Bad News Breakfast

Sure, you know that eggs are high in cholesterol, sausage is fatty, and pancakes with syrup aren't diet food. That's no surprise. But the answers to this mini-quiz may be.

1. Which has more fat: an order of hash browns or two slices of toast with margarine or butter?

2. Which has more saturated fat: a Belgian waffle or an order of biscuits & gravy?

3. Which has more calories: two scrambled eggs or four strips of bacon?

You'll find the answers as well as the (mostly) bad news about eating breakfast out below. The bottom line: if you go with many of the most popular breakfast specials, you can easily blow a day's worth of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium not to mention 1,000 calories before 10 a.m.

Bad News Breakfasts

Who would have guessed that two slices of toast with margarine or butter have more fat than an order of hash browns? Or that a Belgian waffle has almost twice as much (artery clogging) saturated fat as biscuits & gravy? Or that two scrambled eggs have more calories and fat than four strips of bacon? But they do.

You'd never know because few restaurants provide nutrition information on their menus. And we only know because we had the dishes analyzed.

We looked at popular breakfasts served at some of the country's largest family-style restaurant chains: Denny's, Big Boy, Shoney's, Perkins, SHOP, Cracker Barrel, Bob Evans, Bakers Square, Waffle House, Village Inn, and Carrows.

And what they serve is, generally speaking, different combinations of your arteries' worst nightmares:

• Eggs -- alone or in the waffle, pancake, or French toast batter -- contribute the cholesterol. Cheese in the omelets adds a hefty dose of saturated fat;
• Breakfast meats like bacon and -- even worse -- sausage add salt and saturated fat to the wound;
• Margarine on your toast, pancakes, or French toast -- and shortening in the grill grease -- supply saturated and trans fat. Both give your blood cholesterol a jolt. If your restaurant uses butter or a butter margarine blend, it's even worse.

Of course, you can get a healthy breakfast when you eat out. Most places have hot or cold cereal, juice, plain toast or English muffins, and fresh fruit. You might even be able to scare up a bagel or some non-fat yogurt. (Some chains we looked at, like Bob Evans and Village Inn, have special "healthy" sections on their menus. We didn't test them, so we can't vouch for their claims.)

And if your favorite restaurant has a "breakfast bar," head for it. It's not perfect, you probably won't find lower-fat turkey bacon or veggie sausage. But you can load up on cereal and fruit. Just pretend that the "all you can eat" sign doesn't apply to the bacon, eggs, etc.

Other breakfasts are less healthy, but not terrible. Take scrambled egg-substitute with hash browns, ham, and two pieces of toast, or pancakes or French toast with ham or two pieces of bacon.

As long as you hold the margarine or butter, they're no fattier than a spaghetti with meat sauce dinner or the "healthy" versions of chicken fajitas we've praised in the past.

But you're still getting at least half a day's sodium plus lots of empty calories from the sugary syrup. So don't think of it as breakfast. It's really the equivalent of dinner. . .a big dinner. And even if you pay extra for orange juice or a fruit cup, you've got a lot of catching up to do if you're going to get five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables by bedtime.

The Main Event

Here are some of the most popular platters, with their main dishes ranked from best (least saturated fat) to worst (most saturated fat).

• Hot or Cold Cereal. We didn't have to analyze it. This is the best breakfast you can get.

To Make it Better: Ask for a low-sugar, whole-grain cereal like Wheaties or shredded wheat and 1% or skim milk to pour on it. Use preserves on your whole wheat toast or bagel instead of margarine or butter.

• Scrambled Eggs. While two scrambled eggs contain only 13 grams of fat (four of them saturated), they'll cost you almost two days' worth of cholesterol. But who orders just eggs, especially when, for a dollar or two more, you can add toast, hash browns, and bacon, sausage, or ham?

Typical Platter: Denny's Grand Slam is the best-selling restaurant breakfast. How can you beat two eggs, two pancakes, two strips of bacon, and two sausage links, all for $1.99? You can't, which is why many other chains now offer similar (but not as cheap) versions like Big Boy's The Big Tuvo and IHOP's Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity.

They're grand slams all right...to your heart and waistline. We're talking more than 1,100 calories, three quarters of a day's fat, saturated fat, and sodium, and two days' cholesterol. Cholesterol aside, that's like eating two Big Macs. If you have trouble remembering that the Grand Slam type platter has two of everything, just think of it as the Double Bypass. For an extra buck you can spring for a three-of-everything feast like Denny's Super Slam. Now you're talking Triple Bypass.

To Make it Better: Ask for egg substitute and hold the margarine or butter on the pancakes. Order fresh fruit instead of the sausage or bacon.

• Pancakes. If you get a stack of four without the margarine or butter and use a typical four-tablespoon (1/4 Cup) serving of syrup, you've got a decent, if large, breakfast -- five grams of saturated fat and less than 100 milligrams of cholesterol. But add the margarine (which was on the pancakes in most of the restaurants we visited) and watch the fat and saturated fat match what's in two hot dogs and the calories match what's in six.

To Make it Better: Tell them to hold the margarine or butter. Use just two tablespoons of syrup or ask for "low calorie" syrup (it has less than half the calories of regular).

• French Toast. What do you expect when you dip bread in an egg and-milk mixture and fry it in shortening? Even without the butter (which most of the French toast we ordered came with) or margarine on top, it's got about 50 percent more fat and saturated fat than unadorned pancakes, and nearly three times the cholesterol. Add the butter or margarine and the fat equals what you'd get in three Dunkin' Donuts Boston Kreme Donuts.

This breakfast makes two Dairy Queen Banana Splits look like diet food.

To Make it Better: Have it made with egg substitute and skim milk. Hold the butter or margarine and use "low calorie" syrup or just two tablespoons of regular.

• Biscuits & Gravy. We knew that two biscuit halves smothered in gravy that's speckled with an ounce or so of sausage bits would be bad. But more calories, fat, and salt than a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese? Sad but true.

To Make it Better: You can 't.

• Belgian Waffle. Who would have guessed that a 7"-wide waffle could have as much saturated fat as two Quarter Pounders? You can thank the milk, eggs, and butter in the batter and the whipped topping.

Typical Platter: At most restaurants, Belgian Waxes stand alone (phew!). But Denny's, bless its greasy heart, will throw in a piece of ham, two strips of bacon, or two sausage links for about a quarter. Save it for the parking meter.

To Make it Better: Skip the whipped topping. But that may only help a little, since most of the fat and cholesterol probably are in the batter.

• Ham & Cheese Omelet. Three eggs layered with two ounces of ham plus an ounce of cheese means more than half a day's fat and saturated fat. That's what you'd get in two corned beef sandwiches. Of course, the sandwiches wouldn't give you more than two days' worth of cholesterol.

To Make it Better: Some restaurants offer Vegetable or "garden " omelets. Ask for a cheese-less one made with egg substitute or just egg whites.

Choosing Sides

• Ham. Don't be too tempted by the low three grams of fat (one of them saturated) in a typical two-ounce serving. They're soaked in 900 mg of sodium. That's more than a third of a days worth.

• Hash Browns or Toast with Margarine or Butter. Two slices of toast with margarine (used by most restaurants) will do about as much damage as an order of hash browns. Each has around 11 grams of fat. And if the restaurant serves butter on its toast, six of those grams will be saturated. That's a third of your day's quota. Use jelly or preserves instead.

• Bacon. A typical four-strip serving clocks in at 11 grams of fat, four of them saturated. The only reason it's not as bad as sausage is that you get less meat.

• Pancakes with Margarine or Butter. Surprised? We were. The fat in a three-pancake stack comes to 22 grams, seven of them saturated. Skip the margarine or butter and you cut the fat and sat fat almost in half.

• Sausage. It's the worst side dish you can add to your plate. Four links have 32 grams of fat, 12 of them saturated. That's about half a day's quota of each.

The Breakfast Blues

Breakfasts