Hidden Calories

nehadi23
nehadi23 Posts: 17 Member
edited September 20 in Food and Nutrition
I went to a french cafe today to have lunch with a friend. I have stopped eating at fast food places since the beginning of April and was really trying to stick to that today. I got a meal off of their healthly option menu. When I got back to the office, I went to record my meal. It had 1/4 of my daily calories not to even mention the fat that was in the meal. I got curious and started looking up some other places that offer healthly meal options and even their meals were better but still not good for you. I guess I need to start looking up my meals before I go to places to eat.

Replies

  • kellykat
    kellykat Posts: 180 Member
    I definitely research before I go. It helps me to stay on target. It sucks how many fake healthy meals are out there.
  • fearlessfatty
    fearlessfatty Posts: 206 Member
    even a "healthy" wrap or mandarin salad can pack between 350-500 calories! crazy!!
  • kimmydear
    kimmydear Posts: 298 Member
    That happened to me last weekend when we were about to go to Red Robin. I ended up ordering a chicken burger, hold the mayo, hold the cheese, should have held the fries but didn't. I definitely went over my calories that day. Even with all that taken off, the burger was still pretty high for what I had left in calories, not to mention the fries! ;-)
  • itskim08
    itskim08 Posts: 22
    Yea I generally try to look up my calories before heading out to eat also. For example, my sister and her family have asked me to go to MCDONALD'S for breakfast in the morning. I immediately thought to myself..."This is the exact place I am trying to avoid." BUT since I love my sister I am going and have already looked up what my "best" option would be! I will be having 1 sausage patty (170 cal) and scrambled eggs (2) (170cal) which comes to a total of 340 calories. Not too bad for fast food. And the other nutritional content isn't too bad on them either as far as fat and stuff. So....yea, makes it easier to preplan, at least for me. Because my old favorite breakfast item was the Sausage, Egg and Cheese english muffin with a hashbrown...which is what I'd be tempted to get, if it wasn't for pre planning!!
  • shellee9tj
    shellee9tj Posts: 221 Member
    I definitely research before I go out to eat if I have the opportunity to do so. All those "healthy meals" and even the "salads" at some places have a ton of calories, no thanks!!!
  • NaturalMom
    NaturalMom Posts: 85
    If you have an iPhone you can use the app at the restaurant before you order! (Another excuse to get an iPhone! :) Good luck!
  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
    Yes, but do consider that just because foods are higher in calories (nutrient dense) doesn't automatically make them a bad choice. That would be grouping items like nuts / nut butters, meats, oily fishes, EVOO, etc. into "bad food choices" simply because of their nutrient density.

    If the foods in question are "junk in disguise" ... whatever each of us defines that to be, then no, they're probably not a good choice. There's always those culprits like vegetable/cottonseed (cheap industrial cooking source) oil, HFCS, high sodium, etc. that seem to come into play at restaurants.

    500-600 calories is a pretty normal lunch or dinner for me, but I don't snack often...so....
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