I received this from Jim Fortner, via Facebook. Since many of us Lions go out to eat for meetings, or get togethers, I thought I'd post this to let you know about some of the places to eat with food recommended by someone who is health minded. He gives a break down on fat content, sodium, etc.
By: Jim Fortner
#1: Best Place for a Sit-Down Breakfast: Denny's
Denny’s Heart Scrambler—Heartland Scramble, I mean—contains about a day’s worth of sodium and saturated fat. This entrée represents the old model for breakfast diners: Take a healthy food like scrambled eggs and stuff it with so much fat- and sodium-loaded junk that patrons feel like they’re getting a bargain. In reality, you're just getting an excuse to buy new pants—bigger ones.
Thankfully, Denny’s is making changes. This Grand Slam is part of the chain’s Better For You Menu, which provides 250 meal combinations all under 550 calories. If you plan on crafting your own Better For You Slam, here are a couple of points to note: One, choose egg whites over whole eggs. It’s not that whole eggs are bad for you, but Denny’s cooks them with so much butter that each two-egg order ends up with 21 grams of fat and 260 calories. And two, choose regular bacon over turkey bacon. Both options provide 70 calories per serving, but the regular stuff saves you 100 milligrams of sodium over turkey bacon.
Eat This!
Build Your Own Grand Slam with Egg Whites, Bacon, English Muffin, and Fruit
320 calories, 6 g fat (2 g saturated), 567 mg sodium
#2: Best Place for an On-the-Go Breakfast: Starbucks
Have you seen Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory? The scene where Violet Beauregard bloats up like a giant blueberry? That’s basically what scones do to your body—even “healthy” blueberry scones like this one. Muffins, scones, or danishes—they’re all just pastries, which means they’re made from little more than fast-digesting carbohydrates. Eat these things for breakfast and they’ll spike your blood sugar and insulin levels and force your body to store glucose as fat. Starbucks' Wrap invokes the opposite response. The combination of spinach and protein-rich eggs provide a nice nutritional balance, but the real accomplishment is the fiber. It’s rare to find a grab-and-go breakfast with more than a couple grams, and this wrap has an astonishing 6! That’s enough to keep your hunger stifled, your body energized, and your belly flat.
Eat This!
Egg White, Spinach & Feta Wrap and a Venti Nonfat Cappuccino
390 calories, 10 g fat (3.5 saturated), 18 g sugars
#3: Best Place for a Fast-Food Lunch: Carl's Jr.
Look as hard as you like, but you won’t find a burger at this size with less fat. That’s because this burger uses lean turkey instead of fatty beef, and still packs plenty of flavor thanks to a light jacket of teriyaki sauce. Besides, look at the alternatives. Not one burger in Carl’s line of Six Dollar Burgers—save for the bun-less, low-carb version—contains fewer than 900 calories. If you begin your order with a Guacamole Six Dollar Burger and finish it off with medium fries and a 20-ounce soda, you’re facing 1,630 flab-making calories. (Note: The Teriyaki Turkey Burger will be available at Carl's Jr. on March 23.)
Eat This!
Eat This, Not That! Teriyaki Turkey Burger
470 calories, 14 g fat (5 g saturated), 1,120 mg sodium, 32 g protein
#4: Best Place for a Sit-Down Lunch: Romano's Macaroni Grill
Romano's was once among the unhealthiest restaurants in America. But its menu underwent an overhaul in 2009 and is now one of the most nutritionally sound you’ll find outside of your own kitchen. But there are still few holdovers from the days of excess. Spaghetti and meatballs with more than 1,200 calories? Fuggedaboutit! This thing is big enough to feed an entire family of hungry Italians. Go with the Pollo Caprese instead and you’ll earn 46 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber, and loads of vitamins and minerals—all for just 550 calories.
Eat This!
Pollo Caprese (pasta and chicken), with a side of broccoli
550 calories, 20 g fat (5 g saturated), 1,660 mg sodium
#5: Best Place for a Sit-Down Dinner: Red Lobster
Take a second look. This is an entire lobster dinner for only 300 calories. What’s the secret? We swapped out the usual melted-butter dipping sauce for cocktail sauce. That one substitution saves you 310 calories and an astonishing 38 grams of fat. Now get this, if you eat this lobster over the fat-infested Garlic Crab-and-Shrimp Pasta, you’ll add 1,240 calories to your day’s caloric savings. Make a swap like that just three times a week and you stand to drop more than 55 pounds this year!
Eat This!
Live Maine Lobster with cocktail sauce, Garden Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, and Fresh Broccoli
300 calories, 9.5 g fat (1 g saturated), 1,325 mg sodium
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Joseph L. Wroblewski
