Sticker Shock

Calorie shock
affects everyone.

I've known for a while that restaurant salads aren't all they're cracked up to be, but woah.  I got a reality check last night!

We found ourselves for dinner at Ted's Montana Grill after admitting to each other on our homeward commute that going home to bake chicken and steam brocolli sounded about as fun a root canal.  Yeah, food isn't fun, I know, but it wasn't the food we were dreading.  It was preparing the food!  We were pooped and wanted someone else to do the grilling and steaming for us.  Correction: we wanted Ted Turner and his cronies to do the grilling and steaming for us.

So we settled into a booth.  Wanting fuel, I logged into CalorieLab.com, a handy website that lists the nutritional content of a lot of different restaurants.  It did not let me down - this booger is detailed, yo and told me everything I wanted to know. 

Like how the grilled chicken ceasar salad is 1,090 calories.  Woah, buddy.  It pained me to see because I know plenty of folks who would order that because they think, "grilled," "chicken," and "salad," equal healthy.  The other salads, shown with dressing, rank right up there in the 700 - 1,200 calorie range.  For real. 

Ted.
Dude.

What???? I'm just giving America what it wants:

juicy hamburgers and classic movies!  Why the hate?

Yeah, I could have dissected the salad and ordered a bowl of vegetables, but I didn't.  I ordered the veggie burger on the wheat roll with a side of fresh tomatoes.  It was good, and only about 500 calories total.  And no, I don't actually think the veggie burger was real veggies. :)

When we got home my husband commented that he had gotten his annual Ted's burger and didn't want to know what the damage was.  Of course I volunteered to look it up for him but he declined.  Smart man.  But since he didn't order a salad, I am guessing he is pretty safe.

The lesson here is simple: don't assume salads are healthy for you, and take the intiative to make adjustments that will get it into your happy zone. Skipping the cheese or bacon toppings, going skimpy on the dressing, and sticking to fresh veggies and lean meats are the best idea.  But you knew that.

Have a great weekend, and if you eat out, be smart about it! 

Good day!

From the Recipe Box

People ask me all the time what I eat during the day and I've featured some of my portable cleaneating meals here.  Today, my Change Your Life salad.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I have eaten this salad for lunch almost every day for two years.  Seriously, I have.  I love it that much.  I NEVER get tired of it and when I go to people's houses, they ask me to bring it.  People have put their own twists on it, which I love, and I have even tweaked it a little.  But all in all, this salad has changed my life.

Major food criteria for me are that it must be low-maintenance and easily created in advance, it must be clean and natural without additives or preservatives, and it must be portable.  This salad meets all of those requirements, as I make five of them on Sunday afternoon, stack my little go-boxes in the fridge, and bring one to work with me each day in my insulated lunchbag.  I even put a fork in the container so I am ready in a jif to eat wherever I am.  Completely low-maintenance!

The salad is insanely simple: spinach, strawberries, feta cheese, and baked chicken or turkey.  That's right, no dressing.  It doesn't need it.  I used to put raisins and some Annie's Poppy Seed and Papaya dressing, but as I reduced my sweet tooth I eventually phased those out so I am down to the four key ingredients. 

Here's my salad as I pack it - I put the strawberries (120 g), feta (28 g), and chicken or turkey (85 g) in little ziplocks and stack them on top of the spinach (100 g). 

Then when I go to eat lunch I just combine them and viola!  Fueled and ready to go for the next few hours.

Give it a shot and see how you like it.  Trust me, you can eat this without dressing and your body will thank you in droves for it.  You can't go wrong when you focus on keeping your food fresh, clean, and functional!

Good day!

The Case of the Catered Lunch

Each month I go to a luncheon meeting of a professional association I belong to, and it's great.  Except the food, naturally.  You knew I was going to complain about that, right? :)  I'm sure you're familiar with the fare: a basket of bread, a tiny plate with tiny little pats of butter, a salad, a slice of cheesecake, and a dozen pieces of silverware.

Cue the chit-chat about how to remember which bread plate is yours!

I was starving, so I scarfed down that salad (no dressing thankyouverymuch) like a baseball team of teenage boys at a pizza joint.  I stopped just short of licking my plate.  But this is where my catered-lunch experience ceases to be like so many others were in that room (which would be boarding the afternoon-coma train with a stop at TransFatVille).  Instead of eating this:

Some kind of chicken wrapped around some cheese mixture, with a side of mashed potatoes

and a lonely little tomato drenched in oil. (No one ate the tomato.)

I ate this:

That's right.  TWO SALADS.  Get this - it's crazy - when the waiter comes along with the Heart Attack Special, I just say, "May I please have another dinner salad?"  He then looks at me with a look of confusion and asks, "you just want...another salad?  Like....a salad?"  Its as if everything he has ever known and believed to be true is crumbling before his eyes. And I smile and say,

"yes, that would make me the happiest person in the world." 

Sometimes I bat my eyelashes if I feel it is necessary to express just how very important this request is to me.

And then, he brings me another salad.  I eat it. We're done.

I attended a meeting where a catered lunch was served but I was able to avoid eating it.  And then when I got back to my office, I ate my real lunch.  Which was another salad, btw.

The next time you think you're stuck eating catered food, think again.  You can always pack a snack to eat on the sly or just ask for more of the rabbit food.  Hey, give 'em something to talk about back in the kitchen!

Good day!