Fast Food Burgers - Sodium Wars!

CA_Underdog
CA_Underdog Posts: 733 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Fast food 1/4lb cheeseburgers often have 1000-2000mg of sodium--hard to fit into the recommended daily allowance! Can you fit these culinary creations into your diet, or it's safest to make burgers at home?

*** 1/4lb Cheeseburger Sodium Survey ***
690mg - Five Guy's Little Cheeseburger (comes naked)
710mg - Wendy's "Dave's Hot N' Juicy 1/4 lb" (w/o second slice of cheese, ketchup, pickles, and mayo)
730mg - Homemade
730mg - McDonald's "Deluxe Quarter Pounder" (hold the pickles and mayo)
810mg - Burger King's "Whopper w/ Cheese" (hold pickles, ketchup,and mayo)

Fact is, bite for bite, fast food burgers are only about as salty as the home-cooked variety! We may be demonizing the fast food variety unfairly for once. What typically does us in are portions and toppings. Jack in the Box says it best, if you're going big "Reduce sodium by limiting cheese, bacon, ham, ketchup, mayonnaise and pickles. Instead, top your sandwich with extra tomatoes and lettuce." Alternatively, go small with all the fixings! Either allows for a positive and healthy fast food experience. :)

* I excluded The Habit, Carls Jr, and Jack in the Box because full nutritional info was unavailable.

--- Home ---
Baseline: A typical home-cooked burger contains 730mg--a patty (70mg), a bun (350mg), seasoning (115mg), and cheese (185mg). This assumes Tillamook or Craft cheese; also Rudi's or Orowheat or Arnold buns.

--- Burger King ---
"Whopper with Cheese" - 1260mg of sodium. Ditch the pickles (-200), ketchup (-130), and mayo (-120) to bring this down to 810mg. BK's cheese is especially salty, so strongly consider this without cheese.

--- Five Guys ---
"Little Cheeseburger" -- 690mg because it comes naked! In addition to lettuce, tomatoes, and onions--they often green peppers and mushrooms (50mg sodium) as fresh toppings for your burger.

--- McDonalds --
"Quarter Pounder With Cheese" - 1100mg of sodium. Ditch the second slice of cheese (-200), no ketchup (-160), and no pickles (-80) to bring that down to 660mg of sodium. No lettuce or tomato. :(

"Deluxe Quarter Pounder" - 960mg of sodium. Again, zap the pickles (-140), also the mayo dressing (-90), and you're down to 730mg of sodium.

--- Wendy's ---

"Dave's Hot N' Juicy 1/4 Single" - 1120 mg of sodium. Ditch the second slice of cheese (-200), the pickles (-110), the ketchup (-70), and the mayo (-30) to tame this down to 710mg of sodium with lettuce and tomato.

Replies

  • AllieMarie2244
    AllieMarie2244 Posts: 106 Member
    In addition... the Calories

    *** 1/4lb Cheeseburger Sodium Survey ***
    550 Calories - 690mg - Five Guy's Little Cheeseburger (comes naked)
    580 Calories 710mg - Wendy's "Dave's Hot N' Juicy 1/4 lb" (w/o second slice of cheese, ketchup, pickles, and mayo)
    213 Calories - assuming its Beef, Ground, 85% Lean Meat / 15% Fat, Patty - 730mg - Homemade
    490 Calories - 730mg - McDonald's "Deluxe Quarter Pounder" (hold the pickles and mayo)
    1030 Calories - 810mg - Burger King's "Whopper w/ Cheese" (hold pickles, ketchup,and mayo)

    And this is why I don't eat Burgers at Fast food places anymore
    =\
  • AllieMarie2244
    AllieMarie2244 Posts: 106 Member
    Jack in the box Jumbo Jack with Cheese

    SERVING SIZE 1
    CALORIES 572
    CALORIES FROM FAT 273
    TOTAL FAT (G) 30
    SATURATED FAT (G) 13
    TRANS FAT (G) 1
    CHOLESTEROL (MG) 81
    SODIUM (MG) 1315
    POTASSIUM (MG) 444
    CARBOHYDRATES (G) 45
    DIETARY FIBER (G) 3
    SUGARS (G) 8
    PROTEIN (G) 30

    Carls Jr website isnt working..
  • CA_Underdog
    CA_Underdog Posts: 733 Member
    213 Calories - assuming its Beef, Ground, 85% Lean Meat / 15% Fat, Patty - 730mg - Homemade
    510 calories, if you want a bun and cheese! Then it's in the same ballpark as fast food. A patty as you say is ~213 calories! You can have just a patty at fast food restaurants, too.
    Jack in the box Jumbo Jack with Cheese
    SODIUM (MG) 1315
    Ditch the ketchup, mayo, and second slice of cheese and you're down to 1015mg. I suspect ditching their pickles would bring the sodium to 815mg, but I excluded them as their site doesn't confirm.
    1030 Calories- Burger King's "Whopper w/ Cheese" (hold pickles, ketchup,and mayo)
    660 calories.
    580 Calories- Wendy's "Dave's Hot N' Juicy 1/4 lb" (w/o second slice of cheese, ketchup, pickles, and mayo
    480 calories.
    490 Calories - McDonald's "Deluxe Quarter Pounder" (hold the pickles and mayo)
    490 calories. :)
    550 Calories - Five Guy's Little Cheeseburger (comes naked)
    550 calories. :)

    Calories are a really good aspect to discuss. It looks like home-cooked sits in the middle there, too! You might get different results if you eat 95% lean beef, but I generally do 85%-90% as suggested.
  • CitizenXVIII
    CitizenXVIII Posts: 117 Member
    I have a burger and fries from Culver's once a week. Single with lettuce, tomato, pickle, ketchup, mustard - no cheese.

    Calories - 346
    Fat - 12
    Na - 700
    Carbs - 35
    Protein - 19

    I omit the bottom half of the bun, but I can't account for what that saves me.

    Small fries is 275 calories.
  • CA_Underdog
    CA_Underdog Posts: 733 Member
    I have a burger and fries from Culver's once a week.

    There's one in my state, but it's quite a drive. I'll check it out the next time I pass by. :)

    I found another great option to add to the list--

    Red Robin's Gourmet Cheeseburger, minus pickles and mayos and w/ a wheat bun, hits only 558mg of sodium (for 733 kcal).. and it comes with bottomless steamed broccoli!

    You know who I'm having over for dinner tonight!! :love:
  • dunnodunno
    dunnodunno Posts: 2,290 Member
    Bump!
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
    McDonald's burger seasoning is just salt and pepper. You can ask for an unseasoned burger. It only takes about a minute to cook the fresh meat. They also scrape off the grill so it's free of the old seasoning. (Well, they're supposed to.) You can also ask for the burger without a bun, they put it on a bed of lettuce. It's actually pretty good!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I was craving a cheeseburger the other day so decided to make one myself... it ended up more calories as a McDonald's cheeseburger, and that's using those '45 calorie a slice' bread (which really are over 45 calories). And I used 94% beef too, and mustard, ketchup and a slice of 2% milk American (50 calories). I guess I had more beef though (3.4 oz raw)... but I wish I knew where to find the buns McDonald's uses, can't seem to find any under 140 calories here.

    Bottom line... it's really pretty close, but I guess at least I know for sure it's beef and there isn't I don't know what added to my burger, and I guess it had more protein...
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    Fast food 1/4lb cheeseburgers often have 1000-2000mg of sodium--hard to fit into the recommended daily allowance! Can you fit these culinary creations into your diet, or it's safest to make burgers at home?

    I don't have an issue with sodium and have no family history that would cause me to worry about sodium. My at home burgers probably have as much sodium per burger as any restaurant.

    Therefor, yes, I can make it fit (because I don't track sodium) and no, it's probably not "safer" to make my burgers at home because I like savory/salty seasoning.
  • stephanne13
    stephanne13 Posts: 212 Member
    Sodium is the reason I don't eat in restaurants of any kind. I seriously eat out about twice a year. I don't have any medical reason to avoid salt, I just don't care to drink 2 gallons of water afterwards trying to curb my thirst! I honestly wish American restaurants would discover that salt does not equal flavor and that there are other options out there to add flavor...or, that it's not such an awful thing to have your food taste like the food that it is! Who in the world actually needs 2.5 days worth of sodium in one meal anyway? It truly has gotten out of control.
  • CA_Underdog
    CA_Underdog Posts: 733 Member
    I wish I knew where to find the buns McDonald's uses, can't seem to find any under 140 calories here.

    Ezekial makes some awesome sprouted hamburger guns. This is now my home bun choice. They're 170 calories, but the sodium is reasonable and they're packed with fiber and other vitamins/minerals. :)

    I ate burgers at Red Robin, home, Burger King, and Five Guys--partly to prove to myself I could easily fit them in without crazy amounts of calories or saturated fat or sodium and while hitting all my targets.
  • suremeansyes
    suremeansyes Posts: 962 Member
    I ate a burrito today with 2,200mg of sodium.

    It was delicious.
  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
    I ate a burrito today with 2,200mg of sodium.

    It was delicious.

    I had chicken wings with infinite sodium. It was also delicious.

    Salt = delicious
  • segovm
    segovm Posts: 512 Member
    And then we add those delicious french fries and the war is lost...

    I know... you don't have to get french fries... you can be that one person ever who goes to McDonalds and DOESN'T get a large order of fresh, crispy, delicious french fries...

    For me, a burger at home might just be only a burger and a tall glass of water. When I'm in there though, the ghost of Ronald McDonald channels through me and just orders a large value meal despite my best efforts.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,989 Member
    I have a plate full of sodium just to irk the daily limits. It's not uncommon for me to consume more than 4500 mgs a day. Of course I don't suffer from high BP nor have any genetic heart issues.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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