Let's Talk About French Fries!

The Best (and Worst) Fast-Food French FriesPosted Mon, Jan 19, 2009, 12:18 pm PST
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Worrying about calories seems silly after you've consented to a French fry grease-fest, but sometimes you can't help it. During one such conflicted experience, I wondered if some fast-food fries were less hard on the body than others. Looking at the nutritional facts of some common French fry purveyors, I found that you can, indeed, save some serious calories if you know which fries to buy.
I looked at these seven:-Arby's Curly Fries-Burger King's French Fries-Carl's Jr.'s Natural-Cut Fries-Dairy Queen's French Fries-Jack in the Box's Natural Cut Fries-McDonald's French Fries-Wendy's French Fries

Notes: The numbers below are estimated reports by each restaurant's official website at the time of this article.
Calorie-wise:
The BestDairy Queen wins with 2.69 calories/gramJack in the Box is close behind with 2.71 calories/gram
The WorstMcDonald's it is, with 3.25 calories/gram
Those stats may sound like just a few calories' difference, but that's a 21% difference, which adds up since a large serving tends to be around 190 grams.
But there are other stats to look at...
Here's the zero trans fat team:Burger KingCarl's Jr.Dairy QueenMcDonald'sWendy's
This one is the trans fattiest:Jack in the Box
How about saturated fat?
The BestDairy Queen (0.018g saturated fat/gram of fries)
The WorstArby's (0.037g saturated fat/gram of fries)
Also remember that a good deal in dollars, doesn't translate to your diet, and a "large fries" means something different to everyone:
Large Fries Serving Sizes McDonald's: 154gCarl's Jr.: 184gWendy's: 184gDairy Queen: 186gArby's: 190gBurger King: 194gJack in the Box: 236g
For more fast food finds, check out the Top 10 Guilt-Free Fast Food Finds.