96% of restaurant entrees exceed USDA limits

Hopefully people understand that if you want to eat healthier then eating out at restaurants is not going down the right path generally, and restaurants are not responsible for your health, you are. rant over.

Hopefully people understand that if you want to eat healthier then eating out at restaurants is not going down the right path generally, and restaurants are not responsible for your health, you are. rant over.

That makes no sense. Of course based on this information its not healthy. We all know eating out isn't healthy. But I was very surprised by some of the things in the article. More importantly and I what I was getting at is why restaurants dont see the negative effect of there menus. I know its all about the sales and the $$ flavor sells but as many of you know you can have very flavorful meals with out being unhealthy.

I know what your saying, and I agree it would be nice to have places where you can find comfort in the fact that health is prioritized where portion size and ingredients are per a guide line that most people can easily disseminate, but that is unrealistic. Personally when I compare the average USA restaurant with other Countries I've travelled to like Thailand, Japan, India, Italy, France etc it seems that value for the average American is based in the size of the portion and cost of that portion....basically the larger the better. Like I said, we can't blame a restaurant for our declining health, we need to be responsible for what we put in our mouths. There's been nutritional information for over a decade on most fast food places and obesity is climbing constantly.....do we sue Mc'Donalds for our overweight condition, because that would be the result of a nanny state.

Doesn't surprise me much. Since starting on MFP, I've still gone out to eat quite a bit, and looking up the nutritional values for these restaurants was a bit crazy. I try to keep my calories roughly on-target when I go out to eat, but I just ignore the fat and sodium on those days. They're off the charts. Went to Applebees with my wife a few weeks ago and ordered some sort of pasta (blackened chicken, I think it was). 3500mg of sodium in a single meal.

It's possible to be in great shape and not do anything the USDA recommends.

Of course sit down restaurants are going to have more, they aren't really comparing apples to apples. A tiny sad mcdonalds cheeseburger is, of course, going to have less sodium, fat, calories, etc than some one pound burger with deep fried onions, mayo and what else on it. The size of the courses, alone, will make that difference.

Tbh, I'm not going to restaurants with the expectation that it should be healthy. For me, eating out is a treat, usually for celebrations.

I've gone to restaurants many times and have gotten a medium sized steak, baked potato, broccoli, and a salad. I'm still 100% free of testicular cancer, last time I checked.

And I do check with some frequency.

When I go to a restaurant..I try to make the best choices. That is what it is about. Choice. I don't expect it to be healthy every time. I considering going out to eat a treat and not something I do all the time.

I was just talking to a friend about opening a resturant with healthy drive thru options. Organic, fresh food with no crap fillers. Sadly most people that would go to a drive through wouldn't be willing to pay what the entrees would cost to make. :frown:

We live in an obesity promoting culture and restaurant food is only one symptom of the problem. I quit fast food and eating out a wile ago. The only exception is traveling, where I try to pick at least a half-way decent option, if it's available.

^This.

I *plan* for the Friday night pizza with extra cheese... the occasional Saturday outing to Five Guys.... an anniversary dinner at our favorite Italian place. I KNOW these places aren't the healthiest, and NO I do not look for the healthiest things on the menu when I go. Why should I sit there with a glass of ice water and a salad while I watch everyone else eat what I really want to have?

This article shouldn't surprise or inspire indignation in anyone... it's common sense.

There's nothing unhealthy about those places you listed, so I believe labelling them as "not the healthiest" is pretty pointless.

I ignore what the USDA recommends. I do my own research because my only bias is my personal health, not whether the corn industry succeeds. The USDA lists corn as a vegetable when it is actually a grain. But that's neither here nor there...

I'm not saying they don't have a valid point criticising restaurant nutrition, but it's so enormously important to take input from a variety of sources.

lol! The USDA is a joke.

It's possible to be in great shape and not do anything the USDA recommends.

Great point! Isn't the USDA the same idiots who said it's ok to put pink slime in ground beef?

Whenever people think of that, I'm sure they imagine putting mounds of that pink stuff in their mouth and yes, that image is disgusting.

But isn't the image of just eating handfuls of salt, or sugar, just as unappetizing? Yet we still love sugar and salt in our food.

Just a little perspective.

Tbh, I'm not going to restaurants with the expectation that it should be healthy. For me, eating out is a treat, usually for celebrations.

That's a great option for some people. But there are a lot of times when I have to eat whatever's available, and I do wish there more healthy options. I spend a lot of time in specialists' medical offices, a long way from home, with my disabled kid, and preparing my own food is just not always practical. I do the best I can, but when you're in an unfamiliar place far from home with a kid who takes extra time to get into and out of the car (not to mention going to the bathroom, aiyee!), and you've got one hour for lunch and you have to be back on time or you get bumped, and there's nothing close by that's a healthy choice (say, a Jason's Deli)... it's just hard. I do wish restaurants would be more accomodating and offer healthier choices. Some of us have to eat out more than is ideal, and it gripes me for people to dismissively say "Oh, eating out should just be an occasional treat anyway!" For some of us, it's not that simple. I'd like to be healthy, too.