What's worse for you than fast food? Lotsa things.


To quote the late, great king of schizophrenic rock, Wesley Willis: "McDonald's will make you fat!" He was onto something, of course, but now watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest is saying that lots of American restaurants will make you fat -- and moreso than ever before -- despite recent alarm bells that obesity in our fair nation is reaching epidemic proportions. "Rather than compete to make their products healthier, restaurant chains are competing with each other to make their appetizers, main courses, and desserts bigger, badder, and cheesier than ever before," a CPSI report said.
If this isn't exactly surprising, then we here at the floss thought that some of the stats they quoted were. The Cheesecake Factory's super-indulgent Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake, for instance, is a 1,380-calorie feast-ival which is the equivalent of "two Quarter Pounders plus a large fries - for dessert." (Wesley Willis, eat your heart out!) The Cheesecake Factory's cheesecake? 610 calories and 29 grams of saturated fat -- that's like eating an 8 oz. prime rib ... for dessert.
More fun stats (from the watchdog group's "10 foods you should NEVER eat" list) after the jump!
The Starbucks Venti (20 oz.) Caffè Mocha with whipped cream is more than a mere cup of coffee. Think of it as a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in a cup. Few people have room in their diets for the 490 calories and 16 grams of bad fat that this hefty beverage supplies. But you can lose all the bad fat and all but 170 calories if you order a tall (12 oz.) with nonfat milk and no whipped cream.
Unless you're suicidal, why on earth would you want to wolf down a Burger King Quad Stacker "“ 4 hamburger patties, 4 slices of cheese, 8 strips of bacon, plus sauce and a bun? That's half-a-day's calories (1,000), one-and-a-half-days' worth of saturated fat (30 grams), 3 grams of trans fat, and more than a day's sodium (1,800 mg). Urp!
A Mint Chip Dazzler at Häagen-Dazs stores (three scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, Oreos, chocolate sprinkles, and whipped cream) has 1,270 calories and 38 grams of saturated fat "“ that's two days' worth. Think of it as a portable T-bone steak with Caesar salad, and baked potato with sour cream. But that's dinner "“ yet many people have a Dazzler as a dessert after lunch and dinner!