The 5 worst kids’ meals in America

Skip the fettuccini alfredo and chicken fingers with fries

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Video: Your kids should ‘Eat This, Not That!’

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Transcript of: Your kids should ‘Eat This, Not That!’

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MATT LAUER, co-host: Back at 8:22. This morning on EAT THIS, NOT THAT !, kids meals. A third of the children in this country are considered overweight or obese and the Web site thedailybeast.com recently released a survey of the 25 worst meals for kids. David Zinczenko is editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine and author of "Eat This, Not That! For Kids!" David , good morning.

Mr. DAVID ZINCZENKO (Editor-in-Chief, Men's Health Magazine): Hey. Good morning, Matt.

LAUER: Third of kids overweight or obese, some of the meals we're going to talk about here today a good place to start.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Yeah. Outrageous kids meals are making for chubby children. They are -- they are trying to get them addicted to fat, sugar, salt at an early age, and you end up with some real caloric calamities.

LAUER: Just in case people haven't seen this segment before, you show a bad meal from a particular restaurant chain...

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Yeah.

LAUER: ...what it is the equivalent of and then a better alternative at the same restaurant.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Exactly.

LAUER: Let's start with the Olive Garden fettuccine Alfredo meal. Eight hundred calories , 48 grams of fat, 810 milligrams sodium.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Yeah. I mean, basically there is a snake in this garden, his name is Alfredo . This is cream, cheese, butter, oil and a day and a half's worth of saturated fat , 30 grams. So that is like having a jar and a half of Nutella . I'm not saying anybody should do that, but that is the saturated fat equivalent right there. So if you're at...

LAUER: Zinczenko off to a strong start here. OK.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: So when you're at Olive Garden , get the cheese ravioli instead. A portion of this is 300 calories . So you're going to be...

LAUER: You save 500 calories right there.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Right there.

LAUER: All right.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Right there.

LAUER: Let's move on, let's pick now on Applebee 's. We've got Applebee 's grilled cheese meal with French fries . We're talking almost 1100 calories , 54 grams of fat, get this, 2,170 milligrams of sodium.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Right. And so it's the equivalent of like 400 Goldfish crackers . I mean, this is more like a sumo kid's meal or like order it for the neighborhood bully, he won't be able to -- he'll be too sluggish to beat your kid up. If you are there and you don't want to go over 1,000 calories with a grilled cheese and fries, go ahead and get a hot dog . It's portion control, you get it with applesauce.

LAUER: Which is great because your kid's going to say to you, `It's not like you're making me eat broccoli, it's a hot dog .'

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Right. And it's just a few hundred calories . So you're saving 600 calories right away.

LAUER: Let's go to Outback Steakhouse . Their kookaburra chicken fingers meal with Aussie fries. Fries in a lot of these, by the way.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: I mean, it's a sea of beige, it's over 1,000 calories . This is this kookaburra thing. I mean, if this is eating down under, let's stay up here.

LAUER: This isn't 52 milligrams of salt in this one.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: I mean, this is -- this is outrageous. This is the fat equivalent of a dozen, a dozen, chocolate fudge Pop-Tarts right here. I mean...

LAUER: You say get the steak at Outback .

Mr. ZINCZENKO: So get the steak.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: The steak is actually -- it's very lean, it's high in protein, it's rich in vitamins and minerals, you know. Again, you're getting some beef, some good red meat, your kid is not going to say, `Oh, my gosh, what are you making me eat, dad?'

LAUER: All right. Denny's Slap Shot Sliders meal with Finish Line Fries .

Mr. ZINCZENKO: I mean, this is -- there is no -- you're not getting to the finish line.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: This is an affront to the world of sports and your child's health. I mean, you are talking about -- these sliders, again, over 1,000 calories . So little burgers, big fat problem. It's the equivalent of these -- all these jujubes. So get the spaghetti.

LAUER: All right. I just want to go real quickly...

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Yep.

LAUER: ...because this is unbelievable.

Mr. ZINCZENKO: Yeah.

LAUER: Friendly's mac and cheese quesadilla meal with Friendly Frank , Shirley

Temple and Friend-Z Peanut Butter Cup: 2,270 calories .

Mr. ZINCZENKO: More than you should have in an entire day. These are -- these are frenemies. This is the equivalent of 35 glazed Munchkins .

LAUER: But Friendly's has some better alternatives, check it out on the menu, go to our Web site for more information.

Show transcript

By Dave Zinczenko and Matt Goulding

Explainer: Worst offenders at Olive Garden, Applebee's

Childhood obesity rates in America have tripled since 1980: Today, 19.6 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 11 are obese, and 18.1 percent of kids between the ages of 12 and 19 are obese. An additional 15 percent of kids are "at risk of becoming overweight or obese."

Seventy percent of overweight adolescents end up overweight or obese in adulthood. And since obesity increases your odds of heart attack, stroke, and early death, consider the impact of an entire generation of overweight children on our country's health care system — and families. It's a chilling thought, especially if one of those children is your own. Michelle Obama has recently launched an initiative to combat childhood obesity. She might want to begin by targeting these worst restaurant kids' meals — the authors of "Eat This, Not That!" have singled out five of the most disgusting kid meals in America.
Olive Garden Fettuccini Alfredo meal

800 calories
48 g fat (30 g saturated)
810 mg sodium

Saturated fat equivalent: 1.5 full jars of Nutella!

I don’t know who this guy Alfredo is, but I’d like to give him a piece of my mind. This sauce is made with oil, butter, cream, and cheese. It’s always going to be rich, but the saturated fat here is just out of control. The American Heart Association recommends that none of us exceed 7 percent of our total calories from saturated fat, but this sauce has 4 times that. It’s true that most kids don’t have to worry about heart attacks, but they do have to worry about obesity. About a third of the calories on this plate are from saturated fat. Another third come from carbohydrates. That leaves very little room for anything even remotely redeeming.

Eat this instead:

Cheese Ravioli
300 calories
8 g fat (4 g saturated)
440 mg sodium

This meal still provides the rich flavor of cheese, but it serves it in a reasonable portion. The secret here, and you should always look for this when you’re eating Italian, is that it’s served in a low-fat, highly nutritious tomato-based sauce. You see anything served in a white sauce, and you don’t want your kid to touch it.

Bonus tip: Sometimes losing weight is just a matter of watching what you drink. Keep your kids away from all the beverages on this list of the worst drinks in America.
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Applebee’s Grilled Cheese with French fries

1,020 calories
54 g fat (17 g saturated)
2,170 mg sodium

Calorie equivalent: 400 Cheddar Goldfish Crackers. (That’s 1.3 full bags!)

Here’s the crazy part: You can make a grilled cheese sandwich in your own house — using real cheese and toasting it with real butter — and still manage to slide in at about 300 calories. This one has 620 calories, and the fries account for the extra 400.

Eat this instead:

Hot dog with applesauce
300 calories
13 g fat (4 g saturated)
860 mg sodium

A hot dog is no nutritional ideal, but so long as it’s not a big stadium brat, it does have the advantage of being relatively low in calories. And kids love it. Then swap out the fries for something truly nutritious, like vegetables or applesauce.

Bonus tip: Don’t forget to watch your own food intake when you’re eating out with your children. Avoid all items on our list of the worst foods in America.
Outback Steakhouse Kookaburra Chicken Fingers meal with Aussie Fries

1,030 calories
60 g fat (21 g saturated)
2,052 mg sodium

Fat equivalent: 12 Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tarts!

Beige food, never a good choice. If this is what they’re eating “down under,” I think we’re better off staying up here. And here’s something else we don’t talk about as much with kids’ foods: sodium. This meal has almost as much as your child should eat in an entire day. That’s dangerous for two reasons: 1. It puts a strain on a child’s cardiovascular system, and 2. It reinforces a taste preference for sodium-loaded foods, so they’ll have a hard time ever breaking free from the salt shaker.

Eat this instead:

Joey Sirloin with Fresh Seasonal Veggies
435 calories
28.5 g fat (15 g saturated)
631 mg sodium

But, if we can get kids eating real food earlier in life, they’ll be primed for staying fit and healthy well into old age. Despite what some people might think about eating red meat, sirloin steak is immensely nutritious. It’s lean, loaded with protein, and rich in vitamins and minerals.

Bonus tip: Lose weight by cutting liquid calories — see how in our new book, "Drink This, Not That!"
Denny’s Slap Shot Sliders (2) meal with Finish Line Fries

1070 calories
53 g fat (16 g saturated, 2 g trans)
1180 mg sodium

Calorie equivalent: 505 Jujubes (That’s just over 2 full boxes!)

This meal is an assault to children’s health and the world of sports. It uses athletic terminology to essentially sell food that turns kids into little sumo wrestlers. Again, there’s more than a thousand calories in this meal. A 10-year-old kid should be eating only about 1,600-to-1,800 calories over the course of an entire day. You eat this meal and then just a couple small snacks throughout the day, and you’re already there.

Eat this instead:

Spaghetti, Set, Go! With Apple Dunkers and Caramel Dip
390 calories
7 g fat (2 g saturated)
325 mg sodium

Again, we’ve got the red marinara sauce, which is very good. We’ve also got slices of apple with caramel dip. This is something we’re seeing on more and more restaurant menus. Kids like it because it has the same finger-food appeal as french fries, and parents like it because it won’t make their kids look like lumpy sacks of potatoes.

Bonus tip: Another sneaky source of calories: Wayward snacking. Is your child snacking smart? See the good — and bad — chips and dips choices on our list of the best and worst chips and dips.
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Friendly’s Mac & Cheese Quesadilla meal with Friendly Frank, Shirley Temple and Friend-z Peanut Butter Cup

2,270 calories
109 g fat (45 g saturated)
3,320 sodium

Calorie equivalent: 45.5 Glazed Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts!

Friendly? Ha! This restaurant deserves the Phoniest Name of the Decade Award. This meal has an entire day’s worth of calories for a full-grown adult. Plus it has more saturated fat or sodium than you should ever see at one table. Part of the problem here is the pile-on policy: The entrée plus the side plus the drink plus the dessert. All of that comes with the meal. And dessert? Since when did dessert stop being extra? This is just dangerous food that gets a boost from a bad policy.

Eat this instead:

Grilled Cheese With Mandarin Oranges, 1% Milk, and a Double Shot Cone
800 calories
34 g fat (19 g saturated)
1150 mg sodium

Now here’s what’s crazy: The same sandwich that had more than 600 calories at Applebee’s — the grilled cheese — has only 290 calories at Friendly’s. That’s good, but it still comes with that obligatory dessert, which keeps this meal in the caloric danger zone. At 270 calories, The Double Shot Cone is the best you can do, but if you tell the server to leave it off, your child suddenly has a reasonable 530-calorie entrée.