Keep your dirty calories off my burger

I agree--fast food is my bane. I want to eat a seven piece stuffed jalapenos from Jack in the Box pretty much twenty-four seven. The trick is to know when you're going to have to eat fast food to keep from going crazy. So you pick a day and just don't eat anything except lunch at a fast food place. The rest of the day, you just drink Diet Pepsi.

The calorie charts just make me depressed. I avoid looking at them.

Cook your own hamburgers it is not that hard, you get a better burger, with better (fresher) ingredients and you will cut calories with the added bonus of having the burger the way you want it.

It will cost more at first making it at home but after you buy every thing you need the cost starts to go down with each burger you make.

If you are the only one in your home that eats burgers just buy your buns at the bakery instead of getting an 8 pack or plan on using the leftover buns on sandwiches, that way there is no waste.

I really don't mind the calorie chartsbut I can see where they would be bothersome. Sometimes I pay attention to them, sometimes not so much. I do admit that they have stopped me from ordering some items that I had no idea were so calorie laden. However, most of the time you can figure out what the "best" choices are on the menu all by yourself.

Hey, sometimes there's just nothing like a nice greasy burger or a taco or pizza. As long as you're not eating this stuff more than a few times a month, just ignore the counts.

Realistically, if you wanted to eat healthy, you don't need a chart to tell you the Triple Whopper with Cheese and large fries isn't good for you.

I've been dieting for the entire month, and the only thing I've sworn off is Mexican food (from decent Mexican restaurants, not Taco Hell) and alcohol. I swore off fast food burgers ages ago, so their calorie counts mean little to nothing to me. Besides, while watching calories is important if one is trying to lose weight, reading the ingredients list is more important when health, rather than weight, is what one is concerned about.

How many calories a person gets in one meal is meaningless unless that person knows what their typical daily caloric intake is. I'd be curious to see a study on how many calories people think they consume in a day vs how many they actually consume.

The charts may not help you specifically... but certainly they will help some. As for causing eating disorders, I doubt it. If the person sees a caloric number of 800 on a burger and 250 on a chicken salad and their solution is to not eat at all, then they were predispositioned anyway.

Indeed, a chicken salad at McDonald's is certainly not going to have the same nutritional value as one that you make from the produce and poultry section of your local grocery store, most likely.

Anyone that is counting calories is not going to a fast food restaurant for any of their meals.

Not true. I love fast food but always watch my calories. Fast food is easy, cheap and yummy.

I think this is a great idea cause I am getting tired of looking up the info on the internet.

I do think it will be beneficial to others as well, one and here's a great example why:

Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken is 430 calories.

Big Mac is 540 calories.

Not a huge difference in calories but some order the salad thinking that the salad is a lot less calories.

For 110 calories, sign me up for the Big Mac.

Human caloric intake is worth being knowledgeable about...but I don't think the "numbers" game is teaching the consumer a thing.

On one hand, if total caloric intake is too restrictive, the human body goes into "conservation/starvation" mode and packs all available calories into fat. Thus, some people who really do eat like birds...end up looking like turkeys instead of sparrows. Caloric intake MUST remain above some minimum level or problems result. There are movies out featuring ballet dancers who lose weight after increasing caloric intake to minimum levels for their particular body which make this point well....

There is also the issue of caloric "density". Our bodies are set up in one sense to sense "volume" of food intake. There is also a "delay" between being full literally and feeling full so the urge to eat stops. So eating refined suger (soft drinks...) and high calorie density foods like chocolate means we eat far too many calories at one sitting before the "stop" mechanism goes off in the brain, so again we end up storing the "extra" as fat.

Another interesting issue is the "aldosterone" feedback mechanism. Type that hormone into your browser and learn how if you don't drink enough water, this hormone "loop" will cause you to retain water...and along with that fluid stays all the extra sugar, etc., that can now be turned into fat. And of course, there are the toxic chemicals hanging around too to think about..... This is one reason why so many "diets" feature "water" as a key step. About 1/2 gallon a day does the trick. I prefer distilled "DI" water as it has no dissolved anything in it...so it's all available as water. If you're not "peeing" enough...you're not drinking enough. Just stop about 2 hours before bedtime so you don't have to get up at night....

Now, do I think anyone can make this kind of judment at a fast food counter? NO!

So, myself, I have learned to keep "naughty" foods to about 1/5 of my diet, and otherwise eat high-bulk low glycemic index stuff and seem to have stabilized my body so that I have escaped type-two diabetes, and the rest of the metabolic syndrome that is the fate of the very overweight....

I've benefitted greatly from some of the calorie charts- the ones that also list ingredients. I'm allergic to eggs and, at one point, was also allergic to dairy. It was exceedingly hard to get my hands on full ingredient lists to see if milk was in the hamburger buns or if eggs were used to bind the hamburgers. It made it nearly impossible for me to eat out, even when I wanted to treat myself. (Not surprisingly, that was also the summer I lost 10lbs!) Places around here now list full calorie and ingredient charts, and I am pleased.While it may not have been the goal, I'm now able to enjoy some fast-foods and not have my throat swell up.

Plus, while I do see your point, it does help some people overall with shock value. I'll never forget the day I found out that McDonald's was printing calories on the hamburger wrappers. My friend took one look at the calorie count, her eyes widened, and she swore off fast food for six months. A lot of people underestimate calorie consumption and just think, "Oh, that small cheeseburger probably only has 300 calories!" when, in reality, it's probably more like 500. It's a small fix and wont fix root problems, but perhaps a good portion of people will wake up to their health.

K-joy,

You should try a triple baconator from Wendy's. Its so good you will cream your pants!

1000+ calories but damn good

Not really on the topic of calorie counts, but did anyone catch the picture of the one year old happy meal last week? I wonder if the calorie count would be the same after a year on the shelf?

The info will be there for those that wish to know. Those that don't will ignore it as they always have. I refuse to accept that people didn't know eating an entire box of Ho-Hos was a bad choice before the labeling was regulated.

I had a friend that at 5'-4" achieved a weight of well over 300 pounds. She ate a box of Ho-Hos everyday because it said "No Cholesterol" and that means "No Calories". She was a medical assistant before gaining fat was her full time job. She knew the difference. I showed her the calorie count on the label. So she knew it then, too. She chose to "UN-know" it.

Don't worry. She had gastric bypass. She reduced to 105 pounds. But she still eats the same way she did before. You'll never guess...she's gaining fat.

Yeah. Put the numbers up there, please. It will help those that WANT or need help.

I remember when I worked in a dollar store, and I had to re-stock the candy aisle. You wouldn't believe how many of those things had the words "A Fat Free Food" on the label. Like eating a whole bag of gummy worms was a good thing, LOL.

Calorie counters? Naaaaah...I just ignore 'em. I only do fast food once a month....or after the bar closes at 2 AM and I need a food fix. Because let's face it...at 2 AM after you've had a few beers, the last thing you are concerned about is counting calories. You just want to get some greasy stuff to make the hangover go away.

:-)

For me, the more knowledge the better. Granted , I'm one of those genetically gifted ones, but I also was raised with healthy eating habits, so they stuck. I also exercise 6 days a week 2 times a day, but that's irrelevant for this conversation.

I like the calorie counts on the menus for three reasons

1. Maybe parents will think twice before they plop that happy meal in front of their kids twice a day if they knew that it was nearly 1/2 of their daily recommended allowances. We can only hope. I have a daughter myself, and I understand the draw of 'fast and easy' but how much time are you really saving by driving through the drivethrough now when you have to go wait 3 1/2 hours in the emergency room 10 years down the road because she had a diabetic attack ?

2. People will get over some of their food misconceptions (I've lost count of the number of times I've heard someone get a McFish and say 'it's healthier because it's fish!' That fish is triple fried. Hence why it's so crispy.

3. It saves us the taxpayer money when they have weight or glucose related issues during their lives and are saddled with medical bills they can't pay. They declare BK, guess who picks up the tab? Us.

Don't get me wrong, we all like our treats me included. But I follow a few sensible rules

- Lots of small meals

- Treats are just that, occasional

- Never grab the whole box, always grab a portion

- Avoid eating late at night

- Don't starve yourself! Your body will start burning protein (muscle) well before it will burn fat.

If you're trying to lose a few pounds, consider this

1 lb of muscle takes 13 x the number of calories as 1 lb of fat to maintain. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn.

Fiber is your friend. It keeps you feeling full longer.

Watch out for empty carbs. (Pasta and Alcohol) Moderation is key.

The biggest two problems with eating healthy are it's not as convenient (which seems to me like a market that's waiting to be tapped) and it's more expensive in the initial cost, but cheaper down the road.

On a related note, is anyone watching the Jamie Oliver show on ABC where he takes on the "fattest city in America?"

I watched the preview episode, it was stunning, kids getting their school breakfast of PIZZA--and not a breakfast pizza, but a frozen pizza. Jamie's shock at the potato flakes and the family that was featured who fry at every meal.

Actually having the nutritional information including calories, fat, etc -has- helped me to make better choices even at fast food places. I am trying to lose weight but I know that I'll fail for sure if I don't allow myself the occasional fast food treats I like so much. I can determine based on my caloric intake that day how many calories etc I can "spend" (for lack of a better word) on a burger or fries.

I can still eat some "bad foods" that I enjoy and not get so hungry for them that that I end up binging while still maintaining my diet.

And...it's working!!!!!

Also, I think it might be a liability issue---you have to keep mind those nitwits who like to sue fast food places for "making" them fat, never mind the fact that they choose to eat there several times a week. They like to claim that they have no idea how many calories they are putting in their bodies, and it's the restaurant's responsibility to provide this information, and if they don't then the food places should be held responsible, blah, blah, blah.....remember the good old days when people used common sense and took responsibility for their own actions? When you could say, "hey, this is deep fried, maybe eating this several times a day isn't good for me, if I keep eating this all the time, I'm gonna gain weight"??? Nowadays everyone wants to litigate for the dumbest things. Everyone wants to blame other people for making them big--be it restaurants, schools, friends, you name it.

Kjoy, like you said, the bottom line here is if you are counting calories you are more than likely not going to be in a Mcdonald or Burger King. And lord knows you definitely wont be in a Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is the nutrional equivalent of smoking crack. In our world sometimes you really do just want a burger that isnt any good for you. And if you really want one the calorie count is not going to disuade you. Its kind of like if cigarette companies started printing packages that showed a cancerous lung on it there is always going to be someone who wants to smoke.