Restaurant Nutrition Facts?

Most local restaurants aren't going to provide nutritional information. It's just the way it is. Personally, I look at the NI for a chain with similar food and use that to give an educated guess.

I really try not to eat at a place unless they have nutrition facts. I hate not knowing. BLECK. If I'm forced to, then I order something that is the equivalent of a meal I already know the calories for.

Also, just ask them! Who cares if they look at you weird? You care about your health, and they probably don't, so they can just deal with it. Be brave! You deserve to be able to know what you're putting in your own body.

If they won't provide the facts, don't eat the food. A chinese food buffet sounds like a red flag to me in the first place. Chances are it's not traditional chinese food but American/Chinese food which is no good

I have an app on my phone that has nutrition facts for over 400 restaurants. I paid $1.99 for it and it has been well worth it.

I always try to make estimated guesses. Like, if I'm eating Chinese I know that not all of them make the same dish the same way so I try to find a generic one or use Panda Express as they area chain restaurant with nutrition information. Sometimes when out at restaurants, I'll ask what brands they use- tomato sauce, deli meants, pasta, tortillas, etc. and then look up the nutrition information for those brands and try to combine them as a meal for an idea of the total calories per meal. If you're unsure of serving sizes- I carry a tablespoon, 1/2 cup, and 1 cup, measuring device with me to keep in my desk at work for ordering in/eating out. Have a set at home, and a 1/2 cup in the car You'd be surprised at how much a cup of food is! Also, when you know how much you're eating, you can eat with confidence. Good luck!

I can't see me refusing to eat out somewhere just cos they dont have the nutritional information available!

They're not required to provide it , and most customers wont really care for that much detail. I certainly wouldn't expect a waiter to have detailed knowledge of everything they're serving. How it's cooked, is a reasonable question, what's the fat content - can't blame them if they dont know.

I'm looking at this as a sustainable lifestyle change, and obsessing and stressing over the last calorie isn't part of my lifestyle.

I usually quick add 1000 calories for a restaurant meal, and write something in the notes section of my diary.

Enjoy your meal!

Tip for eating out....order a salad and have an appetizer as your main meal. Skip the bread--or have 1 pc and push the basket to the other side of the table. Drink lots of water while you're waiting for your food. If you have wine or other adult beverages, have them brought with the meal so you don't load up on calories (and lose your resolve in the meantime). Split dessert with a dinner companion. This way, even if you don't know the calorie count, you can still practice portion control.

You may have more luck asking how things are prepared rather than for nutrition information. For example, if you can find out whether the vegetables served on the side are roasted in olive oil or sauteed in butter, you can estimate your calories more accurately. Every restaurant should be able to tell you how a dish is prepared even if they don't have the nutrition info.

My county passed a law a few years ago that requires all restaurants with more than a certain number of locations to provide nutrition facts. That said, it means my corner take-out teriyaki place doesn't have nutritional info and probably never will. But I can get out the measuring cup and scale when I bring it home and measure out a portion of rice, weigh out a portion of grilled chicken, and the salad/dressing and maybe calculate in a little more for the teriyaki merinade. It's actually one of the better take out options.

I am surprised how many of my favorite local chains are available in the MFP database (Hurrah for crowd sourcing!) so be sure to check. Also if it's a place you really frequent say a neighborhood restaurant or in my case there are two local pizza chains with maybe less than 10 locations total in just my city that I love. One has facts on their website (and are in MFP!) the other does not. While I usually just guess based off the one that does, the one that does not is closer and more convenient. I've been considering emailing them and asking if they'd start providing them. Doesn't hurt to ask, if anything then they know their customers actually want it. Frame it in that you're working on tracking food to improve your health but love to splurge on their pizza but want to make sure you're keeping to your goals, here is how they can help. To the restaurant, that keeps you coming back as a customer because they can help you stay on plan.

I typically go out to eat at small, local restaurants that do not have nutrition information available. I look for similar restaurant entries in the database and enter one at the higher end of the average range of calories. I might add a bit of oil or butter to my diary for the meal if I feel it should be more calories than what I entered, over estimating is better than under. Because I cook a lot and measure/weigh everything at home I've gotten pretty good at estimating the quantities of food when I'm out. Sometimes I will take a picture of the plate so I can remember the proportions later, but am not going to do that at a nice restaurant.
I don't eat out that often so I enjoy it and don't stress about the calories too much. I do not like eating at most chain restaurants and am not going to do so just so I "know" the calories.

I either pick a similar dish from the database from another restaurant. I try to use an entry from another restaurant, because home cooked dishes are usually much lower in calories.

If I can't find anything close I'll input what I think are the ingredients to try and get a rough estimate.

Hi there!

I'm kind of a pro at this because my youngest kid has Type 1 diabetes so I have to esitmate carbs for all his meals in order to figure out his insulin dose.

His endocrinologist gave us a "Calorie King" book - it's small but thick - and we keep it with his insulin supplies. It has "average" nutritional data for all different types of food. For example, "pancake, 3" diameter" or "cake, frosted, 2x2 piece." If he eats a dish with several ingrediants I will ask the waiter generally what goes into it and then esitmate using the book - for example, if he ate sweet n sour chicken at a Chinese restaurant and it wasn't in the book I would look up "chicken nuggets" and "sweet n sour sauce" and esitmate. If there was no sweet n sour sauce I would pick something similar in sugar, such as syrup, and use that.

Is it exact? Nope. Is it close enough? For the purposes of givnig a correct dose of insulin, yes. So probably for the purposes of knowing pretty much how many calories you are consuming, yes!

Oh, one caveat - you have to have a good handle on portion sizes. Buy a scale for home and learn what one oz of meat, cheese, or whatever looks like, buy measuring cups and learn what 1 cup of pasta looks like spread out on a plate.

Good luck! Feel free to add me!

Athijade wrote: »

Just have to guess.
And honestly, I don't think a restaurant should be forced to give out it's nutritional information. No one is required to eat there. It is a choice that one makes to do so. If it is such a huge issue, then don't eat out.

Yeah, so this is really late to the game, but seriously, that's kind of ignorant. I read all the comments up to yours, and nobody said anything about being required to eat anywhere. People just want to be informed on the matter, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Personally I would love to see every restaurant post their nutritional value. Not necessarily so that I know what to avoid, but rather so that I know how much is in what I want to eat. Not only will this allow me to plan my remaining meals around eating out, but it will also help me gauge how much of the plate they bring me that I should eat to have a balanced meal.