TORONTO – Breaded chicken sandwiches, pepperoni pizzas and drive-thru breakfast sandwiches. Do your arteries hurt yet?
To mark the end of March’s Nutrition Month in Canada, Global News asked Heart and Stroke dietician Carol Dombrow for her picks for worst foods for your heart’s health.
“These specific foods are not something I would recommend on a regular basis at all,” Dombrow told Global News. Dombrow has been a registered dietician working with the Heart and Stroke Foundation for the past 25 years.
“My hope is that when people look at this, they’ll say that they can do better.”
Read more: 5 lifestyle changes to improve your heart’s health
They range from greasy, to salt-packed and even mayonnaise-slathered, but there are some unusual suspects.
Take a look at her top 10 worst offenders for the heart:
Croissant with butter
Layers of buttery bread served warm and toasty with more butter on top. This clocks in at 231 calories, 12 grams of fat – 6.6. of which are saturated – and another 424 milligrams of sodium.
Breakfast biscuit with egg, cheese and bacon
Morning meals you grab on the go during your morning commute can be packed with calories, and this snack is a perfect example: 477 calories, 31 grams of fat, 11.4 grams of saturated fat – or more than half your day’s total allotment – and 1,260 milligrams of sodium.
Read more: Canadians ‘overwhelmingly’ support salt reduction initiatives
Eggs Benedict
Two eggs, smothered in Hollandaise sauce and served on an English muffin doesn’t sound as bad as the dish’s nutritional information: 572 calories, 35 grams of fat – 12.5 of which are saturated – and a whopping 2,015 grams of sodium.
Keep in mind, Canadians should be eating 2,300 mgs of sodium a day at most. This plate has more than 2,000.
Double cheeseburger with condiments and vegetables
It doesn’t matter where you pick your poison; burgers appear on most unhealthy lists even if they’re dressed up with vegetables.
A double cheeseburger clocks in at 650 calories, 35 grams of fat, 12.8 grams of saturated fat, and 921 grams of sodium.
Breaded chicken sandwich, with condiments and vegetables
Those who opt for chicken sandwiches instead of beef burgers aren’t faring any better: the chicken sandwich comes with 632 calories, 39 grams of fat, 12.4 grams of saturated fat and 1,238 mgs of sodium. That’s almost half your share of the day’s sodium and almost all of a woman’s allotment of fat for the day.
Pepperoni
Plenty of research has already pointed to the dangers of eating too much processed meat. The nutritional numbers also speak for themselves: 10 slices make up 252 calories, 22 grams of fat and almost 1,000 mgs of sodium.
Six-inch tuna sub
This item is misleading because it could be on healthy lists for some diners. Consider these nutrition numbers: the sandwich comes with 584 calories, 28 grams of fat, 2.8 grams of saturated fat and a whopping 1,596 mgs of sodium. That’s more than halfway there for your day’s sodium.
Quesadilla with meat
Cheesy, meat stuffed and delicious – it’s no wonder this treat is packed with 1,265 mgs of sodium, 627 calories and 38 grams of fat. With 17.3 grams of saturated fat, you’re nearly maxing out your day’s allowance.
Ramen noodles
University students have reason to worry: this cheap dinner fix has its drawbacks because it’s a sodium bomb with 1,760 mgs of sodium. It has 371 calories and 13 grams of fat, almost half of which are saturated.
Vanilla ice cream
Half a cup of this dessert is committing to only 282 calories and 69 mgs of sodium, but in this small portion is 18 grams of fat – 11.7 grams of the very bad saturated kind.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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