutons

and viola!

 

Thanks again,

Shawn

 

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[Guest guest]

----Original Message Follows----

" Laurie B " <laitaina

 

" I like the Wendy's side salad too - inexpensive, not remotely greasy, and

doesn't it have romaine lettuce? Sometimes I dump chick peas on it.

 

Have you tried the spring mix salad? If you scoop off off the traditional

10lbs of shredded cheese, it's pretty good.

 

Laurie "

 

Yeah, only $.99 and it does have a lil bit of romaine but mostly cold

iceberg. Ooooh no I haven't tried the spring mix and plan to now that you

mentioned it has cheese on it. I remember seeing the many varieties of

lettuce but didnt notice the cheese...guess I should pay attention more lol.

They actually make them fresh daily (well according to one of the

employees who was very nice), I thought another company put them together

and delivered them. Dang that sounds good right about now.

 

Cheers,

Shawn

 

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