Frustrated...not sure what is the best thing to do

agdeierl
agdeierl Posts: 378 Member
edited September 22 in Food and Nutrition
So I ordered Pumpkin Bread French Toast from a local restaurant (independent, so absolutely no nutrition information to be found...and I think they'd probably raise their eyebrows if I asked for them to start making info available). It was so delicious and I figured I could find an approximation on the database. I only ate half of one slice with nothing added to it (i.e. butter, sugar, syrup, etc.). (they gave me 2 slices, both of which were halved). Anyway, I was wrong. I couldn't find it on the database. I mean, I knew I wouldn't find the exact same recipe on the database because this restaurant is not a chain, but I didn't even find pumpkin bread french toast anywhere in the database. So I just googled for it and the first recipe that came up was Bobby Flay's. I put it into the recipe calculator on here which is very time-consuming and it said it was over 400 calories for ONE piece and over SIXTY grams of fat. That is just outrageous! I know that pumpkin bread french toast is not going to NOT be a little outrageous. But eating only half a slice has already put me over my fat intake for the day! and that was just breakfast! And I'm sorry, but I doubt Sunny Point (the restaurant I got it from) cooks with as much butter, sugar, and oil as this guy does. I'm not familiar with Bobby Flay. Is he always this liberal with unhealthy ingredients in his recipes??! What should I do? Do you think there's a recipe out there that we could probably trust is more reliable and more reasonable? I still have 3 more half-slices in my fridge that I do NOT want to throw out, but I can't be going over my fat content for 3 more days straight! Help!

Replies

  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
    Umm, butter is not bad for you............

    What kind of oil was used.............

    The worst part is the carbs from the flour and sugar.
  • agdeierl
    agdeierl Posts: 378 Member
    Well, Bobby Flay's recipe called for 1 stick of butter plus 2 tablespoons. That's to serve about 9 people, so it's not as bad, but still according to the calculator that's over 30 grams of fat per person! He also used all purpose flour, over one cup of sugar, etc. And of course, I have no way of knowing how close this absurd (in my modest opinion) recipe is to the one I actually ingested this morning! :grumble:
  • Umm, butter is not bad for you............

    What kind of oil was used.............

    The worst part is the carbs from the flour and sugar.

    I completely agree, are you Primal?
  • agdeierl
    agdeierl Posts: 378 Member
    I'm not saying butter is bad for you, I'm saying that THAT MUCH butter is not conducive to weight loss!!! Which, if I am not mistaken, if what we are all here to accomplish.
  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
    EATING OUT YOU HAVE NO CONTROL AND GENERALLY THEY MAKE IT MOST UNHEALTHIEST WAY THEY CAN. THAT IS WHY WHEN WE THINK IS MAYBE OK IS GENERALLY IS NOT. I SAY IF YOUR NOT SURE JUST STAY AWAYS AND SAY NO.
  • Ya know I would ask the resturaunt anyway. I would get their recipe...if they will give it or ask what are the ingridients or see if they have nutrutional info for that(which sounds super good btw). If they raise an eyebrow who cares. You have a goal to reach and anyway more places are trying to give out nutr. info to their customers so they will not what is healthy to eat and what's not. Give it a shot the worst they can do is giggle at it, and really does their opinion matter when you are trying to lead a healthy life? Hope it has good info and you can eat the rest...if not see if someone will take it off your hands. :bigsmile: Have super day!
  • agdeierl
    agdeierl Posts: 378 Member
    Umm, butter is not bad for you............

    What kind of oil was used.............

    The worst part is the carbs from the flour and sugar.

    To answer your question, vegetable oil (in Bobby Flay's)
  • redefiningmyself
    redefiningmyself Posts: 476 Member
    If it was me, I would call the restaurant and ask them questions about their recipe and how its prepared to help you better figure out how to track it. Also, don't be afraid to ask for nutritional information when you're trying to decide what to order at a restaurant, you'd be surprised how many places have that readily available if you ask. Plus for those that don't, if enough people ask, they will get it done so its available. Afterall, they won't have much business if their customers aren't happy.

    As for the pumpkin bread, its almost impossible to guess how to track it without any info on the recipe. things like that often have ALOT of butter and sugar hidden in the recipe.

    I hope that helps a bit....
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
    what i do is break down the ingrediants as much as POSSIBLE...if you're well aquainted with the baker...than you might know what kind of stuff they bake with...but you're right, that does sound absurd....ask the baker what they use, pretend you're writing an article or something :happy:
  • I know you are frustrated but dont fret too much. It happens to the best of us-we're out to eat, cant look up the nutrition info, and just go for it. One meal is not going to really make a huge difference. On days that happens just make sure you work out and have some steamed broccoli (miracle veggie) and water with lemon. As for the rest of it in the fridge, since you seem upset about eating it in the first place just get RID of it so you dont feel guilty again. Either just give it to your dog (if you have one), have a friend or roommate eat it, or freeze for the next time you have over night guests and feed it to them. Im not sure about bobby flay so I cant answer all you questions about that.

    dont worry to much about it since you cant change the results.

    ive never made this but if you are craving pumpkin french toast bread again. just add some cinnamon and pumpkin spice to the egg mixture before you dip the bread in it.

    also- IHOP has really good pumpkin pancakes this time of year- one site said they were like 260 without the whipped topping and syrup... but who needs syrup they are good on there own with a bit of butter
  • SP0472
    SP0472 Posts: 193 Member
    There's a recipe for Pumpkin Bread from King Arthur Flour that per slice is:

    162 calories, 2.1g fat, 30.7g carbs, 1.5g fibre, 3.9g sugar, 5.7g protein

    French Toasting [with whole milk and whole eggs] adds:

    78 calories, 3.8g fat, 6.1g carbs, 5.7g sugar and 4.6g protein

    I'd imagine they used butter on the flat-top to cook it, so add to that 1-2tbsp of butter.
  • I'm not saying butter is bad for you, I'm saying that THAT MUCH butter is not conducive to weight loss!!! Which, if I am not mistaken, if what we are all here to accomplish.

    No one is getting down on you.
  • Eating out is the most difficult thing if you are losing weight.

    I went to Eggspectations and ordered an egg plate-- lotsa protein and healthy, right?

    WRONG.

    My plate was a whooping 912 calories-- ick!
    I nearly fell off the chair when I googled it up.
    I should have checked the nutritional information before I had a chomp.
    You can always make a special requests-- such as make the toast whole-wheat instead of white, and skim milk instead of whole milk, and so forth on. (shrug)
    if they raise their eyebrows, then they do not want your money.

    As for food that are not searchable in the database, I usually just enter each ingredient that is mentioned on the menu or google up the recipe and add all ingredients to your meal. It is hard to be accurate, but it is safe to have a ballpark estimate.

    (I have a similar problem at home-- I don't eat out of a box or a tin can, so my homemade meals took me a good five minutes to check off all food I ate)
  • agdeierl
    agdeierl Posts: 378 Member
    I just emailed the restaurant. I hope they will consider adding nutritional information, but I live in Asheville, which if you don't know, is dominated by independent restaurants that are so delicious and fresh that they can do whatever the hell they want. Chains are in the minority, so posting nutritional information is unheard of, really. I would call them, but they are a very busy, fast-paced restaurant staffed with hippies who I know don't have time to answer my questions, even if they did know the answers, which I doubt they would, because they're not the cook. And the cook is swamped all the time. I guess for now, I am just going to eat the rest of it and let it go. It is so delicious that I absolutely 100% know that it would be a CRIME to throw it out, period. some of you may think that's not very dedicated of me, but so be it. I have a lot of love and respect for good food (even if it's fattening, Sunny Point makes all their food with the freshest, all-organic ingredients, so it's still high-quality), and I just can't throw it out. I don't have a dog, and all of my friends are dieting, too. So, I'm going to eat it now and just eat good the rest of the day, drink lots of water this week and work out diligently. I guess I just wont' even bother tracking it, since it looks like it's very unlikely that it will be even close to accurate. So that is that, I guess. Thanks so much for all of your help, guys! And thanks for the IHOP suggestion. We Ashevillians don't take too kindly to chains, just because much better and fresher food is more prevalent, but I may have to try that if it's that reasonable!
  • agdeierl
    agdeierl Posts: 378 Member
    I'm not saying butter is bad for you, I'm saying that THAT MUCH butter is not conducive to weight loss!!! Which, if I am not mistaken, if what we are all here to accomplish.

    No one is getting down on you.

    Sorry I jumped on you guys! I'm just having a sort of bad day, and I was frustrated, because it seemed like you were ignoring my question and just arguing with me instead. But I have come to a solution, so no worries. Sorry again for my attitude.
  • melodyg
    melodyg Posts: 1,423 Member
    I would look at the nutrition database and try to get an idea of what a general slice of pumpkin bread is... then add in 1/2 to 1 egg, cream and butter. I know when I make french toast at home, I just do an egg, skim milk and cooking spray but I am guessing restaurants use the higher calorie stuff. :)

    A stick of butter sounds excessive to me... even for 9 people!
  • agdeierl
    agdeierl Posts: 378 Member
    There's a recipe for Pumpkin Bread from King Arthur Flour that per slice is:

    162 calories, 2.1g fat, 30.7g carbs, 1.5g fibre, 3.9g sugar, 5.7g protein

    French Toasting [with whole milk and whole eggs] adds:

    78 calories, 3.8g fat, 6.1g carbs, 5.7g sugar and 4.6g protein

    I'd imagine they used butter on the flat-top to cook it, so add to that 1-2tbsp of butter.

    thanks! This is super helpful!!!
  • agdeierl
    agdeierl Posts: 378 Member
    I would look at the nutrition database and try to get an idea of what a general slice of pumpkin bread is... then add in 1/2 to 1 egg, cream and butter. I know when I make french toast at home, I just do an egg, skim milk and cooking spray but I am guessing restaurants use the higher calorie stuff. :)

    A stick of butter sounds excessive to me... even for 9 people!

    I thought it was excessive, too! Thanks for not acting like I'm crazy, haha!
    And thanks for this suggestion, it's very helpful! I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place! :laugh:
  • So I ordered Pumpkin Bread French Toast from a local restaurant (independent, so absolutely no nutrition information to be found...and I think they'd probably raise their eyebrows if I asked for them to start making info available). It was so delicious and I figured I could find an approximation on the database. I only ate half of one slice with nothing added to it (i.e. butter, sugar, syrup, etc.). (they gave me 2 slices, both of which were halved). Anyway, I was wrong. I couldn't find it on the database. I mean, I knew I wouldn't find the exact same recipe on the database because this restaurant is not a chain, but I didn't even find pumpkin bread french toast anywhere in the database. So I just googled for it and the first recipe that came up was Bobby Flay's. I put it into the recipe calculator on here which is very time-consuming and it said it was over 400 calories for ONE piece and over SIXTY grams of fat. That is just outrageous! I know that pumpkin bread french toast is not going to NOT be a little outrageous. But eating only half a slice has already put me over my fat intake for the day! and that was just breakfast! And I'm sorry, but I doubt Sunny Point (the restaurant I got it from) cooks with as much butter, sugar, and oil as this guy does. I'm not familiar with Bobby Flay. Is he always this liberal with unhealthy ingredients in his recipes??! What should I do? Do you think there's a recipe out there that we could probably trust is more reliable and more reasonable? I still have 3 more half-slices in my fridge that I do NOT want to throw out, but I can't be going over my fat content for 3 more days straight! Help!

    Kinda makes sense, the amount of calories in something yummy such as pumpkin bread french toast....
    Its frustrating, i understand, but Im sure you will look up your meal before going out to a restaurant now!
    As often as you can, bake/cook things at home so you know exactly what goes into it. ;)
    Nutrional information can only go so far, whos to say a chef is using the exact amount of ingredients, foods, and such.
    Good luck:)
  • agdeierl
    agdeierl Posts: 378 Member
    So I ordered Pumpkin Bread French Toast from a local restaurant (independent, so absolutely no nutrition information to be found...and I think they'd probably raise their eyebrows if I asked for them to start making info available). It was so delicious and I figured I could find an approximation on the database. I only ate half of one slice with nothing added to it (i.e. butter, sugar, syrup, etc.). (they gave me 2 slices, both of which were halved). Anyway, I was wrong. I couldn't find it on the database. I mean, I knew I wouldn't find the exact same recipe on the database because this restaurant is not a chain, but I didn't even find pumpkin bread french toast anywhere in the database. So I just googled for it and the first recipe that came up was Bobby Flay's. I put it into the recipe calculator on here which is very time-consuming and it said it was over 400 calories for ONE piece and over SIXTY grams of fat. That is just outrageous! I know that pumpkin bread french toast is not going to NOT be a little outrageous. But eating only half a slice has already put me over my fat intake for the day! and that was just breakfast! And I'm sorry, but I doubt Sunny Point (the restaurant I got it from) cooks with as much butter, sugar, and oil as this guy does. I'm not familiar with Bobby Flay. Is he always this liberal with unhealthy ingredients in his recipes??! What should I do? Do you think there's a recipe out there that we could probably trust is more reliable and more reasonable? I still have 3 more half-slices in my fridge that I do NOT want to throw out, but I can't be going over my fat content for 3 more days straight! Help!

    Kinda makes sense, the amount of calories in something yummy such as pumpkin bread french toast....
    Its frustrating, i understand, but Im sure you will look up your meal before going out to a restaurant now!
    As often as you can, bake/cook things at home so you know exactly what goes into it. ;)
    Nutrional information can only go so far, whos to say a chef is using the exact amount of ingredients, foods, and such.
    Good luck:)

    I know. But I eat out so rarely. And i figured a half of one piece (regular sized piece of bread) would be reasonable. I mean, who wouldn't think that would be reasonable?! especially when it had no butter on it, no sugar on it, no fruit on it , and no syrup! But whatever, I'm not even going to track it. I guess this will be the one fun fall meal I get out! haha
  • ErinMarie25
    ErinMarie25 Posts: 733 Member
    Yeah, try avoiding eating out. No matter where, they use the unhealthiest stuff they can probably find. Even if it sounds healthy, it's most likely not. If you do eat out, go somewhere where they actually have a website with nutritional facts on it and pick out what you want through the site. Some places even carry them, I know Ruby Tuesdays does.

    When you order your food, ask for a doggy bag right away so you can pack half of your meal away to bring home for the next day.
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
    Umm, butter is not bad for you............

    What kind of oil was used.............

    The worst part is the carbs from the flour and sugar.

    I completely agree, are you Primal?

    For the most part yes, I am Primal...

    And right now I am a Primal HCG'r............. I am actually combining Primal Blue print and HCG plans together and losing weight very well now. This is at my Doctor's advice.............
  • I'm not saying butter is bad for you, I'm saying that THAT MUCH butter is not conducive to weight loss!!! Which, if I am not mistaken, if what we are all here to accomplish.

    No one is getting down on you.

    Sorry I jumped on you guys! I'm just having a sort of bad day, and I was frustrated, because it seemed like you were ignoring my question and just arguing with me instead. But I have come to a solution, so no worries. Sorry again for my attitude.

    That's ok, I understand bad days. I wasn't trying to argue. I just diet differently. I am following the primal blueprint. Sometimes I try to play devils advocate and people misunderstand me. I apologize.
This discussion has been closed.