Worst "healthy" restaurant food

cleotherio

Before I joined MFP and started to log calories, one of my favorite things to get out was Panera's sierra turkey sandwich. Much to my horror, it's 950ish calories and high in fat! For a turkey sandwich! And I though I was making a healthy choice...

^^that one shocked me. How do you hide nearly 1000 calories in a turkey sandwich???!??!!?

BonnieandClyde29

tropical smoothie cafe is ridiculous!!! mainly in sodium but they cals are sky high!!! it seemed like a healthy coice and i looked the the nutrtional value and about fell over!!!

inskydiamonds

More than 1/2 of the items on the subway menu are worse than a burger. Many people consider that a "Healthy option"

6 inches with as many vegetables as you want,without cheese and dressing
Is way healthier than a burger.
They're only bad if you get fittings with cheese or saturate it in mayo.
Come on now!

You cmon now. I eat subway, and I agree they offer choices that are way healther than a burger.

I also see way to many overweight people order a 6" Chicken & Bacon Ranch Melt (570 Calories with tons of saturated fats and carbs) A bag of chips, and a diet coke. Then they think they legitimately made a healthy choice by eating subway

That legitimately MIGHT be a healthier choice than they would have normally made.
Subway is wonderful for the convenience while not getting the same horrible food as McDonalds or Burger King or something. It may not be excellent and I'm not defending it, but until there are fast convenience food places that really sell healthy food, I have a hard time faulting the many overweight people you see in Subway.

Queen_Adrock

I know that Cheesecake Factory is notorious for their calorie bombs.

Yes! Before I knew anything about calorie counting and was terrible at estimating, I figured "Oh, one slice is probably 200 calories...split that with my date, and that's only 100 a piece. Not bad at all." Uhhh...yeah, wrong!

Skratchie

More than 1/2 of the items on the subway menu are worse than a burger. Many people consider that a "Healthy option"

6 inches with as many vegetables as you want,without cheese and dressing
Is way healthier than a burger.
They're only bad if you get fittings with cheese or saturate it in mayo.
Come on now!

You cmon now. I eat subway, and I agree they offer choices that are way healther than a burger.

I also see way to many overweight people order a 6" Chicken & Bacon Ranch Melt (570 Calories with tons of saturated fats and carbs) A bag of chips, and a diet coke. Then they think they legitimately made a healthy choice by eating subway

But if their usual lunch is a 1200 calorie burger plus fries, Subway IS the healthier choice!

magicherry

i'm glad panera puts calories on their pastry now. so easy to say no. works better than the flies buzzing around behind the counter.

but notice how they give you free pastries or try to up-sell your order by offering you a 99 center pastry? *kitten* <shakes fist> all i want is a coffee! stop badgering me!!!

iryshjones

Calories in Swiss Chalet Chicken Stir Fry with Rice
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving

Calories 750.0
Total Fat 30.0 g
Saturated Fat 4.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat 23.0 g
Cholesterol 70.0 mg
Sodium 2,290.0 mg
Potassium 0.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 89.0 g
Dietary Fiber 6.0 g
Sugars 17.0 g
Protein 32.0 g

The 30g of fat plus the sodium killed me - hello ... stir fry!

JustJennie1

Cobb salad.

Drop_it_Like_Its_Hawt

I distrust restaurant salads in general, especially fast food ones. Even the stuff that doesn't seem remotely unhealthy (i.e. something with grilled chicken and fruit in it, with little to no dressing) can be ridiculously fatty and sodium packed. Jack in the Box and Taco Bell salads are the worst.

wmphimu

Pei Wei used to make me think I was making good choices. I looked up the nutritional info before I went and ordered something that had around 500 calories. A large lunch, but not bad at all for a splurge. As I ate, I kept thinking "there's NO WAY this is 500 calories." I went back and checked it again when I got home. It was 500 calories PER SERVING. My lunch had 2 servings. Some of the other dishes had THREE SERVINGS. Who splits one lunch THREE WAYS?!? And can you imagine the look you would get if you walked in to Pei Wei and ordered 1 dish for you and two friends to share? Yikes.

CupcakeDefeater

Bump

Hbazzell

Oh no.....Thats what I get when I go there (which is rare but still)! I will have to research their menu next time.

Red Robin's veggie burger.

Hbazzell

I think Jamba juice is a big offender. Though there are healthy options there, some of their drinks are almost 1000 calories for a large! I advise anyone who does there to get a fresh juice (they use real fruit and a juicer) or an all-fruit smoothie with no froyo or sorbet.

http://calorielab.com/restaurants/jamba-juice/119

(I used to work at a competitor in high school and gained weight drinking the drinks until I started doing all-fruit only and actually lost weight.)

Vailara

It goes the other way too. MacDonalds (UK) grilled chicken salad is 140 calories. That's not a healthy meal size for the vast majority of adults. With bacon, it's 190 calories which is better but still not great. I think it's fine to have it on the menu for those who want it, but it's not really a healthy main meal.

On the other hand, I don't think burgers are particularly unhealthy. They are basically just minced beef and bread. If they're bigger, they'll be higher calorie and also if you add high calorie/fat things (bacon, mayonnaise, cheese, etc.) they'll be higher calorie/fat. But I think they're unfairly maligned. It's not much different from eating a meat sandwich. And how often do most people have a burger anyway?

SuzMcH

I've not skimmed all the answers but Caesar salad is such a hidden calorie salad. Croutons, cheese and dressing. Just becuase they are served on a bed of lettuce does not = low calorie !!

healthyguru101

caesar salad! always ask for the dressing on the side or without bacon

JDelphiki

You know, I never thought the Frisco Melt at Steak N Shake was healthy, but I had no idea it has more calories than a double quarter pounder at McDonald's...

Idka81

I don't know about unhealthy, per say, but Panera's food is ungodly high in calories. Even the veggie sandwich tops out around 800 calories. Macro-wise it's probably loads better, but I was so deluded all these years thinking I was eating healthy there!

I was in the same exact frame of thought! I was aghast when I actually saw their menu with all the calories listed. Apparently, they are also some of the worst offenders for sodium, esp in their bread.

nxd10

Anything from Panera's has more calorie than I can conceive of. I was shocked.

Aladdin's - I love their food and am going there today for lunch - all their rollups (which are healthy) are 700+ calories. I split one with my husband or have their delicious low calorie soup.

I almost died when I saw the calories in my son's meatball sub from Subway.

Sabine_Stroehm

That too bad for your friend, but yeah, I wouldn't have thought chips and guacamole was going to be low cal. I think all of us need to be educated about food. It's the only way.
Avocados are healthy. Guacamole not so much (because of the chips, the sour cream etc...)
And, as someone else mentioned, it was probably meant to be shared.

oh, and as others have said: subway! Not health food!