8 Most Pointless Carbs
My grandfather's favorite treat was a bread sandwich. After my grandmother finished cooking the bacon, he'd pounce on the drippings with a slice of white bread in hand, soak it in the bacon fat and then eat it between two other slices of bread. Now that, grandpa, was a pointless carb. Delicious, sure, but totally excessive.
We are all masters of our belly's domain, and this isn't about food policing, but when you have a mind towards eating healthy, those delicious, mood-enhancing carbs can be diet enemy number one. Not all carbs are unhealthy of course — most fruits and legumes contain carbohydrates, but are nutritious and necessary for a balanced diet.
Nutrition experts generally advocate not eating too many of the "white" carbs, like potato and foods with bleached flour, but we love our French fries and hamburger rolls as much as the next person. But everything in moderation, right?
Recently it seems like restaurants and fast-food chains are going out of their way to tempt us to pile on the carbs, combining them in one dish in ever-creative ways, like Friendly's grilled cheese burger or Domino's Pasta Breadbowl. Wait, a heaping serving of pasta inside a soft, doughy loaf of bread? Pasta, no problem; bread, OK cool. But together in one dish? One of these combined forces is kind of pointless. (Or delicious?) Tell us what you think below.
Lucky for you, there are six different combinations of cheese-covered pasta nestled cozily in a loaf of bread, including 3 Cheese Mac-N-Cheese. Thank goodness the chicken in the Chicken Alfredo and Chicken Carbonara versions is grilled and 100% white meat. (Photo courtesy of Domino's)
Mashed Potato Pizza
One of our editors is a huge fan, but New Haven's Bru Room mashed potato pizza is a matter of pointless carbs. Like he says, "Ah, the ol' doubling up on starch move." (Photo courtesy of Arthur Bovino)
Bobby's Burger Palace Crunchburger
Even Iron Chefs are getting in on it. Bobby Flay crunchifies his burgers with a pile of potato chips smushed inside the bun at his five-location BBP chain. There's cheese on it too, for all of you protein fans. (Photo courtesy of Arthur Bovino)
Chip Butty (French Fry Sandwich)
The chip butty is to England what the grilled cheese is to America. This sandwich made up of two pieces of bread (or a bun) and French fries is an indulgence that counts as a national pastime, but it has crossed the pond in various forms. For instance, all of Pittsburgh's Primanti Bros. sandwiches come topped with fries. So if your fries are in your main, what do you get as a side? Pasta? (Photo courtesy of Flickr/David_Jackmanson)
That's right, we've got not just a flour tortilla but also a hard-shell corn taco just to make sure that your taco is twice as carb-y. But it's just a flour tortilla, you're thinking. What you may not know is that tortillas have 25 grams of carbohydrates while a generic piece of bread has 15 grams. Take this Men's Health carb quiz and you'll see. (Photo courtesy Taco Bell)
Dunkin' Donuts' Big N Toasty
Being a doughnut company first and foremost, Dunkin' Donuts really knows how to reinvent their carbs. Take for instance the waffle egg sandwich or the pancake bites. But what really tops the scale is the Big N Toasty sandwich made with two gargantuan slices of Texas toast. (Photo courtesy Dunkin' Donuts)
There was a time when KFC's mashed potato bowls seemed like a healthy option (topped with their much-maligned grilled chicken), but with the introduction of the chicken and biscuit bowl — that is, chunks of fried chicken and a biscuit submerged in buttery mashed potatoes and topped with cheese — the pickins' here are no longer slimming. (Photo courtesy KFC)
We're fans of grilled cheese. We're fans of burgers. But sticking a beef patty between two grilled cheese sandwiches crosses the line into pointlessness. If the point of great food is one's enjoyment, we're thinking you may not enjoy how you feel after one of these. (Photo courtesy Friendly's)