Price over substance makes hamburger headlines

by Nancy Conway

When the Old Homestead Restaurant in New York City added a 41-dollar, 20-ounce hamburger to its menu, everyone took notice - at the price that is. The cost is justified for the gourmet burger because it is made from Japanese Kobe beef, which is fed beer and massaged with sake to produce a superior product. Only in New York, New York will diners happily gorge on $41 hamburgers. That is what the rest of the country seems to be saying.

So, why don't we drop our jaws at the idea of eating 20 ounces of meat at one sitting, 1,180 calories (based on the leanest beef), or more than one-third of the total calories most of eat on a daily basis? This doesn't include the roll or the pat of herb butter that seasons the meat.

Price aside, consuming one and a quarter pounds of very lean beef means eating 52 grams of fat, 20 grams of saturated fat and 426 grams of cholesterol. It wasn't that long ago when the fast food industry introduced quarter pound (4 ounce) burgers -- a hearty departure from the 3-ounce portion sizes still recommended for a healthy diet. A meat portion should be about the same size as a deck of cards.

The Big Texan Steak House in Amarillo, Texas offers a 72 oz. sirloin steak dinner and it is free if you eat the whole thing, by yourself, in one hour. That is six pounds of meat in one sitting. The steak costs $72 if you fail the challenge and can be mail ordered.

According to their website, the Big Texan proudly claims:

• Nearly 4,800 people have succeeded in eating the 72oz. steak (since 1960).
• Almost 30,000 people have attempted to consume the free 72 oz. steak (since 1960).
• Approximately two women each year successfully eat the steak of the 4 or 5 who try.
• The oldest person to eat the steak was a 69-year-old grandmother; the youngest, an 11-year old boy.

Most Americans couldn't or at least shouldn't eat this much meat in one day, let alone for one meal. Yet, portions are growing and Americans are finding room to eat bigger meals, despite their worries over being attractively thin and the medical problems associated with being overweight. It is a popular notion to be thin, but very few people actually limit their diets to smaller portions.

While diet gurus and nutritionists argue over more fat/less carbs or less carbs/more fat, no one seems to take much notice of the plates full of food we look forward to everytime we eat out.

One solution would be to take control by cooking your own meals and being able to control portions and ingredients. Not everyone likes to cook and others may not have the time or opportunity to cook for themselves, because of work or various other reasons. Even so, there are ways to maintain some control of what you eat.

Have a plan in mind and stick to it. That means decide what you want to eat -- make it something healthy and low fat. If you know the restaurant serves oversized portions, have a meal that makes good leftovers. Size up your plate before you dig in and determine how much you are going to eat and then how much you will take home for lunch the next day. This is a good idea since foods that aren't particularly good for you don't make good leftovers, so you will avoid ordering.

Eating different kinds of foods, for instance dining at a Chinese restaurant may be a good alternative. When you eat with a group, you can order various dishes and share. Look for restaurants that serve family style, that allow you to serve yourself the right portions.

Another suggestion is to stick with the salad bar and make yourself choose healthy and in the right portions. Buffet-style dining is also a good way to control calories and fat. Just be careful with both the salad bar and buffet to lean toward veggies and fresh fruit, while keeping those meat and bread portions small.

It all boils down to taking control for yourself, by not succumbing to eating more than is good for you. Until the people who tell us what to eat realize it is more important to tell us how much to eat, we are out there fending for ourselves. And as long as restaurants are selling us gargantuan hamburgers for montrous prices, we will have to stay vigilant. Eat well!