Comparison of Nutrition Facts for Fast Food Restaurants

Comparing nutritional information for fast food options at major chain restaurants is not just a pastime. Consumers' health depends on what food choices are available to them and which of those choices are appropriate for their diet, so that they can eat accordingly. Different calorie counters and nutrition comparison venues allow people to pre-plan and structure their meals so that they can make more informed choices for their well-being.

Macro

• On a macroscopic level, nutritional facts you can present can be in aggregate form, to give a broad perspective of a particular product across restaurants. For instance, you can compare various signature beef burgers, with the rows representing different burger offerings by restaurants and the columns depicting information such as calories, percent calories from fat, total fat in grams and in calories, and so forth. This way you can see a quick snapshot of essential features about each burger. If you were keen on a large burger but were concerned about fat and cholesterol content, you might decide to forgo the Hardee's 1/2 Pound Six Dollar Burger, seeing that it contains 73 grams of total fat and 150 mg of cholesterol, compared to the McDonald's Angus Deluxe, which contains a more modest 39 grams of total fat, albeit comparable cholesterol levels.

Micro

• For a more finely-tuned approach, examine fast food nutritional information keyed into a particular nutritional parameter. Perhaps your physician or nutritionist requires you to stay within a certain daily allotment of fat calories per day by your physician or nutritionist. You may be able to see how all the statistics stack up in the macro version, but unless you sort them by specifying "fat calories" in a dropdown menu, then "low to high," you won't be able to know which options are best. The micro view allows you to home in on those burgers with the least amount of fat calories first, followed by those with progressively higher fat calories.

Type of Food

• Different fast food restaurants have different groupings of products that are not standardized. Burgers are a common product, but gorditas are not. Many fast food restaurants carry frozen desserts, but they go by different names and you would rather not wade through dozens of items looking for the one Arctic Rush from Dairy Queen from a macroscopic view. In this case you might target your search via the list feature, which takes a single restaurant and conveniently groups its lineup of products according to the categories relevant to that restaurant. From a more manageable alphabetical listing of desserts, therefore, you will be able to find your DQ delight faster.

Restaurant vs. Restaurant

• As much as nutritional comparisons can be useful if you have no set inklings, sometimes you just "know" what you want and you want specific details about specific products, at specific restaurants. But you are also curious about their competition and how nutritious comparable products are. In this scenario, you might opt for a side-by-side viewing of the nutritional labels of two products, with calories, fat, sodium, and others listed in an easyto-compare format.

Meal Combinations

• Nutritional information on individual burgers and products may be fine if that was all that you were going to eat. In reality, you are not just eating a single burger, but a composite meal fortified with side dishes or accompaniments, beverages and desserts. Knowing the total values for all of these components will give a more realistic sense of what you are about to eat. In the combination form of comparison, you take the restaurant of interest. Then, from the various dropdown menus, select each of the food products that will go into your meal. When you are finished, calculate the total daily values for the entire meal pack, inclusive of sauces, dressings and toppings.