KFC Nutrition: What’s in that bowl?

With all the talk about KFC’s Double Down Sandwich I finally decided to visit the company’s website to get the low down on this much talked about sandwich. But I got distracted when I spotted the Pot Pie, Bowls & Value Boxes section of the KFC Nutrition Guide. And there in that section was the KFC Famous Bowls – Mashed Potato with Gravy.

How bad can a bowl of KFC mashed potato with gravy be? Pretty darn bad. Ridiculously bad. Heart stopping bad….insanely bad. This “bowl” is described as a combination of popcorn chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes and corn topped with a three cheese blend. And if that description isn’t enough to turn you off, let’s have a closer look at the KFC Nutrition Guide.

Calories:  700   If we eat approximately 1,800 calories/day, this meal represents 40% of our daily intake – but that’s not counting a drink. And I’m figuring that we are going to need a very large drink once we see just how much sodium is in this baby.

Calories from Fat:  290 This is really high because 41% of the calories in this blow comes from fat.

Total fat:  32 (g)   The recommended daily fat intake is around 65 grams. So this bowl provides almost half of this amount in just one meal. Not good.

Saturated Fat: 8 (g) Less is more here because foods high in saturated fats are also high in cholesterol. The American Heart Association sets a daily limit of 16 (g) of saturated fat daily and this bowl provides half of this amount.

Cholesterol: 55 (mg)   Again, according to the American Heart Association we should be eating no more that 200 mg of cholesterol daily. This bowl provides more that a quarter of this allotment.

Sodium:   2,260 (mg)  Are you kidding me?  The amount of sodium in this meal is totally out of the ball park given that our recommended daily sodium intake is around 1,500 mg.

Carbohydrates: 57 (mg)  This one is a little tricky because it depends on how many calories we eat daily. What’s more important is the kind of carbs that we consume and we should be consuming unprocessed carbs for optimum nutrition. The carbs in this KFC bowl are highly processed. And how do we know that? By having a look at the ingredient list….but we’re not there yet.

Dietary Fiber:  6 (g) is woefully short of the recommended 21 – 38 grams required daily.

Protein:  27 (g) This is really quite high. We should be consuming about 15 (g) of protein with each meal or about 45 (g) daily.

When we ad up the ingredients listed for the popcorn chicken, the mashed potatoes, the gravy, corn and the three cheese blend, we come in at about 150 ingredients. But I’m going to give myself a 10% margin for error here because my eyes really did begin to gloss  over during the whole counting process.

Suffice it to say that a number of these ingredients are chemicals and chemical preservatives. Creepy unhealthy ingredients.

Bottom Line: the KFC Famous Bowls – Mashed Potato with Gravy is a no go. It’s not real food, it’s unhealthy, highly processed and loaded with fat and sodium. It’s absolutely not the kind of food that supports health and wellness.  KFC Nutrition?  I think we should pass on this one.