Health

Forbes Top 10 Most Fattening Chain Restaurant Meals: Calorie Menu

by Jacob Zinn | April 9, 2010 at 11:39 am

6387 views | 33 Recommendations | 6 comments

A report by Forbes has rated the top 10 most fattening chain restaurant meals—and surprisingly, some of the usual suspects aren’t on the list.

More sit-down restaurants are on the list than drive-thru’s, which might make readers think twice about what they order when they think they’re at a health-conscious establishment.

Fast food restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King don’t have a single menu item on the Dunbar & Associates-compiled top 10, which looked at 50 chain restaurants in the United States.

The 540-calorie Big Mac and 670-calorie Whopper fell short of even the 10th place by almost 1,000 calories.

The Top 10 Most Fattening Chain Restaurant Meals

Ribs and More Ribs by Buffalo Wild Wings
Calories: 2,380; Fat: 158 grams; Saturated Fat: 58 grams
Jalapeño Smokehouse Bacon Burger with Jalapeño Ranch and Fries by Chili’s
Calories: 2,130; Fat: 139 grams; Saturated Fat: 43 grams
Granny’s Country Omelet by Perkins Family Restaurant (Includes ham, bacon, eggs, cheese and hash browns)
Calories: 2,060; Fat: 81 grams; Saturated Fat: 23 grams
Smokin’ Q Three-Pack Burger with Onion Rings by Denny’s
Calories: 2,020; Fat: 110 grams; Saturated Fat: 22 grams
Sunrise Quesadilla Cheeseburger with Fries by Ruby Tuesday
Calories: 1,835; Fat: 126 grams; Saturated Fat: 0 grams
Large Tuna Melt by Quizno’s
Calories: 1,740; Fat: 135 grams; Saturated Fat: 27 grams
6-Piece Chicken Strip Basket with Fries and Gravy by Dairy Queen
Calories: 1,640; Fat: 74 grams; Saturated Fat: 12 grams
9-inch Personal PANormous Meat Lover’s Pizza by Pizza Hut
Calories: $1,590; Fat: 90 grams; Saturated Fat: 34 grams
Pork Milanese with Garlic Cream Sauce and Parmesan Cheese by Olive Garden
Calories: 1,510; Fat: 87 grams; Saturated Fat: 37 grams
Crispy Calamari and Vegetables by Red Lobster
Calories: 1,520; Fat: 97 grams; Saturated Fat: 11 grams

The recommended average daily calorie intake is 2,000 calories.

Chain Restaurants to Add Calorie Information on Menus

President Barack Obama’s newly-signed health care reform bill requires U.S. chain restaurants with at least 20 locations to display calorie and fat information on menus.

Some restaurants have already started posting health information and have added healthier meals for calorie-counting customers.

[Chain restaurants are] getting ahead of the curve by expanding menus to include more low-calorie choices,” said Keith Gellman of restaurantchains.net, a site that follows the chain restaurant business. “They help keep criticism from health activists to a minimum, allowing customers to eat their onion rings in peace.”

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Liz McKibbon

at 19:01 on April 9th, 2010

I assume this is nation wide? I really can't wait.

I went to a small chain restaurant in Atlanta and ordered a salad. Typically, I order the dressing on the side, but since this was not an option, I just dealt with the salad... dressing and all. Later, I looked up the nutrition facts online. The side salad was over 600 calories. This isn't even including the soup I ate along side it.

Jennings David L

at 19:09 on April 9th, 2010

Very enlightening. Who would have thought a Big Mac could look healthy?

eastvanray

at 15:18 on April 13th, 2010

The numbers are high but is anyone really surprised? All the items on the list are obviously high in fat and calories (ribs, burgers, fried food....). You would have to be pretty dumb not to know these foods are unhealthy!

Alida Antonia Cornelius

at 05:31 on April 17th, 2010

And now Kentucky Fried Chicken has come out with a new sandwhich...two pieces of fried chicken with bacon in between with no bread.

They say it's not high in calories, but what they don't say is how many fat grams it has in it.

People just don't realize that it isn't really about calories...counting your fat grams is really more important to keep from getting high cholesterol and ending up taking all those statin drugs.

Kentucky Fried Chicken switched to using trans fats without informing it's customers some years ago.

Now, they supposedly are not using them. But, because I had made an informed decision NOT to eat anything with trans fats and had no clue that KFC was using them, I ate trans fats there without knowing. As a result, I will never eat at KFC again. And I check to see who serves food cooked in trans fats now.

Many restaurants use trans fats. They just tried to pass an ordinance banning trans fats in Louisville, KY. But, it failed to pass unfortunately.

Consumers beware. The FDA and the USDA are not protecting you and your family. They let products on the market before they really know the long term effects.

Don't you wonder why trans fats are still on the market when they now know they are not good for people?

http://www.bantransfats.com/abouttransfat.html