A Blue Kitchen round-up: Eat This Not That—30 appalling foods and appealing alternatives, four ways to get even more out of the produce we eat and a great find for when you just need a burger.
Eat This, Not That is a long-running, practical feature in Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines. It’s also been a successful book series, the latest edition being Eat This Not That! The Best (& Worst!) Foods in America!: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution.
Both the columns and the books provide real-world solutions to the food decisions and dilemmas we face every day. As noble as packing an apple, a yogurt and bean sprouts instead of grabbing a fast food burger may be, for instance, we’re more often faced with choices between mall food court options or places at an interstate exit. One in particular that I remember compared two McDonald’s Egg McMuffins and a bagel with two tablespoons of cream cheese [a modest schmear by most noshers’ standards]. The Egg McMuffins were healthier! Fewer calories, less fat, more protein… And that was two of them.
Marion came across The 30 Worst Foods in America at the Women’s Health website. Among the scariest findings on the list: A children’s lunch with the sugar equivalent of 10 jelly doughnuts, a pancake breakfast with 4-1/2 times your daily limit of trans fats and an individual pizza with more calories than you should eat in a day plus more sodium than 27 small bags of potato chips. By the end of reading the list, Marion said she was practically crying. On a lighter note, with each appalling item, the article offers a healthier solution, usually at the same restaurant or by the same company. You’ll find the complete story here.
Getting more nutritional bang for your produce buck
Sometimes the radio can give you food for thought. Yesterday morning, we were rushing around getting ready for work when an interesting story on NPR’s Morning Edition caught our ear. It said that while tomatoes are a good source of the antioxidants lycopene and beta-carotene, if you “eat a tomato without adding a little fat—say a drizzle of olive oil—your body is unlikely to absorb all these nutrients.” Being admitted fans of fat, at least in moderation, we were suddenly paying attention.
The story had other revelations as well. Like the fact that cooking vegetables doesn’t always diminish their nutrition—and in fact in some cases, actually boosts it. And that chewing your food well helps break it down better to deliver more nutrients to you. And that eating “plenty of color”—we’re not talking m&ms here, but a variety of plants—is a great way to get more nutrition. You can read “Get The Most Nutrition From Your Veggies” and listen to the radio broadcast here.
A burger joint inspired by “the king, the clown” and”that red headed girl with the freckles”
Sometimes you just need a burger. That was what David Friedman was thinking on a road trip a few years ago. But not just any burger. He says on the Epic Burger website that, working in the food industry, “I really wanted to eat something I could reasonably assume came from a farm. Sadly, I ended up with a turkey sandwich from one of those upscale grocery stores.”
Luckily for me and my fellow Chicagoans, Friedman turned his frustration into Epic Burger, a friendly little South Loop restaurant that bridges the gap between fast food burgers and overpriced, overprecious homages to the hamburger. I was downtown last Saturday and found myself “just needing a burger,” so I paid my first visit to Epic Burger. It functions like a fast food place—you order at the counter and your food arrives pretty quickly—but it’s delivered to your table. And the burger tastes real and handmade. That’s because it is.
The burgers are made from made with 100% fresh chuck [never frozen], all natural beef, from cows fed a strict vegetarian diet and raised with no hormones, no antibiotics. They’re served on white or whole wheat buns [baked fresh daily at local bakeries], with grilled or raw onions, fresh tomatoes and real cheese from Wisconsin. The lettuce comes in real leaves, not shredded iceberg. The fries are just as good, fresh cut and fresh cooked. And it all arrives on a paper-covered pie tin, so there’s a minimum of waste.
The miniburger above, with fries and a soda, really hit the spot. And I got away for under ten bucks. I will so be back. You can also get a chicken breast sandwich or a portabella mushroom sandwich at Epic Burger, but why would you? I mean, sometimes you just need a burger.
Update: First, people have been asking about Epic Burger nutrition. Well, their website now has a great feature that lets you build your burger and see what each ingredient adds in terms of fat, calories, cholesterol and sodium. Also, they now have three locations!
Epic Burger
517 South State St.
Chicago, IL 60605
(312)913.1373
Monday-Thursday (11am – 10pm)
Friday-Saturday (11am – midnight)
Sunday (11am – 9pm)
What a great post! It never ceases to amaze me how many calories a bagel and cream cheese can contain (and please, 2 tablespoons of cream cheese? pathetic). My old roommate used to do advertising for Weight Watchers so she knew all of this stuff cold. She told me how many points the ubiquitous breakfast bread had about six years ago and I haven’t eaten one since. You’re so lucky to have Epic Burger! Sounds a bit like Shake Shack here in NYC, although hopefully without the insane lines…
Thanks, Laura! That factoid about two Egg McMuffins being better for you than one bagel with cream cheese made me feel much better about having the occasional single Egg McMuffin—usually at an airport when I’m on my way somewhere and won’t be seeing lunch or other serious food for several hours.
I eat out so rarely that if I do go overboard I can make it up myself. When I do go out I fully intend to go overboard totally. I appreciate these websites but I will watch my own diet without a nanny, thank you very much. I have lived long enough and seen enough times that things that are supposed to be so bad for you end up a few years later being good for you that I pretty much read these things and go my own way.
I just think I am entitled to eat what I like when I do go out. I read some of the reviews and what the reviewers eat at a meal and think I would get 3 meals out of that. I have made it this far without watching what they say and I guess I can keep on with it.
I am reminded of those non-transfat low-fat desserts and cookies that were put out a few years ago. They were so disgusting to eat that I wondered why anyone ever bothered. Just eat smaller amounts of the real thing and you will not only get the flavor but you will get the satisfaction that goes with it.
We own a small healthy restaurant that puts out food not unlike Epic Burger. So, I end up eating healthfully by default. When I go out for dinner, I don’t want to eat something I would have cooked. And I don’t want to count calories.
On the other hand, my wife and I are always amazed at what shows up on menus at family restaurants in our area. It’s very hard to find a decent family place we can get something to eat that isn’t just gross.
This is something I could go on and on about, ad nauseam. The Chili’s restaurants of the world–who creates these menus?? And we’re worried about terrorists killing us off?
Dick—I have nothing against the occasional fatfest, but I want to know when I’m doing it, not have it foisted upon me. And when I go overboard, I want it to be for real, honest food—a fatty chop or steak or real ice cream with real butterfat. And nobody needs transfats—they have nothing to do with flavor, they’re just food industry cheap shortcuts that are absolutely harmful to our health.
Chip—You’re exactly right. Give me cheeses and wonderful French desserts. Don’t sneak all kinds of stuff into my food.
Thanks for some great information. Epic Burger sounds great. The Egg Mac is a breakfast I always enjoyed when On the Road. The 30 worst foods sounds scary. Pity the children that are lured into eating that Pizza!
Sometimes, you DO just need a burger – wish that place was near our house!
As for the article, it amazes me how gigantic those plates are in some cases. Not a surprise when some of those advertised entrees weigh in at 2,000 calories – they’re larger than my head. We don’t eat out too much, but when we do, we like to be choosier than Chili’s, Applebees, or On the Border. I’d rather have a quality meal with fat, cheese, cream included, rather than a gargantuon portion of the junk they serve at those family-style restaurants. And as for the Egg Mac, I remember from Weight Watchers that sandwich is a pretty safe choice…it was like 5-6 points or something without cheese, if I remember correctly. It’s not a health food, but it won’t break the bank if you’re desperate. Thanks Terry!
Helmut—Yeah, Egg McMuffins are definite road trip food.
Alta— I need a burger right now!
This thread would be a whole lot more fun if it were live: all of us on a road trip together on a big bus, looking forward to the next Mom & Pop Bistro to stop in for good eats!
There’s a dearth of blogs about health from the gourmand’s point of view. I came across something via MSN.com that postulated that ALL foods have something nutritionally good to offer–the real danger is overprocessed stuff, like refined sugar. But responsibly raised, thoughtfully prepared foods are GOOD for you.
My views resonated with that. I’m a Cajun and I live to eat–I don’t eat to live. It was Jonny Bowden talking about superfoods, which, oddly, included beef (albeit grassfed).
Chip—Speaking of bistros, Marion was quite taken with the salmon quesadillas you’re currently offering at yours. It really has been interesting to watch so many supposedly bad foods be redeemed in recent years. Peanut butter, butter, eggs, lard [but not the commercially produced stuff]… even wine [okay, so it’s not technically a food, but to me, it’s a food group]. The key, especially with things like beef, is balance, moderation and portion control.
Terry, thanks for the comment on the quesadillas. It’s our most popular menu item. This is my first restaurant venture and we’re having so much fun with it!
Regarding food, I learned more about nutrition studying Harold McGee’s food science book than any diet book I’ve ever read.
Being the “healthy restaurant” we are, we encounter folks that are so caught up in “being healthy” they’ve lost their own identity! Veganism, et al, make good diets but a terrible religion.
“I can resist anything but temptation.” Put something out of reach, and it becomes an obsession. I once did the all protein diet, and it actually worked quite well. But I went to sleep dreaming of the forbidden fruit.
Chip—Don’t even get me started on vegans. I… just don’t.
altadenahiker—And “All things in moderation. Including moderation.” Balance, balance, balance.
You might want to take back that M&M gibe- it turns out Blue-ing in blue M&M’s contains something spectacular! Mending spinal injuries: it’s the blue that adds the glue, or some such thing!
Shauna—Well, you learn something new every day, if you get up early enough. Everybody, Shauna is referring a very recent story in the news: Same blue dye in m&ms linked to reducing spine injury. However, eating m&ms won’t do the trick, so stick with eating colorful fruits and vegetable.
wet blanket.
Sure, altadenahiker, kill the messenger. And while you’re at it, Shoot the Piano Player. And rob Peter to pay Paul. [Can you tell we saw The Hurt Locker this weekend? Excellent, but hyperviolent—not exactly the feel good movie of the summer.]
Holy crap!
I’m SO going to Epic Burger THIS FRIDAY. I’m so excited!!! It’s really hard for me to find a burger that meets my standards these days…
🙂
Nina
@dick : amen to that, my friend … you can’t boil good eating habits down to “eat this, not that” — a healthy lifestyle is more big picture than that. The rules are simple: eat CLEAN (avoid processed foods), eat THE RIGHT AMOUNT, drink PLENTY OF WATER, and get EXERCISE. If you do all of that, you can treat yourself to the occasional Fatty McBacon Deluxe without guilt.
Nina—We were just there again last weekend and it was great. These aren’t haute burgers by any means, just to be clear. But they’re honestly made, old school burgers made with all natural ingredients.
IGnatius T Foobar—You’re exactly right about it not being just eat this, not that. Exercise and balance are important. But the whole point of the authors of Eat This, Not That is that far too often, all kinds of scary stuff [including fat bombs and excess calories] is hidden in the foods we eat. If we know it’s in there, we can make an informed decision to indulge or not.
i love this type of book because it told you what to eat and what to don’t eat.
I love Epic Burger and I love eating all natural, organic, local stuffs. I recently joined WeightWatchers, and even though they recommend eating all the stuff that doesn’t have real sugar or real butter, etc etc, I swear by eating only the stuff that I know how to pronounce. I find myself wanting to fit Epic back into my eating routine (granted, I usually only eat there two or three times a month). In order to do that, I was wondering if there is information available about the fat content, carbohydrates, protein and fiber, since those are the four main things that WeightWatchers counts. I noticed there was a build-your-own burger cheat sheet online that gives the calorie count and fat content, but not the others. How can I get this info?
Have you actually tried to eat some of those “healthy” snacks without trans-fat? I once had a contract with a company where the principal was really into that health food bit. She would bring in all these snacks so we could have them with out morning break. The stuff was all tasteless crumbs, like eating chalk. Reminded me of my Jewish fraternity brother talking about matzos where he said you didn’t need toilet paper, you needed a whisk broom.
I have always liked fig newtons since I was a little kid. I would prefer to have one good fig newton to a whole package of these “healthy” fig newtons.
I realize you are talking about eating really good fresh food but there are a lot of times when it is just not available and then what do you do. That is when I want the stuff that Nanny Bloomberg has been outlawing and I want it in reasonable quantities. I don’t want the huge triple Whopper or anything like that, just a decent size offering that satisfies my wants.
Lauren, I’m with you on eating real food whenever possible. Regarding getting nutritional information besides what they provide with their build your burger function, I would suggest emailing the company directly. I bet they’d be fairly responsive. Please let me know if you do—and if you hear anything back from them.
Dick, I’m a firm believer in eating good, real stuff in moderation too. But trans fats don’t inherently make things taste better—they’re just shortcuts that let the food industry make stuff cheaper. I say use real butter and oil rather than the partially hydrogenated factory crap that does nothing but clog arteries. And as the bagel and cream cheese vs. Egg McMuffin example above shows, eating right is sometimes hard to figure out!
An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a colleague who was conducting a little homework on this.
And he in fact ordered me breakfast simply because I stumbled upon it for him…
lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!!
But yeah, thanx for spending some time to talk about this subject here on your web page.