96% of restaurant entrees exceed USDA limits

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.

My husband and I seek out healthy restaurants. The hole in the wall, uses natural, fresh ingredients, ma and pa type places. We almost never go to chain restaurants unless we are invited or have a gift card. You can eat and order healthy when you go out. You just have to know where to go. I much rather have a higher calorie meal that has real, minimally processed food that will actually fill me up, keep me full, and is filled with nutrients, vitamins, proteins and fiber. Besides, my whole take on eating out is if you can make it just as good at home, you should save your money and make it at home.

If you can convince enough people to buy food that goes by the USDA limits, you might start seeing it in restaurants more. They don't sell it because it doesn't sell.

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.

For me, the idea of eating spoonfuls of sugar or salt compared to ground up tendons, connective tissue, fat, etc cooked in ammonia is significantly more appetizing.

So don't eat out...

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.

sorry for the total thread jack, but you have a point--your situation with your child requires some special planning and I can imagine it's really frustrating...as a former special ed teacher, I remember a lot of my students' families dealing with this issue...what about carrying a small cooler in the car with healthy options so you don't have to bother with the fast food restaurants that much? just a thought

alot of it has to do with the consumer. whoever posted if "we" didnt buy it "they" wouldnt sell it said it best. Im not going to lie, I eat out with my BF often, more often than not.
if you are going to eat out and try to stay healthy then ask for a lunch portion or simply eat half of whats on your plate, or get just soup. you have the option of choosing what to do.

When I go out to eat, I'm already aware it's a gauntlet health-wise - but I don't let it start to stunt any aspect of my life. Part of making the lifestyle change is learning to make smart choices without feeling like you're depriving yourself or start feeling like you can't be yourself.

I just do the best I can.

Edit the hell out of what I order, politely - less/no salt, sauce on the side, no oil, no msg, sub veggies for fat-saturated carbs, a baked potato for fries, do you have whole wheat pasta, do you do lunch portions for dinner, etc, etc - always adding "if it's possible". I've never had problems with waitstaff being rude because I try to emphasize that I just want to know if it's possible. (Not demand it.)

I also never eat all of what I've ordered, only half or a third, and I drink a full glass of water before eating. When I do this, I find that I don't feel the need to clean my plate. I take the rest home and save it for a workout day, lots of things freeze well if you know the tricks to reheating it later.

If it's a required function somewhere like iHop, Outback or Chili's or whatever that's basically a death trap no matter how you slice it, you can still order a salad, minus all the terrible for you stuff with dressing on the side, hell - go vegan, and then find something more filling and healthy later. If people hate on you for it, let them hate - you don't have to take any crap for wanting to live past 40.

And sure, I have my bad days and you can't avoid all the traps constantly when eating out and those days when you're celebrating, but when you put in some effort...it's not a conspiracy if you take some control. Like some already mentioned, if that's too much work for you - just don't eat out.

(Sorry for the long rant and if I offended anyone. ._.)

Not surprising. It would be nice if places offered more healthy options.

My dream is to open a healthy restaurant. A place where people can come and eat healthy... have special menu items with all the nutrition information available.


Any investors out there? lol

Your not in the restaurant business are you? I'm just kidding, but seriously it's a tough business, I know I've owned 2 restaurants over the years. My focus was on fine dinning and I used only fresh natural ingredients, the only canned foods were tomatoes, green peppercorns and foie gras on occation and my dream was to cook my food, my way. I soon learned that it's the customer that dictates what I cook and how much I charge...fortunately I didn't take it personally. lol