Hello, this is Rebecca Mohning, registered dietitian, and because it’s Kick a Habit Month, I will be taking a look at various foods and how to understand their food labels. Every day new products hit the market and everything seems to be a healthy choice. We will uncover the truths and I will help you gain better understanding of how to narrow your choices to the healthiest option.
But since for so many of us, fast food is our downfall, I thought that would be a good place to start. Does the most common fast food value meal, a large hamburger and medium fries, come with any nutritional value? I took a deeper look at the nutritionals for this meal – they are usually readily available on the web and displayed at the restaurant. (See the attached Nutritional Labels as well.)
The larger hamburger alone has 540 calories 29 grams of fat. Surprise! The calories from fat make up half the total calories of the sandwich. The total grams of fat are equal to half of the recommended number of fat grams for the day. The medium fries that are typically served with the hamburger have 380 calories and 20 grams fat. So the whole meal has a grand total of 920 calories and 49 grams of fat. When eating this meal you have met your fat requirements for the day and saturated (bad) fat requirements for 2 days!
Another negative consequence of eating out is the sodium content of fast foods which can be very high. In the case of this hamburger, you will find 1040 mg sodium in one sandwich this is half of the daily limit for sodium which is 2300 mg per day. The fries add another 220 mg per medium size order. I actually expected the fries to be higher in sodium.
So are there any nutritional benefits in this meal? The hamburger consists of 25 grams of protein which is a substantial amount of protein for a meal. Another interesting component of the sandwich is its 3 grams of fiber. Another surprise since I am sure the white bun is not full of fiber but the fillers in the hamburger patty add-in the fiber. These nutritional positives are not enough to justify this meal as a healthy daily staple.
Now that you know the nutrition information how often should you get the large hamburger and fries? The answer depends on how frequently you go and what you eat the rest of the day. If you can manage to eat healthy most days then an occasional trip to a fast food restaurant won’t jeopardize your health. Just remember most fast food restaurants have lighter choices such as a grilled chicken sandwich or a salad with grilled chicken. These choices will save you calories and fat on your next trip.
Rebecca Mohning
