Hamburger or Hotdog: Which is worse for you?

“Even if you get the fat-free hot dogs, they’re going to have quite a bit of salt in them,” says dietitian Heather Rasmussen, of the Women’s Heart Center at Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago. “And salt raises blood pressure, which contributes to heart disease.” Watch the size of the burger though -- keep it to no more the size of a deck of cards. Pass on the cheese to save even more calories.

It’s hard to decide between these two tasty and ever-present side dishes. Both are mixed with mayonnaise, but which is worse?

With more calories, fat and sodium, potato salad loses this battle. Coleslaw also has an extra health benefit: it's mostly cabbage. If you can get around three to five servings per week of any cruciferous vegetable, and cabbage is a perfect example of that, it really can help protect against cancer.

A fesh steak off a hot grill or crispy and delicious fried chicken -- which is worse?

Yes it’s red meat and yes, it’s known for its saturated fat, but steak is the winner over fried chicken. One piece of fried chicken breast has 728 calories and 37 grams of fat! Just watch your portion size. Aim for a steak the size of a bar of soap -- and go easy on the sauces.

This competition is a tight one. Both are delicious and go well with most everything that comes off the BBQ, so which is worse?

Barbecue sauce narrowly loses out to tomato sauce. Tomato sauce has fewer calories and a little less salt, plus tomato sauce has more lycopene than the barbecue sauce. Why is lycopene good? It's a cancer fighter.

It seems like a cold fizzy drink was made to wash down a hot dog or burger. Then again, iced tea is fast becoming a new favourite. So which is worse?

Soft drink has phosphorus, which might affect bone strength, so iced tea ekes out ahead on that point. In order to be a real winner, though, the tea has to be homemade. At least with the black tea, you’re getting antioxidants, which help fight the free radicals that can damage your cells.

Both salty snacks are great to munch on while waiting for dinner to be served, but which is worse?

Chips have less fat and fewer calories, so how do they lose out to peanuts? Peanuts have fibre, protein, some healthy fat and they’re more filling, which means you’ll probably eat fewer peanuts.

Some would argue that dessert is the best part of any meal. When your choices are a rich brownie square or a biscuit sprinkled with chocolate chips, which is worse?