In a perfect world, you can always start the morning with a healthy breakfast. Beginning your day with yogurt, oatmeal, chia pudding, or a veggie omelet sounds perfect. However, we understand that there’s not enough energy and time in the day sometimes to make a whole meal from scratch. So, many opt for a drive-through, fast-food breakfast.
And, while it won’t be hard to find a quick bite on the move (almost every top fast-food chain offers breakfast options), not every fast-food breakfast is beneficial if you want to watch your diet. In reality, a lot of these breakfast items, while delicious, are full of unnecessary fat, carbs, sugar, and salt, which can derail your diet plan.
Trying to figure out which fast food breakfasts cause weight gain can be super tricky. Luckily, we spoke with registered dietitians Shena Jaramillo and Catherine Gervacio, nutrition writer for Living.Fit. They said that Jack-in-the-Box’s Grande Sausage Breakfast Burrito (with salsa) and McDonald’s Big Breakfast are some of the worst offenders when it comes to fast-food breakfasts. Find out more below!
Jack-in-the-Box's Grande Sausage Breakfast Burrito (with salsa)
Per burrito, this breakfast burrito delivers an insane 1070 calories, 72 grams of fat, 2210 milligrams of sodium, and 70 grams of carbs. With this meal, you get over 50% of your daily calories, based on a 2,000-calorie diet. And, the sodium is over 90% of the recommended daily amount. In addition, there are also more carbs than needed. This breakfast burrito is equivalent to almost five slices of bread. And, the sausage part of this meal is not a great idea when it comes to your health—especially if you want to lose weight.
Gervacio explains that sausages "have a mix of fat and meat to make them more flavorful. This means it contributes a lot of calories from fat." But it's not just the fat content that makes sausages such an unhealthy option. She warns that many of them also contain nitrites, "which are linked to cancer." Overall, Jack-in-the-Box's sausage breakfast burrito is an excessive meal that has over-the-top amounts of nutrients you want to only eat on occasion.
McDonald's Big Breakfast
The McDonald's Big Breakfast consists of a warm biscuit, scrambled eggs, McDonald's sausage, and hash browns. Although this meal is super tempting, one order contains 760 calories, 48 grams of fat, 1,530 milligrams of sodium, and 57 grams of carbs. These foods are very high in fat, and the portions are too large. The meal boasts about half of your day's worth of salt in one serving and is packed full of fat.
"Regular consumption of fast food breakfast [meals] can lead to unwanted weight gain, bloating, and potentially even GI distress related to the high-fat content of the food choices," Jaramillo warns.
"Some ways that one could improve the nutrient content of fast food breakfast [meals] would be to see if there are options to add veggies to the meal," she suggests. "Often tomato, lettuce, or other veggies are available in the establishment and could be added to the sandwich. One could also choose to omit condiments like mayo or other high-calorie products to reduce the overall caloric intake of the meal."
So there you have it. Two fast food breakfast orders that you are better off skipping. If you want to lose weight, it's best to eat nutrient-rich meals like yogurt, oatmeal, or an omelet. But, if you don't have the time to start your day any other way, make sure you check out our list of healthy fast-food breakfasts next time.
