By Melissa Breyer for Care2.com
How would you like to meet your daily sodium and saturated fat allowance, as well as nearly half of your daily calorie needs, in one quick breakfast eaten on the road? It’s becoming progressively easy these day as food technicians, chefs and market researchers, holed away in corporate fast food “studios,” are busy developing monstrous new breakfast items. Trying to claim as much of the $57 billion fast food breakfast market as they can, the fast food giants are drumming up increasingly cheesy, steak-y, fried chicken-y breakfast dishes that tap into flavor combinations that have proven successful for lunch and dinner items. It’s no longer eggs and English muffins for fast food breakfast…breakfast burger anyone?
What’s most striking about some of these high-calorie items–aside from the unsustainable, industrial, often GMO and synthetic ingredients–is the very high sodium and saturated fat content. According to the USDA, the current recommendation for sodium consumption is less than 2,300 milligrams a day. For saturated fat, the maximum allowance is between 18 grams to 31 grams, depending on your caloric intake needs. (You can calculate your caloric need with this calculator from the Mayo Clinic.) Many of these breakfast items meet or exceed the daily sodium and fat allowances, and provide much more than one-third of your daily caloric needs.
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In the latest twist towards more “real” food, Wendy’s is rolling out new french fries. The fast food giant is introducing fries that are thinner, smaller, and crispier than the current offerings. The revamped sides are made with Russet potatoes, with the skin left on, and topped with sea salt. The fries were transformed to appeal to a more diverse and upscale palate.
“We want every ingredient to be a simple ingredient, to be one you can pronounce and one your grandmother would recognize in her pantry,” said Ken Calwell, Wendy’s chief marketing officer. “People want foods that are less processed,” he continued, “and by leaving the skins on, it reminds people where the fries come from.” Testing done by the company indicates that many consumers feel that fries are processed foods. In addition, there is a common misconception that sea salt is healthier.
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Image via Corner Booth
Tacos don’t have to be unhealthy. You can make healthy tacos with low-fat beef or turkey, lots of healthy veggies and beans, and whole wheat tortillas. But Taco Bell‘s effort to top the XXL Chalupa with reduced-fat sour cream isn’t enough to turn this monster into something that’s good for you.
This taco boat is loaded up with 650 calories worth of ground beef, “red strips,” nacho cheese sauce and three cheese blend–and a minimal amount of salsa and lettuce. The mysterious “red strips” are pretty much strips of corn chip that have been pumped full of artificially coloring. The XXL chalupa is basically a regular Taco Bell chalupa, only on a flatbread that’s about 50 percent bigger with additional filling.
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Officials in San Francisco are debating creating new nutritional standards for meals intended for children. Of a meal’s total calories, officials want to require that no more than 10 percent are from “added caloric sweeteners” and no more than 35 percent are from fat. They also want to prohibit the bundling of toys with meals that have over 600 calories total. The ordinance will further require kids’ meals to include a half cup of vegetables, or fruit if the meal is served at breakfast. Lastly, they ask that meals have a serving of multi-grains. Toys would be permitted if attached to healthier meals.
Many spoke out in favor of the new ordinance at public hearings this week, including representatives of nonprofit health advocacy groups, teachers and parents. Some feel that mandating healthier fast food goes beyond childhood nutrition, and is in fact a civil rights issue. Eric Mar, co-author of the ordinance, pointed out that Latinos and blacks have higher rates of obesity and diabetes.
But McDonald’s representatives paint a very different story, in an effort to protect its economic interests. They portrayed healthier kids’ meals as undermining parental authority. “We believe in giving our customers the right to choose,” said Karen Wells, McDonald’s USA vice president of U.S. strategy and menu. “Parents are telling us it is their decision what they want to feed their children and not necessarily in the hands of legislators.”
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Is it me or has the fast-food industry recently gone mad with their new and shameful creations of Angus burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, and now fried bologna breakfast biscuits?
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.
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