Yes, Buffalo Wild Wings is a great chain restaurant where you can enjoy your time with your friends and family. The atmosphere is quite relaxed, and you can enjoy lots of great beer with virtually addictive food. What’s not to like?
As it turns out, some things about Buffalo Wild Wings aren’t all that great:
Sodium Overload
There’s a bit of a debate regarding how much salt we should consume each day to remain reasonably healthy. A healthy and active adult absolutely needs 200 to 500mg of sodium each day.
But most people can never stick to that kind of daily sodium intake. In the US, the average adult takes in about 3,400mg of salt each day.
According to the American Heart Association, the Centers of Disease Control, and the World Health Organization, an adult should not exceed the daily limit of 2,300mg per day. And the AHA insists, along with the Institute of Medicine, that the ideal sodium intake is just 1,500mg per day. If you’re having certain cardiovascular issues such as high blood pressure, 1,500mg per day might just be your maximum daily limit of salt consumption.
But if you’re in a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, you’re bound to exceed these limits. Get a medium order of the traditional wings (such as the Blazin’ with Ghost Pepper) and you get 2,600mg of sodium at once. That’s already more than your RDA for sodium.
And then if you go with the boneless version, it’s a lot worse. You get 5,630mg of sodium, which is your sodium allowance for 2½ days! Sure, you can get the 10-piece Boneless wings for around $13.85, but you’re also paying for it with your health.
The Beer and Food Aren’t Good for Your Waistline
Yes, there’s beer in Buffalo Wild Wings. That’s great if your priority is to have a good time. But it’s not so great if you need to cut down on your weight. Drinking beer simply adds more calories to your total, and often you may not stick to just a single beer.
Also, the beer works great with the grub, and you’re likely to eat even more. That means more calories for you as well.
As for the food, most of them contain a really high number of calories. This restaurant isn’t exactly a great place for those who wish to reduce their weight. Most of the items here will just make you go against your current low-calorie diet.
In many cases, a single meal will just exceed the number of calories you’re supposed to consume in a single day. And with some of the items here, even a single order might go over your limit. That’s especially true if you’re trying to cut down on your calorie intake.
Take note that the large boneless Thai curry wings will load you up with 2,040 calories at once. Add the dessert nachos, and that’s an extra 2,100 calories. The Tablegating Sampler might seem great as it gives you a sample of the most popular dishes here, but this will just get you 2,950 calories!
The wraps are even worse, and the same goes for the burgers. They just have too many calories for comfort. Your best bet is to go with a snack-sized (not medium) order of traditional wings (not boneless). Get a side order of greens, and you’re good. Anything else will be problematic.
The real problem here is portion control. The food here is just delicious, and that’s actually a problem. They’re so yummy that it’s hard to keep yourself from eating too much.
Trans Fat from the Boneless Wings
As already mentioned, the boneless wings aren’t exactly healthy in terms of sodium content. But that’s not the only reason that these boneless wings are bad for you. They all have some trans fat as well.
Sure, the amount of trans fat in these boneless wings may not seem all that much at first glance. It doesn’t seem bad when you’re getting 0.5g or 1g of trans fat, right? But you’re only supposed to limit your trans fat consumption to 1% of your daily calories. And if you’re consuming 2,000 calories per day, that means you shouldn’t go over 2g of trans fat a day.
Trans fat is bad for you, as it’s been associated with heart disease, diminished cognitive function, and even reduced sexual function.
Some Sauces Also Contain Too Many Calories
What’s really bad is that the most popular sauces are also adding too many calories to your total. According to the Buffalo Wild Wings rep, their most popular sauces are Parmesan Garlic, Asian Zing, and Honey BBQ.
With the Parmesan Garlic, you’re getting 250 calories, along with your half-day’s allowance for sodium. The Asian Zing adds 170 calories, and then you also get 39g of sugar. That’s more than the safe limit for sugar consumption per day for men. The limit for men is 36g of sugar, and for women it’s just 24g of sugar.
