The authors of Eat This, Not That! reveal the most dangerous ways to start your day.
While the old cliché about breakfast being the most important meal of the day still holds true—because you’ll consume fewer calories over the course of the day, have stronger cognitive skills and be 30 percent less likely to become overweight or obese—new studies reveal something of a surprise for most diners: that breakfast may also be the most fattening.
According to a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity, basing your breakfast on the wrong nutrients can sabotage your weight-loss efforts. People who began their day with high-quality protein over refined carbohydrates were able to lose 65 percent more weight, and also reported higher levels of energy throughout the day.
Unfortunately, the carb conundrum coincides with a push by the food industry to populate restaurant menus and supermarket shelves with breakfasts based on refined grains and added sugars. Look no further than McDonald's and Burger King's new line of hash brown-stuffed wraps and Jimmy Dean's popular breakfast bowls for proof that our food supply is setting us up for failure.
Over the years spent scouring restaurant menus and grocery store aisles for Eat This, Not That! (Rodale, 2007), bestselling authors Dave Zinczenko and Matt Goulding came across some pretty scary ways to start your day. To help you avoid the morning mishaps, we searched out the good, the bad, and the greasy, and uncovered some of the worst breakfast foods in America.
We've presented a sampling of the worst offenders below (and replaced them with healthy, tasty options that will stoke your metabolism, satisfy your appetite, and keep you burning calories all day long). It's like a lineup down at the local police station, except in this case, they're all guilty as charged.
Worst side dish
Burger King Hash Browns (large)
-620 calories
-40 g fat (11 g saturated; 13 g trans)
-1,200 mg sodium
-60 g carbs
Calorie equilavent: 12 chicken wings
Yes, you're ingesting more than a meal's worth of calories from a side dish, but the real cause for concern here is that these little potato cakes pack seven times more trans fats than you're supposed to eat all day! Until BK learns to cut out the partially hydrogenated oils, avoid encounters with potatoes of any kind at that fatty food joint.
Eat this instead!
Burger King Egg & Cheese Croissan'wich
-300 calories
-17 g fat (6 g saturated; 2 g trans)
-740 mg sodium
-26 g carbs
Worst breakfast sandwich
Hardee's Monster Biscuit
-710 calories
-51 g fat (17 g saturated)
-2,250 mg sodium
-37 g carbohydrates
Sodium equivalent: Six large orders of french fries
When they say "Monster," they mean it. This 700-calorie behemoth should be enough to scare anyone: It contains nearly a full day's worth of sodium and saturated fat. Instead try the Sunrise Croissant with Bacon. It's not exactly diet-friendly, but if you're stuck at Hardee's, it's a way to escape without too much damage.
Eat this instead!
Hardee's Sunrise Croissant with Bacon
-450 calories
-29 g fat (12 g saturated)
-900 mg sodium
-28 g carbs
Worst kids' meal
Denny's Big Dipper French Toastix with margarine and syrup
-770 calories
-71 g fat (13 g saturated)
-107 g carbs
Fat Equivalent: 23 chicken McNuggets
As important as it is for mom and dad to eat a good breakfast each morning, it's even more critical that their kids do. After all, breakfast affects their energy levels, metabolism, and performance in school. We highlight a lot of breakfast blunders in our new book Eat This, Not That! For Kids! (Rodale, 2008)—none worse than these dubious little sticks.
Eat this instead!
Kid's D-Zone Smiley Alien Hotcakes
-340 calories
-12 g fat (5 g saturated)
-49 g carbs
Worst pastry
Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll
-813 calories
-32 g fat (5 g trans fat)
-117 g carbs
Calorie equivalent: Seven bowls of Froot Loops
You wouldn't start your day with three brownies, would you? As far as your body knows, that's exactly what you'll be doing if you wake up with this cinnamon-swirled disaster area. In fact, because Cinnabon offers no healthy alternatives, you'll have to invite friends (or enemies?) to share the risky roll, or steer clear of Cinnabon altogether.
Worst smoothie
Smoothie King Grape Expectations II (40 oz.)
-1,102 calories
-256 g sugars
-740 mg sodium
Sugar equivalent: 12 Haagen Dazs ice cream bars
Why Smoothie King would even offer a 40-ounce serving size is beyond us. With more than half the calories you need in a day and the sugar equivalent of 12 Haagen Dazs ice cream bars, few beverages better underscore the importance of drinking responsibly. Luckily, Smoothie King provides plenty of ways to do just that.
Drink this instead!
Smoothie King Low Carb Strawberry Smoothie (20 oz.)
-268 calories
-3 g sugars
-176 mg sodium
Worst combo meal
McDonald's Deluxe Breakfast
-1,360 calories
-64 g fat (22 g saturated)
-2,325 mg sodium
-160 g carbs
-49 g sugars
Saturated fat equivalent: 22 strips of bacon
With four vehicles for refined carbohydrates (biscuit, hash browns, hotcakes, syrup), this "deluxe" disaster will send your blood sugar soaring. Why blow nearly an entire day's calories under the arches, when a perfectly satisfying Egg McMuffin will save you more than 1,000 calories?
Eat this instead!
McDonald’s Egg McMuffin with coffee
-310 calories
-12 g fat (5 g saturated)
-820 mg sodium
-30 g carbs
-3 g sugars
Worst omelet
IHOP Big Steak Omelet
-1,490 calories
(No additional nutrition information available)
Calorie equivalent: More than seven glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts
IHOP doesn't provide nutritional information aside from calorie counts, but with a boatload of steak, a bucket of cheese, and handfuls of hash browns, this omelet's fat and sodium numbers are surely just as appalling.
Eat this instead!
IHOP for Me Garden Scramble
-440 calories
Bob Evans Stacked and Stuffed Caramel Banana Pecan Hotcakes
-1,543 calories
-77 g fat (26 g saturated; 9 g trans)
-2,259 mg sodium
-198 g carbs
-109 g sugars
Saturated fat equivalent: 26 strips of bacon
Sugar equivalent: 12 chocolate chip cookies
Sodium equivalent: 12 small bags of potato chips
It's not a good sign when it takes you nearly five seconds to spit out the name of your breakfast. This bad boy packs in more than 75 percent of your calories for the day, along with more sugar and fat than nine glazed Dunkin' Donuts, and nearly as much sodium as five Bloody Marys.
Eat this instead!
3 Scrambled Egg Beaters with 2 slices of bacon and fresh fruit
-314 calories
-19.5 g fat (5 g saturated)
-700 mg sodium
-21 g carbs
-18 g sugars
OR I would rather take Herbalife's Healthy Breakfast which contains 114 nutrients. A glass is equivalent to 9 balanced meal.