Want to Go Out to Eat? Do Your Homework to Find Healthy Options

Last week I gave a lesson on eating out – or should I say it is more like filling up and filling out. America’s restaurants seem to be in competition to determine who can dish you up the best bang for your buck – that is, the quickest heart attack.

Romano’s Macaroni Grill has a shot to win in the Italian category with their spaghetti and meatballs topping 1,800 calories, 57 grams of bad fat (saturated), and 4,900 grams of sodium. It’s like asking for a side of high cholesterol, please.

Restaurants are continuing to dish out these meals and they are growing increasingly larger. We poke fun at it, but it’s the industry and bottom line that is clogging our arteries, raising our blood pressure and contributing to diabetes and obesity.

Why do we need to have all this fat? What makes a burger that delivers 141 grams of fat and 1,940 calories (Ruby Tuesday’s Colossal Burger) better than a regular old Quarter Pounder with Cheese (510 calories, 26 grams of fat)? I thought that was bad enough. And is this food even good? I hear my stomach calling and I hear pain.

To put this in perspective, most people shouldn’t eat more than 2,000 calories a day, 20 grams of bad fat and greater than 2,300 mgs of sodium. What’s scary is that most people don’t have a clue how much they’re eating. One study showed that consumers underestimated their meals by 632 calories. Now we add up those extra pounds and see where we went wrong.

New York City has led the way by requiring restaurants to post nutrition facts and more than 20 other cities are considering the same regulations. How do you think you would react to see that morning muffin snack sets you back 630 calories?

I hope this menu label law continues to spread because at least consumers can be in the know. But until this happens the key is to know before you go. Check out the company’s Web site or do a Google search. You can also find healthy options by checking out healthydiningfinder.com.

Eating out can be healthy if you do your homework.

--Beth St.Louis, MS, RD, LDN
Program Dietitian
Martin Memorial Center for Health and Healing