Avoid Roadside Calorie Bombs

By Author: Steve Robinson
Total Articles: 467
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Do not let ubiquitous fast food chains divert you when traveling after having planned a trip that started off great with a careful review of cheap travel deals, including cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, cheap auto rentals, discount travel packages, and cheap vacation packages.

It is not safe to assume that you are eating healthy if you select a vegetarian dish, drink a “fresh” smoothie, or stop at a restaurant that touts its healthy ingredients.

The following are foods to avoid so that you do not overdose on fat, salt, and calories on your next trip, according to Smarter Travel:

• While it is true that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, steer clear of McDonald’s Big Breakfast with hotcakes that includes scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, hash browns, and three pancakes. This is far from a nutritious meal containing 1,090 calories, almost half of which are fat, 56 grams of fat (87 percent of the recommended amount for an entire day), 575 mg of cholesterol (almost double the recommended daily amount) and 2,150 mg of sodium (90 percent of the recommended daily amount).

• Dunkin’ ...
... Donuts Frozen Caramel Coffee Coolatta with cream primes its drinkers for the ultimate sugar crash. A large version of this drink comes with 130 grams of sugar and more calories than most meals (1,050) as well as 52 grams of fat, almost as many as McDonald’s Big Breakfast.

• IHOP Country Fried Steak & Eggs with Sausage Gravy comes with 8 ounces of fried beefsteak (topped with sausage gravy), two eggs, hash browns, and two buttermilk pancakes. The meal includes 1,850 calories, of which 1,030 are fat, and 725 mg of cholesterol. Smart eaters would limit themselves to a single breakfast food in the morning.

• Long John Silver’s Big Catch was recently referred to as the “Worst Restaurant Meal in America.” This fried fish special comes with 33 grams of trans fat and almost 3,700 mg of sodium. The American Heart Association recommends that people consume 2 grams or less of trans fat per day. Though this meal is advertised to include 7 to 8 ounces of premium haddock, there is actually 4.5 ounces of fish and 3 ounces of trans-fat-drenched batter.

• Smoothie King’s The Hulk Strawberry is a nutritional bomb with lots of added sugar and non-fruit fillers. A 40 ounce serving of this shake comes with enough calories for an entire day (1,928) plus 64 grams of fat and 250 grams of sugar. Smart eaters will instead enjoy a piece of fruit and drink milk to satisfy their cravings.

• Taco Bell’s Fiesta Taco Salad with beef is a nutritional disaster that comes with 780 calories, of which 280 are fat, and 1,590 mg of sodium.

• Quiznos Veggie Guacamole in a large sub contains 530 fat calories (out of a total of 1,050), 17 grams of saturated fat, 102 grams of carbohydrates, and 1,910 mg of sodium.

• Wendy’s Baconator comes with 57 grams of protein, two quarter pound beef patties, smoked bacon, mayonnaise, and American cheese. It also contains 970 calories, 530 from fat, 1,890 mg of sodium, and 210 mg of cholesterol.

• Chipotle’s Chicken Burrito comes with beans, rice, veggies, salsa, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole as well as 1,185 calories and 52.5 grams of fat. A wise alternative is eating a burrito bowl, given that the tortilla alone has 290 calories and 9 grams of fat.
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