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After learning that the Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin muffin at 600 calories packed more calories than a KFC Double Down and a Big Mac, I started wondering about other fast food facts I would find shocking.
Being one always filled with curiosity, I somehow got on this track about foods over 1,000 calories because what's scary (to me) is that there are way more dishes and foods sold in fast food and chain restaurants that now fit this criteria more than ever before.
One pound is 3,500 calories so to gain or drop one pound, we need to create an increase or deficit to our caloric intake. Eating a dish or food that is 1,000 calories is nearly 1/3 of a pound in just one sitting.
For this post, I chose 7 popular U.S. sit down chains, places that many people go to...and often. For each restaurant listed, I linked to the nutrition information on their website and used that info for my list. I also made an effort to diversify the types of restaurants like picking a pizza place, a mirco brewery, an Asian place, and a steakhouse. For the 3 menu items, to give some kind of uniform comparison, I chose an appetizer, a salad or comparable dish, and an entree. Here's the restaurants:
Rock Bottom Brewery (which is now merged with Gordon Biersch)
Now, I'm not doing this post to shock people into never eating any of these foods ever again, this is really about an education in portion control and the nutrition in some of the foods we eat when we eat out. The nice thing about all the foods on this list is that you can pare them down and strip them of calories. At the end of the post, I include tips on how to do that. You have flexibility.
I personally dig the Bloomin' Onion at Outback, but I only eat that when I'm with a group and only a few times a year if that. I dip it in ketchup instead of the creamy sauce it comes with.
Again, balance and moderation is the key. I eat well 80% of the time, and in the other 20% I allot for fun times and for yeah, the not-so-healthy foods. My psyche has a hard time with the concept of "forbidden" or "bad" when it comes to food and it's just a losing battle to live like that living in the U.S. (at least for me) so I just stopped compartmentalizing foods into those labels.
It's more empowering to chose what works best for my body versus focusing on what I can't have.
In researching this list, I was really stunned not just by the 1,000+ calories but how much sodium is in these foods. As well, out of the 7 restaurants I went to, only one lists sugar (g) in their nutrition list.
I learned a whole lot researching this post especially learning that my idea of a portion size is bigger than what the actual single serving size is. I was also kind of crushed to learn just how caloric and sodium packed some of these foods were because I'd order them myself.
In fact, all the 21 dishes I chose to put on this list, are foods that I would order myself except one which was the Rock Bottom Appetizer Sampler. I put that dish on the list because I have never seen anything that was 3,649 calories on one plate before. In fact, that one plate is more than one pound in calories.
Interesting things I noticed about how the restaurants list their nutrition data:
- PF Changs numbers are all single servings not for total of the dish. They tell you how many servings are in one dish so you have to multiply to get the total for the whole platter. From this perspective, the nutrition numbers for the dish don't look so bad before the math.
- Olive Garden doesn't list sugar or protein which I found really odd. Protein is very important to many people.
- Ruby Tuesday doesn't list protein either and lists at the top fiber then carbs then sodium. They want to hit you right away with all that fiber goodness. Most other places list sodium, carbs and then fiber towards the end right before protein.
- CPK plays the fiber and protein goodness card too, they list fiber and protein in the front right after calories. And guess what, sodium and carbs are listed last. Um, could that be because pizza is incredibly salty and carby?
- Outback is the only one to list their numbers to the decimal point. Talk about accuracy.
- Only 2 of the 7 listed cholesterol: Outback and Rock Bottom.
- Like I mentioned earlier, only one, Rock Bottom Brewery, included sugar (g) on their nutrition list.
Why not include the sugar number I wonder? Are restaurants exempt from having to disclose sugar (g)? Sugar is always listed on food labels. If you know, please share in comments!
In terms of full disclosure of their food, I have to give Rock Bottom a gold star because they are the only restaurant on this list who divulged the widest spectrum of nutritional information.
In this picture, here's a quick snapshot showing how the Applebee's Sizzling Chicken Fajitas (note the calories also include the fixings that come with the fajitas) have more calories than two McDonald's Big Macs combined.
I'm not saying this is carte blanche to go nosh up a couple Big Macs because they don't look so bad here. I'm just illustrating how we can get caught up in the notion that just because something is deemed "healthy" like chicken, that it is always good for us. I defer back to the Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin muffin.
The chicken is fine when it's just a raw piece of meat. It's the preparation of the meat and what is included in the dish which can turn a lean piece of meat into a caloric, fatty, salty beast.
What shocked me the most about these Applebee's Chicken Fajitas was the amount of sodium in it. Those fajitas have more than 2.5X the sodium of the Big Macs. 5670 mg of sodium is about 2.5 teaspoons of sodium. Yikes!
I was also kinda shocked by the PF Chang's crispy green beans because it's just beans (so says my mind...and yeah I know it's fried.) I could easily chow down on half a plate of those beans without blinking which would dent me 520 just in beans.
As I mentioned at the top of the post, you have the flexibility to pare down the calories, fat, carbs, and sodium of these foods. Here's some tips on how to do that:
- When eating fajitas ixnay the sour cream and guacamole and use salsa and hot sauce. Eat just the meat and not the tortilla.
- When ordering a burger, order it protein style, which means it comes in a lettuce wrap and no bun.
- Ask for any gavy or sauces on the side.
- When ordering a pizza, get the thin crust versus regular crust, and ask that they half the amount of cheese they normally put on it. Ask for lean meats like chicken on top instead of fatty, salty meat like pepperoni.
- For fried rice, ask that they no use soy sauce at all or if they can use low sodium soy sauce, or only half the amount they usually use. I order my rice without soy sauce, and I think it tastes better.
- Ask for your salad dressing on the side and then use sparingly.
- All you can eat breadsticks sounds awesome but those sticks are 150 calories a pop, so one is good with your meal.
- Ask if they can do or have a steamed or sauteed version of the fried dish you want. For example, at PF Chang's, you can do sauteed beans instead of fried.
- Order one dish and split it with someone else at your table. I do this all the time.
- When the food is served to your table, ask for a to-go box. Split your food in half, and put one half in that to-go box and eat it for lunch the next day.
- Ask the waiter/waitress, any ways the dish can be slimmed down. I do this all the time, and you'd be surprised what they can do. All it takes is asking!
When eating out, it can be very easy to over indulge when we don't even realize we are which is why it is educational to look up the nutritional information of your favorite restaurants.You can still enjoy these foods, but perhaps in smaller portion, less often, and with less add-ons...or you may just decide to choose something new and healthier to eat all together. Trying new foods is fun too!
So, what is a tip you have to help slim down dishes when you eat out?
