The worst way to start the day

Dubbed the “Worst Way to Start the Day,” The Cheesecake Factory’s mammoth Breakfast Burrito is among the “winners” of this year’s Xtreme Eating Awards.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)

– a non-profit consumer advocacy group – released the annual list, which is compiled by nutrition experts and reflects the worst of the worst from menus at 200 restaurant chains across the U.S.

Packing 2,730 calories, 73 grams of saturated fat and 4,630 mg of sodium, eating one of The Cheesecake Factory’s Breakfast Burritos is equivalent to scarfing down seven McDonald’s Sausage McMuffins, according to the CSPI.

Its innocuous flour tortilla trappings belie its calorific contents: scrambled eggs, bacon, chicken chorizo, cheese, crispy potatoes, avocado, peppers and onions. Served in a pool of ranchero sauce with sour cream, salsa and black beans on the side, it all adds up to more than a day’s worth of calories, nearly four days’ worth of saturated fat and two days’ worth of sodium.

Nutrition experts consider recommended daily intake to be 2,000 calories, 20 g of saturated fat, 2,300 mg of sodium and 50 g of added sugar.

All eight of the “winners” on this year’s list succeed at ramming close to a day’s worth of calories in a single serving. “That’s not easy. After all, a typical restaurant entrée has ‘only’ about 1,000 calories,” say Lindsay Moyer and Bonnie Liebman of the CSPI.

The Cheesecake Factory is a repeat offender, also garnering the title “Worst Adapted Pizza” for its Chicken Parmesan “Pizza Style.” The pizza comes loaded with breadcrumb-crusted chopped chicken breast, marinara sauce and melted cheese, and is bewilderingly crowned with a nest of angel hair pasta in Alfredo sauce.

Order this monstrosity – the pizza measures roughly 25 cm (10 inches) in diameter – and be rewarded with more than three days’ worth of saturated fat (55 g). To put it in perspective, the CSPI says it’s the same as eating four pieces of Popeyes fried chicken with a chaser of four biscuits.

And beware the concession stand offerings: AMC’s 1.5-lb (680-g) Bavarian Legend Soft Pretzel was named “Worst Cinematic Snack.” Eat just one, accompanied by nacho “cheese” and mustard, and you’ve consumed more than the equivalent of a whole loaf of bread by the time the closing credits roll.

See cspinet.org/xtremeeating-2018 for the full list of the 2018 Xtreme Eating Awards “winners.”