Most Unhealthy Fast Food Items

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America’s Most Unhealthy Fast Food Items

Brittni Cebulak

            Which has more fat and calories—a McDonald’s Big Mac or Wendy’s Asiago Ranch Chicken Club? If you guessed Big Mac, you are wrong by nearly ten grams of fat and 200 calories.

            The Big Mac is still known as one of the most fattening fast food sandwiches, but in America’s present reality, this grease loaded burger seems almost like a salad compared to some of the items available on the fast-food market. The “American palate demands larger and larger portions of food, packed with as many toppings as possible” and “fast-food chains have been more than happy to rise to the occasion.”

            Did you know that in the 1960’s, the “concept of a burger with 93 grams of fat and 1,300 calories,” a choice offered on the Hardee’s menu via the Monster Thickburger, “was unheard of”? In fact, original McDonald’s hamburgers only contained 9 grams of fat and 250 calories! Moreover, salads are not even healthy anymore—the Taco Bell Fiesta Taco Salad with beef contains 40 grams of fat.

            Generally, burgers take most of the rap for being the nation’s most unhealthy fast-food options; however, breakfast menus at various fast-food restaurants are just as guilty culprits. McDonald’s breakfast items “generally pack in as much fat and calories as Big Macs, and while Hardee’s Breakfast Bowl might be advertised as ‘low carb,’ it still manages a whopping 61 grams of fat.”

            It is not easy to discern which fast-food items are “healthy” for you, but there are some protocols one can take to distinguish which option is better for you than another. For example, if a product has more than one type of meat, it is likely loaded with calories. Also, one must remember that more toppings equals more calories. The following are some of the most unhealthy food options that major fast-food restaurant chains have to offer that ought to be avoided if you have even a tiny sliver of concern about your health:

KFC

One Extra Crispy Breast
Fat: 33 grams
Calories: 510
Sodium: 1,010 milligrams

Popcorn Chicken- Large
Fat: 37 grams
Calories: 560
Sodium: 1,480 milligrams

Chicken Pot Pie
Fat: 45 grams
Calories: 790
Sodium: 1,970 milligrams

McDonald's

Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese
Fat: 43 grams
Calories: 750
Sodium: 1,280 milligrams

Big Mac
Fat: 29 grams
Calories: 550
Sodium: 970 milligrams

Sausage, Egg, and Cheese McGriddle
Fat: 31 grams
Calories: 550
Sodium: 1,320 milligrams

Big Breakfast with Hotcakes
Fat: 56 grams
Calories: 1,090
Sodium: 2,150 milligrams

Burger King

Double Whopper with Cheese (left)
Fat: 65 grams
Calories: 990
Sodium: 1,480 milligrams

Triple Whopper with Cheese
Fat: 82 grams
Calories: 1,230
Sodium: 1,550 milligrams

TENDERCRISP Chicken Sandwich
Fat: 45 grams
Calories: 750
Sodium: 1,560 milligrams

Wendy's

Baconator
Fat: 63 grams
Calories: 970
Sodium: 2,020 milligrams

¾ lb. Triple
Fat: 67 grams
Calories: 1,060
Sodium: 2,020 milligrams

Asiago Ranch Club w/ Homestyle Chicken (left)
Fat: 38 grams
Calories: 730
Sodium: 1,780 milligrams

Hardee's

Low Carb Breakfast Bowl
Fat: 58 grams
Calories: 690
Sodium: 1,670 milligrams

1/3 lb Original Thickburger
Fat: 52 grams
Calories: 810
Sodium: 1,720 milligrams

And the most fattening fast food sandwich in America:

The Monster Thickburger
Fat: 93 grams
Calories: 1,300
Sodium: 2,860 milligrams

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/01/08/americas-unhealthiest-fast-food-items/?intcmp=features