Calories By Restaurant Type

Calories By Restaurant Type

If you’re trying to lose weight or just eat better so you’ll live longer, you may want stay home at mealtime. The average restaurant entree contains most of the calories, fat and salt you need for an entire day! The studies’ authors, who are from Tufts University and the University of Toronto, say this makes restaurants unhealthy places to eat because the food that is served not only adds to the obesity epidemic, but also increases diners’ risk for heart disease. Here’s the big gotcha of eating out: On most restaurants’ menus, the entrees range widely in calories, fat and salt, but there is no way for customers to know this information unless the menus contain such labeling. “There is no way to predict which meals are going to be the worst,” lead study author Mary Scourboutakos of the University of Toronto told HealthDay News.

The average number of calories in a single entree by restaurant type:

  • Italian: 1,755 calories
  • American: 1,494 calories
  • Chinese: 1,474 calories
  • Japanese: 1,027 calories
  • Vietnamese: 922 calories