Eat This Not That

1. BEST PLACE FOR A SIT-DOWN BREAKFAST   DENNY’S

Not That!
Heartland Scramble
1,160 calories
63 g fat (19 g saturated)
2,930 mg sodium

Calorie Equivalent: 6 Krispy Kreme Glazed Doughnuts

Eat This Instead!
Build Your Own Grand Slam with Egg Whites, Bacon, English Muffin, and Fruit
320 calories
6 g fat (2 g saturated)
567 mg sodium

Eat This, Not That! No-Diet Diet savings:  840 calories, 57 g fat (17 g saturated), and 2,364 mg of sodium

  

Denny’s Heart Scrambler—Heartland Scramble, I mean—contains about a day’s worth of sodium and saturated fat. This entrée represents the old model for breakfast diners: Take a healthy food like scrambled eggs and stuff it with so much fat- and sodium-loaded junk that patrons feel like they’re getting a bargain. In reality, you're just getting an excuse to buy new pants—bigger ones. Thankfully, Denny’s is making changes. This Grand Slam is part of the chain’s Better For You Menu, which provides 250 meal combinations all under 550 calories. If you plan on crafting your own Better For You Slam, here are a couple of points to note: One, choose egg whites over whole eggs. It’s not that whole eggs are bad for you, but Denny’s cooks them with so much butter that each two-egg order ends up with 21 grams of fat and 260 calories. And two, choose regular bacon over turkey bacon. Both options provide 70 calories per serving, but the regular stuff saves you 100 milligrams of sodium over turkey bacon.  

 2. BEST PLACE FOR AN ON-THE-GO BREAKFAST
 STARBUCKS  

Not That!
Blueberry Scone and a Grande Tazo Tea Latte (with 2% milk)
700 calories
26 g fat (14.5 g saturated)
58 g sugars

Sugar Equivalent: 29 servings (1.2 tubs) of Extra Creamy Cool Whip

Eat This Instead!
Egg White, Spinach & Feta Wrap and a Venti Nonfat Cappuccino
390 calories
10 g fat (3.5 saturated)
18 g sugars

Eat This, Not That! No-Diet Diet savings:  310 calories, 16 g fat (11 g saturated), and 40 g sugar

Have you seen Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory? The scene where Violet Beauregard bloats up like a giant blueberry? That’s basically what scones do to your body—even “healthy” blueberry scones like this one. (That’s why we deemed it one of the 19 Worst Breakfasts in America.) Muffins, scones, or danishes—they’re all just pastries, which means they’re made from little more than fast-digesting carbohydrates. Eat these things for breakfast and they’ll spike your blood sugar and insulin levels and force your body to store glucose as fat. Starbuck’s Wrap invokes the opposite response. The combination of spinach and protein-rich eggs provide a nice nutritional balance, but the real accomplishment is the fiber. It’s rare to find a grab-and-go breakfast with more than a couple grams, and this wrap has an astonishing 6! That’s enough to keep your hunger stifled, your body energized, and your belly flat.

3. BEST PLACE FOR A FAST-FOOD LUNCH
CARL’S JR

Guacamole Bacon Six Dollar Burger
1,040 calories
72 g fat (24 g saturated)
2,240 mg sodium

Fat Equivalent: 31 Oreo Cookies

Eat This Instead!

Eat This, Not That! Teriyaki Turkey Burger
470 calories
14 g fat (5 g saturated)
1,120 mg sodium
32 g protein

Look as hard as you like, but you won’t find a burger at this size with less fat. That’s because this burger uses lean turkey instead of fatty beef, and still packs plenty of flavor thanks to a light jacket of teriyaki sauce. Besides, look at the alternatives. Not one burger in Carl’s line of Six Dollar Burgers—save for the bun-less, low-carb version—contains fewer than 900 calories. If you begin your order with a Guacamole Six Dollar Burger and finish it off with medium fries and a 20-ounce soda, you’re facing 1,630 flab-making calories. (Note: The Teriyaki Turkey Burger will be available at Carl's Jr. on March 23.)

By: Matt Goulding