KFC Nutrition: What’s in that bowl?
July 19, 2010 by @MichelleRodulfo
Filed under Body Wellness
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.
Most of fastfood restaurants doesn't give a damn care for their consumers health. They have mastered the presentation and promotions so people will go to their place and grab the crap foods.I hope that it will be regulated and follow certain rules that would benefit us.
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It is true that most of the big name in fast food industry has little concern about their customers as most of their food not only has lesser nutrition value for our health but some of them are fatal for our life too.I think it is high time the authority get a good grip on to the situation by taking various measures so that this fast food restaurants make not only delicious but also nutritious food for their consumers.
Yes, I heard of french fries from big name fast foods has more oils in it. If your notice, people who usually eat most in fast foods are “fats”. Why? It is okay to come and eat in these places once or twice a month. When you use to eat meals in fast foods, it is not good anymore. Become “fat and lazy”.
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Yes Dr.J has said very well.All this things which we eat in Restaurants are oily and that can be a source of FAT.But I think we can trust on Restaurants like KFC.Because it is a brand name and most of people do faith on it.So I think they ll also take care about all these issue in their products.Thanks for share a very important article and good discussion.
Yeah, you right but I can’t belive…
All fast food as a lot of calories. 1800 is what an average person should consume depending on their activity level. That doesnt mean that you should avoid fast food it just means you should keep it to a minimum. Do some exercise as much as possible buy a trx , you can use it at your own house. its all about keeping active and eating healthy most of the time