Monday Nutrition Tip of the Week

One of the lessons I learned from our 10-day Michi's Ladder Food Challenge was that, if you want to keep a mostly clean diet, you cannot regularly eat at restaurants. Why is that? Because a restaurant doesn't care how big your butt gets.

However, when Zach and I got the chance to drop the kids off with the grandparents to go out to dinner and to a playoff basketball game, of course I wanted to go. Now the 45 miles between the bustling metropolises (metropoli?) of Midlothian and Corsicana, Texas do not boast many fine restaurants. You've got your Catfish King, your Sonic, your Big Boy Burger, and the like. So, we went to Chili's. It's not my favorite place, but we had gift cards and it was on the way, so Chili's it was.

We were in a hurry and wanted to order right away, so I looked at the menu en route. Like many restaurants, Chili's posts their nutrition info online. Here's what I found.

Zach and I decided that we were going to order the "Guiltless Grill" Grilled Salmon with Herbs. Chili's has several items on the menu that can be ordered "Guiltless Grill" which is Chili-ese for "No Butter."

Guiltless Grill Grilled Salmon
520 calories, 16 grams fat (4 saturated), 47 grams carbs, 49 grams protein, 5 grams fiber, 1,420 mg sodium

Tangent: So remember a few months ago when I bought beets at the grocery store and the checker told me, "Nobody buys those!" Well, when we ordered the Guiltless Grilled Salmon, the waiter gave us a funny look and said, "Do you work at Chili's?" I said, "No." And he said, "Nobody ever orders that! Only people who work here know about the Guiltless Grill items." I'm sensing a pattern in my life. End tangent.

So, looking at that nutritional info we didn't do too bad for eating out at a restaurant. The salmon was very good, it was a satisfying dinner. Especially considering we didn't have to pay for it with our own money.

But what if I'd decided I wanted to go whole hog there at the Chili's Saturday night. Say I mosey'd over to the burger menu and chose this:

Jalapeno Smokehouse Burger with Ranch
2,160 calories, 138 grams fat (43 saturated), 132 grams carbs, 95 grams protein, 11 grams fiber, 6,450 mg sodium (THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE THE FRIES!)

And just suppose, after I had my nice juicy burger, I ordered a brownie sundae.

Brownie Sundae
1,290 calories, 61 grams fat (30 saturated), 195 grams carbs, 14 grams protein, 8 grams fiber, 930 mg sodium

ACK! Let's calculate the damage on my theoretical meal.

Totals on the Theoretical Meal I Did Not Eat Because I Was So Shocked At What I Saw
3,450 calories, 199 grams fat (73 saturated), 327 carbs, 109 grams protein, 19 grams fiber, 7,380 mg sodium

Oh. My. Gosh. You guys, the brownie sundae alone blows almost an entire day's worth of calories. It's obscene.

So my tip today is this: Everyone is going to eat out sometimes. It's a treat, and you should enjoy life. But before you go, take a few minutes and think about what you're going to get when you order. Looking at the nutritional guide just might be enough to turn you off to the brownie sundae and turn you on to the Guiltless Grill items that "nobody orders." Then maybe Zach and I won't be alone in our crazy beet-buying club.

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Workout of the Day

P90X Plus: Total Upper+