Restaurant calories and our misconceptions!
grandmothercharlie
Posts: 1,356 Member
It will be nice at the end of 2015 when all chain restaurants must post calories on their menus and their menu boards. (Most now are only on-line).
I have never understood why diet advice tells us to stick to salads and appetizers! These are usually the highest things on the menu. I love Longhorn restaurants. They have just added a Winter Brie Dinner Salad for 970 calories OR if you want to get an appetizer of only wings and ranch dressing, it would be 840! Hardly low-cal or a lot to eat!
Now, they have a Light and Flavorful menu and have just added a Rosemary Cabernet Filet steak for 280 calories. I could have a side salad, raspberry vinigrette, green beans, sweet potato with butter and sugar/cinnamon, and the filet for 850 calories - still less than that salad! (They have also added Tilapia with mango salsa and Balsamic-Raspberry Grilled Chicken Breast. Both have substantially more calories than the filet, yet in most peoples' minds, they would think those the better choices!)
I might not even do the above 850 calorie dinner because most days I wouldn't have that much left over for dinner. I would cut the side salad by about 60 calories when I got rid of any croutons and cheese. I would cut another 30 calories by only eating half my salad dressing. I would cut about 200 calories by substituting asparagus for the sweet potato. I would add 80 with a Skinny Blackberry Sangria though. So, salad, dressing, beans, asparagus, steak with wine sauce, and a huge alcoholic beverage for 640 calories!
Yeah, it will be nice to be able to see all that when we order because more often than not, what is considered the "best" choices, really aren't.
I have never understood why diet advice tells us to stick to salads and appetizers! These are usually the highest things on the menu. I love Longhorn restaurants. They have just added a Winter Brie Dinner Salad for 970 calories OR if you want to get an appetizer of only wings and ranch dressing, it would be 840! Hardly low-cal or a lot to eat!
Now, they have a Light and Flavorful menu and have just added a Rosemary Cabernet Filet steak for 280 calories. I could have a side salad, raspberry vinigrette, green beans, sweet potato with butter and sugar/cinnamon, and the filet for 850 calories - still less than that salad! (They have also added Tilapia with mango salsa and Balsamic-Raspberry Grilled Chicken Breast. Both have substantially more calories than the filet, yet in most peoples' minds, they would think those the better choices!)
I might not even do the above 850 calorie dinner because most days I wouldn't have that much left over for dinner. I would cut the side salad by about 60 calories when I got rid of any croutons and cheese. I would cut another 30 calories by only eating half my salad dressing. I would cut about 200 calories by substituting asparagus for the sweet potato. I would add 80 with a Skinny Blackberry Sangria though. So, salad, dressing, beans, asparagus, steak with wine sauce, and a huge alcoholic beverage for 640 calories!
Yeah, it will be nice to be able to see all that when we order because more often than not, what is considered the "best" choices, really aren't.
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How right you are!! Since I'm eating breakfast weekly at iHop with my Bible Study group, I got to poking around on the iHop website and discovered that the Fit & Healthy Vegetable Omelet & Fruit has half of the calories/fat/sodium and same amount of protein as my usual order of Fit & Healthy Blueberry Harvest Gain Comb. So this morning I made the switch and enjoyed the omelet probably more than the pancakes.
I too will be glad when all restaurants will be posting calories on their menus.
~w30 -
My rule for my restaurant meals is: KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
I look for "plain" entrees with no sauces, sides of veggies or a simple salad.
Your examples of the "Tilapia with mango salsa and Balsamic-Raspberry Grilled Chicken Breast" are probably no-no's for me under any circumstances because of the unknown sugar content of those seemingly innocent but flavorful low-calorie additions. If I do order things like that I request the sauce/ salsa on the side so I can taste and use at my own discretion.
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Great topic! I look forward to seeing more nutrition info available at restaurants - but I have to admit I almost never eat at chain restaurants. In fact, life is much easier when I just cook at home. I, too, order plain items and get sauces and dressings on the side. Sometimes it is so hard to predict what you are going to get, however, from the menu descriptions! I have become one of those tiresome and annoying people who asks a lot of questions when it comes time to order.
Recently at a restaurant in East Aurora, NY I had a most unsatisfactory experience with a waitress who just didn't care. Fortunately, I had eaten an ounce of nuts a half hour before getting to the restaurant so that I didn't completely starve. I had seen their menu online and knew it was going to be a problem, but friends had picked the location and I was attending for social purposes.
Usually, however, wait staff are very helpful and I get much better results with substitutions and special requests.0 -
I eat out all the time, but I don't have much trouble. Like you guys, I will ask for dressings and sauces on the side. I usually ask for a salad, but with no cheese or croutons and sometimes I ask for just the lettuce. Always dressing on the side to dip my fork into.
I have my list that I constantly update so I know how many calories meals that I order out have. I've talked about this before. I enter the meal under "my meals". The name of it is first the number of calories, then the restaurant, then the description. I then copy my meals into excel. Sort from low calories to high. Send it to myself on my cellphone, so that when dinner time comes, and I know how many calories I have left, I can go to my phone, look at my list, and find where I can go for the number of calories I have left. Or, if I know I'm going to a restaurant, I know what the calories will be, so I can eat during the day accordingly. I have about 70 meals of all types from 200 to 1200 calories logged. Most run between 450 and 650.0 -
We don't eat out often, but when we do... Wait,that sounds like that Most Interesting Man in the World commercial!
When we do out, I've got the phone under the table looking for the restaurant's menu and nutrition reports. Helps me decide.0
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