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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Lisa Drayer

Aired August 24, 2002 - 07:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, put down the Egg McMuffin. Just put it down. Just put it down, do not eat it. The folks who tell us that our favorite foods are bad for us are at it again. This time, the Center for Science and the Public Interest looks at fast food.
Surprisingly, not all the news is bad. The Center didn't have anyone available for us this morning, but dietitian Lisa Drayer joins us from New York. Thanks for being with us, Lisa.

LISA DRAYER, DIETITIAN: Thank you.

COOPER: So, there actually may be some OK news, out there? Let's start off with the -- let's go restaurant by restaurant. Burger King really got hit hard in this list.

DRAYER: Yes, definitely. Burger King has this double whopper with cheese.

COOPER: Yes.

DRAYER: That has over 1,100 calories and 76 grams of fat. That's 11 more grams than your total fat by the -- for the entire day.

COOPER: Seventy-six grams of fat in that one burger.

DRAYER: Seventy-six. And 33 grams of saturated fat.

COOPER: Oy!

DRAYER: Yes, and it's the saturated fat that boosts cholesterol levels. And that's a day and a half worth of saturated fat. So, careful. Watch those options.

COOPER: My arteries are hardening just listening -- just listening. Is there anything good at Burger King that you can eat?

DRAYER: You know, Burger King actually has this excellent new BK veggie burger and it's the first meatless burger at any of the big burger chains. It's excellent, only about 300 calories, and they also have a chicken whopper junior. The chicken whopper junior, by choosing the junior size, you save about half the calories and a third of the fat. Just by ordering the junior size as opposed to the regular. so, those are excellent choices. You can order healthy at your favorite fast food. COOPER: Now, Wendy's always seems a little healthier to me, and I actually just stopped in there the other day and I had their new mandarin chicken -- I don't know if it's new -- it's the mandarin chicken salad, and you know -- I understand that's pretty good.

DRAYER: It's excellent and it's only about 400 calories, and it also has heart-healthy almonds. Because almonds contain mono unsaturated fats, which can help lower our cholesterol level, so this is definitely a low-calorie option and you can order salads at all of the fast food restaurants, so just keep that in mind when you're ordering.

COOPER: All right, but let's talk about dressing because that's often where, you know, all the hidden fat and calories are.

DRAYER: Absolutely. What I recommend is doing half the package, there's no need to finish that whole packet of dressing. That can add on a lot of calories and fat. So, be sure to do about half the packet of dressing. To stay within your calorie budget.

COOPER: Now, McDonald's also has salads, don't they? They're like in a cup or something.

DRAYER: I love these. The new McDonald's salad shakers. They're so convenient because you can actually put them in your car cup holder and they're the garden-variety salad and also the chicken Caesar. Again, watch the dressing, do about half the packet. The packet comes separately. But these are great -- and, McDonald's also has a fruit and yogurt parfait, which is fabulous. It's a great source of calcium, you get about a third of your daily calcium needs.

COOPER: But it's pretty high in fat, isn't it?

DRAYER: And you get fruit.

COOPER: I mean, it's got that granola, it's got the yogurt. That's a lot of fat.

DRAYER: You know, it's really not that high, and if you're concerned about the extra calories from fat or carbs, because it is heavy in carbs, then you can order it without the extra granola. And what I recommend is doing the fruit and yogurt parfait with a salad, and that way you'll get a little bit of fat from the dressing which will slow that rise in blood sugar, so you won't crash later on.

COOPER: But you don't get that sickly feeling that you get after chowing down on a big mac and a super sized fries. Just very quickly.

DRAYER: Oh, my.

COOPER: Just very quickly, Subway -- you know -- we see a lot of commercials about how healthy they are. How did they do on this list?

DRAYER: Subway is fabulous. They have a line of subs that have six grams of fat, or less. And those are excellent. They even have a lean roast beef, if you're a fan of roast beef. So, I recommend that, and stay away from like the meatball sub, that's a little bit higher. And they also have a new selects line, which is very, very tasty. I had one sandwich for dinner last night and it was delicious and low in calories. I had the sweet onion chicken, I recommend that.

COOPER: All right.

DRAYER: So, the bottom line is you can order healthy at your favorite fast food restaurant.

COOPER: All right, Lisa Drayer, thanks a lot. I hate to tell you, I just had a -- what do you call them -- a...

(CROSSTALK)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Krispy Kreme.

COOPER: No, no, no. A Rice Krispie Treat. That's what -- that was my breakfast this morning.

LIN: Oh.

COOPER: A Rice Krispie Treat.

DRAYER: Oh, OK.

COOPER: Not very good. Lisa, tomorrow I'll take your advice. Thanks very much for joining us.

DRAYER: OK, thank you.

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