The Unhealthiest Burgers in America

* Research Courtesy of Men’s Health Magazine

The burger industry in America is looking more and more like an arms race these days. Every few months, we watch in horror as another bacon-enhanced, cheese-embalmed, ranch-riddled weapon of mass inflation hits menu boards at the country’s largest restaurant chains. The Baconator, the Monster Thickburger, the FlameThrower- they sound like weapons, not something you’d order for dinner.

What makes our hamburger habit particularly scary is the Super Size Phenomenon, which for years has been mutating our burgers into double burgers and our double burgers into 1,250-calorie Triple Whoppers with Cheese. A 1957 burger contained little more than one ounce of meat, but by 1997 that same meat wad had grown to six ounces. Stack one of the bloated burgers out there next to a beverage like a large soda or shake and you’re risking two days' worth of calories in a single, misguided meal.

Each year Americans eat about 40 billion burgers, which means that each of us downs nearly 150 of them. Choose better burgers, and you can save 15 or 25 pounds over the course of a year.

Chili's
Smokehouse Bacon Triple-The-Cheese Big Mouth Burger with Jalapeno Ranch Dressing
2,040 calories
150 g fat (53 g saturated)
4,900 mg sodium

You know this burger's in trouble when it takes more than 20 syllables just to identify it. If you think the name’s a mouthful, just wait until the burger hits the table. You’ll be face to face with two-and-a-half day’s worth of fat — a full third of which is saturated. To do that much damage with roasted sirloin, you’d have to eat about eight 6-ounce steaks. It’s nearly three days’ worth of saturated fat and over two days worth of sodium.

T.G.I. Friday's
Friday’s Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger
1,590 calories
unknown g fat (Company will not release this info to the public. Wonder why?)
unknown mg sodium

Although Friday’s is mum on the fat and sodium, it takes only one number to realize that this burger suffers from bigger-is-better syndrome. T.G.I. Friday's average burger has 1,250 calories, and their appetizers are some of the toughest in the country to swallow, calorie and health wise.

Denny's
Double Cheeseburger
1,540 calories
116 g fat (52 g saturated, 7 g trans)
3,880 mg sodium

Add this to our ever-expanding list of the Trans-Fattiest Foods in America.
 (This burger has more than three days' worth of the stuff.) In fact, with as much saturated fat as 52 strips of bacon and more sodium than 21 small bags of Lay’s potato chips, this burger also belongs on the salt-packed list of 20 Foods Your Cardiologist Wouldn’t Dare to Eat.

Dairy Queen
½ lb. FlameThrower GrillBurger
1,140 calories
82 g fat (27 g saturated, 1.5 g trans)
1,940 mg sodium

Regular consumption of the FlameThrower will torch any hopes you have of losing weight. This potential aortic uh-oh contains 60 percent more calories than the Bacon Cheddar Grillburger and more than twice as many calories as DQ’s own Double Hamburger.

Ruby Tuesday
Bella Turkey Burger
1,057 calories
65 g fat

The scariest part about this burger is how completely harmless it sounds: a slice of Swiss melted over sautéed mushrooms and ground turkey. Yet somehow Ruby Tuesday manages to slick it up with as much fat as five Baby Ruth bars. The kid’s version of this - the Turkey Mini - has an astounding 893 calories, yikes!

Hardee's
Two-Third Pound Monster Thickburger
1,420 calories
108 g fat (43 g saturated)
2,770 mg sodium

Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. take a misplaced pride in their shamelessly caloric approach to everything they put under a heat lamp, which is probably reason enough for some to find another place to eat.
Need more motivation? Many of their burgers break the perilous 1,000-calorie barrier; their worst bun-buster has nearly 75 percent of your entire day’s calories and as much fat as a dozen Taco Bell soft tacos.

The following is a list of “somewhat” acceptable burgers if you really have to satisfy that burger craving and eat out. Be careful these are still pretty dangerous if you are counting your calories, trying to loose weight or wanting to eat health.

As you can see, not only is the calorie count high, the fat and sodium levels are as well, and don’t eat more than one. Yes, ditch the fries and soda too.

DQ Original Burger
350 calories
14 g fat (7 g saturated)
680 mg sodium

Wendy’s Quarter-Pound Single
430 calories
20 g fat (7 g saturated)
870 mg sodium

Burger King Whopper Jr. w/o mayo
370 calories
21 g fat (6 g saturated)
570 mg sodium

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder
410 calories
19 g fat (7 g saturated)
730 mg sodium

In-N-Out Protein-Style Protein-Style Cheeseburger
330 calories
25 g fat (9 g saturated)
720 mg sodium