Unhealthiest Mall Food

AMERICA - Get a grip! If you're eating 'mall food' to begin with - STOP NOW!

I found this article on Yahoo.com today written by David Zinczenko, a food author I am really starting to enjoy. I always find this stuff so interesting for one reason in particular. Throughout my teen years and up until 2005, I was at my heaviest of 155 lbs, on my frame of 5'2. I was one of those people eating the mall food, not watching what I was eating at all, EVER. A) Because I didn't care, and B) Because I didn't know how to eat healthy, and I certainly had no education about calorie intake.

Tonight on ABC 8/7c is Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution premier. I have it recorded in case I can't sit down to watch it. I hope you all can do the same and learn something!

Anyway - Here is the article below, enjoy! Also, in red at the bottom of each section, I have added a tip of my own that is a healthier option.

Worst Mall Drink

Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo’d (22 oz)

770 calories

20 g fat (4.5 g saturated)

108 g sugars

The scary thing about this 22-ounce shake is that you can consume nearly half a day’s worth of calories in 3 minutes of spirited sipping, all under the pseudohealthy banner of the sacred smoothie. What’s even scarier is you’ll be slurping up the sugar equivalent of 6 packs of peanut M&M’s, all while thinking you’re doing your body a favor. While at Jamba, stick to their impressive list of smoothies in the All Fruit and Light categories.

Bonus tip: For thousands of tips and tricks like this one, download Eat This, Not That! to your iPhone. It’s like having your own personal nutritionist in your pocket wherever you go--with facts on more than 100,000 restaurant and supermarket foods.

Drink This Instead!
Jamba Juice Mango Mantra (16 oz)
150 calories
0.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
27 g sugars

SAVE 620 CALORIES AND 20 GRAMS OF FAT! Make this smart swap just a couple times a week and lose more than 15 pounds a year!

OR: Make your own smoothie at home, got a blender? Lately, what I have been doing is buying frozen fruit in the frozen section at the grocery store (blueberries, peaches, strawberries, and also fresh bananas.) I drop some fruit into the blender (not much) and add 1/2 cup skim milk and a couple ice cubes. This makes for a great smoothie without all the added sugar. Calories add up to about 80-90 per smoothies for 5-6 onces. Great thing to enjoy after a workout, instead of having a meal.

Worst Slice of Pizza

Sbarro Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza (1 slice)

890 calories

42 g fat

3,200 mg sodium

The architecture of this thing makes it less like a slice of pizza and more like a pizza-inspired Chipotle Burrito. It relies on an oversize shell of oily bread to hold together a gooey wad of cheese and pepperoni. The net result is a pizza pocket with two-thirds of your day’s fat and more than a day’s worth of sodium. And the traditional pizza slices aren’t much better; few fall below 600 calories. If you want to do well at Sbarro, think thin crust with nothing but produce on top.

Bonus tip: Another bit of menu magic: Order anything from the 20 Best Restaurant Foods in America, and leave the restaurant feeling satisfied with your healthy and delicious dish. You'll enjoy the healthiest versions of your favorite meals.

Eat This Instead!
Sbarro New York Style Fresh Tomato Pizza (1 slice)
450 calories
14 g fat
1,040 mg sodium

SAVE 440 CALORIES AND 28 GRAMS OF FAT! Make this smart swap just a couple times a week and lose more than 10 pounds of fat in a year.

OR: Have a Lean Cuisine pizza! I love pizza and always crave it. I always have Lean Cuisine pizzas on hand, and they are never over 350 calories (for the entire thing!) They have many different combinations and they are really good. Sometimes I even add a little extra cheese.

Worst Chinese Meal

Panda Express Orange Chicken with Fried Rice

970 calories

38 g fat (7.5 g saturated)

1,540 mg sodium

It’s unfortunate that this dish happens to be one of the most popular on Panda’s menu. Consider the recipe: Battered and fried, then coated in a sugary syrup. It’s like Colonel Sanders meets Willy Wonka. Pair with a scoop of fried rice and you’ve got a dish with serious flab-enhancing potential. Here’s a better survival strategy: Skip the rice altogether and choose steamed veggies instead. Then pick any entrée besides orange chicken.

Bonus tip: You already know to watch out for calories from food. But we consume about a quarter of our day’s calories in liquid form. Read The 40 Best and Worst Beers to find out how that’s possible, and look for the upcoming Drink This, Not That! book, which shows you how to make the smartest choices in the entire beverage world.

Eat This Instead!
Panda Express Broccoli with Eggplant and Tofu
460 calories
30 g fat (4.5 g saturated)
1,400 mg sodium

SAVE 510 CALORIES AND 8 GRAMS OF FAT.

OR: Make your own Chinese salad at home! All you would need is grilled chicken (any seasonings) lettuce, almonds, purple cabbage, sesame seeds, low-cal orange vinagrette, and wontons, if you choose!

Worst Sandwich

Panera Bread Full Chipotle Chicken on Artisan French

990 calories

56 g fat (15 g saturated, 1 g trans)

2,370 mg sodium

Panera, home to soups, salads, and a general feeling of well-being (not to mention free Wi-Fi!), benefits from a beaming health halo—a perceived virtuousness that doesn’t necessarily play out in the hard realities of their nutritional stats. Yes, you can carefully construct a well-balanced 500-calorie meal, but you can also unknowingly consume 1,500 calories without breaking a sweat. Take this sandwich: It begins innocently enough (chicken and white bread), but is supported by a scurrilous cast of bacon strips, high-fat chipotle sauce, and a tarp of cheddar cheese, the most fattening of cheese choices.

Bonus tip: Sandwiches can be excellent lunch choices, or utter diet destroyers. See the 30 Worst Sandwiches in America for more examples like this one.

Eat This Instead!
Panera Bread Full Smoked Turkey on Country Miche Bread
560 calories
17 g fat (2.5 g saturated)
1,960 mg sodium

SAVE 430 CALORIES AND 39 GRAMS OF FAT!

OR: SUBWAY, HELLO!!! Subway is delicious, and cheap! I feel like I know Jared personally, don't you? Subway is great, because their nutrition info is right in front of your face when you order. I always get either, turkey on honey oat and load it with veggies, or, a plain veggie on honey oat, and it never disapoints! Very satisfying.

The Worst Mall Food in America

Cinnabon Regular Caramel Pecanbun

1,100 calories

56 g fat (10 g saturated, 5 g trans)

47 g sugars

141 g carbohydrates

Cinnabon and malls are inseparable. Consider it a symbiotic relationship: Researchers have found that we're turned on by the smell of cinnamon rolls, and further studies have shown that we're more likely to spend money when we're thinking about sex. But just because Cinnabon might be good for Gap doesn’t mean it’s all good for you. This dangerously bloated bun contains nearly an ENTIRE day’s worth of fat, two and a half times the unhealthy trans fats you should get in a day, and more than half of your daily allotment of calories. (For those keeping score, that’s as much as you’ll find in 8 White Castle hamburgers).

Bonus tip: Save calories, time, and money with our FREE Eat This, Not That! newsletter. Sign up today and you’ll get the Eat This, Not That! guide to shopping once and eating for a week for free!

Eat This Instead!
Cinnabon Stix
379 calories
21 g fat (6 g saturated, 4 g trans)
14 g sugars
41 g carbohydrates

SAVE A WHOPPING 721 CALORIES AND 35 GRAMS OF FAT!

OR: Can you say disgusting? As much as I love sweets, I don't think I would LOVE this. There are many things that could replace this. A low-cal muffin with a coffee would be a better choice. No matter what, everyone should completely stay away from the cinnabon!