Calorie Counts at Some Restaurants 'Off the Charts'

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Eating out can kill your diet and hurt your heart, with some restaurants packing nearly a day's worth of calories into a single serving, a new report finds.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer group based in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday dished out its annual "Xtreme Eating Awards," USA Today reported.

Among the recipients:

* The Cheesecake Factory's Pasta Carbonara with Chicken, 2,500 calories and 85 grams of saturated fat.

* Outback Steakhouse New Zealand Rack of Lamb, with garlic mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables, 1,820 calories, 80 grams of saturated fat and 2,600 milligrams of sodium.
* Bob Evans' Cinnamon Cream Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes, 1,380 calories and 27 grams of saturated fat and 7 grams of trans fat. Four tablespoons of syrup adds 200 more calories.
* P.F. Chang's Double Pan-Fried Noodles Combo, 1,820 calories, 7,690 milligrams of sodium.

"You can't even split these and have a decent meal -- the numbers are just off the charts," said Bonnie Liebman, CSPI's nutrition director, noting the average American should consume about 2,000 calories a day and no more than 20 grams of saturated fat.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sodium consumption for most Americans should be kept to 1,500 milligrams a day, USA Today said.

The food industry wasn't impressed by the report, however. Mike Donohue, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, told USA Today that the CSPI report "paints a distorted picture of restaurants based on a single menu item."