Every day, one quarter of us eat at least one meal away from home. Fast food restaurants and casual dining chains have added low-fat and lower calorie menu options to keep us healthy.
But, a special Health Edge investigation shows many of these choices are not what they claim.
CAROLYN CLIFFORD REPORTS IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ON THE RIGHTWe never think of food as a killer, but we know that too much food loaded with fat and empty calories can lead to diabetes, heart disease even cancer. That’s why so many of us take the time to read the nutrition information published by our favorite restaurants.
But when we tested food from several popular restaurant chains, we found serious discrepancies in their fat and calorie counts.
Obesity is a major problem in America. In fact, serious diseases linked to what we eat kill three out of four Americans. That’s why so many people, like Crystal Lee, are motivated to lose weight.
“There were two risks I was scared of and that’s diabetes and high blood pressure,” said Crystal.
Since she likes to eat out, she counts on low fat/low calorie options at her favorite restaurants
Our Health Edge investigation identified national chain restaurants that advertise low fat and or low calorie menu options.
Working with our sister stations in eight cities across the country, we bought items off the low fat/low calorie menus at Macaroni Grill, Chili's, and Applebee's.
Next, we placed each sample in a Ziploc bag, labeled it and packed it on ice in a cooler.
We all shipped our samples overnight to EPA certified analytical laboratories in Boise, Idaho.
Once our food arrived at ALI, lab technicians unpacked, logged and weighed each sample.
Then, to simulate how our bodies digest food, the lab put each sample in a food processor.
Then the chemists mathematically determined the amount of fat and calories in each serving.
Here’s what they found:
Of the 15 samples tested – all but one were way over on either calories or fat content or both.
The worst offender in our test was the Macaroni Grill on 7 Mile in Livonia.
We got a carryout order of the Pollo Magro Skinny Chicken. Macaroni Grill says it should have 500 calories and 6 grams of fat. Our meal had 1,022 calories – more than double, and 49 grams of fat – eight times the amount listed on the company website.
Our nutrition expert thinks it’s pretty obvious why this meal is way over on fat and calories – the large amount of cheese and huge piece of bread.
Christine Eagle, clinical nutrition mgr. Beaumont Hospital, said “Some of the menus that actually have skinny options that there may have had sides that come with it that weren’t included in the nutritional analysis.”
The same menu item, without the bread, was tested by our colleagues in Cincinnati. Their sample had only 320 calories – but was still way over on fat grams - with 14.
Other serious offenders were:
Chili’s Guiltless Grilled Salmon, which was supposed to have has 480 calories and 14 grams of fat, but our test showed 664 calories and 35 and a half grams of fat.
Macaroni grill and Chilis are owned by Brinkers International. They told us: “We strive to ensure nutritional information we provide to our guests is accurate based on standard recipes across our restaurants nationwide...to the extent that any of the items ordered were not prepared to our exacting standards, we apologize to our valued guests.”
But what this proves is we may not be able to count on restaurants to look out for our health
Applebees restaurant has a Weight Watchers section on its menu. The menu says the Cajun Lime Tilapia has 310 calories and 6 grams of fat, but our test showed 399 calories and 12.7 grams of fat.
Crystal has lost 25 pounds following the Weight Watchers plan, she says that kind of mistake could sabotage her efforts.
“They use a name or trademark that is successful to lure you in there, and they don’t make the same commitment that that organization has to helping you make a healthy choice.”
Applebees sent us a statement in which they said, “We regularly test our Weight Watchers menu items at an independent lab…our most recent testing confirmed that our menu items are 94 percent compliant.
“We have to take some responsibility for what we order and knowing that we have to have a little education going into the restaurant,” said Eagle.
Because…
“No hour on the treadmill is going to make up for that,” said Crystal.
The one dish that did match the restaurant’s published fat and calories was the simple salmon from a Macaroni Grill location in the Cleveland area.
