Recently, I was able to visit Africa and help deliver supplies to orphanages that did not have electricity, beds, or even windows. They were enthusiastic, but a suitcase of children’s clothes just did not seem like enough. One orphanage told us that they are trying to raise money and just $2500 would build an entirely new building to house 30+ orphans. How could I not think about how much money I spend on frivolous things when there are children sleeping on concrete and not getting enough to eat?

Because we were not allowed to drink the water (for our own health), we stopped at a grocery every day for water and snacks. As I watched others pick up soda and chocolate, I began to think about how much our vices cost, not just us but also those with whom we might share. If health or saving money for yourself is not reason enough to stop smoking, eliminate soda from your diet, or pack your lunch rather than grabbing fast food; would you do it for someone else? Would you donate your cigarette or soda money to feed a child? Perhaps you are trying to raise money for breast cancer research or another cause that is important to you. Where can you save money and cut out non-necessities to make a difference, in both your health and the quality of life for another?

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Help Someone Else Rather than Hurting Your Health

The “Craz-E Burger,” which was created by Food Network star and Southern cook Paula Deen, is a bacon-cheeseburger sandwiched between a buttered Krispy Kreme donut. Yes folks, two of the most saturated fat-friendly foods the American diet has created have joined together in a ceremonious union of heart attack meets muffin top.

The queen of Southern cooking, known for her very generous use of butter, first pioneered the burger on her food show. The heart-stopping creation was picked up by the restaurants and sandwich dives all over the country; including the Big E agriculture fair this past summer in Massachusetts, where more than 1,000 sold to curious and risk-taking fair-goers.

While the version of the donut burger that is making headlines is made with bacon, beef, cheese and of course donuts, the original gut-busting burger that Ms. Deen whipped up on her show called for the addition of a few fried eggs atop the heap of cardiac-arresting ingredients.

The nutrition facts that follow are only for those who have never eaten the donut burger. And since ignorance is bliss, for those of you who have chowed down on this monstrosity, we ask that you stop reading right now.

Calories: 1,500

Fat grams: 45-70 (will vary depending upon ingredients and inclusion of fried eggs)

Percentage of calories from fat: 50-65 percent

Estimated calories per bite: 100

Here is a clip from Good Morning America as the co-hosts braved a bite of the Donut Burger.

And here’s Paula preparing the concoction herself:

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The 1,500 Calorie Donut Burger

Full nutritional disclosure on menus leads to better choices.

But, I happily stand corrected.

The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has released findings of a recent analysis on the impact of the city’s new menu label requirements. The results show that people became more selective with foods, choosing items with fewer calories. People chose lower calorie meals at 9 of 13 fast food restaurant and coffee chains that were included in the study.

The analysis conflicts with an earlier independent study that asserted the contrary, that the menu labeling change had no effect on consumer eating habits.

The researchers in the latest findings say their information is more reliable because it involved a much larger sample size. It wasn’t limited to low-income neighborhoods, like in the earlier study. And the newer study surveyed more than 10,000 customers at a total of 275 locations, while the earlier study only surveyed 1,156 consumers at four restaurants chains.

“Dietary change is likely to come gradually; it will start with consumers interested in making informed, healthy eating decisions and we hope industry will respond by offering more healthier choices and appropriate portion sizes,” says Lynn Silver, assistant commissioner for New York’s Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control.

(via: HealthNews.com)

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Restaurant Menu Changes Lead to Healthier Choices

Red Robin is known for the gourmet burgers that you can personalize - Pineapple slices, french fries, fried eggs, guacamole, bacon strips, fried onions – the options are just as endless as the calories.

In this particular nutritional nightmare, the Wise Guy Burger is part burger, part appetizer. And not the good appetizers like fresh crudites – we’re talking fried mozzarella cheese sticks on top of a burger patty. But that’s not all! Try pepperoni slices, banana peppers, marinara sauce and tomatoes all smothered on top of each other. Fat on top of fat on top of more fat. Oh, and on top of a veggie. It’s no wonder we’re becoming more obese by the meal.

Red Robin isn’t readily sharing the nutrition stats on this burger, so we played with their on-site menu calculator and came up with our closest assessment of the calories, fat and sodium.

The burger loaded with everything except the cheese sticks and banana peppers comes out to:

• 672 calories
• 31 g fat
• 1206 mg sodium

An order of cheese sticks divided down to the serving of three placed on the Wise Guy Burger adds up to:

• 340.8 calories
• 20.1 g fat
• 771 g sodium

The banana peppers are probably the best thing on the entire sandwich, only adding about 40 mg sodium.

That brings this Red Robin Wise Guy Burger to approximately:

• 1012 calories (half a day’s total)
• 51 g fat (just shy of a day’s total)
• 2017 mg sodium (400 mg short of a day’s total)

Yes folks, Red Robin’s Wise Guy Burger has earned its place among other fast food (de)notables with their call-911-because-once-I’m-done-eating-this-I’m-going-to-have-a-heart-attack burger.

I don’t know if you’ll need a bottle of Pepto-Bismol or a pair of cardiogenic shocks once you’ve risked eating this fast food monstrosity. But just to be on the safe side, take both with you.

As far as I’m concerned the only people in this world justified in eating the Wise Guy Burger are no guys at all, but a pregnant woman six weeks deep into her second trimester when cravings are higher than the ozone layer, more intense than the Stanley Cup finals and more bizarre than Lady Gaga’s closet.

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Fast Food Nightmares: Red Robin’s Wise Guy Burger

One example is the hectic schedule that most of us keep. Say what you will about the idealism of the ’50s, with mom at home doing the housekeeping. One of the benefits was that there was a home-cooked meal. That’s still a very real possibility, even with both parents working. But it’s certainly more of a challenge.

A study by Cornell University researchers examined the dietary problems we face when people work hectic hours and don’t take the time to make home-cooked meals. The researchers found that parents who work long and unusual hours are more likely to grab fast food on the way home, or buy prepared meals.

“Long work hours and irregular schedules mean more time away from family, less time for household food work, difficulty in maintaining a regular meal pattern and less opportunity to participate in family meals,” says Carol M. Devine, PhD, RD and colleagues in their report.

Some of the researchers’ findings are fairly elementary:

“Structural work conditions among parents – such as job hours, schedule, satisfaction, and food access – are associated with food choice coping strategies with importance for dietary quality.”

That’s a fancy way of saying that when people are busy and don’t have easy access to healthy food; they go to fast-food drive-thrus or easy microwaveable foods when they get home, so they don’t have the added work of cooking.

The Cornell University researchers surveyed 25 men and 25 women in upstate New York. Here are some of the more interesting findings:

• About 25 percent of both groups said that they had no access to healthful, reasonably priced, good-tasting food at or near their place of work.
• Fathers who lacked access to reasonably priced, good-tasting food at work were more likely to miss lunch, eat while working or in the car, and were less likely to pack a lunch.
• Close to 75 percent of the parents had at least one fast food meal a week, and at least one take-out meal a week.
• Only 56 percent of fathers and 40 percent of mothers had more than five home-cooked meals a week.

(via: WebMD)

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Busy Parents Don’t Make Enough Home-Cooked Meals

As if the Angus Burger bombs, KFC’s Double Down Chicken Sandwich, and Hardee’s Fried Bologna Biscuit Sandwich weren’t enough to empower anyone to lose all hope in fast-food restaurants, McDonald’s adds insult to injury with this disastrous sandwich.

While the name “snack wrap” makes you think this is just a harmless little snack-sized sandwich that you might munch on as a small afternoon pick-me-up, think again. This is a burrito, folks. It’s name, “Big Mac Snack Wrap,” is just a sneaky marketing maneuver to get you to think that what you are eating is akin to a half of a turkey sandwich a few crackers and cheese. And even if you’re watching your carbs, don’t be fooled by this seemingly lower carb version of a nutritional nightmare: White flour is white flour and a Big Mac is a Big Mac.

As its name does imply, the Big Mac Snack Wrap is a Big Mac with all of the signature fixings – sliced burger patty, special sauce, lettuce, onions, cheese, pickle but no sesame seed bun. The sandwich was test-marketed in Canada and has slowly made its way across the border to the U.S. where it has hit Chicago and Houston.

The nutrition information of the Big Mac Snack Wrap is mysteriously absent from McDonald’s website even though I did find one source that reported that each wrap contains 350 calories and 21 grams of fat. (A traditional Big Mac sandwich is 540 calories and 29 grams of fat.)

The wrap sells for less than $2 and is slated to be making its way to a McDonald’s near you. Consider yourself warned.

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Fast Food Nightmares: McDonald’s Big Mac Snack Wrap

Rather than creating a menu of low-cal fast-food options, Hardee’s instead takes its traditional menu of burgers and sandwiches and gives you the option to reduce carbs, lower the fat, eliminate the gluten, trim the calories or lose the meat for a vegetarian option.

But is this alternative menu all that healthy? At closer inspection, it resembles a sneaky marketing ploy that slaps on catchy healthy lingo to high-fat and high-calorie fast-food eats.

While we give Hardee’s a pat on the back for reaching out to the vegetarian and gluten-intolerant populations, we’ve decoded their alternative menu to give you the straight-up facts minus any deceptive marketing buzz.

Vegetarian: You can order a Hardee’s burger, sans meat but with all the fixings, or have a breakfast cheese and egg biscuit but hold the bacon. Both options even without meat will save on calories and saturated fat but the cheese, eggs, buttery biscuits, mayonnaise and carb-heavy white bread are a far cry from a low-fat, low-cal meal.

Gluten-Free or Low-Carb: You can order any sandwich or burger without a bun and instead use lettuce leaves in place of bread. We’re all in favor of swapping out nutrient-void white foods for green, leafy ones. But once again, you’re still left with high-fat burgers and cheese. Hardee’s also has a Low Carb Breakfast Bowl loaded with sausage, cheese, eggs and bacon. Yikes! This is a 650 calorie and 50 fat gram start to your day!

Low-fat/Low-cal: You can make this work if you order the following, on occasion:

• Order a signature Big Hot Ham N’ Cheese with no cheese (380 calories, 8 grams of fat, 4 grams of fiber)
• A Frisco Breakfast Sandwich minus the cheese and butter (280 calories, 8 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber)
• A 1/4 pound Little Thick Burger with no bun, no mayo and no cheese (220 calories, 15 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber).

Our advice: Do your own nutrition research to discover just how healthy your favorite foods are, no matter if you’re eating at a restaurant or at home.

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How Healthy is Hardee’s Alternative Menu?

Wasn’t it just a few short months ago, KFC introduced their new grilled chicken menu and McDonald’s started placing ads in every parent magazine about how nutritious their small hamburger, apple slices and low-fat milk lunches are?

Maybe it’s a backlash to their healthier intentions, but Hardees has joined the low ranks of KFC and McDonald’s and just launched their new Oscar Mayer Fried Bologna Biscuit sandwich, which is being touted as a throwback comfort food of sorts. Apparently, Hardees like many other fast-food and chain restaurants is trying to appeal to the economically-downtrodden fast-food nation as we seek solace in cheap, processed, comfort foods like fried bologna and biscuits.

The sandwich features one white-flour biscuit, one slice of American cheese, a fried egg and one large slice of Oscar Mayer’s famous bologna – fried. The breakfast clocks in at 610 calories, 43 grams of fat (13 are saturated) and 1620 mg of sodium.

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like that they just gained a pound by reading these abominable statistics?

Hardee’s also just launched another disastrous creation: The French Dip Thick Burger. A fast-food burger is OK on occasion. A French Dip is also an OK choice, on occasion. But together? Under the same bun? And with Swiss cheese and Au Jus dipping sauce to boot?

The French Dip Thick Burger comes in at 650 calories, 33 grams of fat (13 grams of which are saturated) and 2,280 mg of sodium.

And just when I was starting to have a little glimmer of hope in the fast-food industry that maybe, just maybe, they were serious about their intentions to offer some healthier eats to their customers, they go and create these insane inventions.

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Fast-Food Nightmares: Hardee’s Fried Bologna Biscuit Sandwich and French Dip Thick Burger

This jaw-dropping concoction from the fast-food chicken chain points to why in this country we have our current obesity epidemic. This sandwich (if you can call it that) is two Original Recipe fried chicken filets stacked on top of each other with a slice of pepper jack cheese, a slice of Swiss cheese, two slices of bacon and the Colonel’s secret sauce. No bun. The fried chicken is the bun. Just a stack of saturated fat, sodium and calories.

With my gaping jaw still wide-open with dismay, I went to KFC’s website and found nothing on it. No photos, no press releases and perhaps fortunately, no nutrition information on this appalling and shameful creation.

KFC redeemed itself in recent months by adding new grilled chicken options to its regular menu of fried chicken, creamy coleslaw, and greasy biscuits, but it seems like with this new Double Down Chicken Sandwich, they have undone any progress they may have made with trying to healthy-up their menu.

When KFC decides to put the nutritional stats on their website, DietsInReview will be sure to share that data with you. But we are warning you now, it won’t be pretty.

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KFC’s New Double Down Chicken Sandwich is Frightening

There are lots of nights when I stutter around at 5:15, knowing that we’ve got to leave for boxing class in five minutes, then take someone to soccer and then pick up a cross country runner – how, exactly, will dinner happen?

You know, of course, that you SHOULD plan ahead, have groceries ready in the house to make a split-second, eat-on-the-fly healthy dinner – but sometimes LIFE intervenes and you just don’t have the right food in the house. So, you might have to make a stop at a fast-food place while you are out, and that can play serious havoc on the diet.

What are some healthy choices you can make if you find yourself zipping through the drive through before you are late to practice? Keeping in mind that you will want to keep your meal choice around 350-450 calories, with an ample amount of protein and plenty of veggies, here are some great choices:

• Subway offers 7 sandwiches that have under 6 grams of fat. Tops on this list is the Veggie Delight.
• Wendy’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich has 300 calories. Paired with a small salad, hold the dressing!, it is a filling meal.
• Wendy’s also offers chili, which has a mere 277 calories.
• At Taco Bell, you can order many of the food items “Fresco Style“, which replaces the cheese with fiesta salsa.
• Many restaurants now offer fruit choices – apples slices, fruit salad, mandarin oranges, and even bananas. Fruit fills you up with a very small calorie count.
• Instead of grabbing a jumbo soda, choose water. It quenches the thirst and doesn’t add to the calorie count.

Eating on the run doesn’t have to mean a diet of burgers, fried fish and french fries. Take a little time to scope out the offerings and decide ahead of time what you’ll order. And then enjoy!

Drive-thru image via Flickr user biofriendly.

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Healthy Fast-Food Eating for Moms on the Go