Turns out that the average adult purchases a meal or snack outside the home 3.72 times each week. The study goes on to show that 31.9% of respondents say that on weekdays they always or often purchase lunch from a foodservice operation, compared with 20.2% who do so at breakfast and 16.9% who always/often do so during the week at dinner.

So when I came across this MSNBC article about the worst in Fast Food outlets, I just had to pass it along to our readers.

We all know how difficult it is to balance a healthy diet but what we don’t need is the food industry disguising “healthy” options. Sure, a turkey burger sounds healthy. But is it, really? Not if you order the Bella from Ruby Tuesday, which packs a whopping 1,145 calories.

Here are the top 20 worst fast foods:

1: The worst food in America – Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing. 2,900 calories, 182g fat, 240g carbs. Even if you split these ’starters’ with three friends, you’ll have downed a dinner’s worth of calories before you entree arrives.

2: Worst starter – Chili’s Awesome Blossom. 2,710 calories, 203 g fat, 194 g carbs, 6,360 mg sodium.

3: Worst nachos – On the Border Stacked Border Nachos. 2,740 calories, 166 g fat, 191 g carbs, 5,280 sodium.

4: Worst pasta – Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatballs with Meat Sauce. 2,430 calories, 128 g fat, 207 g carbs, 5,290 mg sodium. This meal satisfied your calorie requirements for an entire day.

5: Worst pizza – Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza. 2,310 calories, 162 g fat, 123 g carbs, 4,470 mg sodium. Downing this ‘personal’ pizza is equivalent to eating 18 slices of Domino’s Crunchy Thin Crust cheese pizza.

6: Worst fish entree – On the Border Dos XX Fish Tacos with Rice and Beans. 2,100 calories, 130 g fat, 169 g carbs, 4,700 mg sodium. Perhaps the most misleadingly named dish in America : A dozen crunchy tacos from Taco Bell will saddle you with fewer calories.

7: Worst chicken entree - Chili’s Honey Chipotle Crisperswith Chipotle Sauce. 2,040 calories, 99 g fat, 240 g carbs. ‘Crispers’ refers to an extra thick layer of break crumbs that soak up oil and adds unnecessary calories and carbs to these glorified chicken strips.

8: Worst Chinese entree – P.F. Chang’s Pork Lo Mein. 1,820 calories, 127 g fat,! 95 g carbs. The fat content in this dish alone provides more than 1,100 calories. And you’d have to eat almost five servings of pasta to match the number of carbs it contains. Now, do you really need five servings of pasta?

9: Worst dessert – Chili’s Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream. 1,600 calories, 78 g fat, 215 g carbs. Would you eat a Big Mac for dessert? How about three? That’s the calorie equivalent of this decadent dish. Clearly, Chili’s customers get their money’s worth.

10: Worst breakfast - Bob Evans Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Stacked and Stuffed hotcakes. 1,540 calories, 77 g fat (9 g trans fat), 198 g carbs, 109 g sugar. Five Egg McMuffins yield the same caloric cost as this stack of sugar-stuffed flapjacks, which is truly a heavy breakfast, weighing in at a hefty pound and a half.

11: Worst steak – Lonestar 20 oz T-bone. 1,540 calories, 124g fat. Add a baked potato and Lonestar’s Signature Lettuce Wedge, and this is a 2,700 calorie blowout.

12: Worst burger – Carl’s Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger. 1,520 calories! , 111g fat. Carl’s Jr. brags it’s home to this enormous sandwich, but the restaurant chain also provides convenient nutrition info on its Web site — so ignorance is no excuse for eating it.

13: Worst salad – On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef. 1,450 calories, 102 g fat, 78 g carbs, 2,410 mg sodium. This isn’t an anomaly: Five different On the Border salads on the menu contain more than 1, 100 calories each.

14: Worst sandwich – Quiznos Classic Italian (large). 1,528 calories, 92 g fat, 4,604 mg sodium, 110 g carbs. A large homemade sandwich would more likely provided about 500 calories.

15: Worst kids’ meal – Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni ‘n’ Cheese. 1,210 calories, 62 g fat, 3,450 mg sodium. It’s like feeding your kid 1-1/2 boxes of Kraft mac ‘n’ cheese.

16: Worst Mexican entree – Chipotle Mexican Grill Chicken Burrito. 1,179 calories, 47 g fat, 125 g carbs, 2,656 mg sodium.

17: Worst ‘healthy’ burger – Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger. 1,145 calories, 71 g fat, 56 g carbs.

18: Worst supermarket meal – Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie (whole pie). 1,020 calories, 64 g fat, 86 g carbs. Label may say this pie serves two, but, who ever divided a small pot pi! e in half? Once you crack the crust, there will be no stopping.

19: Worst drink – Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo’d Power Smoothie (30 fl oz). 900 calories, 10 g fat, 183 carbs, 166 g sugar. Jamba Juice calls it a smoothie, MSNBC calls it a milk shake. The beverage contains as much sugar as 8 pints of Ben & Jerry’s butter pecan ice cream.

20: Worst Fast-Food Chicken Meal – Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips from McDonald’s (5 pieces) with cream ranch sauce. 830 Calories, 55 grams fat (4.5 trans fat), 48 carbs. Add a large fries and regular soda and this seemingly innocuous chicken meal tops out at 1,710 calories.