Eat This Not That Restaurant Foods

America's Best and Worst Restaurants

We're fighting a battle for our waistlines. Here's the lowdown on our allies—and our enemies
By Clint Carter menshealth
 

Escape Dangerous Restaurants

America's Best and Worst Restaurants // roast beef sub with lettuce and tomato and cheese © Mitch Mandel/Thomas MacDonald

Image: Mitch Mandel/Thomas MacDonald

Walking into a restaurant these days is like stepping onto a nutritional minefield. Safe passage is elusive, and dangers abound on all sides: sandwiches made with fried chicken instead of bread, pasta that packs over 1,500 calories in a single bowl. The edible enemies that hide in the shadows, masquerading as wholesome dishes, are even worse. The danger of a misstep? An exploding waistline.

Take note of the 10 best foods you aren’t eating.

The fact is, most restaurants are dangerous to your health. Every meal we eat out adds an average of 134 calories to our daily intake. And if you eat out as often as the average American man does (at least three times a week), those calories could tack on at least 6 pounds of mass every single year. Let's be clear: That's flab—not muscle. And if you eat out more, you gain more. (Want to find more of the best—and worst—restaurants for eating out? Click here)

So what's the solution? We're not going to give up restaurants anytime soon. In 2009, 49 percent of the money the average American spent on food went toward dining out—that's about nine times what we spent in 1975. We're also not interested in spending our hard-earned cash on bland diet fare. A 2009 consumer research report found that even though most of us want to see healthier items on menus, only 20 percent of us actually order food based on nutritional considerations—probably because few of the options billed as "healthy" are as appealing as the other choices. Restaurants need to offer alternatives that are not only good for you, but also tasty enough to rival the calorie bombs ticking alongside them.

And that's where this list comes in. We're naming the best restaurant chains, the ones that make scoring a healthy meal a deliciously easy task. We're also exposing the worst ones, where finding a decent entree is an achievement worthy of a bloodhound. Follow our lead, and you'll enjoy the tastiest lean meals from America's biggest restaurants—and save your waistline and tastebuds from mutually assured destruction.

Which restaurants do you steer clear of? Tell us on Facebook!

Check out the no-diet weight loss solution--Eat This, Not That 2013!

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