Denny's Maple Bacon Sundae

I love Eat This Not That! I love that it really educates you beyond calories and fat, but also sugars and labeling tactics. Things I had been eating and thought were healthy choices I learned were not.

Anna@DairyFFA

I absolutely agree with you! I think it's really sad that when I look at a menu of a typical chain restaurant like Applebees, Ruby Tuesday, etc. it's almost impossible to find something that's not at least 900 calories! I think it's ridiculous that these restaurants can't, and to quote you, WAKE UP and realize that they need to serve healthier food!

sorry for the rant =]

Yuliya

Honestly, I think that when the calories are posted on the menu, that people will STILL not care and eat it. There just seems so be such a give up attitude in this country now. It's sad, people need to be educated more on the extremely negative effects that this stuff will have on their health... Anyway, all that aside, when I see bacon and sundae in the same mix, I'm immediately turned off anyway!

Brent

Yep. I don't eat out much anymore because I rarely find something on the menu that I can eat. Even then, I have to do the "can I have the ceasar salad, dressing on the side, no toast, and um, yeah, don't bring me toast". One restaurant I went to gave me HALF A CUP of Ceasar dressing on the side, and this was after my husband heard the chef questioning what kind of person would order a ceasar salad with dressing on the side.

We tend to eat at a local Veitnamese restaurant, lots of choices and a lot of healthier ones at that.

Jennifer

Honestly I could not eat a sundae with bacon in it. It sounds horrible,and the fat content...it's just not worth it.

I'll stick to a lowfat frozen yogurt when I want something similar to ice cream.

arlene

yuk. That sundae sounds terrible. I won't go to Denny's ever - when I was younger my parents took us there and all three times I found unidentified objects in my food. D I second Jennifer's Vietnamese suggestion. We lived there for 1/2 a year in 2009 and the food is fabulous, fresh and flavorful

Sharon

My family usually shares desserts like this. I am definitely going to try it! I had a maple/bacon donut while I was losing weight and found it oddly de-lish :-)

I love portion control and I love food. Great post as always Dr. Cain.

Cheers -- Mark Haub, PhD

Dr. Haub

Quite frankly I'd be far more concerned with the 97g carbohydrate, much of which is sugar, and that has nothing to do with the bacon content. The bacon is a gimmick, and while I'm not a diehard bacon fanatic, I do feel that it's being vilified a bit. ;)

Heli

Wow - this is "food porn" at its worst. I realize that the sundae is not parading around as health food, but there are no healthy choices in sight. I'm thrilled you wrote this post. Thanks, Snack Girl! You speak the voice of reason!

Franny

The other thing that sucks about Denny's? California law requires them to post their calorie count next to the food items on the menu and I have yet to find a Denny's that has.Being that I live in California and all. That said, that Baconalia menu makes my heart clench just at the thought.

Mitaukano

40g of fat! .... !! I agree that the biggest worry here, though, is probably the carb content. Whoa. I also agree that people probably still won't care if the calorie content is posted. I wonder if there is a pictographic way of showing the calories?

Deb

Actually thanks for the idea. No thanks to Denny's but I think I'll use some reduced fat ice cream (1/2 cup), a couple tablespoons light whipped cream, a piece of uncured bacon and 1/8 cup maple syrup at HOME to do something fun. Thank you Snack Girl. I used a calorie calculator--313 calories....more reasonable for sure!

Sue

@Brent- I totally agree with you. However, I think the real reason is that the calorie numbers don't mean anything to most people. They don't know how to quantify it. If people really knew what their healthy weight range was for their height and activity level and the number of calories daily to stay in that range, then they might have a better way to quantify it.

I greatly appreciate the calorie counts that are popping up on restaurant menus. I am often surprised how sometimes the healthier sounding item actually contains more calories and vice versa. At any rate, it helps me to decide. However for most people I unfortunately think it is like the terror level colors were. You could say it was 'plaid' and people wouldn't know if that was a level or not. They would just ask, "Well is that bad?" Portion sizes and calorie counts mean nothing to people who have no idea how to apply it to themselves.

Also, @Snack Girl, turkey bacon is often higher in cholesterol and sodium depending on which you buy. (I doubt Denny's is using really good organic, etc. stuff so in this case the turkey or the reg as just about equal in badness.) Also turkey franks are often way worse. A Dr. friend said they are much worse and another friend left some at my house and I compared, and my Dr. friend was right. I was surprised.

T.

PS Eating Well just did a comparison of saturated fat in various restaurant dishes to slices of bacon--now THAT is a visual most people could relate to!

http://www.eatingwell.com/blogs/healthy_cooking/_many-slice…

Sue

Even more frightening is that this sundae is part of a full "Baconalia" menu! I was shamefully at Denny's last week and felt even more shame at seeing my first name at the end of that terrible menu's name!

Lia

@Yuliya I hear you. But actually Applebee's has an "Under 550 Calories" section on their menu (http://www.applebees.com/Menu_Under550.aspx). I wish there were more (non-shrimp) options, but I'm happy it's there. Now if only there was an Applebee's close to my home!

Amy Mace

I love those ETNT books and have quite a few of them. I subscribed to their online newsletter and it's quite entertaining and informative. As for restaurants, I do love my Panda (fast chinese) food restaurant if I'm in a hurry... when you walk in, the calories are all right up front on the labels of every item as you walk down the line to order your food as they build your plate for you. I know exactly how many cal's i'm consuming ... love it! now if they'd only show the sodium, too, as chinese is notoriusly bad for being laden with, but that's probably the part that would make me not want to eat there. (ha!)

Angie M.

I never thought I would ever be defending Denny's, but most of the comments are overly paranoid. This is clearly a novelty treat. If you wanna have some fun and order a wacky item, this is great. If you are watching your weight, you would never order this to begin with. This is no worse for you than cheese cake. Most deserts are a nutritional wasteland. I fail to see how bacon, maple syrup and ice cream is worse for you than hot fudge, sprinkles and ice cream. America's obesity problem stems from over processed foods, too much fat, and a lack of fresh produce. Novelty deserts are not whats bringing us down.

Chefprotoss

I'm on weight watchers and I saved my extra points to share this with my husband. It comes to 11 points for 1/2 the serving. It's important to build up to an occasional treat. Don't blame Dennys for people's obesity--we have the power to control what we put into our mouths.

me

I don't complain about what restaurants serve or whether they have a "fit n healthy " menu section. I just don't go. Eating at restaurants is not mandatory. We've made it seem so. I don't eat pork but when I go to the local BBQ joint, I get grilled salmon or a Turkey Burger. They automatically know to not add sauce or cheese. If a place doesn't have the items I eat, I don't....I just enjoy the company of whomever I'm with. No drama. No fuss.

Linda