Chipotle Is Even Less Healthy Than McDonald's
"Real, high-quality food prepared using time-honored cooking methods". That's how the nutrition information sheet from burrito chain Chipotle begins. Surely this McDonald's Mexican fast-casual spinoff offers healthier food than its golden arched parent company, right? If your metric is calories and fat, the answer is no.
Chipotle's nutrition information sheet lists each ingredient they offer and the nutrition information for each. No individual item goes over 490 calories or 19g of fat. But, you don't order just one ingredient at Chipotle. You order them together into one of their many burrito or taco offerings.
Let's see: 1 13" flour tortilla, some rice, black beans, carnitas (pork), red tomatillo salsa, and some cheese and sour cream. Can't be all that bad, can it? Not unless you consider 1,195 calories and 42 grams of fat bad. Add some guacamole and switch the tomatillo salsa with corn salsa, and you're talking 1,437 calories and 57 grams of fat.
Compare that with the following Mickey D options, from their nutrition sheet:
Chipotle's nutrition information sheet lists each ingredient they offer and the nutrition information for each. No individual item goes over 490 calories or 19g of fat. But, you don't order just one ingredient at Chipotle. You order them together into one of their many burrito or taco offerings.
Let's see: 1 13" flour tortilla, some rice, black beans, carnitas (pork), red tomatillo salsa, and some cheese and sour cream. Can't be all that bad, can it? Not unless you consider 1,195 calories and 42 grams of fat bad. Add some guacamole and switch the tomatillo salsa with corn salsa, and you're talking 1,437 calories and 57 grams of fat.
Compare that with the following Mickey D options, from their nutrition sheet:
- Big Mac: 560 calories, 30 grams of fat
- Grilled Chicken Club: 590 calories, 22 grams of fat
- Sausage Biscuit with Egg: 500 calories, 31 grams of fat
- Big N' Tasty with Cheese: 520 calories, 26 grams of fat
- Crispy Chicken Ranch BLT: 580 calories, 20 grams of fat
I was hard pressed to find a single item on the McDonald's menu that topped 1000 calories (yes, they do exist).
I'm not claiming that either McDonald's or Chipotle is falsely claiming they offer health food. And, I do recognize that the quality of the food does count for something (healthy fats, no preservatives, etc.).
That said, Chipotle is trying to brand itself as a fresh-Mex alternative to typical fast food, with a bent towards food quality. Contrast that with their food offerings and you quickly realize that fresh-Mex does not equal healthy (or even healthier) alternatives to fast food.
Labels: Restaurants
posted by George at 11:49 PM
8 Comments:
Why are you hatin' on my fav fast food bro...?
I only wish we had that down here in the sticks (nw fl). Heh...
You guys live close enough to Alabama to claim decent BBQ. Who needs Chipotle when you can have pulled pork? :)
Hm. Here we have Freebirds, which is like Chipotle, but local to east Texas (college towns mostly) and is WAY better. Anyway, now you are making me think that my "healthy" veggie burrito is really really bad. Thanks for ruining my favorite lunch :).
you forgot that at mcdonalds a person orders more than just a burger. they get fries, and a drink. you might want to run up your numbers again.
And at Chipotle, people order chips & guacamole, a drink, and so on to go along with their burritos. I think I did as close to apples/apples as I could.
True, Chipotle is probably not the healthiest choice because of all the calories and fat. However, calling Chipotle less healthy than McDonald's? I'm not so sure about that. Chipotle uses naturally raised meats and 25% of their beans are organic. Take a look at some of the ingredients that make up McDonald's food:
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
DATEM
Ammonium Chloride
Azodicarbonamide
Sodium Benzoate
Sodium Propionate
Potassium Sorbate
TBHQ
http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.categories.ingredients.index.html
Yeah, no shit. You're an idiot. Calories and fat does not make something unhealthy, ingredients do. I would much rather eat 3,000 calories worth of black beans, sour cream, and salsa than food that is nothing more than chemicals, saturated fat, corn syrup, and artificial flavors. Not everything that has fat in it is evil and unhealthy. I eat chipotle, IN MODERATION, and am neither fat nor have high cholesterol. Plus, have you seen the size of those burritos? You're retarded if you don't realize something of that size is going to have a ton of calories.
Like I said:
And, I do recognize that the quality of the food does count for something (healthy fats, no preservatives, etc.).
If you were to read the conclusion of my post, instead of click "Comment" and rush up on your soap box, you would have seen that my main complaint was Chipotle's dichotomy between the fat & calorie content of their food and their marketing that their food is healthier than typical fast food.
I agree McDonald's is pretty far down there given their additives and use of high fructose corn syrup. But Chipotle isn't that much better than many fast food franchises.
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