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6 Salads Worse Than a Whopper!

mugzy

mugzy

TID Board Of Directors
Aug 11, 2010
4,876
1,799
Worst Drive-Thru Salad
Wendy's Chicken BLT Salad with Croutons and Honey Dijon Dressing
860 calories
59 g fat (17 g saturated, 1 g trans)
1,665 mg sodium

SODIUM EQUIVALENT: 167 Pringles Crisps!
Good to know: A Whopper contains 670 calories, 40 grams fat (11 g saturated, 1.5 g trans), and 1,020 milligrams sodium.

Your salad is only as healthy as its dressing. Honey mustard is the worst dressing on the menu. The best? Fat-free French. Make the swap and you’ll save 170 calories. Unless labeled “fat free,” avoid creamy dressings. Another major culprit in this leafy mess? The carbohydrate-loaded, oil-soaked croutons. Always order your salads without. Now here's the real catch: You can order this one salad at Wendy's. Or you can order a single burger with everything and a side salad, and save nearly 300 calories. Do the math on that one. An Eat This, Not That! smart swap like this one every day can help you lose 15 pounds of belly fat in just six months!

Eat This Instead!
Single Old Fashioned Hamburger with Everything and Side Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
555 calories
26 g fat (8 g saturated fat)
1,275 mg sodium


Bonus tip: Wendy's is one of the best fast-food restaurants in the country—it serves relatively healthy sides and burgers, earning it a grade of B+ in our books and Restaurant Report Card ratings. For a list of decidedly less healthy fast-food joints, check out the restaurants that serve the 10 Worst Fast-Food Meals in America. Most of them will have you consuming more than an entire day's worth of calories in just one sitting! (Good news: Each bad choice comes with a much heathlier alternative of your favorite meal so you don't have to contemplate being on some miserable restriction diet.)


Worst Caesar Salad
Quizno's Chicken Caesar Regular Chopped Salad
920 calories
66.5 g fat (20.5 g saturated)
2,090 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 10 Good Humor Cookies and Cream ice cream bars!

Quizno’s is home to one of the worst sandwiches in America (the tuna melt), so it’s not exactly a shock that it also offers up a salad that contains nearly half a day’s worth of calories, a full day’s worth of sodium, and the amount of saturated fat you’ll find in 20 strips of bacon. Much of Quizno's sandwich line would fall under the category of "worse than a Whopper," in fact.
This salad goes wayward in two ways. First, it’s a Caesar—which means it’s filled with heavy, fatty dressing and carbohydrate-packed croutons. Second: It’s huge. There’s only one “Regular”-sized salad on the Quizno’s menu that comes with under 500 calories. Choose that one, instead.

Eat This Instead!
Pan Asian Regular Chopped Salad
430 calories
17.5 g fat (4 g saturated)
1,915 mg sodium



Worst Spinach Salad
Applebee's Grilled Shrimp ‘N Spinach, Regular
1,050 calories
72 g fat (11 g saturated)
2,530 mg sodium

SODIUM EQUIVALENT: 4.5 1.5-oz bags of Lay's Potato Chips!

This salad is seriously deceptive—spinach is filled with iron, and, as I revealed on
my Twitter feed here, shrimp boasts lots of lean protein, selenium (which helps prevent skin cancer and diabetes), and no fat. But here's the deal: This shrimp and spinach salad gives two typically great superfoods a terrible name. In fact, half of the salads on Applebee’s menu break the 1,000-calorie barrier, making them just as dubious as any other menu item. If a field of greens is calling your name, limit yourself to a half order, or choose the Weight Watchers Grilled Chili-Lime Chicken Salad—it’s the only Applebee's salad with fewer than 700 calories.
(Surprised by these outrageous salads? Don't be. Dozens of seemingly healthy foods are among the absolute worst on restaurant menus. Want proof? Check out our shocking list of caloric calamities in 30 “Healthy” Foods That Aren’t. It explains how food marketers try to trick you into thinking that salads, wraps, smoothies, and other favorite foods are healthy.)

Eat This Instead!
Half Grilled Steak Caesar
450 calories
33 g fat (7 g saturated)
930 mg sodium

Worst Fried Chicken Salad
T.G.I. Friday's Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad
1,360 calories

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 39 Popsicle Firecracker Jr. Pops!

In chain-restaurant parlance, “crusted” is a euphemism for “fried.” Add sugar-coated pecans, sugar-coated cranberries, and a heap of blue cheese, and you have all the makings of one of America’s worst salads. Go for the Dragonfire Chicken, instead. Along with Shrimp Key and the Cobb Salad, this is the only legitimate health entrée available at Friday’s. The next best chicken-based entrée, the Chicken Parmesan Sliders, packs 790 calories before sides.

Eat This Instead!
Dragonfire Chicken
480 calories

Bonus tip: Another quick way to cut even more calories? Choose your drinks wisely. It turns out that Americans consume about a quarter of their calories in liquid form—which isn't too hard to believe, once you've seen this shocking list revealing the 20 Worst Drinks in America. Gross.

Worst Grilled Chicken Salad
California Pizza Kitchen Waldorf Chicken Salad with Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette
1,485 calories
25 g saturated fat
1,864 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 13.5 Twix bars!

There’s no reason that this salad should saddle you with three-quarters of your daily allotment of calories. According to the CPK website, it contains: “Field greens, chilled-grilled chicken breast, seedless grapes, Granny Smith apples, candied walnuts, celery and Gorgonzola cheese.” When mixed together in reasonable proportions, there’s nothing inherently wrong with these ingredients—in fact, most of them are good for you. It’s just that CPK jumbo sizes their menu items. Choose the Half Moroccan Chicken Salad instead—just be aware that it’s also the size of a solid sandwich, and consider it your main meal, not a starter dish.

Eat This Instead!
Half Moroccan Chicken Salad
412 calories
4 g saturated fat
309 mg sodium

Worst Taco Salad
On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Ground Beef and Chipotle Honey Mustard Dressing
1,690 calories
124 g fat (27 g saturated)
2,570 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 8 packs of M&Ms!

Don’t be thrown off by the word “salad." Think of this instead as the world’s largest taco, cradled by an oversize fried tortilla trough. Take a hint from the name: This Grande salad is gigantic, and comes with as many calories as in THREE Whoppers. As a general rule, avoid Mexican-style salads at every restaurant. On the Border provides one saving grace: The Citrus Chipotle Chicken Salad with Mango Citrus Vinaigrette will still give you that south-of-the-border taste without the same massive dose of dietary destruction.

Eat This Instead!
Citrus Chipotle Chicken Salad with Mango Citrus Vinaigrette
290 calories
4 g fat (2 g saturated)
840 mg sodium
 
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