Food Choices: Eat This, Not That!

I've been reading an interesting book about food choices. It's actually a small series of books, called Eat This, Not That!. The latest one is Eat This, Not That! The Best (And Worst) Foods In America!: The No-Diet Weight-Loss Solution. The title is a mouthful and has a few too many rah-rah exclamation points for my taste, but it's a fascinating read. The book reviews foods from major restaurants and supermarkets to and illustrates just how bad things get without customers thinking about their choices, then offers alternatives to order (or purchase) instead.

Some examples: Worst "Healthy" Sandwich? Blimpie Special Vegetarian (12"). 1,186 calories, 60 g fat, 19 g saturated, 3,523 mg sodium and 131 carbohydrates.You'd be better off eating 2 Big Macs.

Worst Fast-Food Breakfast: McDonald's Deluxe Breakfast (large size biscuit) with syrup and margarine. 1,370 calories, 64.5 g fat, 21.5 g saturated, 2,340 mg sodium and 161 g carbs. The calories are more than 4 McD's cheeseburgers (300 a piece). They recommend instead the McMuffin (300 calories, 12 g fat, 5 saturated, 820 mg sodium, and 30 g carbs).

Want a real slap in the head? Worst Italian Entree: Romano's Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatballs with meat sauce. 1,810 calories, 118 g fat (54 saturated), 4,900 mg sodium, 109 g carbohydrates. It's almost 3 times the recommended intake of sodium for the day combined into one meal! I mean, if your average intake is supposed to be 2300 mg of sodium and 2300 calories (rough average), this entree is way too much...but how many people would think they're taking such a hit in health from have spaghetti and meatballs?

Even appetizers aren't safe. Well, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise if you do any research on them. Worst Starter: Uno Chicago Grill Pizza Skins, Full Order. 2,400 calories. 155 g fat, 45 saturated. 3,600 mg sodium. I mean...you do share them, right? Yeah, right. I'm sure you're not having too many of them...instead, they recommend the Thai Vegetable Pot Stickers, at 400 calories, 20 g fat (2 saturated), 1,080 mg sodium, 46 g carbs instead.

The book also harshly slams restaurants for pulling an Applebees; they highlight the places that won't tell you what they're feeding you by hiding nutrition information. When I was dieting pre-surgery in January, I started going through online nutrition information and downloading lists for my iPod so I could make decent choices in places like Red Lobster (by the way, stay away from the admiral's feast...the book put that one into perspective relatively quickly. But on the other hand, Red Lobster also had a lot of healthy choices you can make. Tread carefully.)

Applebees was among the restaurants that won't make the information available, and it was a restaurant that we often went to, as in once or twice a month at least. I emailed their customer service, and they simply said they couldn't provide the information (Um, let's be real...you wouldn't provide it. Don't tiptoe around it) because they can't guarantee ingredients and there were variations from restaurant to restaurant location.

So...are you telling me that if I go to a different Applebees, your food is significantly different in each location, so I can't rely on any consistency in your dishes??

I was so pissed that I stopped going there, and would spread the word whenever the opportunity arose that they are consumer-unfriendly. Red Lobster provides it. Olive Garden provides it. Applebees,...well, I'm going to Red Lobster or Panera.

Oops. Side rant. Anyway, the book harshes on restaurants that pull this by giving them an "F" on a restaurant summary chapter. The only information they could pull from places like these were calorie counts, due to a law that was passed in New York about providing this minimum bit of information (Funny...you can't provide consistent nutrition information unless it passed into NYC, eh? Do I sound a little irked at this?)

I got curious because the book harshed on a lot of wraps in different restaurants; I didn't think my wraps for my average meals were all that bad. So I looked at some of the information labels for what I have been putting in lately.

Tortilla. Azteca. 120 calories, 2.5 g fat, .5 saturated, 0 chol, 300 mg sodium, 22 g carb, no sugar, 3 g protein.

Add a slice of reduced fat colby-jack cheese from Sargento. 50 calories, 4 g fat, 2.5 saturated, 10 mg chol, 120 mg sodium, 0 carb, 0 sugar, 5 g protein.

Add some thin-sliced honey ham. From the label of one brand I use, 2 oz is 80 calories, 2.5 g fat, 1 g saturated, 30 mg chol, 710 mg sodium, 4 g carbs, 4 g sugar, 10 grams protein.

I normally use probably half a serving, so the count I'm using is closer to 40 calories, 1.5 g fat, 15 mg chol, 355 mg sodium, 2 g carbs, 2 g sugar, 5 grams protein, and that's the story I'm sticking to.

Then a slice of 2% cheese from Kraft. Off the label: 45 calories, 3 g fat, 1.5 saturated, 10 mg cholesterol, 250 mg sodium, 1 g carb, 1 g sugar, 4 gram protein.

Then mushrooms to add filler from Green Giant: I use probably 1/4 cup, and the information on the label is for 1/2 a cup. So I'll write the estimated 1/4 cup information here. 12 calories, 0 fat, 0 chol, 220 sodium, 2 g carb, .5 sugar, 1 g protein.

So some math would estimate that my wraps are in the neighborhood of 267 calories, 11 g fat, 5 saturated, 35 mg cholesterol, 1,245 mg sodium, 27 g carbohydrates, 3.5 g sugar, and 18 g protein, plus some sodium for the mustard I add on.

I don't think that's too bad. In most restaurants the wraps come out horrible...for example, ETNT says in the vocab guide that a wrap weighs in at 600 calories on average, with the average tortilla being 300 calories. Applebee's Chicken Fajita Rollup weighs in at 1,450 calories, listed as the worst wrap in the "Worst Healthy Foods in America" chapter. The honor of worst wrap in the Worst Sandwiches in America list also went to Applebee's with the Applebee's Oriental Chicken Rollup at 1,550 calories.

Unless my estimate are really really off, my wraps aren't that bad. Three a day comes to 801 calories, give or take for variation (swiss cheese instead of the colby-jack, for example). the only thing I add on top of this are my peanuts and peanut butter, which I'm gradually moving to more peanuts than PB; they early on showed promise in anecdotally reducing some dizziness I felt when going to the gym or riding bike, so I added them in during the course of the day.

But here's the kicker; choices you make in your diet mean paying attention to labels, and things you'd think would be no-brainers take more brains than you'd think. I came to the conclusion that my numbers probably aren't too far off from restaurants simply because they must be made differently. What cemented that idea?

I have a jar of peanuts that I've been refilling from a Sam's Club ginormo pack of peanuts or mixed nuts. The jar is from Target, their "Market Pantry" brand of dry roasted peanuts. I figure...how hard is it? Peanuts, some salt, right? Well, I happened to look at the label. In order: dry roasted peanuts, salt, sugar, maltodextrin, monosodium glutamate (um...isn't that MSG?), torula yeast, paprika and other spices, natural flavors (they're PEANUTS! What did you ADD?!), hydrolized soy proteins, onion and garlic powder.

Wha...?!

I picked up the ginormo pack of peanuts from Sam's, which happened to be Planter's Extra Large Virginia Peanuts. Listed: peanuts, sea salt, peanut and/or cottonseed oil.

Two of the same products; peanuts. Two very different labels.

I recommend this book not just because it has great information, but because it made me think. Books that make you think make an impact, a difference, and for that reason I very much recommend it to other people in hopes that they, too, will be driven to think and take action or maybe alter some of their habits or perspectives.