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Surprise: Steak isn't as bad for you as you thought
Food police turn attention to steakhouses
January 18, 1997
Web posted at: 10:00 a.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Eugenia Halsey
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A juicy slab of steak isn't the worst thing you can order, but it isn't the healthiest choice either, says a consumer group famous for uncovering the high fat content of favorite foods.
In its latest restaurant-food survey, the private Center for Science in the Public Interest turned its fat-and-calorie counters on steakhouses.
What they found was that steak isn't so bad after all. Choose wisely, the watchdog group says, and an occasional steak doesn't have to hurt your heart.
The appetizers, however, can kill you.
"Cheese fries served with ranch dressing is worse than anything we've ever analyzed," said CSPI senior nutritionist Jayne Hurley. "It's worse than fettucini Alfredo, a dish we called heart attack on a plate."
According to CSPI's analysis, the entire cheese fries appetizer -- more than a pound of french fries buried beneath cheese, crumbled bacon and ranch dressing -- had 3,000 calories and three days worth of fat.
The second-worst appetizer was a battered, deep-fried onion, which had 116 fat grams and nearly 1,700 calories, the survey found.
Share the appetizers
Health experts recommend on average, people should eat no more than 65 grams of fat per day.
"My advice would be to share it with the whole table," said Edith Hogan, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
OK, you're ready for the main course. Can your heart handle the steak?
Steak is fine, Hogan said, as long as diners heed this advice: "You've just got to remember that you've got to balance this and probably stay on the treadmill an extra half-hour."
The healthiest dishes at steakhouses are barbecued chicken or grilled fish, Hurley said. But it is also possible to build a decent meal around a slab of sirloin or chunk of filet mignon by choosing healthy side dishes -- vegetables, salads with low-fat or fat-free dressing and a baked potato with just one tablespoon of sour cream.
Go for sirloin or filet mignon
Still, it's a juicy dilemma. If you're in the mood for steak, do you order the sirloin or the prime rib?
"If you're going to get a steak, make it a sirloin or filet mignon," Hurley said. "They're the real cut above the rest."
But what about the prime rib?
"A 16-ounce prime rib has four times the fat of one sirloin steak," Hurley said.
When CSPI analyzed meals at some of the largest steakhouse chains, they found a typical serving of sirloin steak with all visible fat cut off has 15 grams of fat.
The average filet mignon, 18 grams of fat; rib eye, 30 grams; New York strip, 34 grams; T-bone, 44 grams; prime rib, 62 grams; and porterhouse, 64 grams of fat.
But the National Restaurant Association counters that beef eaten today has 27 percent less fat than a decade ago. It also says beef is an important part of a healthy diet, providing diners with such essentials as protein, zinc, B vitamins and iron.
"Restaurateurs have found that, above all, consumers want choice," said W.W. Naylor, the trade group's chairman. "They want steaks and fish and pasta and salads -- and the freedom to choose for themselves."
Related stories:
- Olestra prompts a fat-free food fight -October 1, 1996
- Cancer Society: Back off the red meat, alcohol - September 17, 1996
- Study: America is eating healthier - September 5, 1996
- Study says consumers are fed up with expert advice on nutrition - June 26, 1996
Related sites:
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- Center for Science in the Public Interest
- American Dietetic Association
- National Restaurant Association
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