that's a big burger

I came across this article about Hardee's new "Monster Thickburger" which consists of two one-third pound beef patties, three slices of cheese, four strips of bacon, and mayo and packs 1420 calories with 107 grams of fat. Disgusting. What I'm noticing is that there's something of an uproar -- including lots of ribs by the late-night comedians -- occurring because of this thing because of the fact that it's just so bad for you. Is this thing new?

I'm looking at McDonald's nutritional values page (which wasn't easy to find, I might add -- their search feature conveniently wouldn't link me directly so I had to guess, cut, and paste the URL) and seeing that the double quarter-pounder that they offer (and have since I worked there when I was 16) has 730 calories and 40 grams of fat. Add on a Large fry from the value meal (520 calories, 25 grams of fat) and you have 1250 calories and 65 grams of fat. Coke doesn't have any fat, but a large one has 310 calories...bringing the total to 1560 calories and 65 grams of fat in a large Double Quarter Pounder Value Meal (a Big Mac meal would save you 170 calories and 10 grams of fat -- just to inform you). Hardly much better than the new Hardee's burger...granted, that's just the burger that's that disgusting, but it's still worth the comparison.

Just for the sake of comparison...check out McDonald's Chicken Selects®. A five-piece order with ranch sauce has 830 calories and 54 grams of fat (buffalo sauce 690 calories and 39 grams of fat). Add on the large fries and large Coke for the meal and you have 1660 calories and 79 grams of fat -- more than the Double Quarter Pounder Meal. And I thought chicken was supposed to be good for you?

But that's not all. Using Burger King's nifty (and consumer friendly and easily findable) nutritional caluclator, their Double Whopper® with Cheese has 1060 calories and 69 grams of fat. Order it in a meal and King Size the thing and you'll receive a pack of fries with 600 calories and 30 grams of fat as well as a huge Coke with 390 calories bringing the total for the entire meal to...(drumroll here)...2050 calories and 99 grams of fat. So much worse than the Double Quarter Pounder meal (albeit large meal...McDonald's did fail to show stats for "super-sized" fries and Coke).

Biggie Size® a Wendy's Classic Triple® with Cheese with bacon meal and you'll have 1630 calories and 78 grams of fat.

Nutritional Links:

McDonald's
Burger King
Wendy's
Hardee's
Subway (.pdf file)
Arby's (.pdf file)
Taco Bell (.pdf file)