Feeling sabotaged by "healthy" options

marcellomoo

For lunch yesterday, I decided on the "healthiest" option on the menu at the "healthy" cafe at my university- a vegetable enchilada. First they go and give me the one without any cheese. Great for calories, not so great for trying to get my protein up. And then the woman at the till tells me I have to go back and get a half plate of chips or white rice as they're included in the price. I told her I didn't want either and she repeated herself. I paid the full amount without either side and walked off while she muttered under her breath. To top it all off, the vegetable enchilada turned up to be stuffed with 60% rice, 35% overly sweetened tomato sauce and an inch long slither each of pepper and cauliflower (who puts cauliflower in enchiladas??).

Feeling rubbish from my nutritionless high carb lunch and being in town early evening, I tried a new salad bar for dinner. Wow. Of the 30-40 options, only the lettuce, peppers, cucumber, carrots, beetroot and eggs were below 120cals per (tiny!) scoop. Worse than that, the majority of the options were pasta with full fat mayo, cheese and various additions. Aside from the eggs, the only other protein options were mixed into the pastas. The remainder of the dishes were couscous or bulgar wheat with some kind of flavouring and very few additions. Some of the dishes went as high as about 350cals per scoop, but the salad bar was absolutely packed with people pushing and shoving to get to all of the highest calorie ones. I'd already started putting things in my box, so I couldn't just leave (could I?? I assume it's not salad bar etiquette). I packed my box with mostly the raw veggies and eggs and then allowed myself a couple of scoops of couscous ones, but I still estimated it at around 600cals if I only ate one of the egg yolks. I can't comprehend how many calories everyone else was filling their boxes with, but they would have been well into the thousands.

Where do these things get off acting healthy when they're neither nutritious or within a reasonable calorie range???

FemaleSheogorath

These things are probably considered healthy to people who don't know anything about nutrition. It's one of the reasons people are often advised to avoid eating out.

Rocbola

Yea, 90% of foods listed as being healthy are anything but. They just want your money. That is why i try to avoid restaurants and packaged food whenever possible.

MelodyandBarbells

Yeah I usually just keep it simple at my work cafeteria for example. Just go with the hunk of fish or beef/pork and add on whatever starch I feel like - potatoes, rice etc. I even stay away from the veg because it's been dripping with oil recently. I mean I have no problem with fat but like you OP I'd want to "spend my calories" a bit more wisely if not enjoyably.

And agreed, after dealing with all the BS, nothing tops bringing your own lunch you'll definitely know exactly what's in it!

knra_grl

I guess I am fortunate - I have to stay at work and don't have the option of going out to buy a lunch - my lunches at work are generally pretty healthy.

Ashleybrooke8783

Eat a vegan restaurant there's always more filling protein options and you won't get attacked with mayo and cheese

Ashleybrooke8783

*Eat at. Don't eat the whole restaurant.

MelodyandBarbells

*Eat at. Don't eat the whole restaurant.

I'd prefer that, so. :bigsmile: :flowerforyou:

neanderthin

Calories and health are not synonymous.

paperpudding

I quite like eating out from time to time and I am not obsessed with eating "healthily" - but the easiest way to control your intake is to take your own lunch in a lunch box - I do this nearly every day at work, only takes few minutes in the morning to pack.

Athijade

I quite like eating out from time to time and I am not obsessed with eating "healthily" - but the easiest way to control your intake is to take your own lunch in a lunch box - I do this nearly every day at work, only takes few minutes in the morning to pack.

Agreed.

And I even did it when I was in college. Mostly for money then any other reason, but then also so I would have options.

Get an insulated bag, thermos, and some of those containers with the cold packs that fit in them. I could leave these items in my car or my bag and had NO trouble with food not being the temp it was supposed to be.

jim180155

Restaurant s and food manufacturers aren't in business to provide you with healthy, nutritious, low calorie food, they're in business to make maximum profit selling food. The way to do that is to provide what most people want, and what most people want is salt, fat and sugar with little regard or knowledge about what that means for their bodies.

I don't eat out much. Most of the time I eat food I prepared myself. On the rare occasions I do eat out, I try not to go too far overboard, but I also don't worry about blowing my diet for the day.

cherys

Marcello are you anywhere near a Pret a Manger cafe? They do fantastic low carb salads with chicken or egg or humous with seeds. If you skip the dressing, some come in at under 200 cals.

Flab2Fab27

A lot of "healthy" options are surprisingly high in calories. This is why I try to make my own lunches and limit how much I eat at restaurants.

njitaliana

Although you can't avoid eating what the university has to offer, before you go out to eat at a restaurant take a look at their website. Most now have calorie counts. So, you can plan what to eat before you even go out. You are doing the best you can, so that is what counts.

wheird

In order to make the "healthy" options more filling and palatable, they often have more carbs and hidden fats than you'd realize.

I had a bison burger for lunch that was under 600kcal.

Sreneesa

I don't hold a restaurant or other people accountable for my nutrition. If I decide to eat where someone is preparing a meal then I take that chance it won't live up to what I consider "healthy."

I know that only I'm responsible for what I eat. If do not pack my own lunch then I take the chance of racking up x-amount of calories.

Now, recently I went to an Italian restaurant and only had a lettuce salad with vinegar. I made that choice to eat that due to not wanting to rack up 1000+ calories. Didn't finish it because it was nasty but point being I was disciplined enough to recognize that there wasn't anything on the menu that I was willing to sacrifice my daily cals for. lol

On the flip side, I ate 1600 calories at carl's jr the day before yesterday because I wanted to. lol...

To not feel sabotaged for future reference prepare your own meals... the only guarantee you will not feel "sabotaged."