Here’s What 2017’s Unhealthiest Chain Restaurant Meals Look Like [INFOGRAPHIC]
A food trend that we’re seeing more and more of this year is a movement towards more indulgent foods by the food and restaurant industries. From Bacon Mac and Cheese Pizza Rolls to Bacon Queso Burgers and Philly Mac Melts, “cheat day” is becoming more like “every day” on menus across the country. That’s definitely the case with multiple chain restaurants as well. Many have created gluttonous meals that easily go over the amount of food a grown person should normally eat in a day for ONE entree or side dish.
As put together by consumer advocacy group CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest), here are some of the worst caloric offenders you can currently find on chain restaurant menus across the USA.
IHOP
The equivalent of FOUR McDonald’s Sausage McMuffins drizzled with syrup, this mixture of eggs, hamburger, hash browns, and burger toppings is enough to set you back for an entire day on calories alone. With the obscene amounts of cholesterol and sodium in this, you may as well just have the cardiologist there at the table with you, defibrillator in hand.
Chili’s
Visually, this looks like it’s meant to be a platter for four people. Picking the three unhealthiest meats out of four for this platter (chicken tenders, sausage, and baby back ribs over BBQ chicken) should keep you full for at least a day. Based on that amount of sodium, you are gonna need a few pitchers of water to help take this thing down should you consume it single-handedly (which we DON’T recommend).
Dave & Buster’s
I’m not sure what the adult arcade was thinking when they created this dish, but they ended up constructing a true monster of an appetizer. This is what happens when a cheesy quesadilla and a meat-stacked pizza have a baby, and it’s definitely not good for anyone’s cardiac systems. One slice of this shouldn’t be too terrible on its own, but I’d walk away after that for your own health.
Buffalo Wild Wings
Buffalo Wild Wings has created an absolute monstrosity of a burger here, with deep-fried cheese curds, bacon, and spicy mayo all boosting the burger’s nutritional intake to insane heights. Go big or go home is one thing, but this creation is more like go straight to the hospital. Maybe stick to wings next time, BWW.
Texas Roadhouse
Thanks to a mountain of marshmallows and a flood of caramel sauce, Texas Roadhouse managed to conceive a sweet potato that wouldn’t be considered a health food. It’s served alongside a massive POUND of prime rib, Caesar salad, and all-you-can-eat peanuts, rolls, and butter. This steak dinner is probably the fastest one-way ticket to a food coma out there.
The Cheesecake Factory
The Cheesecake Factory is no stranger to gluttonous meals and oversized portions, but these new items are just ridiculous. The new Flying Gorilla probably gets its name from the caloric intake, which is enough to be a meal on its own. Not only that, but the Factory also decided to crank out a Meat Lover’s Pizza in pasta form, served in a creamy, buttery sauce that drives the calorie and saturated fat counts up the charts. Don’t plan on eating for a while after downing one of these meals.
Uno Pizzeria & Grill
We have to finish off any overindulgent meal with dessert, so why not go whole-hog and dive into one with enough calories to get you through a whole day? At Uno Pizzeria and Grill, you can with this titanic piece of chocolate cake that would even have Gabriel Iglesias saying “I’m good.”
All of these cheat day-worthy creations are massive, but you may have not realized it without reading this article or researching online first. Not all chain restaurants and fast food places have calorie counts and nutrition facts on their menus yet, and while a law was passed a couple of years ago to ensure that would happen, it’s been continually delayed and now reopened for public comment. That means that nutritional labeling on all these meals and transparency from restaurants may be even further away, which is why CSPI created this list in the first place.
Hopefully, by reading this list, you’re more informed on how much you’re really eating with this food. We’re not gonna say whether you should eat it or not, that’s up to you. But you should be aware of the nutrition going into your body nonetheless.
