This month, I want to take my lecture days (Tuesdays and Thursdays) to talk about individual fast food chains. I want to talk about their founders, their history, their growth and marketing ploys, and nutritional fact about some of their most famous foods. Today's topic is Burger King.
Burger King was first founded in 1954 by Kieth J. Kramer and Matthew Burns. The company was later purchased by David Edgerton and James McLamore when they opened the first store in Miami, Florida and founded the Burger King Corporation together.
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| The First BK Restaurant in Miami, FL |
In 1955, the burger king mascot "The King" was first introduced on a sign, sitting atop of a hamburger. The King has been an integral part of the corporation ever since; evolving to an animated character in 1960 and then coming to life as a human character in 1976. The King has been aired in commercials, beginning in 1968, and used for a large marketing strategy.
Burger King started franchising their stores in 1959 and sold their first international store to Puerto Rico in 1963. Since then, Burger King restaurants have grown immensely both nationally and internationally. Today, they have more than 12,000 stores in all 50 states and are located in 76 countries around the world.
In terms of marketing, BK first employed the Have It Your Way marketing campaign in 1974. The company went to many different slogans but the "Have It Your Way" campaign slogan was the only one to truly stick. The slogan has become the company's motto today and can be found in all marketing and advertising materials. In 2005, BK started the "Have It Your Way" Foundation, a non-profit organization that hopes to help alleviate world hunger, to prevent diseases, and to educate the community by offering scholarships to colleges and universities. In 2006, BK took their foundation and the whole company public.
Over the years, BK has developed and produced many unforgettable fast food favorites. In 1957, the famous Whopper was first introduced on the menu. Today, the Whopper and the Whopper Jr. are some of the best selling BK products! In 1979, BK created a breakfast line of products; including the croissant sandwich among other breakfast items. Chicken tenders, interestingly enough, were not actually a part of the BK menu until 1986. Today you can get many different variations in terms of number of tenders AND they come shaped like the BK King crown.
With all of the products you can find on the BK menu, I wanted to take some of the more notable and famous products in order to discuss their nutritional value to us. Here are some of the better known items:
The BK Whopper Jr., which can be found on the dollar menu, consists of about 340 calories and 19 grams of fat, 5 of which are saturated. While the burger may be high in protein with 14 grams protein, it is also very high in sodium - 530 mg to be exact. (Remember, we only require 300 mg a day of sodium)
The Value French Fries, also found on the dollar menu, have about 220 calories in them and 11 grams of fat, 2.5 saturated. But, be sure to watch out for the high sodium in these as well. One small packet of value fries packs about 340 mg sodium!
The real deal Whopper has a total of about 670 calories for the sandwich alone and 40 grams of fat! 11 of these fat grams come from saturated fat. You will certainly want to be careful of the high cholesterol (75 mg) and the extremely high amount of sodium found in the one burger: 980 mg sodium!
If beef isn't your thing and you prefer a chicken sandwich, be aware that the Tender Crisp Chicken Sandwich has some of the highest amounts of calories and sodium! One sandwich is about 800 calories a piece and has 46 grams of fat (8 grams from saturated fat). The sandwich also pack in 1640 mg of sodium. That's more than 5 times the amount that we need on a daily basis!!
If you find yourself getting the Four Piece Chicken Tenders off the dollar menu, you will be eating about 180 calories worth of food and 11 grams of fat (2 from saturated fats). These small chicken tenders also have about 310 mg of sodium. This may not seem like a lot compared to the other products, but keep in mind that this amount is for four small chicken tenders.
Finally, if you are trying to pick a healthier meal at the fast food junction and go for a salad, while the calorie levels are a bit lower on items like the Tender Grill Garden Salad, the cholesterol levels are still high (85 mg) and the sodium levels are higher than even some of the burgers (920 mg sodium)!!
So next time you head into a local Burger King, keep in mind the nutritional values of the menu items before you choose what you want. If it were up to me, I'd say to just not go to fast food places like Burger King and save yourself on some unnecessary calories and ridiculously high levels of sodium. It may be harder or more time consuming to just make it yourself, but you will burn calories in the cooking part and be able to enjoy better health from eating what you make.
Exercise: Today's exercise is an IM Swim Workout.
First, complete a 200 meter warm up, preferably freestyle
Complete two sets of the following eight fifties:
50 Butterfly Kick
50 Butterfly Twitch
50 Backstroke Kick
50 Backstroke Twitch
50 Breaststroke Kick
50 Breaststroke Twitch
50 Freestyle Kick
50 Freestyle Twitch
Finally, complete a 200 meter cool down, preferably Freestyle
TOTAL: 1200 Meters
Eat: Did you know that there is a significant difference between inorganic and organic meat? Next time you go to the store, pick up organic meat rather than the normal stuff. Although it may be a bit pricier, the meat actually is infused with a far greater amount of muscle tissue than fat, making it leaner and better for you. You will be paying more, but it will be paying for better health!
Relax: Today on your drive to or from work, crank up your stereo and bust out some tunes! I find that singing along to my favorite radio station is the perfect way to wind down after a long day at work. My favorites are the alternative rock stations, like 93.9 The River and 94.1 The Edge!
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