Sumo Watch 2: Have it Your Way?

Life is like a fast food Candy Land.  Every where you turn there’s a fast food vendor, a  land of mystery where the menus are riddles and you need to phone a friend to look up the stats online. Anyhow,  I’ve recently spotted two new fast food items being heavily promoted and I call attention to them because, for some reason, I am shocked that people are still eating this food.  I mean, really.

Burger King’s “BK Burger Shots”

220 calories, 11 g fat, 1 g fiber, 14 g protein for the regular 2-pack, which is not bad calorie wise (if you only have the two…) If you get the sausage and cheese 2 pack, it’s double the calories at 470 calories, 31,g fat, 1 g fiber, 18 g protein. How do you cram 31 g of fat into two mini burgers?! Just think if you ordered the 4-pack…that would be: 940 calories and 62 g of fat! Quick, call 911, my jaw just dropped!

I have never in my life eaten at Burger King.  Of all fast food chains, they just seem to evoke the most negative image in my mind. Maybe it’s their lame commercials. Anyway, I’ve been bombarded with billboard ads for their “burger shots” and I always think that bite size burgers are ridiculous because you probably end up eating like 4 of them to feel satisfied and that could be worse than just eating an entire burger (especially if you eat the sausage ones!).  All that aside, BK really does walk the walk when they say “Have it your way” as a lot of their menu options can be consumed by the calorie-conscious eater (their veggie burger w/o mayonnaise and their Jr. Whopper are okay calorie-wise. They also have a lot of salads, which without the dressing and croutons are great choices, actually!).  I still wouldn’t eat there myself, but for those of you who are slowly trying to wean yourselves off the Fast Food Wagon, be cautious, choose wisely.

Carl’s Jr.’s “Kentucky Bourbon Six-Dollar Burger”

970 calories, 49 g of fat, 3 g fiber, 50 g protein

Yowza.  Again, Carl’s Jr., I applaud you for your ability to cram fat into your burgers.  Bravo.  But in all honesty, I have to hand it to your marketing.  I went on your site and stayed on there way too long — the new ad for the above burger is great, I love the design of your site and its functionality – especially how I can right click and save a picture and it comes out as a full-size version, and your new ad with Padma from Top Chef = Brilliant.  If I wasn’t such a sarcastic pessimist I would think having a hot chick eating burgers was a great marketing ploy, but it actually just annoys me to see slim chicks eating burgers the size of their heads.  Bitter, party of one? Anyway, maybe your marketing folks can help you design the perfect ad for a consumer like me who can’t spare her health on one greasy burger and who doesn’t want just a salad. Deal?

Now that I’ve whined and showed you that Fast Food America is still alive and thrivin’, treat yourself to a small frozen yogurt.  Did you know you can have 1/2 a cup of Yogurtland’s chocolate mint, NY cheesecake, mango, peach, pistachio or French vanilla (no sugar added) for 100 calories or less? Yes, yes you can!

Tags: Burger King, Burger Shots, calories, Candy Land, Carl's Jr., fast food, frozen yogurt, Kentucky Bourbon Six Dollar Burger, Yogurt Land