The WORST take-away meals to order if you’re on a diet & what to get instead

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

There's a problem though... We all know that take-out food is not good for us. Movies like Supersize Me have made it clear that living on take-outs is a quick way to ruin your health and put on some weight.

However, the chaos of real life dictates that pretty much every one of us will end up in the drive-thru queue at some point. And with all the variety at most take-out chains, the question becomes 'What is the WORST thing I could order here? Which meal will be most hazardous to my weight-loss efforts?'

"

Which meal will be most hazardous to my weight-loss efforts?'

"

So here is a quick breakdown of the worst meals to order at some of South Africa's most popular take-out chains.

I have used nutritional information published by the companies on their websites as reference material. Sugar, saturated fat, sodium and glycaemic carbohydrates were the most important factors in deciding the worst meal:

1.     McDonalds

The worst meal at McDonalds is a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal. The burger contains 740 calories with more than half of those coming from fat. It has 19g or saturated fat (96% of the Recommended Daily Value), 1300mg of sodium and 10g of sugar. It also packs more than half of your total daily value of cholesterol.

Add the medium French fries to the mix at 340 calories and 2.5g saturated fat (11% of your daily value - 96% in the burger plus 11% in the fries equals 107%) plus the medium Coke at 200 calories and 55g of sugar and you've eaten enough calories to get you through a day and enough fat, sugar and carbs for three (or more) meals.

What to get instead?

For a more weight-loss friendly meal get a Double Hamburger - not the meal, just the burger. 366kcal, 10g saturated fat and 5.6g sugar is not going to wreck your progress.

1. Prev:4 Tips to turn BREAKFAST into a WEIGHT-LOSS tool
2. Next:4 SIMPLE things that stop you from losing weight & how to CHANGE them now