I always love reading Eat This, Not That published by Rodale publishing. I think of it as my survival guide when I go out to eat. Unfortunately in Missouri, like most places in the United States, it is rare that a restaurant or fast food joint has to disclose exactly how much calories and fat you are putting into your body. I remember my shock recently on a trip to California, when I looked at the menu at McDonald's and saw what the numbers of a Big Mac Extra Value Meal actually were.
My friends often tell me that I over-react when it comes to food. "Why don't you just live a little?" they often demand. Here's the thing: Is that really living? What food I put into my body defines the life I live? I refuse to think that it is careless disregard that it is the sign of a good life. At 40, I think that not paying attention to my diet is more likely going to lead me to an early and miserable grave. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and a myriad of diseases have been linked to poor eating choices, but rarely has eating healthy been described as bad for you. Yet, on a daily basis I am told I should just eat pizza, or a greasy burger, or a piece of cake, or hot wings. They won't sway me because here's the secret: I remember the people I cared about the most, the people I see every day, and my own past. I watch as the individual in the motorized cart attempts to get the fried wings at K-Mart that were just a little out of reach the other day. I feel empathy for the man who tries with all his might to fit in his seat on the airplane and has to ask for an extension for his seatbelt. I remember my grandmother who died from cancer. I remember my father who died from heart disease. I remember my own embarassment when I was 300 pounds and I would leave my shirt on when I would go swimming.
Obesity numbers continue to rise in the United States. It's not about vanity. It's about living the life you want to live. A life not defined by food or eating. A life defined by the way you affect the world versus how we take from it. Eating is not bad, and should never be looked at as that. EATING IS GOOD. We are a grocery store after all. But as
Harter House, we want you to be a customer for a long, long time. We love our customers. We have been a part of this community and have become close friends with many of you.
It's about the small changes. The little things we can add or take-away. With this in mind, the following is reprinted from the
Eat This / Not That blog. The 10 Worst Foods in America, along with the substitutions they recommend:
10. Outback Steakhouse Baby Back Ribs (full rack)
2,012 calories
160 g fat (59 g saturated)
2,600 mg sodium Keep in mind that this caloric heft comes without the addition of Aussie Fries, which will invariably adorn most of the plates at Outback. Nor does it take into account the free brown bread and salad that comes with every entrée order. For all that you can factor in an extra 800 calories or so, bringing the total damage dangerously close to the 3,000-calorie threshold. That much energy will add nearly a pound of fat to your body, which means if you start eating this meal once a week, one year from today you’ll have 41 extra pounds of baby-back body fat hanging from your midsection.
Eat This Instead!
Outback Special (9 oz)
445 calories
23 g fat (11.5 g saturated)
610 mg sodium 9. Denny's Smokin' Q Three Pack
2,020 calories
110 g fat (22 g saturated, 3 g trans)
3,570 mg sodium Okay, technically this is three burgers, but the idea behind the mini-burger is that the restrained vessels will help you knock off some calories from the hulking mothership burger that inspired them. Rarely, though, does it actually work out that way. In fact, after searching high and low, we still haven’t found a single slider or mini-burger safe enough to order. Skip them all, but these especially, which up the caloric ante by crowning the not-so-mini patties with both bacon and onion crispers. They may look harmless, but this trio will knock out your entire day’s caloric allotment.
Eat This Instead!
Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich
520 calories
35 g fat (8 g saturated, 0.5 g trans)
620 mg sodium 8. Cold Stone Creamery PB&C Shake (Gotta Have It size, 24 fl oz)
2,030 calories
131 g fat (68 g saturated, 2.5 g trans)
153 g sugars A couple years ago, Baskin-Robbins’ milk shake line could have easily claimed the top five worst drinks in America, but when it decided to reel in some of the caloric excesses, Cold Stone’s PB&C was left exposed as the biggest bully on the block. And the damage is severe: This blended peanut-butter-cup concoction makes it possible to slurp down a day’s worth of energy with a mere 10-minute straw session. We hope Cold Stone decides to follow Baskins’ lead and downsize this atrocity, but if not, we’re happy to keep doling out the negative publicity.
Eat This Instead!
Sinless Oh Fudge! Shake (Like It size, 16 oz)
490 calories
2 g fat (2 g saturated)
44 g sugars
7. IHOP "Big" Country Breakfast
2,040 calories
55 g saturated fat
159 g carbohydrates
4,500 mg sodium Here’s the anatomy of a breakfast disaster: Take a 12-ounce steak, bread it, fry it, and then cover it with gravy. Then, on the side, drop three eggs and three buttermilk pancakes. Does it not occur to IHOP that this is actually three full meals? And that two of those meals—all but the eggs—are the sort of indulgences that should be eaten only in extreme moderation? If this is the first thing you eat in the morning, don’t even bother getting out of bed.
Eat This Instead!
Turkey Bacon Omelette for Me
470 calories
25 g fat (11 g saturated)
890 mg sodium
6. Baja Fresh Charbroiled Steak Nachos
2,120 calories
118 g fat (44 g saturated, 4.5 g trans)
2,990 mg sodium If the full day of calories doesn’t get you, then the 2 days of saturated fat will. If that saturated fat doesn’t bring you to your knees, then the 2 days of trans fat surely will. If the trans fat doesn’t wreak total havoc on your system . . . we could go on like this for days. Is it just us, or is it slightly disturbing that you could eat eight full steak tacos and still take in fewer calories than what’s found in this plate of cheesy chips? Stick to two tacos and save nearly a half pound of body fat in one sitting.
Eat This Instead!
2 Original Baja Steak Tacos
460 calories
16 g fat (4 g saturated)
520 mg sodium
5. Outback Steakhouse Kookaburra Wings
2,145 calories
185 g fat (75 g saturated)
3,711 mg sodium Outside of Outback, a kookaburra is an Australian bird that makes a noise like a chuckling human. Inside Outback, “kookaburra” denotes a piece of fried chicken that’s been lacquered with egregious amounts of fat and sodium. Even if you have two other victims to help defray the damage, you’ll still wind up with 715 calories and well over a day’s worth of saturated fat. It would be easier on your gut if you just skipped the appetizer and instead wolfed down a Burger King Whopper on your way to dinner.
Eat This Instead!
Grilled Shrimp on the Barbie
315 calories
21 g fat (9 g saturated)
561 mg sodium
4. Uno Chicago Grill Classic Deep Dish Pizza (individual size)
2,310 calories
165 g fat (54 g saturated)
4,920 mg soidum
In all the years we’ve been putting this list together, this pizza from Uno’s is the only item to never budge from the hyper-caloric countdown. While a number of burgers, salads, and pastas battle it out for the dubious distinction of being America’s worst, there is simply no competition for this nightmarish creation. With a day’s worth of calories, more than 2 days’ worth of sodium, and nearly 3 days’ worth of fat, bread, cheese, and sauce have never been stretched to such extremes.
Eat This Instead!
Cheese and Tomato Flatbread Pizza (1/2 pizza) and a house side salad
495 calories
22 g fat (8 g saturated)
1,065 mg sodium
3. Cheesecake Factory Crispy Chicken Costoletta
2,494 calories
85 g saturated fat
1,677 mg sodium Here’s the secret to stuffing more than a day’s worth of energy—mostly from fat—into a plate of chicken and vegetables: First, pound the chicken until it’s paper thin. That provides the most possible surface area on which to attach oily breading. Then, cover the whole plate with a layer of butter. In this case, Cheesecake uses what they call “lemon sauce,” but don’t be fooled. You don’t get 4 days’ worth of saturated fat from lemons. To complete the caper, toss on a few token asparagus spears to make them think they’re eating healthy. Yeah, right. Nice try.
Eat This Instead!
The Factory Burger
737 calories
15 g saturated fat
1,018 mg sodium
2. Uno Chicago Grill Mega-Sized Deep Dish Sundae
2,800 calories
136 g fat (72 g saturated)
272 g sugars Uno Chicago Grill has a dangerous obsession with deep dishes. Not content merely serving the worst pizza in America from those calorie-collecting troughs, they use the same vessel to dish out the worst dessert in the country, too. The crust is replaced with an enormous cookie, the tomato sauce with a thick river of molten chocolate, and the cheese with a mountain of vanilla ice cream. The only thing keeping this from the bottom slot in our Worst Food countdown is the fact that Uno’s encourages sharing, but even if you split this dessert four ways, you’ll still take in more than twice as many calories as you would with a hot fudge sundae at McDonald’s.
Eat This Instead!
Mini Hot Chocolate Brownie Sundae
370 calories
16 g fat (8 g saturated)
38 g sugars
1. Cheesecake Factory Bistro Shrimp Pasta
2,727 calories
78 g saturated fat
1,737 mg sodium The troubling truth is this entire list of America’s Worst Foods could be fueled solely by the Cheesecake Factory’s atrocious fare. No restaurant combines elephantine portion sizes with a heavy-handed application of cheap cooking fats more recklessly than the Factory folk, resulting in dishes like the 2,582-calorie Chicken and Biscuits and the 2,455-calorie French Toast Napoleon. But it’s a relatively healthy-sounding plate of shrimp pasta that wears the tainted crown, delivering to your bloodstream more saturated fat than you’d find in three packages of Oscar Mayer Center Cut Bacon and as many carbs as you’d slurp down from 1½ cases of Amstel Light. Gross.
Eat This Instead!
Grilled Mahi Mahi
237 calories
1 g saturated fat
364 mg sodium 
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