Price over substance makes hamburger headlines
by Nancy Conway
When the Old Homestead Restaurant in New York City added
a 41-dollar, 20-ounce hamburger to its menu, everyone took
notice - at the price that is. The cost is justified for the
gourmet burger because it is made from Japanese Kobe beef,
which is fed beer and massaged with sake to produce a superior
product. Only in New York, New York will diners happily gorge
on $41 hamburgers. That is what the rest of the country seems
to be saying.
So, why don't we drop our jaws at the idea of eating 20 ounces
of meat at one sitting, 1,180 calories (based on the leanest
beef), or more than one-third of the total calories most of
eat on a daily basis? This doesn't include the roll or the
pat of herb butter that seasons the meat.
Price aside, consuming one and a quarter pounds of very lean
beef means eating 52 grams of fat, 20 grams of saturated fat
and 426 grams of cholesterol. It wasn't that long ago when
the fast food industry introduced quarter pound (4 ounce)
burgers -- a hearty departure from the 3-ounce portion sizes
still recommended for a healthy diet. A meat portion should
be about the same size as a deck of cards.
The Big Texan Steak House in Amarillo, Texas offers a 72 oz.
sirloin steak dinner and it is free if you eat the whole thing,
by yourself, in one hour. That is six pounds of meat in one
sitting. The steak costs $72 if you fail the challenge and
can be mail ordered.
According to their website, the Big Texan proudly claims:
- Nearly
4,800 people have succeeded in eating the 72oz. steak (since
1960).
-
Almost 30,000 people have attempted to consume the free
72 oz. steak (since 1960).
-
Approximately two women each year successfully eat the steak
of the 4 or 5 who try.
- The
oldest person to eat the steak was a 69-year-old grandmother;
the youngest, an 11-year old boy.
Most Americans couldn't or at least shouldn't eat this much
meat in one day, let alone for one meal. Yet, portions are
growing and Americans are finding room to eat bigger meals,
despite their worries over being attractively thin and the
medical problems associated with being overweight. It is a
popular notion to be thin, but very few people actually limit
their diets to smaller portions.
While diet gurus and nutritionists argue over more fat/less
carbs or less carbs/more fat, no one seems to take much notice
of the plates full of food we look forward to everytime we
eat out.
One solution would be to take control by cooking your own
meals and being able to control portions and ingredients.
Not everyone likes to cook and others may not have the time
or opportunity to cook for themselves, because of work or
various other reasons. Even so, there are ways to maintain
some control of what you eat.
Have a plan in mind and stick to it. That means decide what
you want to eat -- make it something healthy and low fat.
If you know the restaurant serves oversized portions, have
a meal that makes good leftovers. Size up your plate before
you dig in and determine how much you are going to eat and
then how much you will take home for lunch the next day. This
is a good idea since foods that aren't particularly good for
you don't make good leftovers, so you will avoid ordering.
Eating different kinds of foods, for instance dining at a
Chinese restaurant may be a good alternative. When you eat
with a group, you can order various dishes and share. Look
for restaurants that serve family style, that allow you to
serve yourself the right portions.
Another suggestion is to stick with the salad bar and make
yourself choose healthy and in the right portions. Buffet-style
dining is also a good way to control calories and fat. Just
be careful with both the salad bar and buffet to lean toward
veggies and fresh fruit, while keeping those meat and bread
portions small.
It all boils down to taking control for yourself, by not succumbing
to eating more than is good for you. Until the people who
tell us what to eat realize it is more important to tell us
how much to eat, we are out there fending for ourselves. And
as long as restaurants are selling us gargantuan hamburgers
for montrous prices, we will have to stay vigilant. Eat well!
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