Your Favorite Restaurant May Be Serving You a Meal to Die For

Some of the biggest names in restaurants are serving up trouble for many Americans based on the sodium content of their meals. Although Chili’s wants you to “Pepper in some fun,” it turns out that more salt than pepper is being dished out, and instead of Red Lobster being “for the seafood lover in you” it may as well be for the salt lover in us all. Whether you take home a heart attack in a sack from KFC or order a side of stroke at your Olive Garden table, the dangers lurk just inside restaurant kitchen doors.

According to the Center For Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), 85 out of 102 meals at 17 restaurant chains contain more than the daily recommended amount of sodium. Some single meals were even found to have a sodium content that exceeded four days worth of salt. The report reveals the saltiest meals in America among the 25 largest U.S. chain restaurants that provide the CSPI with the sodium content of their adult and children’s menu items. One meal is considered to be one entrée along with a single side dish and a drink.

Although sodium allows the body to hold onto water and regulates the body’s water balance, people need to consume it in moderation. The intake of high sodium levels can lead to high blood pressure, make existing high blood pressure worse and may even precipitate heart failure in individuals with heart conditions.

The federal government advises healthy individuals to consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium daily (about one teaspoon). For children, ages 4-8, consumption should total no more than 1,200 milligrams per day. However, people with high blood pressure, as well as African-Americans and those of middle age and older, should consume no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium daily. Yet most Americans consume two to three times the daily recommended amount per one single meal.

The report also showed that meals high in fat content were also high in salt, and that those low in fat had a low salt content. According to the CSPI, Red Lobster, Chili's, and Olive Garden are among the worst offenders with such meals as:

• Red Lobster’s Admirals' Feast with Caesar salad. It's a creamy lobster-topped mashed potato, cheddar bay biscuit and lemonade topping the charts at 7,106 milligrams of sodium
• Chili's Buffalo Chicken Fajitas and a Dr. Pepper totaling 6,916 milligrams of sodium
• Olive Garden’s Tour of Italy lasagna with a bread stick, salad with house dressing and Coca-Cola containing 6,176 milligrams of sodium

For kids meals, there were just as many containing high sodium, and with a greater deadly variety that included:

• Red Lobster’s Chicken Fingers, Biscuit, Fries, Raspberry Lemonade having 2,430 milligrams of sodium
• Chili's Country Fried Chicken Crispers with Rice and 1% milk with 2,385 milligrams of sodium
• KFC’s Popcorn Chicken with Macaroni and Cheese, Teddy Grahams, and 2% milk totaling 2,005 milligrams of sodium
• Jack in the Box’s Chicken Strips Grilled, Buffalo Sauce, Fries, and 1% milk having 1,980 milligrams of sodium
• Olive Garden’s Chicken Fingers, Fries, and Raspberry Lemonade for a total of 1,835 milligrams of sodium

Based on the findings in the report, must we give up eating out at our favorite restaurants to remain healthy? Well, not necessarily. The point is to choose your meal wisely. There are many healthier options on these restaurant menus that may not taste quite as decadent but will leave you healthy, if not quite as satiated, when you choose to consume them.