By
David
Zinczenko, with Matt GouldingA few weeks ago, I ran into a colleague who'd been following
my health and diet tips on Twitter. She loved them, she said, and
she'd even dropped several pounds by adopting some of my secrets. But
she wanted some advice about a fast-growing problem: her teenage
daughter's weight.
"We cook healthy at home, but like most
teenagers, she eats a lot of her meals when she's out with friends," my
colleague said. "Out at the mall."
Ouch! No three words
are as clear a prelude to weight troubles as at the mall? (except maybe "supersize it, please"). America's malls are hothouse factories of
weight-gain triggers: The smell of cinnamon buns wafting through the
air, the unrelenting signage for food and drink, and the endemic stress
of dealing with crowds and money. To top it off, when you're at the
mall, you're already spending - so what's another five bucks for a gooey
treat?
But when it comes to nutritional justice, the purveyors at
most food courts deserve to be disbarred. In addition to the standard
fast food peddlers, malls often offer uniquely bad-for-you treats that
you'd never think of eating unless they were right there in front of you
while your belly is screaming "feed me!"
"The key to helping your
daughter control her weight is arming her with the information she
needs to make smart choices," I said. "You need a few insider tips." Then I laid some out for her:
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 entr?e besides orange
chicken.
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.
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.
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!
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).
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!
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