Check out my progress on Calorie Sticker Shock
Finally, a trend in dining that’s good for our health. According to a recent article in the LA Times, restaurants are modifying their menus to lower Calorie content.
In recent years, more and more restaurant chains have begun listing nutritional information on their menus in response to city and state government mandates. Furthermore, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to establish national standards by the end of the year.
Accordingly, restaurants are finally getting the message that lowering Calorie content may actually benefit their business. Theoretically, once consumers see the 1,000-plus Calorie content of their meals, they’ll stop ordering them as a result of “Calorie sticker shock.” In order to prevent loss of business, restaurant chains have figured out that perhaps they should re-formulate their menus to keep patrons coming back. Money talks.
Panera has limited sauces on sandwiches and created low-Calorie entree salads. Similarly, IHOP now offers egg-white scrambles and turkey bacon.
How important is nutrition when you decide where to eat? Have you ever experienced “Calorie sticker shock?” Which dishes have surprised you the most in their high-Calorie/poor nutritional content?
One way to avoid the Calorie traps altogether? Cook for yourself!
In the midst of cleaning out my overflowing ice-maker today, I discovered a long-neglected box of frozen waffles. Sounds like a fine excuse for a waffle parfait!
For lunch, I made a pretty fantastic tuna salad featuring sunflower seeds, chopped apple, scallions, and cracked black pepper. Phenom!
After posting today’s Goddess Potato Salad recipe, I was in the mood for some of that Goddess goodness. I opted to make Ellie’s Tomato Salad with Goddess Dressing.
My tweak:
-I used unsweetened almond milk instead of buttermilk.
Although this dressing didn’t taste much like the Annie’s version, it was still plenty tasty. Oddly enough, it had a sweet taste to it—perhaps it’s due to the fresh tarragon? I would make this again but maybe change up the herbs.
Alright, I am off to relax with Seth. Good night!
Filed under: Meals
Caroline Yoder, dietitian-to-be and all-around foodie.
I don’t eat out often, so it doesn’t bother me. I’d rather cook to know whats going in my body. WF hot bar should do this though
I usually don’t eat at restaurants that list that calorie count- to me, that doesn’t look very professional. I’ve found that most fast food or chain restaurants do so since they use processed ingredients and too much hydrogenated oils, etc.
I’m very picky about where I eat out….
I actually just wrote a post about this last week
I feel like I personally know enough about nutrition (and consequently don’t eat out too much) that it doesn’t really matter for ME, but I think it’s great for a large majority of other people
Restaurant meals always amaze me when I look up their calorie counts, because I could make the exact SAME thing at home and have it taste JUST as good with like half the calories… I just don’t understand how they cram them all in there! lol Nutrition is important to me, but I’m kinda at a funky middle-of-the-road place right now, trying to learn to ease up a little from my strict ED rules and enjoy some “unhealthy” treats, but still not go overboard… there’s some days where I feel like eating a whole pint of Ben and Jerry’s, so I do. But some days I just want salads, cottage cheese, oatmeal, and microwave cakes, so I have that. Trying to find a balance is SO hard though!
I made Ellie’s green goddess dressing this week too! I didn’t have any tarragon (not a big fan either) so I used basil on mine, I liked it just the way she made it, but after tasting I thought I could improve so I added a smashed clove of garlic and blended it again. It was delicious with the garlic and basil flavors, my son also liked and gobbled it up! We had ours with tomatoes and also with spiralized zucchini, double yum!
Ana
hurray for a wonderful dressing!! that looks so yummy!!
I think reading about the preservatives and chemicals used in foods is normally more of a shocker to me than calories……….but I think it is great that more restaurants are doing this too! It’s time we fight this obesity epidemic!
It is amazing how many calories restaurants put in things these days. A grilled chicken breast can have 1000 calories, depending on the place! Always do your homework that is for sure!