Dining in Dallas.com

Ruby Tuesday’s “Revisited”

Last month we went to eat at Ruby Tuesday’s and thought that their selection of food and their salad bar seemed pretty nutritious and healthy. Then I stumbled upon this article on MSN…

Fresh Chicken and Broccoli Pasta: The name for this Ruby Tuesday’s dish seems healthy enough. The chicken is pulled from a roasted bird and the broccoli is steamed. The pasta is standard penne. But then the entrée transforms into a cardiac catastrophe totaling 2,060 calories (can you believe it?) and 128 grams of fat (including 60 to 70 of the artery-clotting saturated variety).

What gives? It’s the parmesan cream sauce and the topping of Wisconsin cheddar cheese before baking. CSPI labels it “Angioplasta” and equates the dish to two sirloin steak dinners complete with Caesar salad and buttered baked potato.

Just as bad was this…

Colossal Burger: There are a lot of giant hamburgers out there for the gorging these days, but CSPI says Ruby Tuesday’s is the chub-house leader with its Colossal Burger. Two patties and the three-layer bun are just a starting point. You get a total of 1,940 calories and, as CSPI points out, that’s before the fries or optional sauce. The burger is so big it’s served with a steak knife to hold it together and allows for some forklifting as you actually try to eat the thing.

Along with the meat and bread, you get enough melted American and Monterrey Jack cheeses to equal eating four to five McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. Total grams of fat: 141 grams, which CSPI estimates is at least half and maybe three-quarters the unhealthy saturated type.

The health rating we gave to Ruby Tuesday’s was based on what we ate and what we saw on the menu. For the most part the menu had a somewhat healthy selection, but as you can see it can be misleading judging from an innocent sounding name like “Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta.” My suggestion if you don’t want any surprises, go for their salad bar. That way you can control what you eat.

The original article can be found at the Center for Science in the Public Interest Newsroom.

Tags: Ruby Tuesday’s, Colossal Burger, Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta, Health

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Banned Restaurants

Over the years I’ve banned several restaurants either because of sanitary reasons (Kings Noodle for their room temperature ‘cold’ dishes), health reasons (Sonics and their ultra greasy breakfast sandwiches and tacos), or just downright life hazards (Taiwan Cafe and the pain that it caused many people; I’m surprised nobody’s died after eating their food yet…although many have come close).

Here’s my list of banned restaurants as of today. This will be an ongoing post because I will add to it when I find new ones to ban.

Burger King
King’s Noodle
Little Hunan
Snuffer’s
Sonics
Taiwan Cafe

Tags: banned, health, sanitary, hazard

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Eating Properly

This from Healthday News:

Eating less isn’t the only way to drop a few pounds.

If you eat the right foods, you can actually eat more and weigh less, says Genesys Regional Medical Center in Michigan.

Skip high-calorie, sugary foods that are quickly eaten and digested, and make you hungry again sooner. Rather, opt for high-fiber, low-calorie foods that take more time to eat and make you feel full longer.

Here are some more good suggestions:

* Eat some fat, but make it healthful fat, like omega 3s.
* Eat moderate amounts of complex carbohydrates.
* Include fruit and vegetables in every meal.
* Don’t completely deprive yourself; eat treats in small amounts.
* Focus on long-term goals.

On the other hand, here are eating habits that can be counter productive:

* Focusing only on calories.
* Trying to eliminate fat from your diet.
* Cutting back too far on carbohydrates.
* Swearing off certain foods.

Tags: lose weight, eat right, health

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Decoding the Grocery Store

I just read an interesting article in Time magazine titled “Decoding the Grocery Store,” and it reminded me that though I don’t often see them as such, grocery stores are after all businesses looking to extract as much money from you as they can. Take milk for instance. Have you ever noticed that they are almost always the farthest away from the entrance as possible. You’ll be forced to walk past hundreds of tempting items before you get to it. They say everyone buys at least two impulse items for every item on a shopping list. I don’t know how true that is because I rarely use a shopping list. I buy everything on impulse!

Here is a portion of the article online. To see the full article you’d have to get the hardcopy. The hardcopy has a three page foldout of a typical grocery store (layout of a Safeway to be exact) with 23 facts that you may or may not know about. I’ll just list some of the ones that I find most interesting. These are exerpts from the foldout in the article.

2 The long walk The long center aisles force you to walk past lots of things you didn’t know you wanted until you saw them

3 Processed food Convenience often means dietary danger. Read the labels to see how much fat, sugar and salt you will be getting

9 Aisle ends High-profit items are placed for maximum temptation. Studies show that people buy two unlisted items for every item on their shopping list

10 Kids’ cereals They’re often placed at a child’s eye level, and their packaging is designed to entice. Nearly all are loaded with sugars and other additives

11 Adult cereals Be wary of health claims on boxes. One trick: the healthier ones tend to be the hardest to reach. Look for high fiber and no added sugars

13 Salty snacks Companies pay to display vast quantities of these highly profitable foods. The price to you: lots of calories, too much salt and virtually no nutrients

14 Soda Soft drinks are the biggest source of sugars in American diets. Fruit drinks aren’t necessarily better. They often have more added sugars than soda

15 Bottled water Tap water in the U. S. is safe to drink, and it’s cheap. Bottled waters are expensive and very profitable, and 40% of them started out as-yes-tap water

23 Checkout You’re almost done, but there’s one last row of temptations. Why not buy a red-bordered, paper-based mind nutrient instead of candy?

Tags: grocery store, facts, health

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Foods That Fool

Taken from Joy Bauer’s blog..

She’s an expert dietician and founder of Joy Bauer Nutrition.

Granola — Most brands are loaded with calories and sugar. In fact, granola is one of the most calorie dense cereals on the market. A typical ⅔ cup serving has 220 calories and 17 grams of sugar - that’s more than 4 teaspoons of sugar. What’s more, most people pour 2-cup portions - that’s a whopping 660 calories and 51 grams sugar (12 teaspoons — yikes!).

2% Reduced-Fat Milk — 2% reduced-fat milk is not that low-fat/low-calorie when you consider that whole milk is 3.3% fat.

Breakdown for 1 cup milk:
- Whole milk: 150 calories
- 2% reduced fat milk: 120 calories
- 1% reduced fat milk: 100 calories
- Skim milk: 80 calories

Chicken Caesar Salads — It’s a salad, right? What could be unhealthy? Thanks to excessive dressing, croutons, and cheese, a standard chicken Caesar salad can total 1,130 calories and add more than 90 grams of fat to your diet!

Dried Fruit — All fruit is packed with nutrition; however, dried fruit is significantly higher in calories than fresh fruit when you calculate comparable amounts. That’s because you’re taking out all the moisture leaving a small piece of concentrated sugar (albeit “natural” sugar).

Consider this:
- 12 small pieces of dried mango = 320 calories
- 2 red apples + 15 grapes + ½ small cantaloupe = 320 calories

Yogurt Covered Nuts — This yogurt snack is strictly food for the soul! It’s filled with calories, sugar, fat… and clearly NO active cultures. In fact, 20 yogurt covered nuts = 460 calories, 32 grams fat, 14 grams saturated fat, and 8 teaspoons sugar.

Banana Chips — Bananas fried in oil and sugar - over the top! Consider that 1 cup typically provides 300 calories, 20 grams fat, 18 grams saturated fat (that’s the artery clogging type), and 19 grams sugar (4.75 teaspoons).

Trail Mix — Although packed with healthy nutrients and fiber, traditional trail mix is also loaded with calories that add up quickly. In fact, ½ cup typically equals 350 calories (that’s the same number of calories as 11 cups of air-popped popcorn).

Fruit Smoothies — It’s true, fruit smoothies can provide a lot of nutrition, but they pack in the calories as well. One 24-ounce smoothie provides about 450 calories. That’s the same amount of calories in 10-12 doughnut holes!

She offers up a solution to each of these foods that fool.. so be sure to check out her blog to find out the fix for these seemingly weight friendly foods.

Tags: lose weight, foods that fool

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Organic Ice Cream

My ice cream of choice at the supermarket.. Breyer’s. Just cause it’s all-natural and admittedly delicious. Now it seems, they will be offering up or have already come out with organic ice cream! Yessssss.

http://www.supermarketguru.com/page.cfm/30057

Incidentally, they have lactose-free ice cream as well. I’ve already tried their vanilla lactose-free ice cream and I have to say.. I can’t taste the difference one bit. The texture is a bit chunkier and looser but all in all.. little to no change as far as the experience goes. That’s a good thing by the way because I LOVE Breyer’s ice cream.

Prices for the lactose-free Breyer’s ice cream should still be $3.24 at Wal-Mart. As far as the organic ice cream goes, I imagine it might be a bit higher.

Tags: breyer, ice cream, organic

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Joy’s List of 8 Foods That Help You Lose Weight

I like these type of lists because it offers very practical, simple ways to reach a common goal for most of us out there… and that’s to lose and take control of your weight effectively.

(1) Fiber — Insoluble fiber provides volume to food without adding a lot of calories. Foods rich in insoluble fiber include high fiber cereal, whole wheat bread, wheat bran, fruits and vegetables. Soluble fiber helps stabilize your blood sugar levels, which in turn can better control hunger and cravings. Also, this type of fiber slows down the transit time of food in your gut, so it may keep you fuller for longer. Foods rich in soluble fiber include strawberries, apples, pears, oatmeal, chickpeas, and beans.

(2) Juicy Foods — Fruits and veggies with a high water content “built into the food” helps to fill you up, so you’ll eat less collectively throughout the day. Go for watermelon, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, mushrooms, grapefruit, and cantaloupe.

(3) Lean Protein — Protein can slightly rev your metabolism after ingestion (more so than carbs and fat). Be sure to include some type of lean protein with every meal. Good sources include chicken breast, canned light tuna, wild salmon (fresh and canned), egg whites, crab, shrimp, tilapia, turkey breast, tofu, lean red meat, low-fat dairy, beans and lentils.

(4) Foods That Make You Work — People eat less of the very same foods when they require a bit of work. For example, buy shelled peanuts versus unshelled peanuts and prepare soybeans in the pod versus the straight bean.

(5) Sugarless Gum — Contrary to what people think, sugarless gum does not stimulate your appetite. In fact, it’s a great way to give your taste buds a shot of flavor and prevent yourself from popping something caloric in your mouth. Keep a pack of sugarless gum on hand (or a pack of mints).

(6) Hot Beverages — Sipping a hot, low-cal beverage is a great way to stave off extra calories when you’re looking to eat out of pure boredom. And because they’re hot, you’ll have to slowly sip over an extended period of time. Choose beverages under 100-calories such as green and herbal teas, diet hot cocoa, skim latte and cappuccino, and reduced sodium bouillon.

(7) Spicy Food and Capsaicin — Personal clients and research have reported that you’re often satisfied with less food when the meal is spicy hot. Plus, you automatically eat slower and drink more water! If your taste buds can handle the heat, add chili peppers, hot sauce and salsa to your meals.

If you recall, I wrote in a previous post… that this is just a myth. Well, you may think these two points are contradictory but really it’s not. While it is true that spicy food itself does NOT help you lose weight.. it does tweak your appetite and mind so that you inadvertently do tend to eat less as a result. So in that sense, it does help. But I hope you get my point. It’s like.. if I bust out your teeth and tweak your jaws so that it’s tougher to chew.. then obviously you’re going to be less inclined to eat as much because it’s painful to chew. Roughly same concept in this case.

(8) Pre-portioned Snacks — There’s no chance of overeating when you only have one portion in front of you. Try the following legalized snacks when you want something fun: 100-Calorie Pack, Glenny’s soy crisps, Skinny Cow-Silhouette flying saucer, Healthy Pop mini bag microwave popcorn, Nature Valley granola bar, Pria bar, People Pop, Tootsie Pop, Weight Watchers ice cream pops, or a Swiss Miss/Jell-O fat free pudding.

To see where I got this article from, click here.

Tags: lose, weight

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