KFC’s new breadless, two-fried-chicken-breasts with bacon and cheese “sandwich,” the “Double Down” has proven to be so popular that the chain is extending it indefinitely, instead of the six weeks they originally planned.

Many people deride the Double Down as a kind of Franken-wich, an abomination of the culinary kind because KFC replaced bread with fried chicken.

But the truth is, it’s just another fast food sin.

Which is healthier, a Double Down or a smoked ham and swiss on rye from Panera Bread?

The Double Down on its own (without fries and a soda) has 540 calories, 32 grams of fat and 1,380 milligrams of sodium.

The Panera Bread sandwich has 650 calories, 34 grams of fat and 2,350 milligrams of sodium.

Are you eating at Subway to follow Jared’s lead? A six-inch meatball marinara sub on Italian bread has 580 calories, 23 grams of fat and 1,530 milligrams of sodium.

The truth is, if you’re going to eat fast food, there are no truly “healthy” items.

Even the six-inch low-fat subs from Subway (apart from the Veggie Delite) have more than half the 1,500 milligrams of sodium many health experts say you should be eating a day.

My wife is much better than I am about eating healthy during the day, partially because I find myself running from appointment to appointment and grabbing lunch from a drive-through.

When we’re at home, though, we rarely eat anything processed or from a restaurant.

Nine nights out of 10 one of us cooks with fresh ingredients from scratch, and I believe we’re healthier for it.

Yes, we fry things occasionally. Yes, we eat a lot of carbohydrates, though most are from potatoes and natural breads.

Yes, we eat a lot of red meat.

However, I think we’ve achieved a mostly healthy balance.

I’m carrying a few more pounds than I’d like, but I’m guessing most of that is due to the fast-food I rely on for a couple of meals a week and the morning bottle of Dr. Pepper that I haven’t been able to kick.

And because we cook rich, full-flavored food, my wife and I eat relatively small portions and never feel like we’re denying ourselves anything.

Because we’ve swapped quality for cheapness, our national tastebuds have evolved to crave some pretty disgusting stuff.

If you could travel back in time to the 1600s and brought a Hardee’s Monster Thickburger with you, your ancestors would be thoroughly mortified; not only because it contains about the same amount of meat (2/3 pound) as a family in that time might consume in a week, but because most every piece of the burger has been so loaded with chemicals and additives that it doesn’t taste like actual food.

Like most fast food, it is a scientifically engineered mound of saturated fats (225 percent of the recommended daily intake), complex carbohydrates, sugars (two percent of the entire weight of the burger is actually sugar – yeah, I don’t know why, either) and sodium (2,740 milligrams) designed to trigger dopamine in our brain and make us feel happy.

Our tastebuds love fat and sugar, because back when food was scarce we needed to load up on those whenever they were available.

Now, though, food is artificially loaded with those elements to trigger positive responses in our brains.

It’s sensory overload for our tongues. But what our tongues want and what our body can handle are vastly different things.

Think of your tongue and brain like a little kid and your heart like the parent who has to pay their dental bills.

The child will want to eat candy all day long, but I pity the parent who has to cover the copay for every cavity.

Fortunately, there ARE things that, if prepared properly, can be good for the tongue and good for the internal organs.

A perfectly ripe peach. A grilled ear of corn rubbed with a wedge of lime (try it, you’ll like it). An organically raised whole chicken, seared and then baked with onions, carrots, parsnips and red wine. Greek yogurt with strawberries and honey.

If you want to treat yourself to a Double Down, by all means, do it. I’m not someone who says no fast food ever, and I’m certainly not one to say businesses shouldn’t be doing things to entice customers.

But be informed and be smart about your food choices.

Bryan Clapper is Daily News publisher. E-mail him at bryan.clapper@leaderpub.com.