Mall food is killing me.

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shellyburger
shellyburger Posts: 90 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I work two retail jobs in the same mall. This means I am working about 12 hours every single day. I eat most of my meals in the mall.... any suggestions on healthy choices?
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Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,945 Member
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    Get the meat and veggie combos at the Chinese place. No rice or noodles.

    Do they have a Subway?

    Bring your own food.
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    I usually eat two meals a day at the mall, at least on workdays. Usually have no issues making my macros, with a&w, arby's, thai, pizza, edo, taco time ...
  • Smileydietgirl
    Smileydietgirl Posts: 5
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    There's probably a salad option at one of the mall restaurants. A salad with protein (such as chicken or fish) is best. Chick-fil-a has good salads. Or if there's a Starbucks, they have these bistro boxes that are balanced meals made with mostly whole foods. Subway is also a kind of good option, depending what you get. Or, like the person above said, you could always bring your own food.
  • Mangopickle
    Mangopickle Posts: 1,509 Member
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    Pack your own lunch, or you are doomed. Take it from an obese 44yr old who wishes her 20yr old self would have stopped trying to choose healthy options from restaurants and get over it and pack a friggin healthy lunch. Restaurant food is party food, it is not real life food. A turkey roll up, yogurt, banana, cheese stick and bottled water may seem boring but it will give you money in your wallet, years on your life, a great figure, great energy , great sex life and goes a long way toward preventing depression. Good luck
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,895 Member
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    What are your goals?
  • fruttibiscotti
    fruttibiscotti Posts: 987 Member
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    Pack your own lunch, it's healthier and more cost effective.
  • HeidiSmith419
    HeidiSmith419 Posts: 71 Member
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    Pack your own lunch, or you are doomed. Take it from an obese 44yr old who wishes her 20yr old self would have stopped trying to choose healthy options from restaurants and get over it and pack a friggin healthy lunch. Restaurant food is party food, it is not real life food. A turkey roll up, yogurt, banana, cheese stick and bottled water may seem boring but it will give you money in your wallet, years on your life, a great figure, great energy , great sex life and goes a long way toward preventing depression. Good luck

    Because this needs to be repeated!! Buy yourself a cute cooler lunch sack and pack your own food. I also gained a bunch of my weight while working two jobs at the mall in my early 20's. make eating out a treat not a necessity. even the "healthy" options are still pretty awful choices if you are eating them more than a couple times a week.
  • Diet_Soda
    Diet_Soda Posts: 124 Member
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    Pack a lunch for at least one of those meals.

    Does your food court have a Freshii? They have awesome choices for meals.
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
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    Pack at least one of the meals. But I worked at a mall for a while too, so I understand your question. One thing I used to do was kind of split the lunchbox. I would pack some soup, then buy a small side salad or get a subway sandwich (usually I split a 6" so I could get an extra meal out of it). Or bring a sandwich and get a thing of the steamed vegetables from one of the Chinese places. If you have a Chic Fil A, I think their Tortilla Soup is going to be coming back soon, if it hasn't already, and while it is a little high in sodium, the medium cup of it is only 260 calories and it is SO FREAKING GOOD.
  • wilmnoca
    wilmnoca Posts: 416 Member
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    Pack.a.lunch
    That.is.all
  • elsyoommen
    elsyoommen Posts: 155 Member
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    pack your meals, or as much of them as possible and pre-log what you pack. I noticed that you have not logged anything for several days in your diary. This can't be helping either. Once you get used to it you will not want to go back to buying your meals so often. Yesterday I forgot to put my packed lunch in my bag as Ieft for work so I had to buy my lunch. That messed up my day.
  • kamyers1289
    kamyers1289 Posts: 129 Member
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    I know how you feel! I work full time at an convenience store. Ick.

    I second packing your own lunch. I usually make a big salad or sandwich, like turkey, and eat that for my lunch. I'll then usually have some yogurt, a banana, or a protein bar as a snack. Even most of the "healthy" options at fast food places are loaded with sodium and are not high quality products. Stick with making your own. :)
  • SkinnyFatAlbert
    SkinnyFatAlbert Posts: 482 Member
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    Take your meals to work with you.
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
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    Pack your lunch. When that's not possible, look up the nutritional info of the restaurants in the mall. Most of them will have websites.

    Panera, Applebees, Subway, etc. all have calorie counts on their sites.
  • demonsoul
    demonsoul Posts: 16 Member
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    I worked in a mall for a long time. I just had to start packing my lunch. Best thought i can give you.
  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
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    Don't pack a lunch - pack a bento box! It's fun and cute, and it can help you think of more variety for your lunches.
  • ShannonTodd
    ShannonTodd Posts: 105 Member
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    I went through the same thing when I was in college. It put a hurting on my waistline - and budget. I started packing a lunch on the days that I worked, and it was so much easier to make good food choices! (Of course it didn't help when Cinnabon was right across from where I worked, and they brought us free rolls!!)
  • mapenguinkeeper
    mapenguinkeeper Posts: 191
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    pack your own
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Packing your own lunch will get you the most benefit.

    But, you can find decent choices at the mall. If there are decent selections to be had at the fast food joints - and I usually eat at one every workday lunch, then there will be at the mall as well. Can't help with specifics since I don't know what's available to you.

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