Diet bombs in small packages
When you order an app, you don’t expect it to equal or exceed the main meal, right? Unfortunately, many popular appetizers contain astronomically more calories, fat, and sodium than you should consume in a whole day, let alone in your entrée. What’s worse is that apps tend to be a shared experience, with a three-or-more split between everyone at the table, so it’s easy to lose track of how much you actually eat. Our advice? Skip the apps in favor of a small green salad. Or, if you're faced with apps at a party, recreate these pre-meal favorites for a fraction of the calories and fat.
1. Stuffed jalapeno poppers
These spicy stuffed poppers not only come at a high heat, they also come at a steep caloric cost. One plateful of these peppers tallies over 1,900 calories, 135 g of fat, and over 6,000 mg of sodium! (Yes, that’s right 6,000 mg of sodium.) You could have ordered 9 chicken enchiladas and still saved 36 g of fat and 2,000 mg of sodium.
2. Boneless buffalo wings with blue cheese
Stop trying to kid yourself that the celery stalk that comes with the basket of wings makes this starter a healthy choice: One order of these saucy snackers amounts to almost 1,500 calories and 4,590 mg of sodium. That’s the salt equivalent of gorging on over 2 large bags of potato chips before your main entrée.
3. Stuffed potato skins
While potato skins are not regarded as a typical healthy choice, these "loaded" appetizers may be far worse than you anticipated. The boat-like munchies are usually brimming with high-calorie and high-fat ingredients like sour cream, bacon, and a medley of melty cheeses, but all that indulgence comes at a price: One plate of these is 2,070 calories. It’s also got 135 g of fat, the equivalent of over a dozen chocolate donuts.
4. Guacamole and chips
We absolutely love avocado: It’s got a rich, buttery taste, and it’s packed with belly-flattening MUFAs. Unfortunately, not all guacs are created equal. Some restaurant versions really pack on the calories and salt—one platter of chips and dip could amount to close to 1,400 calories and 84 g of fat, not to mention over 2,000 mg of sodium.
5. Beef nachos
It’s hard to resist the tempting call of layers of tortilla chips, melted nacho cheese, onions, peppers, and juicy beef. But you would be all the wiser to stray from this fattening app tower: One plate has 1,700 calories and over 3,500 mg of sodium.
6. Chicken strips
Ordering an individually sized chicken appetizer may make you believe that you are playing it safe when it comes to keeping your eye on your waistline. Think again. A single serving of sesame chicken strips amounts to more than half of your day’s calories and over 2,600 mg of salt.