Inspired by last night’s Coast to Coast AM show with Dr. Neal Barnard, I am going to promise myself to be more active on Hell Food. I am going to do more theme type days, like “Food Review Friday”. I think this might help with the discipline needed to maintain this site.

Today, on a whim, I did a Google search for “fast food”. I noticed the first sponsored link was from KFC, that bastion of health food. The headline of the ad reads “KFC is Zero Trans Fat”. Trans fat, of course, is the trendy food product to hate these days. I’m not saying it’s good for you, but let’s not act as if trans fat is somehow responsible for our awful eating habits.

So, I decided to click on the ad and look at the nutritional information for a single piece of KFC Orginal Recipe Chicken Breast. What I found wasn’t surprising. A single piece has one third of your recommended daily intake of fat, one quarter of your recommended daily intake of saturated fat, forty percent of your daily intake of cholesterol, forty-three percent of your daily intake of sodium, and three hundred and sixty calories. All in just a single piece of chicken. How many people stop at just a single piece of chicken? Not many.

KFC’s chicken no longer has trans fat in it, but it still has high fat and high cholesterol for not much nutritional value. Remember, KFC doesn’t just sell you a single piece of chicken. They include biscuits, mashed potatoes, and cole slaw, all with similar unhealthy attributes. So while KFC can claim to no longer contain today’s deadly food fad, it can’t purport to be healthy. It’s not.

If you really want a filling meal try this:

1 whole wheat hamburger bun    - 140 calories
2 Original Vegan Boca Burgers  - 140 calories
1 tablespoon ketchup           - 15 calories
1 tablespoon mustard           - 0  calories
1 cup mixed vegetables         - 90 calories

Fry the burgers in a frying pan with some vegetable broth,
and stack the patties on the bun
so you have a double burger.  Just heat the
vegetables in a microwave, and serve.

The meal adds up to 385 calories, more than the single piece of chicken, but you will be a lot more satisfied after this meal. KFC just can’t compete with that.