Take Out anyone?

Since i've been doing this, I have been amazed at the foods /lack of foods restaraunts offer. I have realized that most restaurants to do not even offer more than 1 or 2 plain vegetables. By plain I mean not creamed, fried, or mixed with something high in calories. Not even counting the butter and salt they add.  A lot of places do not even offer salads with any kind of lettuce except iceburg.  (which has very little nutritional value)  Most places, their overall menu consists of meats that are high in fat, entrees with very large portions, and a lack of healthy options.  It's amazing to me what we as Americans have told the restaurants what we want and WILL buy.  We have backed ourselves in to a corner where a lot of restaurants do not even offer healthy choices.  And things they say are "healthy" aren't even reasonable in calories and fat content.  For instance a fried chicken salad, offered at many restaurants ranges anywhere from 600-1100 calories.  (That's without the dressing)

The source that I have used to find a lot of information is  www.thedailyplate.com   I have decided the smartest way to eat out (when I have to, because it's not even enjoyable these days) is to research ahead of time and find something that is reasonable to eat and that I can live with, knowing how many calories it has. I think that restaurants should be required to list the calories and fat content in each menu item.  You know why they won't ever do this?Because we wouldn't buy it if we knew how bad it really was.  And they purposely put it in there to make it taste better and make us come back. 

Here are some of my recent findings of two of our families favorite restaurants. 

Steak 'N Shake

Food Item	Servings	Cals	Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Fiber	Protein
Steak And Shake Original Double Cheeseburger With Everything	1.00	540	32g	90mg	947mg	33g	7g	1g	27g	x
Steak And Shake Chili (cup)	1.00	389	26g	64mg	1,120mg	17g	1g	7g	21g	x
Steak And Shake Regular Fries	1.00	472	23g	0mg	701mg	66g	0g	5g	4g	x
Steak And Shake Chocolate Shake	1.00	734	22g	74mg	388mg	120g	105g	3g	19g	x

Click totals for charts!	Totals:	2,135	103g	228mg	3,156mg	236g	113g	16g	71g
% of your daily value		106.75%	157.69%	76%	131.5%	78.67%	n/a	n/a	142%
		Cals	Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Fiber	Protein

Can you believe that?  2100 Calories for a burger, fries, chili, and a chocolate shake? Now I know that's a lot of food, and I can see a man eating all this food way before I would.  But still the shake alone is 700 calories.

Here's another one.  The Cheesecake Factory.  We love it.  Well at least I did. Now I am kind of afraid of it. 

Food Item	Servings	Cals	Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Fiber	Protein
Cheesecake Factory Avocado Eggrolls	1.00	958	8g	0mg	1,131mg	104g	0g	0g	0g	x
Cheesecake Factory Shrimp With Angel Hair	1.00	845	2g	0mg	1,586mg	106g	0g	0g	0g	x
Cheesecake Factory Adam's Peanutbutter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake	1.00	930	59g	195mg	490mg	93g	0g	0g	0g	x

Click totals for charts!	Totals:	2,883	69g	195mg	3,221mg	303g	0g	0g	0g
% of your daily value		144.15%	106.31%	65%	134.21%	101%	n/a	n/a	0%
		Cals	Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Fiber	Protein

This is a common meal I would order (keep in mind I would share the appetizer with my husband and probably have leftovers, but to even consume all these calories in two sittings is pretty bad) This is a lot of food that we would go and eat on special occasions, but any one of these alone is mind boggling to me. 

I do have to brag on Bonefish Grill. They have several different meats to choose between, all sauces offered on the side, and a very nice House salad. We had a date night planned the other night. I looked into 3 different restaurants (just based on menu options, not even looking into calories) before I came to Bonefish. I was pleased with a few things to choose from on their menu and the eating out experience was great. Needless to say, I study long and hard before we eat out now.