Dining Out While Dieting

Author:

2008-08-01 Word Count: 806 Category: Nutrition

Everyone likes to take a night off and get out of the house for a while, if this means dinner and a movie, so be it. Even those who are dieting enjoy dinner and a movie every so often. So why don’t we do it more often? The answer is simple, if you are counting your calories you are afraid to go out to eat because you are unsure of the amount of calories you are taking in. I am about to help you with that problem, so it is a problem no more. Here I have picked out a few of my favorite restaurants, including fast food, and I want to let you know about the calories you are taking in every time you eat at these places.

Lets start with fast food first since most of us eat out every day at lunch. My favorite food is pizza and my favorite pizza place is Domino’s. So what kind of pizza has the least amount of calories? Answer thin crust pineapple and ham. This pizza has 300 calories, 16 fat grams, and 630 mg sodium, for every two slices you have.

Now that you know this you are probably asking yourself what kind of pizza you should stay away from. Answer to that is an all time favorite of every person I have talked to. You guessed it, Hand tossed Pepperoni. For every two slices you have you are taking in 510 calories, 22 fat grams, and 950 mg sodium. Also, stay away from supreme pizza, with over 600 calories and 1400 mg sodium your diet and daily calorie intake will be long gone by the time you eat two slices of pizza.

The next place I enjoy is Sonic. I think Sonic has some of the best summer friendly meals out there. My favorite is the Jumbo popcorn chicken salad with ranch dressing. Unfortunately for me this is something that I shouldn’t eat. The reason for this is 490 calories, 28 fat grams, and 1,440 mg sodium. If you like sonic and would like to try something that has fewer calories try the Grilled chicken wrap with only 380 calories, 11 fat grams, and 1,300 mg sodium, this is one of the healthiest foods sonic offers.

Now we will move on to “Dine In” restaurants, the numbers for these restaurants are approximate and may not be exact, this is because these places do not provide nutritional information for their meals.

Let’s start with a classic, Olive Garden, or any Italian restaurant may be the same or close to these numbers. I have tried many of the items in this menu and one of my favorites has been the Linguine Alla Marinara. This dish has approximately 691 calories and 1,040 mg sodium; this is not bad considering how much is on the plate.

One meal I don’t like is the Stuffed Chicken Marsala, this also comes with Garlic Mashed potatoes and has 1,315 calories and 2,550 mg sodium. If you eat this meal you will have no calories intake left for the whole day. You also should factor in the amount of calories you drink and your salad has in it. Each drink is different so it all depends on what you have.

My next restaurant is Red Lobster, while I don’t eat sea food that often I have family and friends that do, so we go here. The most popular meal on the menu is the Snow Crab Legs served with melted butter and a biscuit. This meal is popular because of the taste and not the calories for obvious reasons. This meal has 611 calories, 34.5 fat grams and 17 grams of carbohydrates and the more carbohydrates you have the harder it is on you body. So this meal is not something you should order.

What you should order is the Live Maine Lobster with cocktail sauce and broccoli. This meal is also popular for its taste and the calories. With only 288 calories, 3 fat grams and 29 grams carbohydrates, this meal is better for you than the snow crab. Once again be sure to add in your drink and any appetizer you may order so you know when you are at you daily intake limit.

These are just a few of my favorite restaurants and they may be yours too. If not you can ask for nutritional information at any restaurant you visit. Keep in mind that not all places offer nutritional information but you can use the information provided by other restaurants and they are usually pretty close to the same. Try not going over you 2000 calorie a day limit. This limit is recommended by many and will also help you stay fit and be healthy.