Since I've been seriously trying to shape up, I've been paying much more attention to the calorie, fat, and carb content of foods. We rarely eat out, but on those rare occasions, I've tried to check out the nutrition information before hitting the restaurant. And I have been amazed! For example, Chili's ( a chain that you can find almost anywhere in the US) has a grilled chicken sandwich with fries. Grilled chicken sounds pretty healthy, right? Wrong! That's 1240 calories and 62 grams of fat and over 2500 mg of sodium.

Ok, so forget the sandwich. How about a grilled BBQ smoked chicken salad. Now that MUST be better for you! Um... not so much. It has 1060 calories. And that doesn't count the soda or glass of wine you have with dinner, or the appetizer or dessert.

But this next item has to take the cake! My local newspaper has a weekly feature where readers can write in and request the recipe for favorite dishes at local restaurants. The restaurant chefs are usually happy to share their recipes. This past week, there was a recipe from a local high-end steakhouse for Baked Eggplant. This side dish sounds pretty healthy -- it is a vegetable, and it is baked, not battered and fried. Can you guess the calorie count? An unbelievable 1900 calories!!! And 179 grams of fat! Wowzer! In its defense, the recipes does say that this is the total for one "generous" serving. Perhaps you could share, and cut the cost of your side dish to just 850 calories! For eggplant?!? Hey, if I'm going to be consuming that many calories, I darn sure better be getting something chocolate!!

After reading the nutrition information for just a few restaurants, I'm astounded by how much fat and sodium even the healthy sounding meals contain. It's definitely worth the time to browse menus and nutrition info online before you head out to eat!

What are the most insane meals you have found where you live? What places do you avoid -- and alternatively, are there places that serve healthy meals that make sense for your diet?

Becky

A few years back I printed out the nutritional information from several restaurants and put them in a folder. I must admit that I haven't looked it in ages but I will pop online and look at the charts if I know I want to eat out somewhere ahead of time. Another place to peruse is the Yahoo Health-Eat this, not that site. Even though they give alternative choices for extremely high calorie foods they still may be too high if you're cutting calories. Sometimes you just want "something". I looked at their list of worst sandwiches and the Arby's BLT looked so tasty But it comes at a price 880 calories 46 g fat (10 g saturated) and
1,740 mg sodium. I'm thinking turkey bacon, whole wheat bread and some low fat mayo will work. Maybe skip the turkey bacon

I have a folder at work with the nutrition info for the fast food places near work all printed out with the healthiest selections highlighted - that way if someone is going to pick something up for lunch and I just can't fight the temptation I can at least make a wise decision....

I live in France so all the restaurants serve insanely caloric meals. I mean, I can even get fois gras from a local pizza place!

Our solution is to only go out to eat once a month unless we are out for some other reason and have to eat somewhere. That way, when we go, we can order as we wish. I find that since I have started dieting that I don't want to eat as much anyway. The other day we went out to a restaurant called Hippopotamus which specialises in steaks. Glorious steaks. Absolutely marvellous to die for steaks. I found that I had to have the smaller size of the steak I wanted because I couldn't manage anything more than that.

Thinking about it, there is a seafood restaurant, Ecume des Mers, that serves reasonable portions of healthy food, some of it is healthy food, probably, anyway. Of course, it's one of the most expensive restaurants in town... Two people ordering a three-course meal with wine and water can easily spend one hundred and fifty euros there, and that's just with one bottle of wine, mind you.

I have to stop writing this now. I have to stop thinking about it, actually. It's making me hungry.

cinnamonkiss and erin, being prepared by having the nutrition info printed out ahead of time is a great idea. I'll try to do that for the restaurants around here. One of my favorites, a Mexican food place, doesn't have nutrition info online, and I know much of it is bad for me. We reserve it for a rare treat, even though Mexican food is a staple (even for breakfast) where I live.

Lajoggeuse, you are making me hungry too!! That steak place sounds fabulous. I agree with you that it takes less to fill up since starting dieting, and smaller portions are still satisfying. I don't know about France, but here in South Texas, insanely huge portion sizes are the order of the day no matter where you go.

We don't eat out often, but when we do, my husband and I have started sharing meals sometimes, and that helps keep our eating under control -- and it's cheaper too. Plus, I'm trying to just order smarter. When we came back home after several days away last week, we arrived in late afternoon and had nothing to eat at home, so we went out. I ordered a grilled sirloin, which came with my choice of 2 sides. The sides were all starchy things like mashed potatoes, onion rings, french fries, buttered corn on the cob. I found only one thing that sounded healthy, the steamed veggies, so I asked for a double order of that for my 2 side dishes, and it was a delicious meal.

That 150 euro meal of yours is another reminder why we don't eat out so often anymore -- besides being bad for our waistlines, it is bad for the bank account!

One way around huge meals that we don't really need to eat is to order from the appetizers and have them bring it with the other persons meal. Get a side salad with something else that isn't horrible (soup and a roll?). They say for meat you shouldn't eat a portion larger than the palm of your hand and most places throw a half a cow on your plate if you order steak and then you've paid for it so you feel obliged to eat it.

I also used to feel weird about asking for a doggy bag but I do it often now. There's a place we like that makes a really nice seafood/pasta dish but it's a huge serving. I eat 1/2 and have the other 1/2 put into a styrofoam takeaway container and it's my lunch or supper the next day.

As you learn healthy eating and portion control your stomach shrinks and those huge meals become impossible to eat. It actually starts to be unpleasant to have a big meal.

I am avoiding some bake shops here in our place because they do not do whole meal bread. Their calculations of calories added to their products is just too high. I'm afraid I will take this seriously. seo services

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Sometimes I go online to check the calories of my favorite entrees. It's amazing how much healthier the same meal is when I cook it myself. I think this is because I'm conscious of the fat content and avoid butter and other fattening ingredients. When I eat out, I typically eat either Thai food or sushi. These genres tend to be on the healthier side and can help me stay on track.

I believe everybody should be aware of the ingredients of the food we eat. It is for our own good anyway. Knowing some information about the foods we eat will make us alert for the consequences we have to face.