Dear FPHH Members:

This is a very interesting article about restaurants and the calorie
content of some of their dishes. This is one reason why eating at
home is much healthier than eating out.

Here's the link:

http://www.cspinet.org/new/200702262.html

Hugs,

Donna


Chain Restaurants Charged With Promoting "X-treme Eating"

With Appetizers, Entrées, and Desserts Weighing in at 2,000 Calories
Apiece, the Time is Ripe for Menu Labeling, Says CSPI

CSPI nutritionist Jane Hurley on CNN News


WASHINGTON—A 2,000-calorie appetizer. A 2,000-calorie main course.
Another 1,700 calories for dessert. Those aren't typos. It's more
like par for the course at Ruby Tuesday, On the Border, the
Cheesecake Factory, and countless other top table-service chain
restaurants. But since those chains make almost zero nutrition
information available on menus, their customers don't have a clue
that they might be getting a whole day's worth of calories in a
single dish, or several days' worth in the whole meal.

And rather than compete to make their products healthier, restaurant
chains are competing with each other to make their appetizers,
entrées, and desserts bigger, badder, and cheesier than ever before.

"Burgers, pizzas, and quesadillas were never health foods to begin
with, but many restaurants are transmogrifying these foods into ever-
more harmful new creations, and then keeping you in the dark about
what they contain," said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of
the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). "Now we see
lasagna with meatballs on top; ice cream with cookies, brownies, and
candy mixed in; `Ranchiladas,' bacon cheeseburger pizzas, buffalo-
chicken-stuffed quesadillas, and other hybrid horribles that are
seemingly designed to promote obesity, heart disease, and stroke."

Some of the "X-Treme Eating" options highlighted in the March issue
of CSPI's Nutrition Action Healthletter include:

• Ruby Tuesday's "Colossal Burger." Ruby Tuesday actually became the
first big chain to put nutrition information on its menus.
Unfortunately it scrapped that initiative, presumably because it
meant the sale of fewer Colossal Burgers. With 1,940 calories and
141 grams of fat (more than two days' worth!), one of these
megaburgers is equivalent to about five McDonald's Quarter Pounders.

• Uno Chicago Grill's "Pizza Skins." "We start with our famous deep
dish crust, add mozzarella and red bliss mashed potatoes, and top it
off with crispy bacon, cheddar, and sour cream," says the menu. The
menu doesn't disclose that this fusion of pizza and potato skins—
which is meant to precede a meal of pizza—packs 2,050 calories, 48
grams of saturated fat, and 3,140 milligrams of sodium (more than a
day's worth). "Even if you split it with two other people, it's like
eating dinner before your dinner even hits the table," Jacobson
said.

• Ruby Tuesday's "Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta." Pity the poor
diner who thinks this healthy sounding entrée is on the light side:
Thanks to its parmesan cream sauce and layer of melted cheese, the
2,060 calories and 128 grams of fat make it the equivalent of two 12-
ounce sirloin steaks, two buttered baked potatoes, and two Caesar
salads. (CSPI calls this dish "Angioplasta.")

• Cheesecake Factory's "Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake." There's
room enough on Cheesecake Factory's sprawling menu for
advertisements, but evidently no room for nutrition information. If
one is undecided among brownie, pie, or cheesecake for dessert, this
1,380-calorie menu item helpfully provides all of the above. It's
the equivalent of eating two Quarter Pounders plus a large fries—for
dessert.

Though fast-food chains or coffee shops typically serve much smaller
portions than these and other major table-service restaurants, they
too can provide some startlingly high-calorie items. A venti-sized
White Chocolate Mocha and a blueberry scone from Starbucks would
provide 1,100 calories—or about as much as one would find in a
Burger King bacon double cheeseburger, medium fries, and medium
Coke.

"Americans eat out on average about four meals a week," said CSPI
nutrition policy director Margo G. Wootan. "Studies show that women
who eat out more than five times a week eat 300 more calories per
day on average than women who eat out less often. With dishes like
these, it's easy blow your diet not just for the day but for the
whole week."

Thanks to a courageous move by the New York City Board of Health and
the support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, many chain restaurants that
operate in the Big Apple will be required to list calories on menus
and menu boards starting this summer. CSPI says the time is ripe for
other cities, states, and Congress to pass Menu Education and
Labeling (MEAL) legislation. Such bills, which have been introduced
in 19 cities and states in recent years, would apply only to
standardized menu items at chain restaurants.

Councilmember Phil Mendelson of the District of Columbia today
announced he will reintroduce legislation that would require chain
restaurants operating in the nation's capital to list calories on
fast-food menu boards, and calories, saturated plus trans fat,
sodium, and carbohydrates on printed menus. Only chains with 10 or
more locations nationally would be covered by the ordinance, not
smaller chains or independent restaurants, and only for standardized
menu items, not special orders or daily specials.

"Obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related diseases shorten the
lifespan of too many of our citizens, and exact an enormous share of
our health-care dollars," said Mendelson. "Menu labeling, like any
one thing, won't solve the obesity epidemic, but it's one more thing
that would help consumers make the healthier choices, if that's what
they want to do."

Federal MEAL Acts were introduced in the U.S. House and Senate in
the last Congress and are expected to be reintroduced this year.

"When nutrition labeling took effect for packaged foods, it
revolutionized the supermarket, and greatly expanded the number of
healthy options for shoppers to choose from," said U.S. Rep. Rosa
DeLauro (D-CT), the MEAL Act's lead sponsor in the House. "Nutrition
labeling at chain restaurants would help Americans exercise personal
responsibility and encourage the restaurant industry to exercise
corporate responsibility."

While McDonald's, Burger King, and other fast-food chains publish
nutrition brochures, they're often hard to find in restaurants or
are absent altogether, according to CSPI. And while some table-
service chains may list a little nutrition information for lighter
fare, none list nutrition information for all of their standardized
items. But, those occasional steps in the right direction do prove
that big chain restaurants will be easily able to comply with MEAL
Act-style labeling laws, despite the claims to the contrary by
industry lobbyists, according to CSPI.

The numbers in "X-treme Eating" come from the companies themselves,
though obviously not from the companies' menus.