Tamra Rosenfeld
A cheeseburger can be a tasty treat but what are you actually eating?
A cheeseburger from a restaurant can be high in calories, fat, and sodium. Many restaurant cheeseburgers can be 10 oz (two and a half times more than recommended size)! If you make it a double or add some extra items such as bacon, sauteed vegetables, and avocado you are likely looking at over 1000 calories without including the fries! Three ounces of 80% chop meat can contain 231 calories and 15 grams of fat. Chances are restaurants are using even fattier meat than that in their burgers.
Here are some ways to make a cheeseburger a bit healthier:
- Use lean meat (90% or higher) or ground turkey. You can use breadcrumbs or
other fillers to increase the bulk. - Hold the salt. Add spices such as onion and garlic powder to improve the taste.
- Avoid the extras – bacon, sauteed mushrooms, extra cheese
- Skip the fries.
- Use portion control – think of the size of a deck of cards when thinking of the
appropriate size of meat. - Use low fat cheese if possible.
Did you know
- National cheeseburger day is celebrated yearly on September 18th
- There is a theory that a homeless man in Pasadena, California, suggested the
addition of a slice of cheese to his hamburger order and that is how cheeseburgers
came to be. - In 2001 hamburgers and cheeseburgers comprised 71% of the beef servings in
American restaurants. - Half of all burgers sold in America are cheeseburgers.
- On average, Americans eat three hamburgers per week.
- In an attempt to provide a “kosher cheeseburger”, a kosher restaurant in New
York City created a controversial cheeseburger which replaced cheese with soy
cheese.
