To fruit or not to fruit?

One of the hard things to give up on a low carb diet is fruit. But not all fruit is high carb, for example, half a cup of raspberries contains 3.5 grams of net carb, whereas half a cup of raisins contains 61 grams of net carb. That's 17 times more carbs for the same serving size!

When you're in a maintenance mode some low-sugar fruits may be suitable for the diet plan.
Here's an ordering of fruits by sugar content by about.com

1. Berries - lowest in sugar and high in antioxidants and other nutrients.

2. Summer Fruits - Melons, peaches, nectarines, and apricots are low in sugars.

3. Winter Fruits - Apples, pears, and citrus fruit are moderate in sugars.

4. Tropical Fruits - Pineapple, pomegranates, mangoes, bananas, and fresh figs are high in sugar (guava and papaya are lower than the others).

5. Dried Fruit - Dates, raisins, apricots, prunes, figs, and most other dried fruits are extremely high in sugar. Dried cranberries and blueberries would be lower, except that a lot of sugar is usually added to combat the tartness.

What is Pink Slime?

Pink slime has been in the news a lot lately. Which grocery stores sell it? What fast-food chains use it? Will certain public schools use it in school lunches?

So what is pink slime? First off, they're not talking about pink algae which is sometimes seen in swimming pools and called pink slime by some.  The official name is "Boneless lean beef trimmings". When a cow is butchered, there are leftover trimmings of meat mixed with a lot of fat and connective tissue. The meat industry used to cook the trimmings to render out the oil to make some profit from it. Then in 1990, Eldon Roth, founder of a frozen beef company called Beef Products Inc (BPI) had an idea.

The trimmings are finely ground and then spun in a high speed centrifuge to separate out the fat from the meat. The meat is squeezed through a tube the size of a pencil and exposed to ammonia gas to kill any pathogens such as E. coli. At the end of the process, the beef is at least 90 percent lean. It is used in meat supplies across the US, usually mixed in with normal hamburger upto 25% of the content.

Some people find the process objectionable and coined the derogatory term, pink slime. Other health experts credit the process for reducing the risk of E. coli infections.

Bottom Line

The sad part about the whole thing is that no labeling is required to indicate that Boneless lean beef trimmings were used. It may be perfectly safe but there's no way to opt out as an informed consumer except for giving up all hamburger.

And least people get into a huff over this, look closely at chicken and hams at grocery stores. Many have water and chemicals injected for "preservatives" but also to add weight and cost. Last week I noticed that a 5-gallon bottled water contained chemicals on the ingredients listing? Why?! For preservatives and minerals it claimed.

Crazy food or Fun food?

“Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays.”
-Henry Youngman

Attempts by restaurants to server healthy or diet food usually fails because when people go out to eat, they want a meal that entertains and tastes great. Why buy something simple, boring or with no taste? And yet, do restaurants go too far? Are they to blame when they create a meal that gives you a day or more worth of calories on one plate?

Men's Health is one of many groups that watches what's being served and warns of extremes and offers alternative with their Eat This, Not That books and articles. In a recent story they identify the Craziest Food Creations that were added to the NOT THAT list. But hey, I'm willing to live dangerously and try some of the following:

1. KFC Double Down (A bacon and cheese sandwich where the bread is replaced with two fried chicken breasts)
2. Burger King Meat Beast Whopper (how do you make a whopper even bigger? Add bacon and pepperoni)
3. White Castle Surf & Turf Sliders with Cheese (a cheese burger with a fish patty added. Photo above.)
4. Denny's Fried Cheese Melt (how can you improve a cheese sandwich? By inserting fried cheese sticks along with the melted cheese of course!)
5. IHOP New York Cheesecake Pancakes  (A cheesecake mixed inside a pancake? Crazy! I've got to try it.)
6. Applebee's Quesadilla Burger (With meat to fill a quesadilla, this is one big burger!)
7. Claim Jumper Widow Maker Burger (never heard of Claim Jumper but the Widow Maker contains enough fat to frighten the strongest of hearts - bacon, onion rings, avocado, mayonnaise, and a double serving of cheese)
8. Friendly's Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt  (Can't decide between a hamburger and a cheese sandwich? Have both. This burger uses two cheese sandwiches to replace the buns.)
9. Applebee's Provolone Stuffed Meatballs with Fettuccine (like cheese-stuffed crust pizza? How about meatballs stuffed with cheese?)
10. Burger King New York Pizza Burger  (looks like the burger is the size of a small pizza)

Bottom Line

Crazy? Tasty? Fun or Abomination? You decide.

What is that fish you're eating?

All men are equal before fish.
-Herbert Hoover

There are times when you may not care that fish you're eating like generic "white" fish or fish sticks. But other times you pay good money for mahi-mahi or wild salmon. How do you know you're getting the fish you pay for?

Researchers from the non-profit group Oceana applied the forensic science of DNA analysis to confirm that as much as half of all seafood sold in the U.S. is mislabeled. Scientists checked over a thousand fish samples across the country and found "disturbingly widespread" fraud.

"We can track organic bananas back to packing stations on farms in Central and Latin America, yet consumers are given little to no information about one of the most popular foods in the United States - seafood," said Dr. Michael Hirshfield, senior vice president for North America and chief scientist for Oceana"

The report found that while 84 percent of the seafood eaten in the United States is imported, only two percent is currently inspected for freshness and less than 0.001 percent specifically inspected for fraud.

Bottom Line

I recall a story of a man who complained that the bacon in his Cobb salad was fake. The waitress talked to the chef who replied, "If he wanted real bacon, he should have told us when he ordered".

Ramen

"Health food may be good for the conscience but Oreos taste a hell of a lot better."

-Robert Redford

As a child and young adult I enjoyed Ramen. It's a quick and easy meal. Later while working in Manhattan I was introduced to Noodle Houses which serve delightfully flavored bowls of noodles with your choice of toppings. Now I can bring these two experiences together thanks to Ramen Hacks: 30+ Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Instant Noodles.

The article describes many (30?) excellent ideas for enhancing ramen. One secret is having a great broth base. I ordered noodle soup at a Japanese fusion bistro and was shocked to find it had zero flavor. Perhaps a clean, simple taste is popular in Japan but I like my broth to be complexly flavored. Here's some things to add instead of the highly salted packets that come with Ramen.

• Miso paste
• Chili bean sauce
• Thai curry paste
• Japanese curry powder
• Fish sauce or Oyster sauce
• Harrisa (a Tunisian hot chilli sauce common in North African cooking)
• Vinegar (especially flavored vinegars)
• Ponzu (a Japanese citrus-based sauce)

And ...

• Spices like white pepper, sichuan pepper, or chili flakes added to the finished dish, or a cinnamon stick, star anise, and coriander seeds added to the simmering broth (remove 'em before serving!)
• Fats like toasted sesame oil, chili oil, or an animal fat like pork, chicken, or duck.
• Citrus juices—a quick squeeze of lemon or lime right before serving brightens flavors.

A great broth will excite all 5 flavors - sweet, sour (vinegar), bitter (citrus), salty and umame (meat protein) as well as having a bit of heat (chilli).

And ... don't forget to add toppings like eggs, meat and vegetables.

The article concludes with ideas for using Ramen as a noodle base (or topping) for other dishes. With care you can make stir-fried and cold noodle dishes. Stop cooking the ramen just before it's completely done, then drain it. It'll continue to soften from the residual heat, as well as cooking further when you stir-fry it.
* Create Pad Thai by stir-frying semi-cooked ramen with fish sauce, peanuts, vegetables, and a touch of lime and tamarind paste

Other ideas include ramen salad, ramen spaghetti, ramen tacos, and much more.

Bottom Line

Ramen is a great emergency food. It keeps "forever" if you can keep it safe from bugs and mice by storing it in airtight containers. And it just needs hot water to cook.

But please don't think of Ramen as a health food. There's 400 calories if you eat a whole bag and nearly a day's worth of salt in the seasoning packet.

The Bane of Efficiency

"With twelve kids, one would think that there was always chaos, but Dad was an efficiency expert and used all of his methods from work at home during family life. One of the things he did was call family assemblies by blowing a whistle, everyone had to stop what they were doing and come immediately.  "
- Cheaper by the Dozen

A very common New Year's resolution is better fitness and health with more exercise. I was reminded today that an enemy to exercise is efficiency. In olden days most people had physically demanding jobs but today technology makes everything "Less Labor Intensive". Why beat a rug when a Roombot can vacuum for you? Or lead a mule on a plow when you can sit in an air conditioned tractor?

The need for speed and efficiency affects all aspects of our daily life. An old friend from college was amazed to watch drivers searching for the closest spot to park next to the fitness club. Are they afraid of working up a sweat before exercising? My wife had a similar complaint when she used a fitness club for physical therapy, all the therapy spots near the door were filled by healthy fitness patrons who did not want to walk.

I find that instead of making two trips to the basement or kitchen, I'll load up way too much to carry for a single trip. Ditto for carrying groceries from the car to the house. Or at work juggling food and drink back to my cube from the office kitchen instead of walking twice. There are co-workers with giant water bottles so they don't have to revisit the kitchen to refill during the day. Or a giant, all-day, mug of coffee from Duncan Donuts.

Bottom Line

As Michael Jackson says in Billie Jean, "(Do think twice) Do think twice".  Make that second trip. Walk more. Dare to park far away.

And in addition to doing things twice, consider also doing things in halves. That is, eating half-sized portions. I read of a very simple diet where you eat half of your "normal" sized serving and save the 2nd half for another meal. Definitely a good idea at restaurants; they serve way too much food. If you drink a huge soft drink and eat a giant hamburger with an extra large fries, it may contain as many as 2,000 calories in one sitting - more calories them most people need to eat in a single day. Those little hamburgers that now sell for $1 - $1.25 were the original size when "fast food" service began in the 40's. But then came the double burger, the triple, the quarter-pounder, the third of a pounder, etc, along with ever growing sizes of fries and drinks.

And eating half-sizes is not a bad idea at home since our idea of portion size has grown to match the restaurants. A co-worker of mine doesn't just eat the HungryMan, extra-large sized microwave meal, he eats two of them every day for lunch. For more on portion sizes, see my post at http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2010/03/too-much-food.html

Beverage Secrets

“The materials don't even have the guts to urge kids to drink less soda pop, or eat less candy.” - Michael Jacobson on the new Food Pyramid for Kids

Did you know that the average American drinks 1/5th his daily calories? Many of us drink more than 400 calories every single day, 21% of the daily recommended limit, which is twice as much as we drank 30 years ago. What changed? Women's Health magazine has the answers in 12 Secrets the Beverage Industry Doesn't Want You to Know.

1. How bad can a milk shake be? The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Shake at Baskin-Robbins requires 50 ingredients and packs 1,690 calories and 46 grams of saturated fat. That's just about an entire day's limit in one drink. Shakes at the ice cream parlors of yore used just 5 ingredients and had fewer calories.

2. Everyone knows ice cream is caloric so I'll consume a healthy fruit drink instead. But the article claims that many of Ocean Spray's drinks contain as little as 20% real juice with 73-85 of the calories from added sugar to sweeten the cranberries. "That amounts to about as much sugar as two scoops of ice cream stuffed into each 8-ounce cup of juice."

3. When you drink a beverage that is "100 percent juice" know that very little of that juice is cranberry or pomegranate or whatever is pictured on the label. Most of the juice is cheaper apple or grape juice and is not much better for you than sugar water.

4. So I'll drink something 100% natural like milk. There are some reasonable fears over the use of bovine growth hormone that makes cows produce more milk. It adds an insulin-like growth factor, IGF-1, to the milk which may cause cancer and other side effects in humans.

5. OK, how about diet soda? It's calorie free and no hormones. Yet there are theories that diet soda makes you hungrier. The body is revved up with a sugar high but there's no calories to burn so the body demands content with hunger cravings.

6. Is soda natural? 7Up claims it is "all natural" but the natural ingredients are subjected to some serious chemistry and centrifuges to turn corn into corn sugar. "A 20-ounce bottle of 7Up has nearly as much sugar as five Breyers Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches."

7. Cocktails are loaded with sugar. Tom Collins, Whiskey sour, Pina colada and other popular mixes contain twice the sugar as regular soda.

8. "Glaceau doesn't want you to know that a bottle of Vitaminwater has more sugar than a Snickers bar."

9. "The bottled water industry doesn't want you to know that its product isn't any better than the water that comes from your tap, which has passed strict state, federal, and local guidelines."

10. Many of the fruit smoothies you buy come spiked with sugar. Order your smoothie "skinny" and save about 100 calories per 20 oz.

11. "The coffee industry doesn't want you to know that the average latte is worse than a double-scoop ice cream cone."

12.  "The beer and soda industries don't want you to know that aluminum cans are lined with a toxic plastic. Bisphenol A, otherwise known as BPA, that has been identified as a threat to your health."

Bottom Line

For more information see
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2010/04/caffeine.html  Caffeine levels in drinks
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2009/04/things-you-pay-too-much-for.html  Cost of drinks

Food for Thought

Weekend Bonus

The Consumerist describes a new sandwich invention, the Angry French Canadian.

The sandwich starts with a base of egg-soaked baguette French toast. Then there's some bacon and several street vendor hot dogs -- buns included. Of course it wouldn't be French Canadian without poutine: French fries slathered in gravy and melted cheese. Oh, and don't forget the maple syrup.

Bottom Line

This might actually taste good but NOT on my diet!

P.S. Don't forget to turn the clock back tonight for the end of Daylight Savings Time.
Spring forward and Fall back.

End of Month Special: Lasagna Sandwich

"I'm not going to try it"
"Let's ask Mikey!"
"Yeah. He won't eat it - he hates everything."
"He likes it! Hey Mikey!"
- Life Cereal commercial, 1972

If the 100 layer lasagna is too much for you,
consider the Lasagna Sandwich from England. Or not. Who puts mayo on lasagna?

Ingredients: two thick slices of bread and a filling of diced beef in a tomato and herb sauce layered with cooked pasta sheets and a creamy cheddar, ricotta and mayonnaise dressing.

Bottom Line

This reminds me of a joke.

In Heaven, the wealthy live in a house with a French chef, Russian security, Italian party planner, and an English butler.

In Hell you get a house with an English cook, Italian security, Russian party planner and French butler.

(every culture has its strengths and weaknesses)

Bonus History

As today is July 31, did you ever notice that the two months named after real people both have 31 days?

July = Julius Caesar
Aug = Augustus Caesar (born Gaius Octavius Thurinus)

No puny months for these famous Romans!

Bonus Trivia

In non-leap years, no other month starts on the same day of the week as August.

The Roman Senate wanted to change September to "Tiberius" to honor the next emporer but Tiberius hated flattery of any kind. He refused the honor and ended the tradition of renaming the months.

For early Romans the year started in March.

Martius (31 days) = Mar's month (honoring the God of War)
Aprilis (30 days) = named for flowers "opening up" (aperire)?
Maius (31 days) = named for the Greek goddess of fertility, Maia?
Iunius (30 days) = named for Juno, wife of Jupiter
Quintilis (31 days) = means 5th month in Latin, now July
Sextilis (30 days) = 6th month, now August
September (30 days) = 7th month
October (31 days) = 8th month
November (30 days) = 9th month
December (30 days) = 10 month

The 50 Fattiest Foods in the States

“No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.”-George Bernard Shaw

If you're weary of dieting and eager to splurge on something "not doctor approved", then check out the The 50 Fattiest Foods in the States. Many of the items listed are fried, like catfish, chicken fried steak, corn dog, cheese curds (my favorite), empanadas, fried pastry, and frybread. Or are giant-sized portions like the 10-pound hamburger, Quadruple Bypass Burger, 7-pound burrito, 2-foot long hot dog, and the Ben & Jerry's Vermonster.

Some of the 50 items are over the top like a BLT with over a pound of bacon, pictured above, with 20+ strips! Some items on the list are puzzling like Virginia Ham. Fatty, yes, but is a slice of ham really in the same league as a 2-foot hot dog or the monster BLT?

Bottom Line
Always consider the sauces used in a dish. The Crab Louis Salad from Washington state looks healthy but has a heavy mayo dressing that pushes the dish to a day's worth of fat. In other dishes watch out for cream, butter and/or cheese as in New England Clam Chowder.

Crazy Foods

There seems to be a contest for the most unhealthy sandwich at a restaurant. The first entry was KFC's new Double Down which has bacon, cheese and a mystery sauce between two slices of fried chicken breast. ("There's so much chicken there was no room for bread.") The official menu claims this is only 500 calories but that's not believable.

Now Friendly's has introduced the new Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt which is a hamburger with two cheese sandwiches as bun. This monster clocks in at 1500 calories and 2090 mg of Sodium which I can well believe. That's all your salt and most of your day's calories in one sandwich; hold the Fries?

Bottom Line

I love eating out and I don't choose from the health menu. Few do. But you've got to draw a line at some point and say enough. One meal should not exceed the daily limits for calories and salt.

"Worst" New Foods

Red meat is not bad for you. Now blue-green meat, that’s bad for you! ~Tommy Smothers

Each year the "Eat This, Not That" organization looks at popular restaurants and publishes the Worst Food list.

"For example, Outback Steakhouse unapologetically packs 2,135 calories, 150 grams of fat, and 2,344 milligrams of sodium into their Aussie Cheese Fries. Or consider the Pizza Skins at Uno Chicago Grill, which will you cost you a day’s worth of calories and more than two days’ worth of fat and sodium."

In the list published today, the "winners" are new menu items in 2010 that are "dietary disasters."

• Wendy’s Honey BBQ Boneless Wings
• Taco Bell Bacon Ranch Tortada
• KFC Double Down
• Cosí Steakhouse Salad
• Cold Stone Creamery Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
• Panera Bread Cuban Chicken Panini
• Burger King A1 Steakhouse XT Burger
• IHOP Pancake Stackers
• Hardee’s Loaded Biscuit ‘N’ Gravy
• Hardee’s Six Dollar Grilled Cheese Bacon Thickburger
• Dairy Queen Buster Bar Blizzard (large)
• Olive Garden Five Cheese Crespelle with Sausage
• Ruby Tuesday Southwestern Quesadilla
• California Pizza Kitchen The Meat Cravers Pizza
• Applebee’s Ultimate Trio

Bottom Line

See http://eatthis.womenshealthmag.com/content/15-worst-food-creations-2010 for details on calories, salt and fat and why each item was selected. Usually the blame lies with the extras - sauce, cheese, butter, bacon, fried onions, and so on that are layered on top an otherwise good meal. Sometimes the calories are less obvious - in the Burger King A1 Steakhouse XT Burger two-thirds of the calories are in the buttery bun!

Too much food

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."-Michael Pollan

The quote above comes from Michael Pollan, a popular writer about food and the food industry. He wrote an entire book on this topic, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, which is summarized in his New York Times article, Unhappy Meals.
The first and last points are fairly "easy" to follow.

Eat food - by this he means real, natural, food with minimum (or no) artificial ingredients. As Pollan puts it, don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize. Stay close to nature and avoid food that is heavily processed or created in a laboratory.

Mostly plants - eat lots of fruits and vegetables, less meat and grains.

The middle point, Not too much, is "obvious" but not so easy to follow. What is the "right" amount of food to eat? Official portion sizes on products always seem so laughably small. But size does matter. I read one account of the 1/2 plate diet. A woman managed to lose weight by eating only half of every "normal" sized meal and saving the rest for another meal.

There are dietary guidelines for "proper" meal sizes but few of us carry a postal or food scale to measure the ounces of meat, etc, we are about to eat. In lieu of a scale, here are some visual clues to portion sizes:

Meat:
a 1 once sausage is the size of a shotgun shell (54 calories, 5g fat)
or 3 oz of beef = a deck of cards (219 cal, 13g fat)

Mashed Potatoes and most vegetables: 1/2 cup = 1/2 an apple (112 cal, 5g fat)
Just how big an apple? A fresh fruit portion size = 1 cup = a 60 watt light bulb.
The portion size for canned or sliced fruit is 1/2 cup.

Pasta: 1/2 cup cooked = fist sized (99 cal, 1g fat)
Lasagna: 8 oz = two hockey pucks (270 cal, 8g fat)
Bagel: one hockey puck
Pancake: one CD sized
Cornbread: a bar of soap

Soup: 1 cup = baseball (175 cal, 6g fat for chicken-noodle)

Ice Cream: 1/2 cup = tennis ball (143 cal, 7g fat)

Cheese: 1 oz = 4 dice cubed or 1 ping-pong ball
(107 cal, 8g fat for Swiss; 80 cal, 6g fat for mozzarella)

Bottom Line

I tried to find some rule of "thumb" to portion visualization but it's confusing when the same web site uses a tennis ball for 1 cup of pasta and a 1/2 cup of fruit. Seems backwards to me. I'd expect the pasta to have more air space and look bigger. One site says 2 dice for 1 oz of cheese, another says 4 dice. So apply these rules with a grain of salt.

Resources

http://education.wichita.edu/caduceus/examples/servings/household_items.htm

http://education.wichita.edu/caduceus/examples/servings/handy_reminders.htm

http://www.ped.med.utah.edu/pku/pdf/portion.pdf

http://www.myfooddiary.com/Resources/estimating_serving_sizes.asp

Restaurant Tricks

The disparity between a restaurant's price and food quality rises in direct proportion to the size of the pepper mill.”-Bryan Miller

Check out the article, Recipe for Survival: 23 Ways Restaurants Save Money, at http://www.couponsherpa.com/. How many of the price reducing techniques have you experienced? Examples:

1. Shrinking portion sizes
Not a bad thing really, most meals have way too much food.

2. Eliminating the extras
I miss the days of jam at every table at diners. Now I’m served one mini-tub of jam on my plate for each slice of bread and have to ask for more or a different flavor than grape and strawberry. Recently I was charged for lettuce as extra on my hamburger.

3. Mystery Meat
Watch out for meat reconstituted from parts or a cheaper meat substitute. Some dishonest places may serve a pork cutlet as veal Parmesan or a cheaper fish in place of the expensive one you asked for.

4. Watered down drinks
My grandfather always ordered his soda “without ice” to get full value.

5. Smaller plates
A small plate fools the eye into thinking there is more food. And it’s a good diet trick too.

Bottom Line

See the full article for all 23 tricks. Most of these are fair and understandable. Some are gross or illegal like recycling leftover bread or soda pitchers.
When carried to extremes these “cost saving” measures may drive away loyal customers who remember the good ole days. One of the comments on the article describes how profits fell when customers stopped returning so the boss switched back to bigger portions.

The Hotdog Kid

“Can we eat these at home?” - young girl asking her vegetarian parents after discovering hotdogs at a church event

Years ago, when I met with a nutritionist to lose weight, one food that was banned from my diet was hotdogs. A starchy roll with processed meat & chemicals that supplies one-third of your daily fat, and nearly half your daily sugar/carbs. [dietfact.com] Yet there is no denying that Americans, especially children, love them. My older sister, (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) went through a phase where she refused to eat anything but hotdogs and earned the nickname “Hotdog Kid” from our grandfather.

Nearly every meat-eating culture in the world has invented some form of sausage to use meat scraps. So, while it is no easy task discovering the origin of hotdogs, it may be safe to give credit to the Germans/Austrians. The city of Vienna claims the Wienerwurst or Viennese sausage, the city of Frankfurt takes credit for the Frankfurter Wurst (1480), and a Bavarian butcher is said to have invented the "dachshund" or "little-dog" sausage. German immigrant, Charles Feltman, began selling sausages in rolls on Coney Island around 1870. [Wikipedia]

To my surprise, the top vendor of hot dogs is 7-Eleven with 100 million sold annually in North America. Or you can go upscale and find turkey dogs, chicken dogs, tofu dogs, wild boar sausages, etc. Last weekend we purchased some hotdog shaped venison & garlic sausages in sheep casing. On the rare event we do buy “hotdogs” for our home, my wife prefers the flavor and quality of kosher all-beef franks from Hebrew National. I still love their commercial of Uncle Sam looking at a hot dog with filler and then looking upwards when the announcer states that Hebrew National answers to “a higher authority”.

Bottom Line

Most hotdogs (as opposed to sausages) are precooked and can be eaten cold if not spoiled. Many doctors recommend that pregnant women heat hot dogs (and other pre-cooked, pre-packaged foods) to 160-170°F (70-77°C) for at least two minutes before consuming to reduce the chance of contracting Listeriosis (caused by a rare bacterium that can thrive at refrigerator temperatures) which can affect unborn children or even cause miscarriage or still birth. [Wikipedia]

For fun facts and fun places to eat hotdogs, check out the PBS documentary, A Hot Dog Program.

Fast Food Trivia

“I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, "I'd like some fries." The girl at the counter said, "Would you like some fries with that?"”- Jay Leno

For fun, here is some Fast Food Trivia:

• The most popular meal requested by death row inmates is Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
• In 2002 there were 600 Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in China. China is the second largest fast food market after the United States.
• America spends more on fast food than is spent on college education, computers, software, or new cars.
• McDonald's is the world's largest purchaser of beef, potatoes, and apples.
• McDonald's opens a new restaurant every 4 hours.
• McDonald's spends over 1 Billion dollars a year, worldwide, for radio, television and print advertising.
• Americans eat about 13 billion hamburgers a year, enough to circle the world 32 times.
• A standard pizza in Italy contains 500 to 800 calories. A medium cheese pizza at Pizza Hut has up to 2,160 calories.
• At Dairy Queen, turning a vanilla ice cream cone into a "dipped" cone adds 13 grams of fat to a cone.
• Sbarro, now over 1000 outlets strong, began as an Italian grocery store in Brooklyn, selling mozzarella, imported cheese, sausage, and salami.
• There are approximately 3.5 million fast-food workers in the United States.
• The Atlanta Bread Company has the motto "the sun never rises twice on our bread" because leftover bakery items are donated to local charities on a daily basis.
• While many web sites say Wendy's “invented” the modern drive-thru window at their second restaurant in 1970, In-n-Out Burger claims to have invented the drive-thru in 1948. Wikipedia gives 1975 as the date for the first McDonald's drive-thru window.
• Wendy’s offered the first “Value Menu” in 1988.
• None of Chick-fil-A's sandwiches break the 500-calorie barrier, a rarity among fast foods.
• In contrast, although Chipotle uses fresh, natural ingredients, most entrees break the 800-calorie, 40-fat-gram barrier.

Bottom Line
Value Menus, Dollar menus and super-sizing are now starting to look pretty good during a depressed economy. They may be bad for you, but oh what a deal! Yet beware! Obesity and poor nutrition will cost you more in sickness and poor health then you’ll save by buying cheap. See the film, Super Size Me, for the health problems of a fast food diet.

Here are two sites with recommendations for “healthier” fast foods:
The Best Fast Food Meals Under 500 Calories
Fast Food Meals Under 500 Calories by OSF HealthCare

How to Eat Healthy when Eating Out

“No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.” - George Bernard Shaw

http://www.menshealth.com/ recommends 10 Ways to Make Fast Food Healthy

• Hamburgers & Sandwiches – skip the special sauces and mayo. Use BBQ sauce, ketchup and mustard instead. Stay away from high calorie bread like Panera Asiago Cheese Foccacia. Avoid any sandwich that says “melt” – the bread is soaked with melted butter. Try eating your hamburger or sandwich open face and toss away one of the buns.
  
• Pizza – Reduce the crust calories by ordering thin crust. Skip the high fat toppings like pepperoni (yum!) and sausage. Order ham or vegetables instead.
  
• Salads – omit extras like cheese, bacon, and fried chicken bits. Make sure your salad dressing is lite or fat-free
  
• Burrito – split a giant burrito with a friend – most are way too big for one person. Or ask for a burrito bowl where the fillings are mixed with salad greens.
  
• Breakfast Sandwich – for diet ham beats bacon and bacon beats sausage. Skip the cheese and ask for an English muffin instead of a bagel, biscuit or croissant.
  
• Chicken – go for grilled or skinless. Watch out for anything fried.
  
• Beverages – many “fruit” smoothies are loaded with sugar or corn syrup. For fancy coffee drinkers, ask for skim milk or milk foam. Don’t add whip cream on top. If you like a shot of syrup flavoring, use a sugar-free flavor.

Bottom Line

As mentioned in an earlier post, fast food places can take healthy food items and create a calorie nightmare with butter soaked bread, cheese, added sugar, salt, etc. Order the simplest food possible with the fewest mystery ingredients.

My wife & I went to Taco Bell recently and shared a burrito and tostada from their dollar menu for less than $2 total. We could have (should have?) spent a little more and ordered from their new “Fresco” menu which lowers the fat and calories by using salsa instead of cheese and sauces. It’s nice to see Taco Bell trying to market “healthy” items again.

Good Fast Food

“One of the glories of New York is its ethnic food, and only McDonald’s and Burger King equalize us all.” - John Corry, NY Times Reporter

Since I've written a few posts on "bad" fast food, I'll balance that with a survey of the "best" fast food places. A recent survey by Sandelman & Associates, a market research and consumer-trends firm, shows that customers mostly prefer regional or smaller national fast food and chain restaurants. The winners were:

Top 10 Chains in Customer Satisfaction
1. In-N-Out Burger, Irvine, Calif., 60%
2. Raising Cane’s, Baton Rouge, La., 59%
3. Giordano’s Pizza, Chicago, 56%
4. Chick-fil-A, Atlanta, 55%
5. Panera Bread, St. Louis, 54%
6. Chipotle, Denver, 52%
7. Pei Wei, Scottsdale, Ariz., 51%
8. Firehouse Subs, Jacksonville, Fla., 51%
9. Taco Tote, El Paso, Texas, 50%
10. Qdoba, Wheat Ridge, Colo., 49%

Bottom Line
Of those listed, I've eaten at and would recommend Panera and Chipotle. I've never seen the others.