Goodbye ‘colossal’ burger: Menu items vanish

By David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding

updated 9:18 a.m. ET Oct. 29, 2009

A lot has changed in the food and restaurant industry in the past two years. Some of these changes have made eating easier than ever, while others continue to put industry interests in front of our collective need to slim down. For example, New York City, California, and Seattle have all passed calorie count laws. The decision was (predictably) met with outrage from the restaurant industry, even though these pieces of legislation are a socially responsible trend. A less positive trend? Rising rates of obesity. Between 2008 and 2009, obesity rates rose in 23 out of 50 states, and remained troublingly steady in all the others, according to a report issued by advocacy groups Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Not a single state saw their obesity rate fall.

The good news is that word is out. Since we wrote our first book in 2007, Eat This, Not That has helped call attention to restaurants that bathe all their items in trans-fatty oils, or that serve platters with calorie-and sodium-counts reaching into the thousands, or that offer plates devoid of nutritional substance but utterly teeming with saturated fat. And to our delight, some restaurants actually noticed. The authors of the all-new “Eat This, Not That!” 2010 edition reveal the best changes in the food industry:

Menu items vanish
Since we published our first list of the 20 Worst Foods in America over two years ago, a full 10 of those dishes have either disappeared or have been altered significantly. And in the time since, a number of other caloric calamities have come and gone, making America a safer place to live and eat. Here are three of our favorite vanishing acts:

Baskin-Robbins Chocolate Oreo Shake (Large)
2,600 calories
135 g fat (59 g saturated, 2.5 g trans)
263 g sugars
1,700 mg sodium

Romano’s Macaroni Grill Kids’ Double Macaroni ‘N’ Cheese
1,210 calories
62 g fat
3,450 mg sodium

Ruby Tuesday Colossal Burger
2,014 calories
141 g fat
95 g carbohydrates

Macaroni Grill improves their menu
A few months back, we lambasted the Seared Sea Scallops Salad from Macaroni Grill on the Today Show. That leafy abomination packed in 1,170 calories, 27 grams of saturated fat, and 2,680 milligrams of sodium. That’s more calories than in two Big Macs, and more sodium than you should eat in an entire day!

And even better news? The new Scallops and Spinach Salad from Mac Grill has undergone a 64 percent reduction in calories and an 85% reduction in saturated fat, making it our Most Improved Meal in America.

Eat This at Romano’s Macaroni Grill:

Scallops and Spinach Salad
420 calories
4 g saturated fat
1,510 mg sodium

Red Lobster tells all
In our first book, we assigned Red Lobster a grade of F — for failure to disclose. See, at the time, Red Lobster was one of a handful of restaurant chains that refused to share their food’s nutrition information. Our attitude is that if you won’t talk, it must be because you’re hiding something. Fast-forward two years, and in our newest book, “Eat This, Not That! 2010,” Red Lobster has a score of A-. That’s the highest grade for any restaurant in America! It’s largely due to a host of incredibly lean seafood dishes, very few fried foods on the menu, and excellent, low-calorie sides. When at Red Lobster, choose an item from the Wood-Grilled menu, and ask for a baked potato with pico de gallo on the side. You’ll consume around 500 calories for an entire meal!

Slideshow 10 cities with the most cellulite Find out where you can pinch more than an inch of dimpled flesh.

Eat This at Red Lobster:

Full-Portion Wood-Grilled Mahi Mahi with Broccoli and Baked Potato with Pico de Gallo side
565 calories
2.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
1,480 mg sodium
48 g carbs

Red Lobster is unique in that it’s a sit-down restaurant that offers nutritious and light sides. Unfortunately, most other restaurants don’t.

Jamba Juice drains the calories
In our original book, we slammed the smoothie chain Jamba Juice for their Peanut Butter Moo’d: a simple drink packed with 1,170 calories. Order one of those cutesy-sounding beverages, and you were liable to consume more than half a day’s worth of calories in the span of ten mindless minutes! Thankfully, Jamba has trimmed a full 400 calories from the Peanut Butter Moo’d. Even better, they offer two lines of much lighter smoothie options. We like the Jamba Light line, which averages about 150 calories per drink, and the All Fruit Smoothies, which are only a fraction the caloric cost of the original or creamy treats.

Drink This at Jamba Juice:

Peach Perfection All Fruit Smoothie (16 oz)
210 calories
0 g fat
42 g sugars

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