What's the healthy to eat at Olive Garden...

Venetian Apricot chicken. Skip the soup and breadsticks, and go easy on the salad.

I like their new Lasagna Primavera of the light menu. I also like the Venetian Apricot Chicken. Both are *very* reasonable for fat and calories. the chicken is obviously lower carb than the lasagna. The biggest challenge at O.G. is staying away from the breadsticks!

the water...?

Yep. The salad at Olive Garden isn't even healthy -- soup is actually a better choice than salad. When I eat there, I go with the intention of using it as a cheat meal, and I don't go there very often.

I their minestrone soup! ~160 calories per bowl and it is delicious (and bottomless, so you don't have to worry about going hungry). You can try to low-carb it and don't have any breadsticks, otherwise try to limit to one. Yum!

ETA: low carb is not Italian food friendly - you can get some chicken but it will be smothered in sodium, fat, and cheese

Why would you go to an Italian pasta restaurant if you're trying to eat low carb? Why torture yourself?

The only healthy item on the menu is wine.

Low carb at Olive Garden is difficult. They have an allergy menu that you can ask for that is helpful. http://www.olivegarden.com/Menu/Gluten-Allergen/ You can also ask for any of the Alfredo dishes to be served over steamed broccoli instead of pasta.

6 stuffed mushrooms have 280 calories, 19 g fat, 14 g protein, 15 carbs, 720 mg soduim, 3 g fiber

1 breadstick has 140 calories 2 g fat, 26 g carbs...

I get this: Lasagna Primavera with Grilled Chicken-
530 calories, 20 g fat, 51 g carbs, 37 protein, 3 g fiber.... but a lot of sodium at 2030.

Add the salad for 150 calories.

If I order the mushrooms and the lasagna, save half to take home, have only one breadstick and one bowl of salad it comes to 695 calories :happy:

Uh there are a number of delicious items on their menu for under 600 calories. My favorites are the Venetian Apricot Chicken and Herb-crusted Salmon. Get each with broccoli or another veggie.

You could also do what I do and save up calories on a very active day and go there and order whatever you want. I did that on 4/16 if you want to look at my diary.

dont

I get soup salad and breadsticks and get minestrone soup. 100 calories per bowl, so if you can keep yourself in moderation with the breadsticks you can have a meal for under 500 calories.

I trying to do low carb. I don't want to go overboard and just eat what I want. I do usually have a cheat meal every week, but I still want to make a healthy choice.

I just had this exact same dilemma on Sunday! I went to Olive Garden for an early lunch, and got a bit worried because I intended to do the $6.95 endless soup, salad, and breadstick lunch option. I panicked a bit inside because I thought that they would not honor it on a Sunday. To my surprise, they do!

So I got a bowl of the Zuppa Toscana (approx. 170 cals per bowl), 1 breadtsick (approx. 140 cals each), one serving of salad (approx. 150-170), and drank lemon water. It was super filling! I felt the worst about the breadstick, but went to an Art Walk in the city afterwards and burned off some of that lunch.

They also have a "under 500 calorie" portion on their menu. There is a really yummy looking new seafood soup choice. Looks great, if you want to spend upwards of $20 on it! Happy grubbing!

Sub out the pasta in a dish for a veggie - they'll do it no problem, and it usually tastes better & is more satisfying anyway!

The garlic chicken (I think that's what it's called) is pretty good with broccoli, but probably ask for less sauce than normal or it will drown the plate without pasta there to soak it up, lol.

All of it is healthy in moderation.