The takeaway truth: How some Irish fastfood favourites have a day's calories and others aren't bad as you think
Depending on what meal you order, you could easily be eating more than the daily caloric intake in a single sitting.
We all love a takeaway as a treat. But did you know some fast food favourites contain a whole day’s calories?
Depending on what meal you order, you could easily be eating more than the daily caloric intake in a single sitting. According to guidelines, women should eat an average of 1,800 -2,000 calories a day, while for men it’s 2,000 and 2,500 calories.
Some items on the menus of our biggest chains can wipe out a day or half a day’s calorie count. While others - such as the Big Mac - are not as bad as you’d think.
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Here are some of the heaviest-calorie fast food orders, from our best-known chains. Burger King’s Texan Bacon Lovers Triple Beef burger is 1,512 calories on its own, while the meal deal - including chips and a soft drink - brings it up to 1,993. The burger contains three flame-grilled beef patties, with cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, streaky bacon, crispy onion rings and BBQ sauce, all on a sesame seed bun.
BK’s Triple Whopper burger will set you back a whopping 1,108 calories. With a medium size chips at 429 calories and medium coke at around 150 calories, this is close to a 2000 daily calorie allowance. McDonald’s Big Mac is seen as the fast food restaurant’s moreish menu item - but it’s just 493 calories, which is not so bad.
The most calorie-laden burger on McDonald’s menu is its limited edition Hat Trick burger, at 726 calories. With large chips and a large coke, this meal comes out at 1,382 calories.
Subway has plenty of healthy salads on option, such as the chicken breast salad, which is only 123 calories. But watch out for the famous footlong versions of their classic sub sandwiches. For example, the 6” meatball marina is 500 calories, but a footlong one is 1,000kcals.
The chain went viral online after it brought out a footlong cookie earlier this year. However, this is definitely one to be shared, with a total of 1,440 calories in the 12-inch cookie tray.
Irish favourite SuperMac’s 7.5oz burger has a total of 822 calories. With regular garlic cheese chips and a regular coke, the total of this meal would be 1,670 calories. Swapped out with regular chips, it is slightly less at 1,346. Another hefty choice on the menu is the snack box, with chips, fried chicken drumstick and chicken thighs, which totals 989 calories.
Upmarket burger chain Five Guys’ single beef patty burger with cheese, tomato and lettuce comes out at a reasonable 496 calories. However, the restaurant’s chips - which are deep fried in peanut oil - is where the calories add up. Its large fries have a massive 1,491 calories, while its regular fries come in at 1,122. So a standard double cheeseburger, large fries and a regular coke would be 2,332 calories - exceeding a lot of people’s advised daily caloric intake.
While Camile has been voted Ireland’s healthiest takeaway, those counting calories still need to be mindful of the menu. One portion of the restaurant’s starter of calamari fries is 826 calories, and a single serving of hoisin duck spring rolls is 492 calories.
Camile’s signature spice bag is 1,042 calories with a massaman curry dip, while a portion of its classic pad thai is 1,038. At Domino’s, it’s easy for calories to rack up quickly with its delicious offerings of pizza, sides and chocolate desserts. Its most calorie-dense pizza appears to be the Meateor, which comes in at 1,232 calories for half of a large pie.
With a side of dough balls, a can of coke, and two chocolate chip cookies for dessert this meal would total 2,064 calories.
KFC has some lower calorie options, including its regular popcorn chicken at 285 calories. The KFC Zinger burger is the highest-calorie option on the Irish menu at 750 calories. With large chips and a large Pepsi, this meal comes out to 1,270 calories.
Milano is not a takeaway, but the popular pizza restaurant has some surprising high calorie items. One of its pizzas - the Sloppy Guiseppe Large Classic, comes in at 1,755, so it’s definitely one to share. A double helping of Milano's famous Dough Balls doppio - with side dips of garlic butter, pesto and tomato salsa - contains 1,512 calories.
A healthier option is its main course the Nicoise Salad - a tuna, cucumber, egg and olives dish - at 506 calories; or Milano’s lighter option Leggera pomodoro pizza (573 calories.)
Nutritional Therapist Nikki Wan said the nutritional information for some of these takeaway items is "insane".
She said: "The Triple Whopper is over half of a woman’s 2000 calories a day without chips, without a drink. With those two things you’re probably looking at a whole day's calories for one meal. It’s also only a bit of tomato, a bit of lettuce and onion, maybe a gherkin.
"There’s very little nutritional value in that, you need to be having a 60 to 80g serving of any vegetable for it to be considered your five a day."
While calories can be used as a tool to eat a more balanced diet, the nutritional therapist said she lives by "an 80/20 rule". She added: "So 80% of the time is eating well and doing what’s best for your body, and 20% allow yourself to enjoy that meal.
"Enjoy your life but also be good about it because there’s so many different things we can do to help our bodies. You will set yourself up for much better gains later in life." For all the restaurants mentioned above, nutritional information is readily available on their websites and/or menus.
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