The Truth in Food

MrBinkerton

Hi all!

I wanted to bring up a subject that drives me crazy because I do not know what to do about it. The thing is this---> that when you go to a restaurant that is not a chain, therefore does not have the nutrition posted, how the heck are you supposed to know the calorie content of what your ordering? I am talking about all food here, whether it sounds healthy or not, because I understand it is sometimes common sense just to order a salad or grilled chicken, but even then- I feel like these may have hidden cals, fat, etc b/c of the way they are prepared. I have heard some "salads" almost top 1,000 cals. In restuarants, I assume use more oils and butters and fats, then if I were to make the same thing at home like grilled chicken or a salad. So...I have hard time always trusting something is "healthy".

So my basic question/problem is this: even if want to log the big cheeseburger from a resturant or a big plate of shrimp alfredo, how do I do this? How does everyone else do this when you have absolutely no way of knowing what the nutritional value is? Same goes for even a chicken salad with lots of toppings at a restaurant? or grilled fish or chicken? How do you know exactly whats in it or how it is prepared in order to log it and be accurate? I feel like I have no way of knowing so I just go ahead and assume everything besides a garden salad with no dressing is off limits...... I believe there may be hidden calories in all restaurant food no matter what it is.... what do you think? Is anyone else having this problem??

Any help? Thanks ahead of time!!

Wolfena

You will never know 100% - you can guess by entering all the ingredients you think they used, or you can estimate by using another restaurants entry that is similar.

I tend to use other restaurants entries instead of trying to guess their ingredients, because that'll include all the cooking butter and oil as well.

Sometimes - if there is more than one restaurant with a similar meal, and they are greatly different... I will enter them both (or all) and then save it as a meal and use the average of all of them together as my entry.

pkgirrl

I think just try to log as closely as possible - Wolfena seems to have a pretty good idea on this - even if you are off, even by a couple hundred calories, you probably don't eat out every day, likely no more than once a week, so it won't make a huge difference in the long run, right? None of this is really an exact sicence, unless you weigh EVERYTHING on a food scale and have had your metabolism tested regularly in a lab, everything you log on here is a an educated guess anyways, which is usually more than enough to get results.

With that in mind, I think you should try to stress less and feel okay when you do occasionally treat yourself, you can always do some extra exercise if its really bugging you

MrBinkerton

Ok thank you guys! I guess I will just guesstimate. And yes, I do like to go out once in awhile so I just really don't want to dread worrying all the time or get a boring garden salad everytime. I would like to plan for it, ya know.... save some calories for a burger. Thanks again!!!!

BassBoneBabe

I think you can also make some special requests to help put your mind at ease. Like if you order the grilled chicken, tell the no salt, butter or oil. Still I would guess higher then what I would make at home, but it won't be as terrible as not making a few simple requests. I'm sure they get them all the time. Unless you are at a buffet, then you are on your own ;-)