Test Your Fast Food Breakfast IQ! (WOW!)

Test Your Fast Food Breakfast IQ!

By Monica Nuñez

1. IHOP^® Stuffed French Toast Combo: 1,476 calories. Yep. That's 1,476 calories consumed, all before lunchtime! Some people consume that many calories in a day. Impressive! Of course, when you look at what this combo contains, you won't be surprised: Cinnamon raisin French toast stuffed with sweet cream cheese filling, topped with cool strawberry or your choice of fruit compote and whipped topping. Served with two eggs, hash browns, two bacon strips, or two pork sausage links. This breakfast packs quite the punch, to your stomach and your fitness goals. I'd skip it. The Stuffed French Toast Combo also contains 76.2 grams of fat, 173.1 grams of carbs, and 29.1 grams of protein.
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3. Jack in the Box^® Hearty Breakfast Bowl and Orange Sunrise Smoothie (24 oz.): 1,210 calories. Definitely "hearty" in calories, the breakfast bowl contains 780 calories, with 540 of those calories from fat. Total fat content is 60 grams—with 20 saturated fat grams and 7 trans fat grams. Although the bowl is not going to win the sodium challenge over the Deluxe Breakfast, it's still impressive at 1,350 milligrams of sodium—oh, the salty goodness! The bowl also contains 34 grams of carbs (4 grams of dietary fiber and 1 gram of sugar) and 26 grams of protein. While the smoothie contains no fat, you don't want or need to consume a 430-calorie beverage. The smoothie also contains 108 total grams of carbs (with 86, yes, 86 grams of sugar) and 4 grams of protein. Why not opt for a large orange instead? Come on! You can actually go "big" on this fresh fruit and not do any of the damage that this and the other large breakfasts listed will do. One large orange (about 6.5 ounces) has 86 calories, 21.6 grams of carbs (along with 4.4 grams of fiber and 17.2 grams of sugars), 1.7 grams of protein, 73.6 milligrams of calcium, and 333 milligrams of potassium.
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5. McDonald's Deluxe Breakfast (large-size biscuit; no syrup or margarine): 1,150 calories. You'll consume 1,150 calories (540 calories from fat) if you opt for the Deluxe Breakfast—with the large-size biscuit. As with the IHOP Combo and the Jack in the Box breakfast, you will have consumed over 1,000 calories before noon. Wow! The risk you take when you decide to go through that drive-thru window is costly, even if the price of your breakfast is not. If you go for the conservative Deluxe Breakfast with the regular-size biscuit (at 1,090 calories, 510 calories from fat), you'll save 60 calories. Does that make a difference? Maybe not—definitely not to your waistline if you eat the Deluxe Breakfast often. The Deluxe Breakfast with the large-size biscuit also contains 60 grams of total fat (20 grams of saturated fat), 116 grams of carbs (with 7 grams of fiber and 17 grams of sugar), and 36 grams of protein. At 60 grams of total fat, you consume 93 percent of your recommended daily allowance. The sodium content is also worth mentioning: 2,260 milligrams of sodium. Don't forget that all of these numbers do not include the syrup and margarine.
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7. Burger King^® Enormous Omelet Sandwich and Minute Maid^® Orange Juice (12 oz.): 870 calories. Most of those 870 calories will be coming from the 730-calorie sandwich. The omelet sandwich also has 45 grams of total fat, with 16 saturated fat grams and 1 trans fat gram. It falls a bit short of the Deluxe Breakfast with its 1,940 milligrams of sodium. Other nutritional content includes 44 grams of total carbs, with 2 grams of fiber and 8 grams of sugar, and 37 grams of protein. Your safest bet is to stick with the juice alone. At 140 calories, it contains 33 grams of carbs (30 grams of sugar), 2 grams of protein, and 42 milligrams of vitamin C. I dared not add anything like, say, a large hash brown. It's almost as highly caloric as the sandwich at 620 calories (40 grams of total fat, with 11 saturated and 13 trans, and 1,200 milligrams of sodium). If it helps, you'll only consume 10 more calories if you choose this Burger King breakfast over the Starbucks breakfast.
8. Starbucks^® Venti Hot Chocolate (2% milk, with whip) and a Blueberry Scone: 860 calories. That 2% milk won't really help you much in the way of saving calories. The hot chocolate contains 460 calories (160 calories from fat) and the blueberry scone contains 400 calories (160 calories from fat). If you opt for no whip cream, you're still going to consume 390 calories in drink alone. I know it's very hard to resist this sweet, delicious "breakfast," but you're better off avoiding so much sugar so early in the morning—well, OK, you're better off avoiding so much sugar, period! That venti hot chocolate also contains 18 grams of total fat (10 grams saturated), 64 grams of carbs (with 2 grams of fiber and 54 grams of sugar), and 18 grams of protein. The blueberry scone has 17 grams of total fat (9 grams saturated), 54 grams of carbs (with 2 fiber grams and 17 sugar grams), and 5 grams of protein. If you simply can't resist the hot chocolate, why not try a tall instead of a venti with nonfat milk and no whipped cream? It contains 190 calories (20 calories from fat), 2 grams of total fat (no saturated fat), 37 grams of carbs (2 grams of fiber and 31 grams of sugar), and 11 grams of protein.