By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
Most road food wouldn’t win any healthy-eating awards, but some regional fare is so fattening it could take your diet on a complete detour.The editors of health.com researched regional high-calorie, high-fat foods and named one high-calorie nutrition bombshell from each state.
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The staff searched for information from regional food bloggers and restaurants and got contributions from Twitter and Facebook followers.
”We did a lot of research, but we didn’t set strict guidelines on how many fat grams or calories a food had to have” to make the list of fattiest foods, says the website’s editor in chief, Amy O’Connor.
The winners in each state were based on “the grossness factor and shocking combinations,” she says.
•In Georgia, you can get what’s called a Luther Burger, supposedly named after singer Luther Vandross. It’s a ground beef patty topped with bacon and cheese, sandwiched between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts instead of a bun.
•In Iowa, there’s a hot beef sundae, which made its debut at the Iowa State Fair a few years ago, O’Connor says. It’s mashed potatoes, roast beef, beef gravy, cheddar cheese and a little cherry tomato on top to look like a cherry on a sundae.
•In Vermont, there’s Ben and Jerry’s “Vermonster,” which includes 20 scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, bananas, cookies, brownies and any other topping you could possibly want.
•In Connecticut, diners at Doogie’s can get a 2-foot-long hot dog on a roll with onions, chili, cheese and bacon and a side of fries.
•In New Mexico, recipes for a Frito pie vary, but most include Fritos corn chips, beef, beans, onion, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato.
It almost seems like a salad,” O’Connor says. “It does have some healthy things on it, but it’s all these toppings on a giant pile of Fritos.”
•In Colorado, the Jack-n-Grill has a 7-pound breakfast burrito. It’s made with seven potatoes, 12 eggs, a pound of ham and a whole onion, plus cheese and chili.
•In Arizona, the Heart Attack Grill offers what’s called the Quadruple Bypass Burger with four beef patties, eight slices of cheese, tomato, onion and sauce on a bun.
•In Nevada, the all-you-can-eat buffets, so popular in casinos especially, are not a good stop for people who are weight-conscious.
Many of these foods are delicious, O’Connor says, but they contain more fat and calories then you’d need for an entire day.
”We didn’t get to go out and do a road trip to try them,” she says, “but maybe next year, we will.”