The New KFC Fried Chicken Sandwich: Cruelty To Your Health
Here’s something to humor and appall you before the weekend. It’s called the Double Down and it’s the new chicken sandwich from KFC. Check this out:
It’s bacon, melted swiss and pepper jack cheese, topped with the Colonel’s sauce, stuffed between two fried chicken fillets instead of buns.
Talk about a gut bomb! Here’s the news report from MSNBC if you want to laugh. (And here’s a link to it if the embedding doesn’t work for you.)
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Ditch Fast Food – Eat Real Food
Every time I see stuff like this, I’m reminded of just why I don’t eat fast food anymore. It’s like a constant game to see just how disgusting and unhealthy they can make the food. I’m definitely not one of those that thinks we should set any kinds of limits on fat or sugar content in foods; I’m all about personal responsibility. But is there anything these companies won’t do to food?
In the interest of actually giving you something useful (though laughter is good for your health too!), here are three recipes that Mike and I have featured in recent months from Nikki Young of The Paleo Cookbooks and Antonio Valladares of Healthy Urban Kitchen.
These are incredibly quick recipes, taking no more than 10-15 minutes in the kitchen. You probably can’t get through the drive-thru much faster than that. Cook some real food…it’s tastier, healthier, and, in the end, it’s cheaper.
What other disgusting food “inventions” have you seen lately? Does anyone actually have a desire to try this thing?
21 Reader Comments
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This site is full of them: http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com
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I guess this is fast food’s attempt at low carb…sad isn’t it!!!
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I don’t know what’s in the sauce but I don’t have much problem with the bacon, cheese or chicken – in fact when starving on a desert that would be my choice over e.g. French fries – why did you pick that example (what’s so harmful in it that I’m not aware of?)
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It wasn’t too long ago that I wouldn’t have seen a problem with that thing. It’s amazing how our perspective can change.
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Rob, love that site. Some of that stuff looks tasty!
Derek, I think a few fast food places have done it right, like In-n-Out (so I hear, never been). I think this is fast food’s attempt to up the ante with the gimmicks.
zbiggy, well, it’s low-quality chicken coated in processed grains (wheat flour) fried in polyunsaturated vegetable oils (see: omega-6s, oxidized fat). That doesn’t count the who knows what preservatives and flavorings in all of it. The cheese and bacon are the best parts of it. The sauce probably contains some sugar and soybean oil (see: more omega-6s). This thing is a train-wreck all around, though yeah, I suppose over French fries it’s a better option, but I like to set the bar a touch higher.
Greg, isn’t it though? There was a time I would’ve considered trying one.
Cheers
Scott
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There is a big nutritional difference between this sandwich? and my homemade copycat version
2 organic, free range chicken breasts
non-factory farmed bacon
organic feta cheese
and a sauce made of olive oil, more feta, sliced black olives, spices and lemon juice
Served with some greens I stole from my neighbors garden
Mmmmmmmmmmmm good and healthy
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DR, that sounds awesome!
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The chicken ‘sandwich’ above looks like a ‘heart breaker’.
On a different note, there is so much talk about how we should cut down our intake on sugar, fat, sodium, etc. Since the U.S. is still basically non-metric, would it not be helpful to have non-metric amounts (e.g. teaspoons, ounces instead of grams) on nutrition labels? This way, people get a much better sense of how much they are really consuming?
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This is probably healthier than a regular sandwich because it has a lot less carbohydrate from white flour, actually.
2 chicken breasts with a slight amount of fried flour >>> a fried chicken sandwich (which contains the same fried flour PLUS the very unhealthy and high calorie bun).
It only “looks gross” because it is erroneously believed meat makes you fat, when in reality carbohydrate (i.e. flour) + high calories makes people fat.
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I don’t see any problems with it at all. It’s probably a better option than a normal KFC burger.
At least you know where you stand with KFC.
The Paleo Cookbooks that you recommend are so full of non-paleo ingredients that the title is a blatant lie.
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Mike OD Reply:
If you ate one of these a day on occasion…..and not much else on those days….you’d probably be fine. Too bad most people eat like that 3x a day everyday getting their calorie totals way above 4000-5000 along with sky high intakes of un-natural sodium….If the chicken was fried in lard it would be alot better….but that excess of Omega 6s from the vegetable oil is just going to increase oxidative damage and weak/damaged cell membrane structure….not good for long term health. One won’t kill you or make you obese (like most all processed food)….but a consistent diet of it will not be ideal to longevity and disease prevention…as even skinny people get heart disease and cancer.
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i wonder how many carbs are in all that breading? 30?
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radma, an interesting idea. Not sure it would help though as people probably know that they are eating and tend to ignore serving sizes anyway.
Wooo, I agree that it’s probably better than the regular sandwich. I know that fat doesn’t make you fat…I write about that all the time.
Bob, still stuck on that huh? Nikki points out all 4 times she uses non-Paleo ingredients in the entire cookbook, out of over 100 recipes. What non-Paleo ingredients do you refer to that are obviously running rampant in the book? Let’s get real…even the carrots, apples, and lettuce we eat today aren’t “Paleo” because they’ve been significantly altered from their wild ancestors to have a higher sugar content. Do you really want to split hairs over that? I don’t think you can realistically say you’re better off with this fast food (or any other) than any recipe out of Nikki’s cookbook.
Meg, I’d be interested to know that too. Carb content is probably pretty low, but the total calorie count is probably pretty high. As Mike said, once in awhile, it’s not going to do any real damage. But on a regular basis, this is as bad news as any other fast food.
Cheers
Scott
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Hey Mike & Scott,
I just wanted to get your take on garlic oil and sesame oil…when my wife and I go out to eat (which is rare) we usually go to http://www.mongosgrill.com/
Those are the oils they have available to fry your stir fry in. My question is which is the lesser of two evils?
At home I use butter, coconut oil and left over bacon grease (local, grass fed and cured naturally with no nitrates of course) to fry my eggs etc in, but when going out you sometimes have to compromise…
Thanks a lot for your time!
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Mike OD Reply:
@ Darcy – You can check out some of the various “smoke points” for oil, the higher the better (as it is more stable over higher heats)
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/50/Smoke-Points-of-Various-Fats
this is also a good read
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CookingOilTypes.htm
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The colonel has done it again, his chickens can’t even cross the road anymore because it’s difficult dragging fried breadcrumbs, mayo and cheese across with them.
I love the smell and taste of KFC, but i have to remind myself about the pain that comes afterwards, hunger 30 minutes later, depression 60 minutes later, Fatique and withdrawal 3 hours later, bad guts 4 hours later and then a 3000 sit ups and a few miles of tedious jogging for almost 2 weeks later.
KFC
Keep For Christmas
That picture does nothing for Kentucky chickens advertisements, maybe they should put that on the menu.
Great post, horrible terryfing and true.
Rusty, peace out guys
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Thanks Mike!
Some useful info there. I can’t seem to find much info on garlic oil though…either recipes for homemade oil (which usually seems to be using Olive oil as a base and adding or roasting with garlic to get the flavor) or pills…I think my googling skills need work!
Thanks again!
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I can totally see why this sandwich would be bad for you and would never eat them on a regular basis. However, I can’t deny that I do have a desire to try one. I know fast food is bad for you and eat it very rarely but I still enjoy it on the occassions that I do eat it.
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if that was made with real food – i.e pastured organic chicken and bacon, coating made with real bread, real grassfed cheese, sauce made with identifiable stuff, etc it would look pretty appetizing and i’d bet it’d be pretty delicious…
but as it’s full of chemicals and other crap, can’t say that my mouth waters looking at it!
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Even if it was made with organic chicken and bacon, it’s as dangerous as Baconator from Wendy’s. It’s just sad to see why people complain about their weight, when all they change is exercise. Don’t get me wrong, I think exercising is a great start, but being a bodybuilder, I understand that weightlifting is only half the battle, and you need to eat right to get the results you would want.
I have been working with Dr.DelRe, who’s not only a specialist in low laser therapy, but also an advocate of healthy lifestyle. His knowledge in nutrition and various exercises helped me get back in shape after recovering from my shoulder injury. You’ll also find his articles on laser therapy quite helpful.
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it is was made with REAL ingredients, i probably wouldn;t eat it!
but at least it would be appetizing
is what i meant
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For those of us who are converts to low carb eating, it’s actually quite a good idea! Of course, as the commentators have already pointed out, this thing will be so fill of artificial chemicals it’ll have completely missed the point.
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Original Recipe Double Down has 540 calories, 290 from fat. 32g of fat, 10g saturated fat, 0.5g of trans, 145mgs cholesterol, 1380mgs sodium. 11gms carbs, 53 grams protein.
The Grilled Version has 460 calories, 210 from fat, 23g of fat, 9g saturated fat, 0 trans fat, 185 mgs cholesterol, 1430mgs sodium, 3 gms carbs, 61 gms protein.
A similar sandwich with bread and one less piece of chicken would have approximately half the protein, 2/3 the fat, half the sodium, 3x the carbs. Anyone who cares at all about their health or fitness would not be eating at KFC anyway as cheese(other than parmesan), bacon and anything fried are big no-no’s.
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