"healthy food" that isn't so healthy

Wow. After reading the "top 20" list above, I'm not sure what to say! With a name like "Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Stacked and Stuffed hotcakes", you gotta know what you're getting into (sounds delicious!), but I'm most surprised by #16 (Chipotle Mexican Grill Chicken Burrito). I love Chipotle, and order items without sour cream, but it's unbelievable how much the other ingredients still add up. This one burrito is equivalent to almost an entire day's worth of calories, and more than half daily recommendations for fat and carbs. I didn't realize that when I go to a restaurant and see " grilled chicken" or "grilled pork" I've been automatically assuming that the entree is healthy; but there are other things to be aware of, like portion size and other ingredients!

Guess this e-mail has been circulating for a week or so... Check out the fat content for some of the so-called healthy foods including salads, smoothies and fish tacos. Ugh.

20: Worst Fast-Food Chicken Meal - Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips from McDonald's (5 pieces) with cream ranch sauce. 830 Calories, 55 grams fat (4.5 trans fat), 48 carbs. Add a large fries and regular soda and this
seemingly innocuous chicken meal tops out at 1,710 calories.

19: Worst drink - Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo' d Power Smoothie (30 fl oz). 900 calories, 10 g fat, 183 carbs, 166 g sugar. Jamba Juice calls it a smoothie, MSNBC calls it a milk shake. The beverage contains as much sugar
as 8 pints of Ben & Jerry's butter pecan ice cream.

18: Worst supermarket meal - Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie (whole pie). 1,020 calories, 64 g fat, 86 g carbs. Label may say this pie serves two, but, who ever divided a small pot pi! e in half? Once you crack the
crust, there will be no stopping.

17: Worst 'healthy' burger - Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger. 1,145 calories, 71 g fat, 56 g carbs.

16: Worst Mexican entree - Chipotle Mexican Grill Chicken Burrito. 1,179 calories, 47 g fat, 125 g carbs, 2,656 mg sodium.

15: Worst kids' meal - Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni 'n' Cheese. 1,210 calories, 62 g fat, 3,450 mg sodium. It's like feeding your kid 1-

1/2 boxes of Kraft mac 'n' cheese.

14: Worst sandwich - Quiznos Classic Italian (large). 1,528 calories, 92 g fat, 4,604 mg sodium, 110 g carbs. A large homemade sandwich would more likely provided abou t 500 calories.

13: Worst salad - On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef. 1,450 calories, 102 g fat, 78 g carbs, 2,410 mg sodium. This isn't an anomaly: Five different On the Border salads on the menu contain more than 1, 100
calories each.

12: Worst burger - Carl's Jr. (Hardee's on East Coast) Double Six Dollar Burger. 1,520 calories! , 111g fat. Carl's Jr. brags it's home to this enormous sandwich, but the restaurant chain also provides convenient nutrition info on its Web site -- so ignorance is no excuse for eating it.

11: Worst steak - Lonestar 20 oz T-bone. 1,540 calories, 124g fat. Add a baked potato and Lonestar's Signature Lettuce Wedge, and this is a 2,700 calorie blowout.

10: Worst breakfast - Bob Evans Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Stacked and Stuffed hotcakes. 1,540 calories, 77 g fat (9 g trans fat), 198 g carbs, 109 g sugar. Five Egg McMuffins yield the same caloric cost as this stack of sugar-stuffed flapjacks, which is truly a heavy breakfast, weighing in at a hefty pound and a half.

9: Worst dessert - Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream. 1,600 calories, 78 g fat, 215 g carbs. Would you eat a Big Mac for dessert? How about three? That's the calorie equivalent of this decadent
dish. Clearly, Chili's customers get their money's worth.

8: Worst chinese entree - P.F. Chang's Pork Lo Mein. 1,820 calories, 127 g fat,! 95 g carbs. The fat content in this d ish alone provides more than 1,100 calories. And you'd have to eat almost five servings of pasta to match
the number of carbs it contains. Now, do you really need five servings of pasta?

7: Worst chicken entree - Chili's Honey Chipotle Crispers with Chipotle Sauce. 2,040 calories, 99 g fat, 240 g carbs. 'Crispers' refers to an extra thick layer of break crumbs that soak up oil and adds unnecessary calories
and carbs to thes e glorified chicken strips.

6: Worst fish entree - On the Border Dos XX Fish Tacos with Rice and Beans. 2,100 calories, 130 g fat, 169 g carbs, 4,700 mg sodium. Perhaps the most misleadingly named dish in America : A dozen crunchy tacos
from Taco Bell will saddle you with fewer calories.

5: Worst pizza - Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza. 2,310 calories, 162 g fat, 123 g carbs, 4,470 mg sodium. Downing this 'personal' pizza is equivalent to eating 18 slices of Domino's Crunchy Thin Crust cheese pizza.

4: Worst pasta - Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatballs with Meat Sauce. 2,430 calories, 128 g fat, 207 g carbs, 5,290 mg sodium. This meal satisfied your calorie requirements for an entire day.

3: Worst nachos - On the Border Stacked Border Nachos. 2,740 calories, 166 g fat, 191 g carbs, 5,280 sodium.

2: Worst starter - Chili's Awesome Blossom. 2,710 calories, 203 g fat, 194 g carbs, 6,360 mg sodium.

1: The worst foo d in America - Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing. 2,900 calories, 182g fat, 240g carbs. Even if you split these 'starters' with three friends, you'll have downed a dinner's worth of
calories before you entree arrives.

Perish the thought!

I lament the size of portions also. It's not always easy to bring half home, I really do wish that restaurants offered half-portions of their meals. It's sometimes so tempting to keep eating!

Bagels and other foods are being touted as "jumbo" or "super-sized" as if that's a good thing! And the "for just one more dollar you can double your..." mentality kind of makes us think we are getting away with something or having a great treat when we need to think of it as more of an insult!

Remember when bagels were toted as being healthy? Well, in this case, size matters!

It is surprising how a healthy food became unhealthy in the "super-size" environment.

A regular, one-serving size bagel used to be: 2 oz.
--- this is now considered "mini" ---

Now, a bagel is 4 oz..or more, which is 3x the serving size of bread, and bagels do not provide much, if any, fiber or other nutrients (I'm not sure about the whole wheat bagels...does anyone else?)

Bagels are not the only things that have swelled. According to Miriam Nelson, author of "Strong Women Eat Well", supermarket choices have also swelled considerably, with more than 40,000 items (compared to 2,000 in 1950). Unfortunately, most of the increase has been in processed foods. It is definitely a catch-22, because as much as I like the convenience of convenience foods...sounds like the increased supply has not been in the healthier departments of the grocery store.

...oh, and back to the bagels. Buy the smaller bagels (that are actually the correct portion!), top with hummus and veggies, instead of cream cheese, and you're good to go!

Some Asian food (which is typically very healthy) is also guilty from time to time. PF Changs Beef and Brocolli dinner packs 910 calories and meets 91 percent of your total fat intake. Ugh!

http://www.dietfacts.com/html/nutrition-facts/p-f-changs-china-bistro-beef-with-broccoli-dinner-served-cantonese-style-tossed-with-fresh34306.htm