Rounding Out America

Rounding Out America

I was watching television one night this week (yes, there are occasions where I sit and mindlessly gaze at the tube, but I always learn something).  This week I was struck by the series of food commercials--introducing new dishes whose claim to fame seemed to be rising calorie counts, although the ads only wanted to tempt us to consume their special treat, and don't real care about the calories.

Today, a somewhat questionable snack moved to a higher level in the pantheon of American cuisine.  We now have the Beef Double-Dilla.  A quesadilla starts out with a slightly questionable major ingredient--too much cheese.  If I.m dieting, I probably don't eat as much cheese as I might otherwise.    High calories in cheese--double helpings of steak--it comes in at 920 calories.  Low calorie meal, relatively speaking, when you think of some other recent additions to the fast food hall of fame.

Here are a few highlights--think of Hardee's Monster Thickburger  That's two-thirds of a pound of beef.  It weighs in at 1,420 calories.  It seems like only yesterday, but it's been around since 2004.  Maybe it's not as harmful as we think.  People aren't keeling over in the Hardee's restaurant, after all, but....

Then there's the bacon thickburger--in defiance of the death dealing reputation that these items have, Hardee's has named this one "El Diablo."  Let's see, there's a half-pound of beef, bacon, cheese, jalapeño slices, and it totals a mere 1,200 calories.  But this little review of Hardee's offerings in the Battle of the Bulge leads to the nutrition guide for all of the Hardee's menu.  Lo and behold, they serve breakfast there, and their Monster Biscuit, I am not kidding, is 710 calories.  Not took long ago, I set out to lose some weight.  I entered my info into a calorie and exercise counter called My Fitness Pal, and it allowed me total net calories of 1,372 per day.  One burger and I'm done--it's my own personal "one and done," and it has nothing to do with the NBA draft.

Burger King, home of the Triple Whopper (I think they only did it so they could have their own four figure entree, and by George, they did it), has only 1, 070 calories in its biggest sandwich offering.  Not the leader, but no slouch.

But we can't just talk about sandwiches, not when there[s the Little Caesar's Bacon-Wrapped Pizza.  It is just 490 calories per slice, but who eats just one slice of pizza?  And don't forget your favorite burrito from Chipotle.  A burrito with all the stuffings can run as high as 970 calories.

People keep telling us that fast food will kill us, but there aren't any bodies found lying around the fast food restaurants.  These foods are just rounding us out, and being well-rounded is a good thing, isn't it?.